The apostle John spoke of an antichrist that is coming sometime in the future. He also spoke of “many antichrists” that have already appeared. The many antichrists refer to false teachers, “those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 1:7). These existed in John’s day, and they exist in our day as well. But these antichrists—as dangerous as they are—are only little examples of the one who will come in the future. The word antichrist translates the Greek ἀντίχριστος antichristos, which denotes one who stands in the place of Christ and opposes Him. The apostle John mentions “many antichrists” that have come into the world (1 John 2:18b). These all deny that Jesus is the Messiah (1 John 2:22a), rejecting both the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22b), refuting that Jesus is from God (1 John 4:3), and rejecting Jesus’ incarnation as the God-Man (2 John 1:7). These are all types of the Antichrist who is mentioned several times throughout Scripture (Dan 7:7-8, 24-26; 9:27; 11:36-45; Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 2:3-12; 1 John 2:18; Rev13:1-8; 17:3, 7-8, 11-13; 19:19-20; 20:10). This particular person will arise and come to power during the seven-year Tribulation which begins shortly after the Rapture of the church (1 Thess 4:13-18), which will leave only a professing church behind (i.e. Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other groups who take the name “Christian”).