Exploring 1 John: The Spirit of the Antichrist
1 John 2:18-19 - The hour is late and He is coming soon. So is the adversary.
”Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.“
1 John 2:18-19 NASB1995
John tells his church that it is the last hour. We don’t know when the last hour will occur, but Jesus told us that it could happen any time after His ascension. John is warning the believers that [the] Antichrist is coming and many Antichrists have appeared. Interestingly, the use of this specific term is only found in 1 John and 2 John!
Let’s do a word study: Antichrist comes from the Greek word ἀντίχριστος or antíchristos and it simply means the adversary of the Messiah. Strong’s G500 is used only five times in four places in the New Testament (as noted only in 1 John and 2 John). The adversary of the Messiah is called many things in other references in both the Old and New Testaments. Speculation as to who the ultimate Antichrist will be runs rampant in various denominations. Some Protestants like Luther have pointed at various Popes, others have cited totalitarian dictators like Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin as potential Antichrists. I think Enduring Word has a good commentary on what John is describing (I excerpted two sections of the commentary for this two-verse passage (links go to the Blue Letter Bible):
Little children, it is the last hour: John lived in the constant expectancy of Jesus’ return, regarding his time as the last hour. This is an expectancy that we should also have, knowing that the Lord’s return can come at any time.
Seeing the nature of our times and what the Bible says about the end times, we should regard ourselves as being in the last few minutes.
The Antichrist is coming: John here refers to an individual who has captured the imagination of many people, including those who don’t even know the Bible. Many are ignorant about this person called the Antichrist, except what they have learned from movies like The Omen.
The name Antichrist is important to understand. The prefix anti can mean “the opposite of” or “instead of.” The Antichrist is the “opposite Jesus”; he is the “instead of” Jesus.
Most people have focused on the idea of the “opposite Jesus.” This has made them think that the Antichrist will appear as a supremely evil person. They think that as much as Jesus went around doing good, the Antichrist will go around doing bad. As much as Jesus’ character and personality was beautiful and attractive, the Antichrist’s character and personality will be ugly and repulsive. As much as Jesus spoke only truth, the Antichrist will speak only lies. This emphasizes the idea of the “opposite Jesus” too much. The Antichrist will instead be more of an “instead of Jesus.” He will look wonderful, be charming and successful. He will be the ultimate winner, and appear as an angel of light.
Some have wondered if this Antichrist will be an individual or a political system. This is really a small distinction, because it will in a sense be both a person and a political system. To a large extent, a man does represent and personify an entire government or system; when we think of Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, the figures of Hitler as an individual and Nazi Germany as a state are virtually the same. The Antichrist is an individual, but he will also be associated with a powerful government.
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“The word ‘antichrist’ occurs in the Bible only in the letters of John and that only five times in four verses (1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3; 2 John 1:7); but though the word is infrequent the idea of antichrist is frequent and is an important one.” (James Montgomery Boice)
This Antichrist goes by many titles:
He is the little horn in Daniel 7:8.
He is the king of fierce countenance in Daniel 8:23.
He is the Prince that shall come in Daniel 9:26.
He is the willful king in Daniel 11:36-45.
He is the one who comes in his own name in John 5:43.
He is the son of perdition, the man of sin, and the lawless one in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and 2:8.
Essentially, the Antichrist is a world dictator who leads humanity in what seems to be a golden age, until he shows his true colors – and the judgment of God is poured out on him and his empire immediately before the return of Jesus.
We should take notice, because the world stage is set for a political and economic “superman” to arise, a single political leader to organize a world-dominating confederation of nations. National leaders speak of a new world order, but no one has been able to really define it, much less lead it. Yet this leader is coming.
This Antichrist will have surrounding him the kind of personality cult we are conditioned to accept today. Not only in America do we practice a sick worship of celebrities, but around the world, nations of hundreds of millions of people have been induced to worship a person – like Lenin, Stalin, or Mao. This shows us just how strong a personality cult can be when the government gets behind it wholeheartedly. All these developments should make us understand that the Antichrist is ready to be revealed when the moment is right.
I think this is a good distinction in this commentary that the Antichrist is not necessarily the complete opposite of Jesus, but may present himself as “instead of Jesus”. In our increasingly skeptical and atheistic society, a powerful and charismatic individual who announces himself as a better, realistic and much more kind and progressive alternative to those old hokey religions will win many hearts. He will be the leader that will “take us into the future”. I think he will talk about ultimately believing in science and showing tolerance and not being judgmental about lifestyle choices.
Note also in this passage that John refers to the many antichrists (with a little “a”) that have appeared and that these false teachers have come from the believers but went out from them. He is primarily addressing the false message of Gnosticism but this is applicable to so many sects and cults and offshoots of the Gospel message and can even now be applied to those mainstream denominations that have abandoned the truth of the Bible for a nominally religious collective approach to social justice goals. I found these cautionary and sobering commentary excerpts on Precept Austin written by the creator of that website, Bruce Hurt (links go to Precept Austin or Biblia):
It is amazing that the church is less than a century old and John could identify many antichrists on the scene, presumably infiltrating the ranks of the true Body of Christ. The Prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2-note) knew what was at stake in this spiritual war for souls and sought to gain an advantage by quickly dispatching his evil henchmen to sow doubt and confusion in the Body of Christ about the true nature of Jesus Christ. And remember that this was not just a first century problem but one that would rear its ugly serpentine head throughout the age of the Church. If one distills the cults down to their most basic false teaching, one finds that it almost always involves an attack of the truth of Jesus, especially His mysterious nature as fully God and fully Man.
As a corollary truth, remember that just because someone uses the Name "Jesus" does not mean that they are referring to the authentic Jesus Christ, for in fact they are preaching "another Jesus" whom Paul did not preach and thus a different Gospel, (cp 2Cor 11:4), which is really not a Gospel at all! (cp Gal 1:8-9).
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If the great Deceiver Satan can dupe people into placing their faith in a false "Jesus," then he has ensnared them and their soul is in great jeopardy if they never come to their senses and escape his snare (2Ti 2:24-25-note). If they die with the name "Jesus" on their lips and He is not the Biblical Jesus, they are destined to spend eternity out of the presence of God's glory in a place of utter darkness, horrible suffering ("Lake of fire") where their worm does not die! (see 2Thes 1:7-9) Those who believed in another Jesus, will surely be in those that the real Jesus addresses in Mt 7:21-23-note when He declares to them to depart from Him, for He never knew (was in new covenant union with) them. I personally cannot image the horror of this day for these individuals and it greatly motivates me to share the true Gospel and true Jesus Christ, while today is still called today and they still have a chance to reject the lie and receive the Way, the Truth and the Life, so that they might have eternal access to the Father through His Son, Christ Jesus.
The urgency surrounding this really hits home. People are dropping around us like hell-bound flies in their rush to get away from the truth of God’s Word and the Gospel. Many of the little antichrists themselves come from churches. Do we line up with the sheep or the goats?
My next devotional examines 1 John 2:20-23 - Anointing and identifying the spirit of the Antichrist.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Please help me discern those little antichrists who are part of our church community. Please prepare me during this time as the Antichrist will lure people away from belief. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 4/20/2024 to review the lexicon for Antichrist.
Enduring Word commentary by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Precept Austin was accessed on 4/20/2024 to review commentaries for 1 John 2:18-19.