Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
(1 John 2:22). Clearly, there have been many people, both in the early age of Christianity and in later times, who have fit this description. John also noted that “now many antichrists have come” (1 John 2:18, see also 4:3). His writings were not intended to refer to a particular individual. However, the “beast” does have specific references—not to individuals but to a series of rulers who comprised the Umayyad dynasty, which successfully subverted the larger part of Islam, and which came to power 666 years after the birth of Jesus. The Baha’i writing contain detailed explanations of the meaning of many of the verses in the Book of Revelation, for this is the age in which the meanings that were “sealed up” are unsealed.
