“Eschatology” is the theological word for the study of future events, or more specifically the “last things.” It comes from the Greek word “eschatos” which is found here in verse 18, and where it is translated “last” followed by the word “time.” Despite John’s use of “eschatos,” my message is not going to be eschatological in the sense it isn’t going to be about the future. Not this afternoon, and probably never, will I try to tell you that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Vladimir Putin, Barak Obama or Donald Trump is the Antichrist. We’re not going to discuss amillennialism or the pre-trib rapture. Today, I’m not going to describe the four horsemen of the Apocalypse or the Battle of Gog and Magog. Those messages will have their time and place, but it is not here and now.
What I am trying to do is teach and preach through the Book of First John. And even though our Apostle speaks of the “last time,” we notice that he’s not referring to the future. He specifically says that we are already in the “eschatos hora” – the last time.
And I personally think we have far more important things to do than peer off into a highly debated future. We live in today, not tomorrow. The only day we have is today; yesterday is gone, and who knows if we will have a tomorrow. Hebrews 3:13 exhorts me to exhort you “while it is called today” not to harden your hearts toward the things of God and our Christian responsibilities. And for you who aren’t Christians, “Behold, NOW is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation.” Today is the day for Christian watchfulness and service. That is John’s message.
In our last lesson I used the illustration that there are three bridges reaching from our hearts into Satan’s world. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” – verse 15. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Through the desires of the flesh and heart, Christians often leave the safety of God’s castle, crossing one of these three bridges, entering into the sin filled world system. John says, “Don’t go there. Don’t go down that road.” Ideally we should build barricades on those bridges to stop the flow of traffic back and forth between our souls and the world. But there are two things thwarting our efforts to protect our testimonies and our souls. The first is the world itself which is tearing down our barriers as quickly as we can erect them. And the second is an innumerable company of Sirens calling to us from the world’s side of the bridge.
I’m not referring to the police and fire department sirens. These should warn us to stay away from the world. I am referring to the sirens of Greek mythology. According to ancient stories, Sirens were dangerous, enchanting creatures who lured sailors to their deaths. They were traditionally depicted as half-women half-birds, symbolizing beauty and temptation. These Sirens are best known from two particular stories. As Jason and his Argonauts sailed past a certain island, the Sirens began singing, nearly dooming the voyage. But talented Orpheus, played his lyre so beautifully that he drowned out the Sirens’ music and kept the crew safe. Then in another story, Homer on his epic Odyssey, being forewarned, had his crew plug their ears with beeswax so they couldn’t hear the seductive singing. Then he ordered them to tie him to the ship’s mast. As they passed the island, and he heard the hypnotic singing, Odysseus begged his crew to release him, but they tied him even more tightly until they sailed safely beyond the temptation.
As we have seen, the Apostle John is telling us today to love not the world. He specifically warns us about the lusts of the flesh and eyes, and the dangers of the pride of life. Then we find that in his next breath he tells us about antichrists. These antichrists, were once among the saints and were a apart of us, but they were not really of us. “For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that there were not all of us.” They are liars, denying that Jesus is the Christ, and denying the deity of Christ. “He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” In his Second epistle, John tells us that antichrists deny even that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Despite referring to one specific Antichrist, John is not warning us today about a FUTURE Antichrist. His is not a message about eschatology – future times. This is a warning about today. And remember, he initially made these warnings two thousand years ago.
“Little children, it IS the last time.”
In referring to these “little children,” John is NOT confining his warning to the Christian nursery. But he does want to keep it simple enough for everyone to understand – young men and even aged fathers. Also, this repetition carries a bit of “verily, verily” with it. He is saying, “make no mistake everyone,” we are in the last time. We can hear the Siren sound of the antichrists, but ignore them, turn them off.
I don’t know how important this little nugget is; I don’t know if it is gold, silver or coal… But the word “time” in this verse is “hora,” and it eight times more often than “time” it is rendered “hour.” From our translation, we might conclude John is not talking about a specific era or epoch. But perhaps something else which may help us to understand this verse is that there is no definite article. This is not: “Little children, it is the absolute VERY last hour,” but rather simply “this is the last hour.” Again, this is about today, and about every today we might have until the Lord closes the book. John was living in the last hour, and if two thousand years ago he was in the last hour, then so are we.
Some experts explain this hour differently. Some talk about the hour of a dangerous transition. Some specifically mention that the days of Apostles were about over, and John was the last. Without that special early Christian leadership to guide them the “little children” were in danger. Christianity was being pulled into a period of theological turmoil, with heretics multiplying like mushrooms. There were Gnostics and Judaisers to go along with all the heathen religions and their priests. Some think the last hour refers to the end of Israel as a nation and the destruction of Jerusalem.
But in the shallowness of my mind, I can’t escape the more Eschatalogical meaning of “last time.” We are in an hour of Satan’s growing power and the increasing ascendancy of his world. There had been a few false messiahs before the Lord Jesus, but their numbers were and are multiplying. These are days when we see Satan’s world growing by leaps and bounds – politically, educationally, economially, technologically, and generally socially. But perhaps more dangerously, the world in these last hours is religiously more and more corrupt. The religious Sirens have their buildings throughout town, and they are filling the internet. The religious Sirens are entering into politics and filling their messages with pleasing social gospels. They periodically come to our doors, purveying their poisons. Their literature fills the shelves of the average “Bible book store.”
“Little children, it is the last time; and … ye have heard that ANTICHRIST shall come…”
All five of the Biblical usages of the word “antichrist” come from the pen of John. We have three of them in our text, then there is one in chapter 4 and another in Second John. Those who want to spend hours and hours talking about the antichrist don’t have a lot of ammunition for it. I John 4:3: “Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that SPIRIT of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” Notice that the spirit of antichrist is in the world – Satan’s diabolically controlled world. II John 7: “For many deceivers are entered into the WORLD, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” Only one of John’s references even comes close to talking about THE “antichrist.”
As I say, John is the only Biblical penman who uses the word “antichristos.” So how have these believers have been previously warned? “Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists.” It could be that we haven’t been invited to overhear the earlier warnings. However, John is probably referring to what the Lord Jesus said about “FALSE Christs” – “pseudochristos.” Jesus said in Matthew 24:24, in a different context: “There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” And He said in John 5:43 to the Jews, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”
In addition to these, there are other related scriptures. Had John been able to read Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians? “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” This “man of sin” and “son of perdition,” exalteth himself above all that is called God, pretending that he is God. This sounds like the antichrist. Had John been able to read Paul’s warning to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20? “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Also of your own selves… even from among the servants of the churches, would these antichrists come. Perhaps even the final antichrist will arise from within the leadership of Christendom.
The difference between false Christs and antichrists reminds us there many different Sirens on the bridge There are “PRETEND Christs” and there are “DENIERS of Christ,” or of various doctrines of Christ. False Christs include people like religious cult leaders to priests and vicars of Christ in mainstream religion. They either say they are Christs, or they permit others to say that or think that about them. They are vicars of Christ, or priests, who act on behalf of Christ. They oppose the Son of God by usurping the office of Christ. A great many of these false Christs deny that they are pretend Messiahs. But the way they lord over people’s souls and beliefs prove who they really are. They can come from any number of denominations, including from among the Baptists.
An entirely different Siren is the antichrist. This heretic doesn’t PRETEND to be Christ, he DENIES Christ; he is a more overt enemy of Christ. The false Christ may build himself up on the Lord Jesus. The antichrist tears down the things of the Lord. Sometimes the antichrist denies that JESUS is the Christ, verse 22. And sometimes he denies the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. He may be a liberal Protestant who rejects the deity of Christ or His Virgin Birth, whittling away at other essential Biblical doctrines. John may have been thinking of specific Jews who hated and attacked the Person of Jesus. He might be a Mormon who puts Jesus of Nazareth on the same level as Lucifer. Muslims have their antichrists as do other world religions.
Please turn to chapter 4: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” Remember that John is warning us about the dangers that currently exist in Satan’s world-system. He could be speaking of the modern homosexual movement, which carries the spirit of antichrist. He could spend time discussing the modern educational system and its attempt at christocide. The doctrines of evolution, which have infiltrated nearly every aspect of modern life, is antichrist. He could certainly refer to current day Christianity which is more a part of the world than it is of the kingdom of heaven. He could have been pointing to churches filled more with philosophy or psychology than theology. He could have been referring to religious entertainment centers than true evangelistic centers.
“Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists.” When John says, “antichrist shall come,” he differentiates that particular individual from the “many antichrists.” There will be an Antichrist in the last days, just as there will be a particularly influential false prophet. But John skips over him in the light of the current “many antichrists” and the problems Christianity faces today. You and I, our church and Biblical truth in general have far more to fear at this moment from the spirit of antichirst than we have from the coming Antichrist – the Beast.
John is telling us to fear the Sirens of the antichrists of today.