The identity of the Antichrist

Recently I have had some people asking me about the identity of the Antichrist. It seems that some believe a certain presidential candidate to be the one. In the next couple of paragraphs I hope to explain what I think the Biblical stance on this issue to be. But first let us make the assumption that the Antichrist is known to us. People tend to view this as very frightful and something we must fight against. I am not sure that is the proper conclusion to draw. I have three reasons why. 1. To assume we know the identity of the Antichrist is to assume more than the Bible tells us. I am certain that if God believed that we needed to know who the Antichrist is he would have put it plainly in Scripture. There is a reason for the confusing nature of Daniel and Revelation. We are not meant to know certain things. 2. If the Antichrist is here then to be blunt, there is nothing we can do to stop his rise to power because it is ordained by God. 3. If the Antichrist is here we should rejoice in knowing that very soon we are going to be with Christ.
However, these things are not of chief importance. The book of revelation is not simply a revelation of end times. It is a revelation of Christ in the end times. It is a display of His power in the worst time in world history. It is a glorious revelation of his absolute sovereignty over the events of men and Satan. Nothing happens without His first giving permission for it to take place or his ordaining it to happen. It shows how futile it is for Satan and all who follow him, to attempt to in any way "overthrow" God. One such way He shows this futility is by speaking a single word at the battle of Armageddon and all those who oppose Christ are destroyed. So my point is this. If we only read books such as Daniel and Revelation in an attempt to discover a secret timeline to the final days of this planet, we are reading them for the wrong reason. Those books are in the Bible for the same reason as any other book. They exist to reveal to us who God is. In light of that I would say that if we are spending more time trying to determine who the Antichrist is than who the real Christ is we may be in real danger of not recognizing either. The Bible was meant to show us God in all His glory and then to instruct us how to live in light of such a revelation. Let us live to that end. That we may know Christ and make Him known. When the earth fades and the enemy is vanquished and we are standing before God what will be important to know? The identity of the Antichrist or the identity of the real Christ?
DAW