Christ in the Flesh — The Prophetic Certainty and the Great Denial

“Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist.” — 1 John 4:3

By Greg Bentley

The most exact prophecy in all of Scripture concerning the coming of the Messiah in the flesh is found in Daniel 9:24–27. This seventy-week prophecy, given more than five centuries before Christ, declared not only the purpose of His coming but the precise time of His appearance. From the decree “to restore and to build Jerusalem” (Daniel 9:25)—issued by Artaxerxes I in 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:7-26)—the prophetic clock began to tick.

Applying the biblical year-day principle  given to us in Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6, the first sixty-nine weeks—483 years—brought us to 27 A.D., the very year Jesus was baptized and anointed by the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21-23; Acts 10:38). At that moment “Messiah the Prince” appeared, fulfilling prophecy with perfect precision. Miraculously and right on cue, Jesus was offered up as the final sacrifice and confirmed the covent in His blood right in the middle of the 70th week less than four years later.

Yet, tragically, the religious leaders of Israel—Pharisees, scribes, and priests—rejected the most unmistakable prophecy of the Old Testament. Their unbelief was not ignorance, but pure rebellion. While prophecy declared the Messiah’s arrival, they denied that Christ had come in the flesh. The Apostle John warned that such denial bears “the spirit of antichrist” (1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7).

The Multitude in Anticipation
At the same time, many faithful souls were watching the prophetic timeline and living in eager expectation. The Gospel of Luke records, “And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not” (Luke 3:15). They had studied the writings of Daniel, and as the 69th week drew to a close, thousands gathered to hear John the Baptist, believing the time of Messiah was at hand.

These were the humble, believing remnant who trusted the prophets and walked by faith, not by sight. When Jesus appeared, they recognized Him as the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy and rejoiced in the Word made flesh. “…We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ” (John 1:41).

The purpose of prophecy has always been to build faith, not speculation. “Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he” (John 13:19). Fulfilled prophecy strengthened the faith of the first-century believers, making them unshakable before the flames of Nero and the sword of Rome. They knew whom they had believed. Their confidence rested not in signs or politics but in the sure Word of prophecy—Christ come in the flesh, exactly as foretold.

The Spirit of Antichrist in Modern Form
In our generation, the same denial has re-emerged through Jesuit Futurism, a 16th-century invention designed to conceal the true identity of the “little horn” spoken of by Daniel (Daniel 7:8, 7:25) and identified by the Reformers as the Roman Papacy. This prophetic system postponed the fulfillment of Daniel’s 70th week to a distant future and reassigned Christ’s work to a future “Antichrist,” thereby removing prophetic scrutiny from Rome.

For nearly five hundred years, the Protestant world stood united in its testimony. The confessions and catechisms of nearly every denomination—Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist—openly identified the Papacy as the Antichrist foretold in Scripture.

“He shall speak great words against the Most High… and shall wear out the saints of the Most High.” — Daniel 7:25 “That man of sin… who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God.” — 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 “The beast… full of names of blasphemy.” — Revelation 17:3

But through the cunning of Jesuit scholarship and the worldly success of modern Dispensationalism, that historic understanding has been nearly erased. Today, millions of evangelicals have fallen into the snare of Christian Zionism, looking to the fleshly state of Israel for prophetic fulfillment and political hope. Yet that very nation exists in open denial that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh—the same denial John warned of as antichrist.

A Sobering Parallel
Just as the Pharisees refused to acknowledge the fulfillment of Daniel’s seventy weeks, modern Christians have repeated the error, placing their hope in an earthly Jerusalem rather than the heavenly one (Hebrews 12:22). They await a future Messiah to rule from a physical throne, while rejecting the truth that Christ already reigns—having confirmed the covenant (Daniel 9:27), made atonement for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9:24).

To deny the finished work of Christ is to rob Him of His glory, and God has declared, “My glory will I not give to another” (Isaiah 42:8). To follow a false eschatology that glorifies earthly powers and excuses Rome is to walk in fellowship with the same spirit of deception that John called antichrist.

A Call to Come Out and Stand Fast
The Word of God commands, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17). True believers must reject every doctrine that denies the prophetic fulfillment of Christ’s coming in the flesh. The Messiah has come; the covenant has been confirmed; the sacrifice once for all has been made.

As the early believers’ faith was fortified through fulfilled prophecy, so must ours be today. We must not be led away by false doctrines of Rome that assign the work of Christ to the Antichrist. The same Word that sustained the saints under Nero and later durring the Catholic inquisition, now calls us to stand firm amid the rising trial of our age.

Let our faith be affirmed and fortified. Let us proclaim with boldness and certainty: “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh—just as God promised—and to Him alone belongs the glory.”

For further reading at the Berean Beacon
The Catholic Origins Of Protestant Eschatology
The Roots of Apostasy
Premillennialism Leads To Church Impotence