LEARNING DAILY

 

1 John 2:18-19, Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that is the last hour.

 

A quick reading of these two verses might cause the reader to wonder what in the world John is writing about. 1 John is about truth, about making sure that you and I preserve it and live by it. Because of that John is writing about those who are wanting to deceive us into believing false teaching that is already in the church. False and deceptive teaching was happening during his time; it has increased even more as we draw closer to the time when the Antichrist – the one who directly oppose God, declaring himself to be God – will come to lead the world in the seven-year period we call the Tribulation.

 

It is too easy to read a blog like this that continues to write and warn of deception that is prevalent today. John’s warning about truth and living it is a warning you and I cannot and must not take for granted. I have heard it is not important what one believes that it is only what one does or how he lives that matters. But that way of thinking is deceptive because what you believe results in how you act. What you believe matters. Therefore, knowing truth is essential.

 

It is important to remember that those writers of the New Testament believed the second coming of Jesus would be in their lifetime. John wrote that he was living in the last hour. Notice that false teachers and deception is seemingly at the forefront of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, remember that John was present when Jesus said no one knows the time or the day of His return. He also heard Jesus say that when they (or us, today) saw certain signs, we would know His return was close. There is another thought with this phrase “the last hour”. In my research, I have found that the original language wrote it this way, “a last hour”. That is also important because the phrase last days refers to the time between His coming as a baby born into humble conditions to His return as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

 

As I read and write, it is apparent that this definition of the last days includes a downward cycle of events – history records these cycles as events repeating themselves until finally the Antichrist is given power to rule in the Tribulation. I remind you of Paul’s description of these times in 2 Timothy 3. History shows us different times when attempts to teach heresy (false teaching) have tried to pervert the gospel of Christ. If you study these times, you will notice as time has gone on these attempts have increased in severity. Consider all that is happening around the world and the downward spiral warned about in the Scriptures is happening at a pace that suggests that we are living in the “last hour’ which will occur before the return of Jesus Christ.

 

You and I need to have a clear understanding of God’s character and what He has spoken to us in His written Word to not be deceived by false teachers. Doing so will help and strengthen us to live with a clearer knowledge regarding how we are to live in these “last days”.