“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” 1 John 2:18.
The last hour refers to the return of the Lord Jesus, for the Christian it means that the rapture is imminent. For those who remain behind after the rapture; it means that the tribulation will begin soon and they will go through it.
Though written almost two thousand years ago, John says that it is, “the last hour”, he says so because even then Christians expected the Lord to return; so much so that many thought the Emperor Nero was the Antichrist.
Even today some teachers twist the Scriptures to mean that Nero was the Antichrist. This takes some doing, I might add. The point to be made though is that believers should be constantly aware that Christ’s return is imminent, and should live with that in mind.
John includes this last phrase, “even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour”, as a reason we can know that it is the last hour.
This is important; these antichrists are energized by Satan, the serpent of old, and their own lusts to pervert the Scriptures, specifically the gospel of Christ.
There is also a “spirit” of antichrist which will be covered in I John 4:3. The Apostle Paul speaks of these antichrists in Philippians 3 below.
“For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame – who set their mind on earthly things.” Philippians 3:18-19.
Here, Paul speaks of the Libertines, who were given over to every sensual indulgence, a philosophy that may have come out the teaching of the Epicureans; see Paul’s discourse on Mars Hill, Acts 17:16-34.
Though not Gnosticism, they were much like the Gnostics being refuted by the Apostle John in this letter, and they were certainly antichrist in their teaching.
The works of these antichrists has been very successful, not only in their having confused many folks with philosophies like the Libertines and the Gnostics; but also in having divided the church up into the clergy and the laity.
By the Middle Ages they had changed the church of Christ into a gigantic suffocating, torture and killing machine.
Read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, see if in any place Jesus commands us to put someone on the rack and stretch them until they accept Him as their savior, or to burn them at the stake if they question the church’s teachings.
Where does He tell us to put someone in a room and slowly fill it with lime; under what circumstances are we to hang someone on a dungeon wall and flog them to death or until they confess to heresy, then burn them at the stake?
Where does Christ command the church to torture and kill mainly Christians and Jews? The people who were most in terror of the church were godly men and women.
The people who set up the inquisition were antichrists, they were God hating atheists, they were opportunists, sadists, bullies, they had no concept of God nor did they care to gain any, they were earth dwellers seeking money, power and self-gratification.
There were many good Christian men and women in the Medieval Church preaching and teaching, giving comfort to the poor, nursing the sick, and feeding those who were hungry.
But it was a church permeated with evil people who consolidated their power, lived a libertine lifestyle, and did everything they could to discourage anything good to be done in the name of Christ.
Godless men point at this church today and say it is an example of Christianity, spite of the fact that it was men like them who defiled it.
What did Jesus command His apostles to do concerning the mission of the church? His very last words in the book of Matthew were these.
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18b-20.
These disciples from every nation were to be taught to, “observe all the things that I commanded you”. And what was the commandment of Christ?
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12.
“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” I John 3:23.
Not one word about burning at the stake, or any inconceivably cruel torture. Only present the gospel and let the individual decide what they want.
The Medieval Church was polluted by the antichrists; and they continue to this day to bring in their godless heresies.
“These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves; they are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’ These are murmurers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.” Jude 12-16.
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” I John 2:19.
These men started in the church, but they were never converted, and not having the Spirit they interpreted the Scriptures using their own worldly wisdom.
Being in grave error they could no longer stay with the true church, but desiring to be leaders themselves they launched out to gather a following of equally deceived individuals.
Having mixed the truth of the gospel with lies formulated within their own hearts, they now become leaders and teachers of death.
“But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” I John 2:20.
The anointing spoken of here is the Holy Spirit who dwells within the believer, as testified by other verses.
“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a deposit.” II Corinthians 1:21-22.
“Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” II Corinthians 5:5.
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30.
“However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ but we have the mind of Christ.” I Corinthians 2:6-16.
Just think of that, “…we have the mind of Christ”, the Christian is linked to God’s mind by the Holy Spirit. We learn incredible things through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, who, “…searches all things, yes, the deep things of God”, these things are learned when the “Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual”.
The more you want to learn about God, the more you have to study Scripture. It is here that the Spirit takes things found in the word of God and compares them with other passages, and by meditating on these things we gain a deeper understanding of God, things hidden from ages past.
Almost immediately, the Christian can know more than the wisest of worldly philosophers, in fact they can know more about the personality of God than the devil himself.
The Spirit will also warn us when we encounter the lies of the antichrists.
Yet, the majority of Christians today either do not consider the Holy Spirit at all, or they think He was given to them so they can feel euphoric or speak in tongues and do miracles; well and good, but God’s Spirit was not given to us for our amusement.
Nor is He to be pressed into the mold of our own preconceptions, He is the infinite God, well beyond the grasp of our imaginations.
The Apostle Paul speaks of his ministry to the church; the body of Christ, part of his ministry was to reveal a mystery which was hidden up to this point.
“…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:26-27.
“But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:16b.
“I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” I John 2:21.
The intent of this verse is not to teach the believers about the heresy of the Gnostics so much as to remind them of things that they are already aware of.
People forget and the Bible often tells the prophet or teacher to remind them of certain things, in this case it is the blasphemy of the Gnostics, but evil never sleeps and when righteous men put down one sacrilege, evil demonic forces bring in another.
Christians need to be reminded that they are in a continual fight.
The last phrase is somewhat confusing, “…and that no lie is of the truth”, another translation renders it, “…and that every liar is not of the truth”, that is to say that the teachings of these antichrists was as far from the truth of God’s word as a lie is from the truth.
“Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” I John 2:22-23.
In denying the resurrection of Christ and by teaching that deity cannot take on sinful flesh these Gnostics were denying that Jesus is the Christ.
When one denies the Son one does not have the Father either. Some people think that they do not need to go to the Son because He is just the son; in doing this they desecrate the sacrifice of Christ, something that God values highly, this is an offense to God.
In looking at Christ as just a son they denigrate His person and forget that He is the eternal God the Son. Such contempt for the Godhead does not save, it condemns.
Many Antichrists, 1 John 2:18b-23 Taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 11-26-11, updated on 5-27-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.