Podcast: 1 John: Antichrist!

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Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 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 it might become plain that they all are not of us. . . . Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
-1 John 2:18-19, 22

Welcome to the Christian Pilgrimage Podcast; I’m your host, Paul Lytle. You heard it right. Today’s episode is entitled, “Antichrist!”

We’re going to go about this one a little differently. John, in this section, is alternating between instruction about the antichrist and antichrists, and contrasting them with the faithful Christians within the Church. Now, this is a bit too much for us to tackle in our short episode today, so we’re going to handle the verses this time about the antichrists, and next time, God willing, we’ll look at the faithful.

This is a huge topic. We always see the antichrist in those big Christian apocalyptic movies and books, even if they seem a little ridiculous. He’s super charismatic and charms everyone with cheesy dialogue, and before long, oops, he’s taken over the world and killing Christians. No one really cares, of course, because he’s handsome, but so it goes. This word, antichrist, only appears in John’s epistles, but it is a word that has permeated our culture.

I don’t think a year goes by when some Christian group doesn’t stand up and say that some political leader is the antichrist, and they’re going to be raptured up pretty soon now. I am not one of these people. Frankly, I think most of their picks are pretty silly and their understanding of the end times probably a bit off. I heard of one guy in my childhood church who said that Reagan was the antichrist. The reason he thought this was because there are six letters in each of Reagan’s three names – Ronald Wilson Reagan. 666. Obviously, Reagan didn’t turn out to the antichrist.

But John here is telling us to watch out for that. Now, we don’t need to do it stupidly, going on talk shows and calling in radio programs to make fools of ourselves and Christ, but we need to watch out. And in addition, we need to watch out for antichrists – plural. Let’s examine how these two relate.

John defines antichrists as those who lie and deny Jesus is the Christ. They will often come out of the church, but were never true believers. And there will be many. We should remember that we’ve been in the last days since Jesus ascended into heaven, and antichrists will permeate the last days.

There are a lot today. Some of them preach in supposedly Christian churches.

I think we’ve really missed the boat on this one. Evangelical Christians are so busy sometimes looking for THE antichrist that they fail to see the little ones. We have so many religious leaders who either deny or don’t even understand the Gospel. We have people saying that Jesus died so that we can be rich. We have people saying that Jesus died to end imperialism. We have people saying that Christianity is all about helping the poor, not as much trusting the Blood of Christ for forgiveness for our sins. We have people telling you that you have to be super-holy, or God will be mad at you.

These are antichrists, who have read the truth of the Bible, the truth of Jesus, but deny it. We forget to look for these guys, and so Christians are taken in under their false theologies. Evangelicals actually embrace these people as though they were brothers. If you want proof, look at a list of the biggest churches in America. At the very top is a church that does not preach the Gospel, but instead talks about getting promotions, getting rich, and having a wonderful life. That is a lie about who Christ is and what He accomplished. Look at the list of most influential preachers. You will find names on there of people who twist God’s word so that it seems like the Bible is about finding purpose rather than telling us about Jesus.

It is astonishing and frightening to me how many wolves we have in the churches today pretending to be shepherds. And the people in those churches will come up with the wildest excuses for them. They don’t want to have any conflict in the church, and they see the biblical Christians who point out the wolves as people making waves. Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Hold fast to the Gospel that saved you. Hold on to it for dear life. There is nothing that should be more important than Christ. There is no compromise that is worthwhile if you are giving up something of Him. I don’t care how popular a preacher or movement is – if it isn’t Gospel-centered and Christ-focused, then it is of Satan. It exists under the spirit of the antichrist.

We know these people because, while they claimed to be Christian, they separated themselves from the truth of the Gospel. They went out from sound doctrine. By walking away from the Gospel, they prove that they never believed it. This verse is often used to prove the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints, and rightfully so. If you have come to an understanding of your sin and have been saved by Jesus, there isn’t anything that could pry you back. It is the strength of Jesus that saves us, and the effort of the Spirit to keep us until the Day of Judgment. You cannot encounter God in this way and not be forever changed. He makes sure of that. “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” If you have been saved, then you have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved. You will sin, yes, but you will not fall away. And those who walk away from this faith probably only do so because they never had it in the first place.

Finally, let’s look at the antichrist. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter announced that we were in the Last Days. We are still in the Last Days, and it is a mercy to all those who are unsaved that Christ has not yet come. He will come, amen, but it is a mercy that He has not yet.

As we are in the Last Days, we must understand that the antichrist is coming. While the word itself is peculiar to John, his concept here seems to be connected with other writers, such as Paul’s in 2 Thessalonians 2:4-5:

For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

We’re going to talk more about this antichrist in episodes to come, but there does seem to be coming a man or organization that will seek to draw people away from God and toward himself. And it looks like he will be largely successful. At least until our Lord returns.

I say that it could be an organization specifically because of a tradition amongst some of the Reformers that the antichrist is not one man, but rather the office of the Pope. As much as I love and respect my Roman Catholic friends, the Pope does not teach the Gospel, but instead denies it for a works-based salvation that is contrary to Scripture. He denies the finished work of Christ on the Cross, but rather claims that Christ must be re-crucified in the Eucharist, and that His death can only get us so far. For the rest, it must be achieved by our own righteousness. And if that doesn’t work, then we will spend time in purgatory to pay for our sins. I don’t know if the Pope is THE antichrist, but he does teach a false gospel, and we should be aware of that.

Christ teaches us something else, and those who deny His Gospel and teach another are anti-Christ. The Bible is clear that we cannot earn our own way to Heaven. We cannot repay all the wrong we’ve done by a little while in purgatory. The wages of sin is death, not a temporary punishment. We all deserve death for our rebellion and offense against God. We all deserve Hell for the evil we have thought, said, and done.

The Gospel teaches us that Jesus died in our place so that we could be reconciled with the Father. He lived the life we could not live, but still died, even though He did not deserve it. In that death, He took the punishment for our sins. If we repent and believe in Him, we will be justified, forgiven of our sins. He clothes us in His righteousness so we will be found innocent on the Day of Judgment.

As we’ll see next time, if you know this Gospel, you ultimately do not have to fear antichrists. Let us watch for them, speak against them, and teach people the truth of the love of God. But for yourself, cling to this Gospel, for it has the power to save you, no matter what the rest of the world believes. Let’s pray.