The opponent of Christ
March 27, 2022
Commentary
John is talking about the last days, the time between Christ’s first and second comings. During this time antichrists (false teachers who pretend to be Christians) will appear. Then finally, just before the world ends, one great Antichrist will arise (Rev. 3:19-20; 20:10). We meet the concept of Antichrist. Antichrist is a word which occurs only in John’s letters in the New Testament. Antichrist can mean either the opponent of Christ or the one who seeks to put himself in the place of Christ. There were false teachers in the church in John’s day and there are false teachers in the church today. John warns the believers that they are in a last-hour-kind-of-a-time. The last hour began in his day and has been growing in intensity ever since (v. 18). The “spirit of Antichrist” is in the world today. It will eventually lead to the appearance of a “satanic superman” whom the Bible calls “Antichrist“. John wanted his readers to be on guard against antichrists and know how to recognize them.
An Antichrist is a Separatist (v. 19) – They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. An Antichrist is a Liar (v. 22) – He is a liar and denies that Jesus is the Christ. An Antichrist is a Heretic (v. 22) – He denies the Father and the Son. Not everyone who belongs to a church is necessarily a member of the family of God. It is possible to be close to an experience of salvation and yet not be a child of God.
Application
The rapture of the Church will be the next event on God’s prophetic calendar. My job is to share His Word while there is yet time.
1 John 2:18– 22 (NET)
18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do not belong to us.
20 Nevertheless you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you that you do not know the truth, but that you do know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ ? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son.