Who are the Antichrist, the ‘Man of Lawlessness’, and the Beast?

For those engaged in end-times speculation, whether provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic, global warming, or war in Ukraine, there has been another rash of speculation about the identity of the Antichrist—that end times personal figure who is now somewhere secretly in the world but who will very soon be revealed. It is worth noting, for the sake of perspective, that every perceived crisis since at least the 1960s has provoked such speculation. I think a lot of ordinary readers of the Bible are unsettled by such theories, and are not sure how to respond.

The Visionary Art of Luca Signorelli

A significant visual exploration of this theme is found in the masterpiece mural Sermon and Deeds of the Antichrist (detail) between 1499 and 1502. Painted by Luca Signorelli in the cappella di san brizio at Orvieto Cathedral, this work depicts the predica e punizione dell'anticristo. The following details describe the iconography and historical context of this religious art:

• Artist: Luca Signorelli
• Location: Cappella di San Brizio, Orvieto, Italy
• Date: 15th-century and 16th-century (1499-1502)
• Subject: Predica e punizione dell'anticristo, involving the devil, followers, and the apocalypse
• Style: Renaissance dramatic doomscape and theological vision

Theological Schemes and Dispensationalism

Part of the reason for current anxiety is that such schemes look so coherent. For example, Dispensational Premillennialism based on the teaching of J N Darby suggests that the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 is the Antichrist who will come on the world scene at the beginning of the Day of the Lord. This Day, sometimes called the “end times,” starts after the rapture of the church. This looks very convincing—until you realise that the coherence of this scheme belongs entirely to the writer, and bears little or no relation to what the Bible actually says!

The New Testament nowhere identifies the ‘man of lawlessness’ with the ‘antichrist’. One of the key proponents of this kind of scheme in a previous generation, Hal Lindsay (who wrote The Late, Great Planet Earth), actually admits that this is a ‘hopscotch’ approach to reading the Bible, taking one bit from one place and another from another in order to put together a picture like assembling the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

The Biblical Context of the ‘Man of Lawlessness’

The best answer to all this is to return to the text, and what it actually says. The ‘man of lawlessness’ is only mentioned in one short passage, 2 Thess 2.1–12. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, the scripture advises us not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by teaching asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. This approach reminds us that the truth of what will happen is often missed by most people who simply read the Bible through the lens of modern conspiracy theories.