PT-3 "Introduction to Antichrists" (1 John 2:18)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/25/2024 9:17 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:   PT-3 “Introduction to Antichrists”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  1 John 2:18

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.”

 

            I continue to look at the “Introduction to Antichrists” in this evening’s Spiritual Diary and want to pick up where I left off in my last SD from yesterday, as I continue to look at some New Testament verses that first of all speak of our Lord’s Olivet Discourse which comes from the 24^th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel   In this discourse we see that Jesus made reference to the same Antichrist-related events as those already prophesied in the Old Testament, verses that we looked at last evening.

 

15 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 “Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 18 “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. 24 “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25 “Behold, I have told you in advance.’”

 

            MacArthur writes “The recipients of John’s letter most likely also would have been familiar with Paul’s words, written four decades earlier, that clearly predicted the coming Antichrist.  He instructed the Thessalonian believers as follows:

 

1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2  that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9  that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10  and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12  in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

 

 

            There is still some more verses to look at and I don’t want to overwhelm any who read this with too much to think about and so I will, Lord willing, finish this introduction in my next evening SD.

 

11/25/2024 9:33 PM

 

 

PT-2 "Affirmation" (2 Timothy 1:5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/25/2024 9:15 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  PT-2 “Affirmation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 1:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.”

 

            I want to finish this section from 2 Timothy in today’s SD, which will also finish this first chapter from John MacArthur’s commentary, and then Lord willing I will begin with the introduction of verses 6-18 in the next SD tomorrow.

 

            This verse I am looking at this morning shows that Timothy had a heritage of sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice.  Now as Paul gives the references to both Lois and Eunice this shows that Paul had a relationship with these two ladies as MacArthur writes “and perhaps was instrumental, along with Barnabas, in winning them to Christ during his first missionary journey, which had taken him through Timothy’s home area of Galatia (see Acts 13:13-14:21).  They probably were Jewish believers under the Old Covenant who immediately received Jesus as their Messiah, Savior, and Lord when they first heard the gospel from the lips of Paul.  By the time of Paul’s second journey, the women had led their grandson and son to the Lord, and he already had become ‘well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium’ (Acts. 16:2).  Timothy was Paul’s indirect son in the faith who had come to belief through the witness of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, who had been led to faith directly by the apostle.  Through them, he had ‘from childhood…known the sacred writings which are able to give [him] the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus’ (2 Tim. 3:15).”

 

            Now we have a pretty good idea of Timothy’s background which was a great background for because of it Paul would be passing on to him the great work of the Lord since Paul would soon be with the Lord, and as mentioned this was one of the main reasons why Paul is writing to his son in the faith.

 

            John MacArthur concludes this section and chapter by writing a story which I will now quote.  “Some years ago I was involved in a discussion regarding the choice of a man to tak up the leadership of a well-known Christian organization.  In looking over the list of prospects, I commented that it was interesting that every one of those men had a godly pastor for a father.  The Lord has, for course, raised up many faithful leaders, including Paul from ungodly and even godless families. But a high percentage of the great men throughout church history have come from godly homes.  Timothy’s father was an unbeliever Gentile (Acts 16:3), but his mother and grandmother were believers of great godliness.  Paul commends them for the influence for good they had on Timothy and for the sincere faith that the apostle was sure to be in Timothy as well.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have a different kind of story in my upbringing as I grew up in the generation that was called “baby boomers,” and I have to say that both of my parents went through the great depression of the late 1920’s and it affected them in ways that would later affect my growing up years.  I don’t know if my father was a believer or not, but I do know that his growing up years were very difficult as his mother died when he was very young and then was kicked out of the house by his father.  My mother’s family had moved from the southern part of Ohio to the country that I grew up in and there was some trouble in her family as well.  My parents took my sisters and me to church, but as I look back the church was not a church where the gospel was preached.  God was in control of my life and saved me almost 51 years ago and I am thankful for that as that was the most important thing that happened to me in my life.  God has given me and my wife two children who are believers and walking with the Lord along with their children and so I am very thankful for that. 

 

            My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have some needed work to get done around the outside of our house before winter sets in and it is my desire that the Lord will allow me to get this done as there is a possibility of rain today.  I  trust that the Lord will continue to work in my heart to overcome some issues that I have dealt with for a very long time.

 

11/25/2024 9:50 AM   

 

PT-2 "Introduction to Antichrists" (1 John 2:18)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/24/2024 11:11 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:   PT-2 “Introduction to Antichrists”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  1 John 2:18

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.”

 

            I mentioned in my last “evening SD” that the term antichrist and antichrists are only found in the book of 1 John, and in 2:18 we see the first New Testament use of the term antichrist, however it is certainly not the first biblical introduction to the concept.  Remember that John himself had already heard that antichrist is coming.  So since they knew about the coming of the Christ from the Old Testament prophecies, some may have known about antichrist from the same sources.  I have studied the book of Daniel in the similar way that I study all the books of the Bible and in the book of Daniel I saw that he foresaw a human leader, satanically energized, who will come to Jerusalem, enforce his will, exalt himself above all other people and gods, and will wreak havoc and slaughter and here are some verse references from Daniel that speak of these things: Both chapters, 7-8 of Daniel and also 9:26-27 and also chapter 11.  Let me help set the stage on how the tribulation period will begin which comes from the ninth chapter of Daniel.  27 "’And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.’” Now the prophecy in Daniel chapter nine is perhaps the greatest prophecy in all of the Word of God as Daniel learns that 490 years are given to do a number of things.  The reference for the beginning of this prophecy of 490 years begins in the second chapter of Nehemiah where Nehemiah is give permission to go back to Jerusalem to begin to build the walls around that city.  "’So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress’” (Daniel 9:25). Now the highlighted part of verse 25 is given in Nehemiah chapter two.  The rest of that verse speaks of the fact that their Messiah, (Jesus Christ) will come which will end 483 years of this prophecy with seven years left to fulfill, which haven’t been fulfilled yet.  When Jesus came into Jerusalem on what is called Psalm Sunday He offered Himself to be their Messiah and they turned Him down, and that ends the first 483 years.  Then in verse 27 we saw when the last seven years of this prophecy would begin, which speaks of the Antichrist making a covenant with Israel for seven years.  So the point is that the concept of Antichrist is seen in different Old Testament books and passages without naming him as Antichrist.  John MacArthur writes:  “The final Antichrist will be an imposing, intimidating figure of superior intellect and oratorical skills, possessing advanced military and economic expertise, who becomes the leader of the world.  He will be so convincing as an ally and deliverer that Israel will sign a pact with him to be her protector.  Then he will turn against the nation and will occupy the throne in the sanctuary of the rebuilt temple, which for Israel will still symbolize the presence of God, and blasphemously present himself to the world as if he were God.  (For additional details of Antichrist’s actions, see Revelation 13, 17 and my commentary on those passages in Revelation 12-22, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2000], 35-65, 155-72; see also Rev. 6:2; 16:P13; 19:20).”

 

            Now in my Spiritual Diaries I have SD’s of the book of Revelation two different places as I studied and wrote my Spiritual Diaries on Revelation on two different occasions.

 

            MacArthur also states “The prop[het Zechariah also foresaw the future Antichrist:

 

16  "For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs. 17  "Woe to the worthless shepherd Who leaves the flock! A sword will be on his arm And on his right eye! His arm will be totally withered And his right eye will be blind.’” (Zech. 11:16-17).

 

“At the end of the age God will permit an evil shepherd (Antichrist) to arise, who will be the antithesis of the Good Shepherd.  This man will be a false shepherd who does not love sheep but slaughters them to fill his insatiable hunger.  Zechariah portrays him as a son of destruction devoted to violence and devastation.  Though his arm represents his great strength and his eye his intelligence, he is doomed.  God will destroy that Antichrist when His sword of vengeance falls on him.”

 

            Lord willing I will continue to look at this section as there is more to look at, perhaps two more SD’s will be needed to finish this section.

 

11/24/2024 11:47 PM

 

PT-1 "Affirmation" (2 Timothy 1:5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/24/2024 7:48 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  PT-1 “Affirmation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 1:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.”

 

            We have been looking at different principles of motivation that Paul alludes to as he begins his letter to Timothy, and the final one is that of affirmation, which comes from verse five as seen above.  Now in the two previous verses Paul mentions his remembering Timothy in prayer and recalling his tears.  Again he reflects on their intimate association, and this time being mindful of the sincere faith within Timothy.

 

            Now I will break this section down by writing two short Spiritual Diaries and the reason is because it is Sunday morning and I have to leave to go and teach our Sunday school class this morning, and so I usually make the Spiritual Diaries that I write much shorter.  I will conclude this portion of our subject entitled “Affirmation” by quoting a paragraph from John MacArthur’s commentary.

 

            “Anupokritos (sincere) is a compound word, composed of a negative prefix attached to hupokrites, from which we get the obviously related English word hypocrite.  Timothy’s faith was completely genuine, unhypocritical, without pretense or deceit.  In his previous letter to Timothy, Paul had written, ‘The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere [Anupokritos] faith’ (1 Timothy 1:5).  In his second letter to the church at Corinth, Paul used the term to describe his ‘genuine love’ (2 Cor. 6:6, emphasis added).  Peter used it in his admonition to all believers scattered through the Roman Empire:  ‘Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart’ (1 Peter 1:22, emphasis added).  James used it as the final qualification of ‘the wisdom from above [which] is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy’ (James 3:17, emphasis added),’”

 

11/24/2024 8:07 AM   

PT-1 "Affirmation" (2 Timothy 1:5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/24/2024 7:48 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  PT-1 “Affirmation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 1:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.”

 

            We have been looking at different principles of motivation that Paul alludes to as he begins his letter to Timothy, and the final one is that of affirmation, which comes from verse five as seen above.  Now in the two previous verses Paul mentions his remembering Timothy in prayer and recalling his tears.  Again he reflects on their intimate association, and this time being mindful of the sincere faith within Timothy.

 

            Now I will break this section down by writing two short Spiritual Diaries and the reason is because it is Sunday morning and I have to leave to go and teach our Sunday school class this morning, and so I usually make the Spiritual Diaries that I write much shorter.  I will conclude this portion of our subject entitled “Affirmation” by quoting a paragraph from John MacArthur’s commentary.

 

            “Anupokritos (sincere) is a compound word, composed of a negative prefix attached to hupokrites, from which we get the obviously related English word hypocrite.  Timothy’s faith was completely genuine, unhypocritical, without pretense or deceit.  In his previous letter to Timothy, Paul had written, ‘The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere [Anupokritos] faith’ (1 Timothy 1:5).  In his second letter to the church at Corinth, Paul used the term to describe his ‘genuine love’ (2 Cor. 6:6, emphasis added).  Peter used it in his admonition to all believers scattered through the Roman Empire:  ‘Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart’ (1 Peter 1:22, emphasis added).  James used it as the final qualification of ‘the wisdom from above [which] is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy’ (James 3:17, emphasis added),’”

 

11/24/2024 8:07 AM   

PT-1 "Introduction to Antichrists" (1 John 2:18)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/23/2024 7:10 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:   PT-1 “Introduction to Antichrists”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  1 John 2:18

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.”

 

            I mentioned in my last SD on 1 John that what I am looking at this evening is actually the first sub-point from the main point that I wrote about last night.

 

            Let us look at this word in the Greek for children because again John is addressing his readers as children.  The Greek word is paidia, “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father” (1 John 2:13).  The highlighted word, children, is the same Greek word John uses in 2:18.  John is identifying the children as those who belonged to the family of God, and those whom their Father desired to warn that there was impending danger.  Now it is essential that Christians, and especially those who are less spiritually mature and hence most vulnerable, understand the serious threat that antichrists pose.

 

            MacArthur adds “Further underscoring the urgency of the subject, John reminded his readers that it is the last hour.  The phrase literally reads, ‘last hour it is,’ the word order making it an emphatic expression.  The last hour refers to the present evil age, one of only two ages—along with the age to come—that the New Testament outlines (cf. Matt. 12:32; Mark 10:30; Eph. 1:21; Heb. 6:5).  The last hour began at the first coming of Jesus Christ)cf. 1 Cor. 10:11; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 1:1-2; 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20), and will end when He returns.  (The age to come encompasses all the future, including the millennial kingdom, the thousand-year earthly reign of Christ when righteousness will prevail in the world [Isa. 9:6-7; 11:2, 6-9; 30:23-26; 35:2-6; 45:22-24; 65:18-23; 66:13; Ezek. 34:25; 47:12; Joel 2:28-32; Amos 9:13; Zech. 14:16-21; 1 Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 20:4; cf. 2 Sam. 7:16; Matt. 19:28; Rev. 3:21; 5:10].)”

 

            I realize that I have posted many verses to look up, but if you are not familiar with these verses then it will be good to look them up for the references that MacArthur writes about in the above paragraph.

 

            Now one may wonder why there are many antichrists that John writes about in this section that we will be looking at, and if I remember I don’t think that that word antichrist is used by any other Biblical author other than John.  Actually 1 John is the only book in the Bible that uses either antichrist, or antichrists.

 

1Jo 2:18  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.

1Jo 2:22  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.

1Jo 4:3  and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

2Jo 1:7  For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

 

1Jo 2:18  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.

 

            Once Christ arrived Satan’s opposition to an intensity now seen before or since, and this resulted in the rise of many antichrists.  After three years of relentless hostility toward Jesus (cf. Acts 4:26-28) His enemies finally had Him nailed to the cross.  Now that same malignant antichrist spirit has continued to flourish to this day.  “and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (1 John 4:3).

 

11/23/2024 7:39 PM

"Affection" (2 Timothy 1:4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/23/2024 8:21 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  “Affection”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 1:4

 

            Message of the verse:  “longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.”

 

            I have been looking at different principles for motivation other believers from the open verses in 2 Timothy.  Now this fifth principle for motivating other believers, is especially for those who may be discipling, is to love them and to express genuine affection for them.  I have to say that in the world we are living in today that this kind of true affection is rarer than in past years as it seems that because we are winding down the church age that people are not nearly as loving as they were even 50 years ago.  Now as we look at this verse it can be determined that Paul greatly missed Timothy’s companionship and was longing to see him.  MacArthur adds “Longing is from epipotheo, a verb denoting intense desire or yearning for. Later in the letter he reflects the same aching desire, imploring Timothy, ‘Make every effort to come to me soon’ (4:9), and ‘When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus…[and] make

every effort to come before winter’ (vv. 13, 21).”

 

            Paul then writes that I recall your tears, and perhaps this is referring to their time of when they last parted, following a brief visit to Ephesus sometime after writing his first letter to Timothy and before he was arrested at Nicopolis and then taken prisoner to Rome.  As we look at the 20^th chapter of the book of Acts we see that this was the last time that Paul would see the believers at Ephesus and there were many tears that flowed at that time as he got on a boat to go to Jerusalem.  Let us look at Acts 20:36-38 to see this firsthand:  “36 When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, 38  grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.”

 

            MacArthur concludes this short section by writing “Although he doubtless realized he might never see Timothy again, even the remote prospect of such a reunion filled Paul with joy.  Knowing the apostle’s deep love and yearning to see him again surely filled Timothy with joy as well as inspired still greater commitment to follow in the footsteps of his beloved teacher and friend.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It seems to me that in this letter to Timothy that Paul was actually saying goodbye to him for the last time as he knew that he would soon be with his Lord and Savior in heaven and this is what caused the pain of missing him.  It is very hard to say goodbye to a family member when they are about to die, but when that family member is a believer the goodbye is not forever even though it is always painful.

 

            My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have to trust the Lord to continue to give me grace in order to defeat the temptations that come from the devil, trusting that He is not done with me as I continue to do the things that He has called me to do.

 

11/23/2024 8:50 AM