The Antichrist and Free Will

[Purple Knight]

The Antichrist and Free Will: What if he Doesn't Want the Job?

Question for debate: Does the antichrist have free will? Sub-question: If he does have free will, what if he doesn't want the job? What if, for whatever reason, he refuses to do what he has to do? Will another one be born until one accepts?

Is it possible for the antichrist to be good, if he chooses to be good?

Is the antichrist not a specific person, but a pool of potential candidates perhaps born around the right time?

[PinSeeker]

I appreciate your post about this.

Thank you.

However...

Yes, always a "however"...

...am I correct in thinking that you think that Satan will be permanently defeated at the time of Jesus' return at Armageddon?

Yes. I think you do, too, do you not?

If so, what about what the scripture tells us in Revelation that after the Thousand Years Satan will be let loose from the "abyss" and many "like the sands of the sea" will follow him against God's faithful people? THEN Satan will be destroyed and his influence gone forever. (Revelation 20:7-9)

I believe every word of Revelation 20, of course (as you do), but this question would take us into our well-documented disagreement regarding the nature of the Millennium, a disagreement that has not been resolved in two millennia. Maybe you think it deserving of yet another discussion, and if so, feel free to start another thread rather than hijacking this one. But I think you know full well that my assertion, along with Christians all the way back through Augustine and forward through John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and a great many who are with us even today, is that:

• The Millennium of Revelation 20 is not a literal 1000 years -- not one thousand 365-day periods -- but a much longer period of time that none of us knows the exact length of but is rather the fullness of God's time, in which He is saving all of Israel (by first bringing the fullness of the Gentiles in and then removing the partial hardening placed upon Israel (Romans 11:25-26). I know the disagreement full well, but this is entirely consistent with the correct understanding of Revelation 20:6 in particular:
  
  "Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years."
  
  Over the "thousand years" -- the number 1000 is used throughout the Bible to denote fullness and/or completeness -- people have been, are, and will experience the first resurrection, which is new birth by the Spirit (John 3:7-8, Ephesians 2:4-5, 1 Peter 1:3), and reign with Christ, who reigns not future only, but now. Revelation 20:6 speaks not merely of what will happen after the "thousand years" are concluded, but progressively over the course of the Millennium; it is what is progressively happening over and throughout the "thousand years." More and more people are being born again by the Spirit and reigning with Christ, which is to say they are no longer in Adam and dead in their sin, but in Christ and reigning in life through Him (Romans 5:12-17). Therefore, we are in the midst of the Millennium of Revelation 20.

And even in this, I will say, as I said before, that what we would be talking about is not salvific... in other words, not essential to salvation.

Grace and peace to you, onewithhim.