Who is Maitreya? Is Maitreya the Antichrist?

Theosophy takes the opportunity given by the widespread expectation of the Lord’s personal return by the Christian community to proclaim “The Coming One,” and institutes a Society, “The Order of the Star in the East” to enrol members to wait for him. Their “Coming One” is a young theosophic Hindu and a Mahatma, by name Krisnamurti, the Lord Maitreza, in whose body they claim the Buddha, their Christ, will be reincarnated.

Who is the person whom Paul mentions as the man of sin? it would take many pages to give the views and opinions of expositors as to who is meant. The Roman Empire , the Roman Emperors, Mohammed, the Pope and the Romish Hierarchy have been given as being the man of sin. During the French revolution many thought it was Napoleon, as some today say the German Emperor is the man of sin. Inasmuch as the great apostasy is not yet here, the person whom Paul describes has also not yet come. First there must be the apostasy before there can be the leader and head of that apostasy. And before the revelation of Christ comes from heaven the world, which rejected Christ, will get its Antichrist. John mentions the man of sin. "Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22). It may be learned from this description that he will be the leader of Jewish unbelief and the unbelief of Christendom. Denying that Jesus is the Christ--that is Jewish; denying the Father and the Son, that is rejection of the Christian revelation. He will therefore take the leadership of Jewish and Christian apostasy. The most common interpretation that the Pope and the Papal system is this man of sin is incorrect, for the Pope does not deny that Jesus is the Christ, nor does the Pope claim to be the Christ. That the Pope has certain marks of the Antichrist about him no one can deny; but that he is the Antichrist is not true. (Certain Roman Catholic writers have charged Protestantism with being Babylon and anti-Christian. A so-called Protestant who denies the Virgin birth, the deity of Christ, surely is an antichrist.)

The old Protestant idea (held tenaciously still by many) was that the Bishop of Rome is the Antichrist. This will not bear the test of Scripture; for two reasons: (1) the Antichrist is an individual, not a succession of men, nor a religious system; (2) the Romish Harlot is rather the woman of sin than "the man of sin" (compare 2 Thess. 2:3; Rev. 17:1-6).

While there may be lesser antichrists many, the definition of the Antichrist marked out by prophecy is, according to the apostle John, such as to describe, not a concealed, but an open enemy. "Who is the liar," he asks, "but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is the Antichrist, who denieth the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22). Thus there is no pretence of Christianity whatever, even the least orthodox. The pope does not deny, — he affirms, — that Jesus is the Christ: be never pretended to be the Christ, but only His vicar. Antichrist is, according to the full meaning of the word, "one in the place of Christ," but not His vicar: he is himself the Christ, and denies that Jesus is; and so denieth the Father and the Son, — the Christian revelation in its whole extent. Thus he does not, in the common idea of this, sit in the temple of God at all; for in the Church he is not, even by profession. The papacy, for all these reasons, cannot be the "man of sin;" the pope is only one who exhibits certain similar features, and thus foreshadows the great apostate.

A comparison of the account of this beast with that of the "man of sin" described in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians 2:3-12, will lead to the conclusion that both passages describe the same person, and equally present the Antichrist foretold by the Apostle John in his epistle as going to appear at the end of the age (1 John 2:18). It is only in the Epistle of John that the Antichrist is referred to by name. There his character is wholly religious and he is presented as an heretical apostate that denies foundation truths as to Divine Persons in connection both with Judaism and Christianity. He denies that Jesus is the Christ — the expectation of the Jew; further, he denies the Father and the Son, the outstanding revelation of Christianity.

303 The Antichrist will be the head of the ecclesiastical apostasy. He "denieth the Father and the Son." He "denieth that Jesus is the Christ." He will be at the same time a civil head, although the first beast (Rev. 13:1-10) will be the one to whom the authority and throne of the dragon will be given. The Antichrist, whose seat appears to be in Judea, will be a kind of lieutenant of the beast. Herod might furnish us an example.

After this he enters on the subject of the apostasy, which must precede the day of which he had been writing. So he entreats them, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by their gathering together unto Him, of which He had written unto them in the previous letter (1 Thess. 4:14-17), not to be shaken in mind, or to be troubled by spirit (i.e. a pretended revelation by the Holy Ghost), by word or by letter as from Paul, that the day of the Lord was present. One learns how the hope of the rapture is a safeguard from the mistake into which they had fallen. But he does not rest contented with simply correcting it; he goes on to remind them, and thereby to instruct us, as to the characteristic features of the antichrist, who will be the soul of the apostasy on earth. There will be a man, an instrument of Satan, whom Paul here styles "the man of sin," "the son of perdition," and "the wicked," or rather "lawless one," who must be revealed ere the day of the Lord can come. Opposing and exalting himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped, he will sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God; and energized by Satan with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, he will effectually deceive those who perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. This is the antichrist of whom John writes in his epistle (1 John 2:22), and describes at length in the Revelation. (Rev. 13:11-17.) Of this same person Isaiah (Isa. 30:33), Daniel (Dan. 11:36-40), and Zechariah (Zech. 11:15-17) had previously written; and to him the Lord Jesus Christ referred. (John 5:43.) The prophets and the Lord viewed him in his relation to Israel; for he will be their king, and will be received by the ungodly part of them as their long-expected Messiah. By John and by Paul he is viewed in his relation to Christendom; for he will be concerned with both. As king of the Jews he will be reigning outside the bounds of the Latin Empire, that part of the old Roman Empire within which the imperial power will again for a time as such have sway.* But though outside the limits of the old Latin Empire, he will be the instrument for upholding over the Jews as a protection the sheltering power of the beast (Rev. 13:1-10), who will be the political head of the revived Roman Empire, and also its last ruler. In Christendom he will appear as the false prophet, the leader of the revolt against all that men have venerated or worshipped, setting up the image of the beast in the temple at Jerusalem for all to worship. (Dan. 9:27; Dan. 12:11; Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14.)

The Antichrist naturally comes to mind first. This title occurs in 1 John 2:22, where he is spoken of as the leader both of Jewish unbelief and of Christian apostasy. He not only denies that Jesus is the Christ (the long known form of Jewish unbelief), but he denies also the Father and the Son. In 2 Thess. 2:3-4, he comes before us as the man of sin, the son of perdition. In this passage we learn that he will sit in the temple of God (in Jerusalem, surely), and proclaim himself the supreme object of divine worship. To this lie, God will give up the great mass of the Jewish people who will have returned to their own land in unbelief, and also the vast body of lifeless professors of Christianity who have never received the truth in the love of it. This passage reminds us of Dan. 11:36, where the same great leader in wickedness is spoken of as "the king." Here we find him in a strictly Jewish connection. He is the accepted political head of the returned Jews, and an object of jealousy and hatred to the kings of the North and of the South, who both make war upon him. No one, we judge, can read Dan. 11:36-39 carefully, and question that the Antichrist is a Jew. Under the same title of "king" he appears also in Isaiah 30:33; Isaiah 57:9. In the first of these passages his doom is described; in the second, Israel is reproached by Jehovah for having any dealings with him. Turning again to the New Testament, he comes before us in Rev. 13:11 as a wild beast coming up out of the earth, having two horns like a lamb, but speaking as a dragon. Here is shown his connection with the Imperial power, of which we will speak presently. It is plainly the same wonder-working person as in 2 Thess. 2. A later passage in Revelation (Rev. 19:20) speaks of him as "the false prophet," which carries our minds back to Deut. 18:15, of which Scripture he pretends to be the fulfilment. Another plain allusion to the Antichrist may be found in Zech. 11:15-17 As the foolish shepherd, he devours the flock that the true Shepherd loved so well, and would fain have blessed. Having refused Him who came in His Father's name, Israel will receive him who comes in his own name to their hurt and ruin. There are many minor allusions to the same person in different parts of Scripture (e.g., Psalm 10:18 — "the man of the earth"), but those referred to above are the most important ones, and will suffice for our present purpose.

The name ἀντίχριστος signifies an opposer of Christ. It is used only by John in his first and second epistles, though those opposed to Christ are referred to by others under different names. It is important to distinguish between an antichrist and the antichrist. John says, "as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists;" whereas "he is the antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son." 1 John 2:18, 22. He is the consummation of the many antichrists. To deny Jesus Christ come in the flesh is the spirit or power of the antichrist, but it eventuates in a departure from the special revelation of Christianity: 'they went out from us.' 1 John 2:19; 1 John 4:3; 2 John 7. Now this clears the ground at once of much that has obscured the subject. For instance, many have concluded that Popery is the antichrist, and have searched no farther into the question, whereas the above passage refutes this conclusion, for Popery does not deny the Father and the Son; and, in Revelation 17, 18, Popery is pointed out as quite distinct from 'the false prophet,' which is another name for the antichrist. It is fully granted that Popery is anti-christian, and a Christ-dishonouring and soul-deceiving system; but where God has made a distinction we must also do so. Besides Popery there were and there are many antichrists, which, whatever their pretensions, are the enemies of Christ, opposers of the truth, and deceivers of man.

It should be noted that though Papal Rome is one of the worst of the antichrists, and the one that has had sway for the longest period; yet she is not what is called in scripture the Antichrist or Man of sin: she is rather the anti-church. He also is found in the Revelation as a beast, having two horns like a lamb, and speaking as a dragon; and also as the false prophet. Rev. 13:11; Rev. 20:10. See ANTICHRIST.