Charis

from There Were Two Trees in the Garden by Joyner

The Revelation was not given to John only to unfold a coming sequence of events- it was given as a “Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:1)…

In John’s vision, there is also a great deal about the anti-Christ, or “the man of sin”. This man of sin is the personification of the sin of man. This is our basic nature until we are changed in Christ. This is the mature fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The root and power of the man of sin is the serpent; the beat had to be fully revealed in man- whatever is sown must also be reaped. In this beast we see ourselves without Christ. By this revelation we begin to perceive the depth of the unfathomable grace and mercy of God and our profound need to be reborn in Christ.

John further explains: “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six” (Rev 13:18 ) The number is not taken arbitrarily. Because man was created on the sixth day, the number six is often used symbolically in the Scriptures as the number of man. This number is further identification of the spirit of the beast, which is the spirit of fallen man. In verse 11 we see that this beast “comes up out of the earth”. This beast is the result of the seed of Cain having been a “tiller of the ground”, or earthly-minded. The beast is the embodiment of religion that originates in the mind of man. It comes up out of the earth in contrast to Christ who comes down out of heaven…

If we are trusting in our knowledge of good and evil to discern the beast, we will easily be deceived. The nature of the beast is rooted just as much in the “good” that is in man as it is in the evil. Satan comes as an “angel of light” or messenger of truth, because good has always been more deceptive than evil. It was not the evil nature of the Tree of Knowledge that deceived Eve; it was the good. The “good” of the Tree of Knowledge kills just as certainly as the evil.

So, you see how the beast is “everyman” and “everyman” has a war within between Christ and antichrist?

1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth (3670) that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth (3670) not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

One of the definitions for spirit/ pneuma is “the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of any one”
And the word translated “confesseth”
Its not a mere verbal assent as to Jesus identity as the Son of God. Even the demons gave mere verbal assent to that! It is coming into agreement with the Son in DEED.
Confess= 3670 homologeo: from homo- together; logeo-Word
And “in the flesh”. WHOSE flesh? I think it means MY flesh, your flesh, “everyman’s” flesh!

Here is another passage the Lord gave to me recently:
1JN 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. [19] They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

I discern the Lord telling me (for my marriage) that the antichrist spirit within each one of us us will GO OUT from among us because they do not belong to us! (The antichrist being that beastly sinful “disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul”)

Scripture is not dead words to a church 2000 years ago.
Its alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword.
Ro 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.