EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/21/202411:51 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Intro to 1 John 2:18-27”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
1 John 2:18-27
Message of the verses: “18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that
antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we
know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really
of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they
went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. 20 But you
have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to
you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because
no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is
the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the
Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, let that abide in you which you heard
from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you
also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 This is the promise which He
Himself made to us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you concerning
those who are trying to deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing which you
received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you;
but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a
lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”
I want to quote the last two paragraphs from John
MacArthur’s commentary on his introduction to this rather long set of verses so
that when we begin to look more closely at them that we will have a good
background from this introduction to help us understand them.
“Scripture
clearly teaches that during the future seven-year tribulation period (Mark
13:19), one man will emerge as the ultimate Antichrist. Through the centuries, there has been much
study and speculation, by both scholars and lay persons, concerning who this
final Antichrist will be. People have
proposed numerous historical figures, including Nero and other Roman emperors,
Muhammad, various popes, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler. Such ill-advised speculation has always
proved futile. When the apostle John
wrote this letter, he said many antichrists had already arisen in the brief
sixty years since Pentecost, and countless more have plagued the church until
now.
“In
this passage, John reiterates his earlier doctrinal tests (the proper
assessment of man’s sinfulness and the correct evaluation of Christ’s nature as
the God-man) and moral testes (love for Christ and others, and obedience to the
Word). The purpose of these tests, as
stated by John in 5:13, was to help his readers assess their true standing
before God—whether or not they were saved.
The apostle understood that a wrong view of Christ, if not repented of
and corrected, would lead to eternal damnation (cf. John 8:24). Such terrifying consequences make the issue
black and white, which is why John presented it with such directness: false
professors of the faith deny the truth about Christ, revealing themselves to be
antichrists; true professors, on the other hand, affirm—along with the other
marks—the truth about Christ, revealing themselves to be genuine children of
God.” This is how I desire to look at
these verses and Lord willing in my next SD I will begin with the main point of
“The Characteristics of Antichrist” and then the next SD I will begin looking at
the first point under the above main point entitled “The Introduction of
Antichrists.”
11/22/2024 12:05 AM
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