Although I do agree with your premise that the hysteria of modern times is not the way to go, especially when speculating who exactly is the Antichrist. Please allow me to start with the original Greek which was used to define "antichristos" - "as either one who puts himself in the place of, or the enemy (opponent) of the Messiah." - https://biblehub.com/greek/500.htm

One doesn't have to read many essays on Medium to realize that, not only since Jesus first started his ministry, but to this very modern era, the Gospel, God, Jesus, and the Bible, all have had and do have many opponents and even people who exalt themselves above God.

Keeping Strong's definition in mind, the Antichrist in John's book of Revelations is not the "typical" swarm of antichrists John warned about in his letter 1 John 2:19.

I do disagree with your assessment that John was describing churches splitting up. For one, the apostles considered that there existed only one true church - the Jewish Leaders referred to back then as the "Jesus Sect." Yes there were many false teachers, prophets , and apostles. However, today's menagerie of denominations, though having similarities in results, the divisions in the divisions are an altogether disparate phenomenon.

I love John's prologues, but I do not understand how you differentiate between the Docetists and the Ebionites, and giving preference to one or the other... Anyways, in my opinion, you miss the mark by dissecting the phrase, "the spirit of the antichrist," which spirit, as I have mentioned, is found in abundance on Medium, that is those opposing Jesus, God, and the Bible.

Based on what I have written here and what I read in your essay, you have not distinguished when John is talking about antichrists - lowercase "a" - and THE Antichrist - uppercase "A."

As for your take in your either or choice "1):" maybe you should compare John's use of "devil" and Jesus' calling Peter satan in Matthew 16:23. Further, I Googled "who is the beast of Revelation" and found a reasoning that adheres to Strong's definition of "antichrist." See, https://www.gotquestions.org/beast-of-Revelation.html -

"We believe that the beast in Revelation is the Antichrist, the one who will “oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). He is also called “the man of lawlessness” and “the man doomed to destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

Thus, my educated opinion is also that the Beast is one and the same as the Antichrist.

In your discussion of the "come and gone" Antichrist you used the word "type," and as I understand the word, it reflects the same meaning as MerriamWebster.com "4a: a person or thing (as in the Old Testament) believed to foreshadow another (as in the New Testament)." Much the same as allegory, all the numbers and beasts are a representation of something else, that is, for example, not literally a lion, nor a bear, nor a leopard...

In the same way, 666 represents not a person, but a governing system or, as my understanding suggests, the number of Man - each "6" representing what characterizes Man's atheistic quest to replace God with Man's own trinity. (Six is the number of Man, because God created Mankind on the sixth day.)

My studied opinion is that the sixes are representative of Man's technology, his monetary system, and a desire to prevail over the whole world.

The story is as old as the Biblical record of the Tower of Babel (another type from the Old Testament).

Finally, the last hour or the end times began when Jesus ascended to heaven or maybe even at His birth in Bethlehem. He warned his disciples that the end would come as a thief in the night and at an hour only God the Father would determine. He told them to keep watch, referencing, for one, Noah's Flood as a type. The letters of the New Testament warned to" keep a weather eye" for that very reason, and it is to be the attitude all Bible Believing Christians are to maintain from then to now:

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. - 2 Peter 3:8-10, NIV.

P.S. - Here's a little tidbit I discovered, knowing that prophecies can jump around the calendar a bit as is their eternal nature and so, too, do the message: Revelations 12 is about the virgin, Mary, the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, and Mary and Joseph's flight into Egypt.