Who is the Antichrist?

Rev. 17.11 This verse should be read together with 17.8, for just as 17.8 speaks of the four historical stages of the beast so does 17.11. According to 17.11 the four stages of the beast’s history are denominated as (1) “was”, (2) “is not”, (3) “is of the seven”, and (4) “goeth into perdition”.

Since (1), (2) and (4) in 17.11 coincide with (1), (2) and (4) in 17.8, quite naturally (3) in 17.11 must also agree with (3) in 17.8. Thus, the beast must come out of the abyss.

Because he is said to be an eighth yet is also of the seven and because he comes out of the abyss, he must needs be one of the seven who is raised from death to be the eighth. Which one of the seven will he be?

(1) He cannot be the seventh since the seventh has yet to come to the world (17.10), whereas the beast has already been in the world before (17.8).

(2) He cannot be the sixth because the sixth was on earth when John lived, but this beast “is not” at the time of John (17.11).

Since he is neither the seventh nor the sixth, he must be one of the five. But which of the five is he? From 13.18 we recognize that he must be Nero. Neron Kaisar in Aramaic, the language of Christ, is equal to 666.

The seventh is but a forerunner of Antichrist. The eighth is to use the body of the seventh. Eight is the number of resurrection; yet his resurrection is to be quite different from that of the Lord Jesus. For the Lord is himself resurrected, but the eighth is to be the reanimation of a corpse with another soul. *

* This is not to be construed as teaching reincarnation. The Bible does not teach reincarnation. The specific interpretation given here relative to Antichrist serves only as the exception which goes to prove the rule of no reincarnation—just as the image of the beast having breath and the ability to speak (see 13.14,15) is the exception which proves the rule of no image having breath or speaking.

While the Lord Jesus was on earth the Jews chose a living caesar rather than the living Christ. After Christ was resurrected, people still refused to accept Him. The future Antichrist will be a resurrected caesar, and again people will receive him instead of the risen Christ.