When will the AntiChrist Come?

He supposedly will come to Jerusalem, enter the rebuilt Temple, make a peace treaty with Israel, and then after 3 1/2 years he will break the treaty and force everyone to recieve a mark on their forehead or righthand with the number 666.

Well, I would say that the devil, or the deceiver (Rev 12:9), is a lot smarter than this.

What does the Scripture say?
Paul, in a somewhat difficult passage (2 Thess 2), says that the ‘man of lawlessness’ enters into the “Temple of God” and proclaims himself God (2 Thess 2:4).

Well, here’s the key.

The phrase, ‘temple of God’ occurs 11x in the NT and in every instance it refers to either the body of Christ Himself or to the Church as the body of Christ (Matt 26:61; 1 Cor 3:16, 17(2x); 2 Cor 6:16(2x); 2 Thess 2:4; Rev 3:12; 7:15; 11:1, 19; note the Matt 26:61 passage is not really an exception to this).

This means that the ‘anti-Christ/man of lawlessness’ (assuming for now that they are the same) enters the Church and not a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem!

This accords with the rest of the NT. Jesus warned that “false prophets will come to YOU in sheep’s clothing” (Matt 7:15). Paul, in what he thought was his last meeting with the elders of Ephesus notes, “savage wolves will come in AMONG you” (Acts 20:29).

And we could go on, for throughout the NT we are warned repeatedly that false prophets will enter the Church in order to led astray “if possible, even the elect” (Matt 24:24).

This is precisely what 1 John is addressing in one of the few references to ‘anti-christ’ in the NT (the designation ‘anti-Christ’ appears 5x and only in 1-2 John). John notes that we know that certain people are anti-Christ’s because they “went out from us” (1 John 2:18-19).

Thus, the anti-Christ is not some secular person who is empowered by a revived Roman empire or such. Instead, he is a false prophet who endeavors to spread his influence in the Church! This is the NT warning!

If we are looking to Jerusalem for a rebuilt temple, and especially if we think that the anti-Christ will not arise until one is built, then we are looking in the wrong direction! And we have been deceived by the devil!