John Bunyan wrote a book called Antichrist and his Ruin. I’m guessing it’s one of his works that are seldom read today. People, at least in the church circles I run in don’t talk much about the Antichrist. They don’t talk about the judgement to come either. Maybe that’s why we don’t share the gospel very often.
Since I’ve been preaching through the book of Daniel, I’ve had to re-engage with the topic of the Antichrist and to consider his ‘ruin’ as Bunyan put it. And although many antichrists have been identified through history (Joe Carter lists over a half dozen), these days fewer people seem to care about the reality of godless, supernatural opposition to Christ and the gospel. We tend to be fixated on politics– good or bad– as the only level of warfare in existence. As American Senator Ben Sasse has observed, “so many of those local tribes of textured meaning [i.e. family, neighbourhood, workplace, local church] are in collapse, and people are looking for substitute tribes in politics. And I don’t think that’s going to work out very well.” So I’ve looked with interest at what a wise guide like Bunyan has to say about the Antichrist, and the spirit of antichrist which is at work “already in the world” (1 John 4:3).
Bunyan’s Introduction to the Identity of the Antichrist
In one of his opening descriptions, Bunyan sets out the way that the Antichrist is the antonym of Christ, yet deceptively so. This sense of being the opposite of Christ, but with a false veneer or duplicitous camouflage, is the character of Antichrist which Bunyan seeks to emphasize. He writes:
Antichrist is the adversary of Christ; an adversary really, a friend pretendedly: So then, Antichrist is one that is against Christ; one that is for Christ, and one that is contrary to him: (And this is that mystery of iniquity (2 Thess 2:7). Against him in deed; for him in word, and contrary to him in practice. Antichrist is so proud as to go before Christ; so humble as to pretend to come after him, and so audacious as to say that himself is he. Antichrist will cry up Christ; Antichrist will cry down Christ: Antichrist will proclaim that himself is one above Christ. Antichrist is the man of sin, the son of perdition; a beast, [that] hath two horns like a lamb, but speaks as a dragon (Rev 13:11).
Works, Volume II, 46.
Consider that according to Bunyan’s reading of Scripture, the Antichrist is obviously against Christ, but less obviously seen to be against Christ. He is against Christ in activity, but presents himself publically as a supporter of Christ (“for him in word”), even “pretending” to come after him in humility, but all with an “audacious” arrogance.
All of this means that Antichrist has a religious connection, engaged with church circles.
Antichrist subverts the church with false support.
Bunyan’s List of Contrasts Between Christ and Antichrist
Another way that Bunyan helps us to understand the Antichrist is by contrasting him with the vast superiority of Jesus Christ. In fact, even Bunyan’s contrasts are inadequate because Jesus Christ the Son of God is in a category by himself, and is utterly incomparable. But for the purposes of giving an introduction, Bunyan suggests the follow antonymic comparisons:
- Christ is the Son of God; Antichrist is the son of Hell.
- Christ is holy, meek, and forbearing: Antichrist is wicked, outrageous, and exacting.
- Christ seeketh the good of the soul: Antichrist seeks his own avarice and revenge.
- Christ is content to rule by his word: Antichrist saith, The word is not sufficient.
- Christ preferreth his Father’s will above heaven and earth: Antichrist preferreth himself and his traditions above all that is written, or that is called God, or worshiped.
- Christ has given us such laws and rules as are helpful and healthful to the soul: Antichrist seeketh to abuse those rules to our hurt and destruction. (Works, Volume II, 46.)
The descriptors which Bunyan uses to describe Jesus Christ are beautiful. Against our cultural moment, Christ is forbearing, seeks the good of the soul, rules by his word, prefers his Father’s will, and gives what is helpful and healthful to the soul. Bunyan saw in the Lord Jesus Christ one who is gratuitous in his help toward his creatures.
By contrast, the Antichrist is the opposite, though he feigns to hide his true intentions.
If we take the Bunyan’s descriptions and lay them up against our cultural moment, the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age, then you can see clearly how much the spirit of antichrist is upon us.
Think about how everyone and everything is so exacting these days. If the Antichrist is, according to Bunyan, “wicked, outrageous, and exacting” then the spirit of Antichrist is clearly evident in our social media. If you misspell something on Facebook, or mess up some grammar, someone will correct you in exacting detail. If you tweet something that is out of line with the prevailing cultural orthodoxies, you’re statement will be parsed, critiqued, and judged with an execution of shame. Twitter can be an exacting platform, that is at the same time outrageous, and not so subtly wicked.
We see that growing tendency for people to turn quickly against leaders, public servants, customer service reps, believers, churches, organizations and anyone else when they feel they have been wronged. It’s as if there is a spirit of revenge that is waiting to burst out at the slightest injury. How strikingly different is the impulse of Christ himself, who “seeketh the good of the soul”.
And of course, the church is wrestling with the problem of whether or not they will follow Christ’s rule by his word, or listen to the spirit of Antichrist which says that “the word is not sufficient”
It is a simple binary. Follow Christ or heed the Antichrist. Christ is Lord. He is God, the Son incarnate. He is above all and over all. The Antichrist would presume to set himself above the Creator. Yet the spirit of antichrist prevails even in such unlikely places as critical New Testament scholarship. For example, Robert Yarbrough documents how critical NT scholars, set themselves above Scripture, rather than under it. As reported from Yarbrough’s lectures in 2018:
Elitism, dating back only a few centuries to Germann scholars, he explained, does not necessarily take the Bible at face value and views the Bible from “a superior vantage point,” often dismissing or reinterpreting claims of Scripture. It is the viewpoint of the academy, Yarbrough said, and is marked by a critical study of the Bible that rejects a doctrinal interpretation of it.
Scholarly ‘populism’ provides a way forward in New Testament theology, says Yarbrough at SBTS Gheens Lectures, SBTS News, March 2018
Bunyan would argue that such critical scholarship is an example of the spirit of antichrist, inspiring creatures to set themselves above Christ, to pass judgement on him and his word, and to draw attention to themselves for their cleverness and omniscience.
Of course, this type of spirit is everywhere in society. Yet how different it is to find the humbled, diligent follower of Jesus Christ, who confesses him as her Lord, who enjoys his gratuity with thanksgiving tempered with awe and wonder!
The Illusion of Culture Wars?
If the spirit of antichrist presents the advance claims of “the man of lawlessness”, then we should admit that we might be wrong in our perception of where the battle lines are drawn. We need to admit that we are likely wrong that our primary battlefront is in the culture war. The culture war is the diversion. Rather, the real warfare is against the spirit of antichrist, which aims to deceive the church (Matt 24:4).
As Paul told the Ephesians:
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
Therefore, then as now, we need to, “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Eph 6:13)
