Is the antichrist now or not yet?

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. ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. ²¹ I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. ²² 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. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. ²⁴ Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

²⁶ I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. ²⁷ But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

²⁸ And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. ²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

1 John 2:18-29

Many antichrists have come and provided proof that we live in the last hour. I regularly hear people referring to the Hamas/Israel war and state that they believe this is a sign that we are living in the last days. This may be true, but we lose track of the absolute statement by John that he and his friends were already living in the last hour. The last hour indicates that there won’t be another one. The last days or last hour is not something we are looking forward to; we are living in the last hour just as John and his disciples were.

There is an almost ubiquitous belief that the antichrist is an individual who will appear in the future and lead the unbelieving world astray. I don’t deny the possibility that there will be a single individual who will embody everything that is attributed to the antichrist. However, there is more Biblical evidence of many antichrists throughout history. The first significant embodiment of the antichrist was Nero. Many early church leaders believed Nero to be the antichrist embodied. John wrote this epistle well after Nero had died at age 30 in 68 AD. So, it is possible that John included Nero in the “many antichrists” who had come.

However, in our context, John refers to some folks who had departed from the church, one of the earliest church splits. In verse 19, John writes, “They went out from us.” Who is the “they?” The antecedent to “they” is “many antichrists.” The fact that they left is proof that they were not a part of the believing church. John goes on to argue that they are separated due to false teaching that qualified them as antichrists.

Here’s the good news for all true believers.

But you (emphatically you as opposed to the antichrists) have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. This was prophesied and referred to by Jesus in John 6:45. “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’” (Isaiah 54:13) The source of this anointing is God himself. (Theologians argue whether this means Jesus, the Father, or the Trinity. It doesn’t matter because the point is that God, the Holy One, is the source of the anointing.) I believe this anointing refers to the New Covenant reality of the indwelling Holy Spirit not generally available under the Old Covenant. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth. This indwelling of the Spirit of truth teaches Jesus’ followers the truth. This indwelling Spirit of truth separated the antichrists who left the church from the believers in Ephesus. You might say this was a God-ordained church split separating the antichrists from the faithful flock of God.

What was the false teaching that separated the Antichrists from the church?

The denial that Jesus is the Christ is the first point John makes. He then elaborates with, “This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father.” John addresses this issue later in chapter four.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

1 John 4:1-3

John here adds another component to identifying the antichrist: acknowledging the incarnation. Jesus is God come in the flesh, which extends to the understanding that Jesus was fully man and fully God at the same time. We have significant contingencies of religious groups who fail John’s test, such as the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, along with lots of others. According to Scripture (John’s first epistle), these are antichrists. We have them now as John did in his day, and we will have to contend with them until the final day.

To speak to the title of this post, we have antichrists today and will have antichrists in the future. There may be one final ultimate expression near the last and final day. Meanwhile, we must abide in the anointing that teaches us the truth and not be deceived by the spirit of antichrist.

In the post-apostolic days, the church continued to deal with this and other heresies. Their method was to hold church councils and develop statements that clarified what they understood to be the apostolic teaching in Scripture. These statements include the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Chalcedonian Definition. If the church paid more attention to these Creeds, we would have fewer of the age-old heresies cropping up in our midst.

What does this all say to you and me? Pay attention to the teaching of John in his gospel and his three epistles. They are the word of God and contain warnings and corrections critical to the days in which we live.