Abide in the Son

1 John 2:18-24

Big Idea: You have been anointed by the Spirit of God to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ through the ministry of the Word and Spirit-wrought faith.

I. It is the last hour

i. The Age to Come (אלם הבא)

ii. The Day of YHWH (היום יהוה)

iii. The Last Days (hemeras eschatos)

John wants us to know that we are at the end of the present Age

Illustration: The Doomsday clock (90 seconds to midnight)

A countdown that has started since the beginning of the Atomic Age. Illustrates how close we are to nuclear annihilation.

While this is a bit of a dark analogy, it is useful for understanding the way that we are to understand our current age. Since the incarnation of Christ and his ascension into heaven and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we have entered into the Last Days as foretold by the prophets. We stand in an intermediate period wherein the Kingdom of God is both here and yet not here. That is, the Kingdom is inaugurated, but not yet fully realized.

So what is the practical meaning of this? In what position does the believer find themselves in this intermediate period? Well, we are promised a few things, which John alludes to as well as elsewhere in the NT. First, that the world will hate Christ’s people because it hates Him. Furthermore, it is promised to believers that they will suffer for the sake of Christ. does this necessarily mean physical suffering? Perhaps in some circumstances, though not all. To suffer for the sake of Christ may mean that due to not playing the world’s games by the world’s rules you get overlooked or ostracized. Perhaps you will not receive the promotion that you want because you refuse to do something dishonest or simply that you are not willing to compromise time with family for more hours at the office. But of course, while these difficulties come about as a result of our ethical decisions rooted in our faith in Christ, they are not directly caused by our association with Christ. For some believers in the world the threat of social or political persecution because of their faith in Christ is an ever present reality. Believers in China are under constant watch by the CCP and are often brutally suppressed. Christians living in areas controlled by Taliban or ISIL are at risk of execution.

While we may not deal with such brutal oppression, we will be reviled if we go against the powers and authorities of the world. But Jesus calls us blessed for this very reason!

But what is the benefit of union with Christ in the current age?

I. Peace with God; no fear of coming wrath and judgment.

II. Strength that comes from our fellowship with one another and more importantly our fellowship with the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

III. Hope for the future. We need not despair of our present suffering because we know that our present sufferings do not compare to the future glory that awaits us.

So we know that we are in the last days because of the fulfillment of OT prophecy, but also because of the appearance of antichrists. That is, those who have denied that Jesus is the Messiah (Christ). John is not simply referring to those who do not believe (though, they are certainly in view here), but rather, those who were once purported to be believers, but have since rejected the truth. We can see evidence of this in v. 19.

*An aside on the appearance of “Antichrist”/ The Abomination of Desolation/ The Man of Lawlessness.

2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us.”

John is referring to the Docetists here, those who denied the Incarnation and therefore Jesus’ identity as the Messiah: Israel’s King and Savior. The influence of Greek Mystery religions on the Docetists caused them to stray further and further from orthodox biblical categories. Jesus would be conceived of as more of a lifeforce, similar to the Force from Star Wars. The Logos for many Gnostic Christians was more akin to the form of “the good” in Platonic thought.

While we do not have Gnostics in our day and age, we do have many different groups with their own ideas on Jesus. Islam for instance affirms that Jesus was a prophet, but not that he was the Incarnate Son of God and also denies that he was crucified. Jahovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus was the incarnation of the archangel Gabriel. Mormons deny the doctrine of the Trinity and actually believe that God was once a human being like you or I who transcended his humanity.

It is actually important that we know who Jesus actually is and what he has done and continues to do in and for us. Not because our knowledge about Jesus saves us, but because in order to truly trust Him then we must know Him as He is, not create a Christ in our own image. We are to be conformed to His image, not vise versa.

This is where God’s promises reassure the believer; we have His anointing. believers have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise and forever and ever belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. the believer knows the Lord because the Lord has made Himself known to them. We have been woken up to the truth. We ought not to believe that we have some secret knowledge that makes us superior to our fellow man, but rather that God has poured out His Mercy and Grace on us in His claiming of us for His very own. By God’s grace we are what we are (By the grace of God I am what I am).

Those who belong to Christ remain in Christ. They do not fall away.

Because you have believed in Christ, you have access to God the Father.

Let the Word of God take root in you so that you will be rooted and grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 1 ESV

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.