The Bible teaches that there will be, or currently is, an Antichrist figure who will come, or has come, and attempt to thwart the very purpose of God in a climaxing form. When the reader reads passages from the book of Daniel, II Thessalonians, and Revelation they are confronted with this shadowy figure. I grew up, and was even trained in a 
tradition that maintains that the Antichrist is indeed a singular person who will show up during the seven year period known as ‘Jacob’s Trouble’ or the ‘Great Tribulation.’ My former tradition teaches that this personage will rise up and provide world peace, but only for the first three and a half years of the Tribulation. Mid-point through the Tribulation this Antichrist personage will reveal his true character, his devil-possessed character, and declare himself God; to be worshiped in Nebuchadnezzarian fashion. During the last three and a half years of the Tribulation this Antichrist will wreak all sorts of pain and torture upon the world; that is if the world doesn’t bow down and worship him as God.
I have since moved away from the above tradition of interpretation, and believe that the Antichrist, while real and personal, does not necessarily have to be a single figure, nor does he have to fit into the ‘timeline’ of a purported seven year period known as the Great Tribulation. I believe, along with Richard Bauckham, that a proper reading of the book of Revelation leads us to believe that the ‘power of the Beast’, which is the power of the Antichrist, has been pervasive and present ever since the ascension of Jesus Christ; that the book of Revelation’s historical referent, when referring to his power and even personage, was the Roman Empire, and Nero as her emperor. This doesn’t mean that there cannot be multiple referents in mind, in regard to John’s apocalypse, but it does mean that the power of the Beast and the Antichrist have been present throughout all of the world empires that would seek to dominate the world over through military might and economic dominance built upon the backs of slave labor and human trafficking. What my view does entail is that the world empires are desperately evil and wicked above all else; no matter what period of world history we find ourselves in. What is interesting about our period in history is that we now live in a globalized situation never known before; mostly because of the techno-age we have come to inhabit. At some point in history there will be a final generation; the hard part is knowing if we are it or not. Indeed, this really isn’t the Christian’s aim, per se; but Jesus did say that we should be watching, and the Apostle Paul said that this time of orgasmic irruption should not take the sons and daughters of the light as if a thief in a night had come (I Thess 5). I believe all of the conditions for Christ’s second coming have already obtained. This is not to say that there cannot be a literal Antichrist figure who steps up, and attempts to have the whole globe worship him as God. But it is to say that we already have conglomerates of world leaders who already fit that bill; we already have had and continue to have Great Tribulation the world over, of the sort that the Scriptures indicate will be indicative at the parousia of Jesus Christ.
I write all of the above, really, to get to an early pre-Nicene church father, Irenaeus, to see what he thinks about the Antichrist. The interesting thing about Irenaeus was that he is reported to be the disciple of Polycarp, and Polycarp was the disciple of the Apostle John (and also, in the traditional account, for some: the author of the book of Revelation). Irenaeus was what was known as a chialist, today we would call that a ‘premillennialist.’ His chialism was different than what we typically understand as premillennialism today; and his reasoning for it had more to do with his debates with the Gnostics. Here is what he thought about a personal Antichrist:
In this age, some walk towards the light, and unite themselves with God by faith. Others, however, avoid the light, separating themselves from God. Therefore at the end of the age, the Word of God comes preparing a suitable dwelling place for both sets of people. For those who are truly in the light, He gives an abode where they can enjoy the light’s blessings, and the good things the light contains. For those who are in the darkness, by contrast, He gives an abode where they must share in the tribulations of darkness. Thus He says that those standing on His right hand are summoned into the heavenly kingdom, whereas those on His left hand He will send away into everlasting fire, since they have freely abandoned all that is good (Matt. 25:34, 41).
This is why Paul says: “Because they did not receive the love of God that they might be saved, therefore God shall also send upon them the power of error, that they may believe a lie, so that all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but consented to unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:10-12). For Antichrist will come, and by his own agency he will concentrate in himself the whole human enterprise of rejecting God. Antichrist will carry out whatever he does by his own will and choice, sitting in the very temple of God, so that those deceived by him will adore him as the Messiah. On this account, he will justly be cast into the lake of fire.
By His foreknowledge, God foresees this human choice of sin, and therefore at just the right time, He sends to sinners such a man as Antichrist, “that they may believe a lie, so that all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but consented to unrighteousness.”[1]
We see things in the world today, particularly in the strange times we are currently inhabiting, that could make some to think that we are right in the very midst of a moment where a shadowy Antichrist could easily rise up and bring ‘salvation’ to this world order. It isn’t hard, not at all, to imagine a global delusion whereby people could be led into a state of panic and fear, of the sort that they would be willing to jump off a cliff if the ‘leadership’ told them to. No matter what moment we’re in, the Bible is clear that there will be, or maybe even is now, an Antichrist who will deceive the people, with satanic power, and attempt to ultimately rise up against the true and living God with all of his serpentinish might. Irenaeus, believed, clearly, that this intensification of evil would rise up at just the right, and ordained moment, leading the world to one last death-dance as the devil himself seeks to thwart the purposes of God’s Kingdom in Christ. Maranatha
[1] St. Irenaeus cited by Nick Needham, Daily Readings: The Early Church Fathers (Scotland, UK: Christian Focus Publications, 2017), February 28th.