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Who or What is the Antichrist?
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Many believe that the Antichrist is a sinister character at the end time, talked about in the book of Revelation.  Actually the word “antichrist” is not found in the book of Revelation.  Rather, it is only mentioned four times in the New Testament (all of them are in the epistles of John).

So what is John referring to, when he talks about “antichrist”?  

After the destruction of the Temple when the Jews were expelled from Jerusalem and all the Hebraic leaders of “the way” had been killed, a dramatic shift happened.  Those who would become known as the “church fathers” were all Gentiles. They all had Greek names, and were scholars of Greek philosophy.

And although they had given up the belief in many of the gods of Greek mythology, their understanding of Hebraic concepts (like messiah, salvation, and God) was quite limited.  They were not Torah scholars.  They did the best that they could, but as “Christianity” continued to gain more and more Gentile converts, it also grew further away from its Jewish roots.

The Jewish understanding of messiah being a man had given way to a Greek view of messiah.  Messiah now was beginning to be viewed as being deity. This view began to develop while the Apostle John was still alive.  Many people were now saying that Jesus was not a man at all.

1 John 4:1

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

By making the role of messiah into that of God, the Greeks were effectively making messiah into the opposite of what he was suppose to be.  Instead of “saving” the House of Israel (by turning them back to the worship of the one true God), they were turning the belief in One God into the belief in a Triune God.

John warned the people of his time not to turn from their Jewish roots. Not to make Jesus into God.

2 John 1:6

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

The role of messiah, is one who brings Israel OUT of idolatry and back to the worship of the One God.  In essence the belief in “Jesus” (the mainstream Christian view of who and what he was) is a belief that goes AGAINST what the role of messiah is. It is an anti-messiah (or antichrist) belief.

Yet John saw this belief grow stronger

1 John 2:18

Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would [no doubt] have continued with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things.

I have not written to you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

In Jewish belief, the “son of God” is NOT “God the son”.  Messiah has never been confused with God.  He has NEVER been considered a deity.  

John believed that Jesus was the messiah.

Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?

However, he believed that by making Jesus into a god (and not distinguishing between God and Messiah), those who did such a thing were proposing a belief that was an insult to Jewish concept and tradition of what messiah was to be.

He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son.

Whosoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father: [(but) he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also].

John then appeals to his followers to abide by the Jewish traditions that they had heard “from the beginning”.

Let that therefore abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.

And this is the promise that he has promised us, [even] eternal life.

John anticipated the messianic age, the resurrection of the dead, and the “world to come”, were all at the doorstep.

He was unaware that there was to be two thousand years to follow.  He believed that he was living in the end times.  He saw the belief of Jesus being God as a hindrance to the truth.  It was.  But it was also part of God’s plan to NOT bring back the northern kingdom before the appropriate time.