Youth Who is the AntiChrist
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Wrong Answers only
What do you wear on your feet?
What do bees do?
What do you write with?
What do you use to call someone?
What Helps you see when its dark?
What makes a wolf Sound?
What animal says meow?
What do you put in the oven?
What do you wear on your head?
What do you use to put out fire?
What animal hoots at night?
What do you use to wash your hands?
What do you put on a birthday cake?
What do you wear on your legs?
What do you brush your teeth with?
How do you keep your pants up?
What color our trees?
What animal oinks?
What do you sleep on at night?
What do you type on when using a computer?
Name an animal with fur?
What is the opposite of hot?
What city is the statue of liberty in?
What sport does Labron James play?
Name an animal that lives in the ocean?
What do you use to cut a steak?
Fill in the Bank. The wizard of _______
What do you drink when your thirsty?
What do you sit on at a table?
What do you wear on your hands in the winter?
What do you do with a book?
What do frogs do?
What do you put on a sandwich?
What is the opposite of fast?
What do you use to clean the floor?
What keeps food cold?
What is the opposite of left?
What animal has feathers?
Name a school subject.
What’s H20?
What do you do in a swimming pool?
For the last several weeks we have been looking at the highlights of 1 John.
All of the things that we have looked at have had to do with either the fact that God is Light or God is Love because these our the two main topics that John writes about.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Somebody explain why this verse is so amazing for us as Christians?
If God is light than we must be people who walk in the light rather than darkness.
Because the other half of 1 John has to do with the fact that God is Love we have talked a lot about love. Maybe the most challenging thing that we looked at is the fact that John and Jesus elevate how we are to love other people. If you remember the law used to be that we are to love people as much as we love ourselves now we are to love others as much as God loves us? How has this law been elevated?
Now if you remember back to when we first introduced this letter I said one of the main reasons why John wrote this letter was to encourage the brethren because there were some who were trying to convince them to not believe in the deity of Jesus anymore. These people once believed in Jesus but now they do not. We get this idea from: 1 John 2:19
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.
Because of these false teachers he give them a name. Unfortunately this name has caused a lot of confusion amongst people who believe in God. And that name is AntiChrist.
But thankfully for us John very clearly tells us who the antichrist is? So that is what we are going to look at with the remainder of our time.
I wanted to start the class with the game wrong answers because as silly of a game as that was, it seems as though the world for centuries have been playing this game when it comes to answering the question, who is the anti-Christ.
During my life time I have heard many answers to this question but almost all of them are wrong.
For example there have been many people who have been named as the anti-Christ.
People like:
Hitler
Putin
Manson
Bill Gates
Different US presidents
Different Popes
The Roman emperors
Pretty much anybody of power who has done something that others don’t like have been named the anti-Christ.
There are so many different thoughts when it comes to the anti-Christ, unfortunately most of them are wrong.
The reason why many people of power have been accused of being the antichrist is because this is the common belief of many when it comes to the antichrist:
Many believe that the antichrist will be the ultimate embodiment of what it means to be against Christ. In the end times, a man will arise to oppose Christ and His followers more than anyone else in history. Likely claiming to be the true Messiah, the antichrist will seek world domination and will attempt to destroy all followers of Jesus Christ and the nation of Israel.
One common belief is that the beast referred to in Revelation 13 is the antichrist even though the word antichrist is not mentioned in the book of Revelation.
You see it doesn’t matter what people think the antichrist will do or who he is. What matters is what scripture says on the matter. You can guess wrong answers all day long. But your guesses do not matter.
So with that let’s see what scripture says about the antichrist.
Now before we look at what is said it is interesting to me that most people want to go to the book of Revelation to talk about the Antichrist but as I said before the word antichrist is not even mentioned.
In fact it is only mentioned four times in scripture and all four times it is mentioned by John in 1st & 2nd John.
So let’s read the four times that the word antichrist is mentioned in scripture and I want you to tell me what we learn about the antichrist from these four verses.
But before we read these verses it is important to remember who John is writing to.
John is addressing the saved and warning them about those who have left the faith and are now causing problems. John is encouraging the faithful to remain faithful by continuing to believe in Jesus.
With that let’s look at the first passage that references the antichrist.
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.
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.
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
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.
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.
No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
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.
And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.
I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
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.
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.
If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
What do we learn?
There are many antichrist
Many have already come
Yes, John makes it clear that this is not a future event. Now some people get hung up on the phrase the last hour but we need to understand that when John says the last hour he is referring to the present time since the resurrection. We are currently in the last hour. This last hour is also known as the Christian age.
In history there are three main time periods. You have the Patriarchal Age, which is the time from Adam to the 10 commandments. Then when the 10 commandments come we have the Mosiac Age and this time last until the resurrection of Jesus and then we have the Christian age which we are currently in.
Another thing we learn about the antichrist is that they were once in the church and then they left. John says...
1 John 2:19 (ESV)
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.
This write here probably eliminates most people who have been accused of being the antichrist.
In verse 22 we have the second time this word antichrist is mentioned. It reads
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.
What do we learn?
An antichrist is someone who denies the Father & the Son. The antichrist is not some world leader, or someone with power as the world might think but the antichrist is simply someone who denies the Father and the Son.
When we understand that the antichrist is anyone who denies the father and the son we can then understand why John said previously that there were many antichrist.
During this time period there were many groups of people who denied the deity of Jesus. For example:
Gnostics. These were people who did not believe that Jesus was born of the flesh.
Docestics (dosetics)- There was also another group of people known as the Docetics. They believed that Jesus only appeared to be Human.
Cerinthus (serinthus)- There was also another group known as the Cerinthus. They believed that Jesus was not born of a virgin. And that when he was baptized the spirit came upon him allowing him to do miricles but right before he was crucified the spirit left him and thus he dies a normal death and was not resurected.
Jews- And then we can’t forget about the Jews who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
You see here are four large groups of people during the early stages of the church who John could have classified as Antichrist. The antichrist is not a singular person who has yet to come. They were present in John’s time and they are present today.
Lets look at another time this word antichrist is used.
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.
What do we learn?
Antichrist is someone who does not confess or believe that Jesus is from God.
The Antichrist at the time of John’s writing is already in the world.
And one more passage. This one is found in 2nd John.
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
What do we learn?
Antichrist is someone who deceives others into believing that Jesus is not the Christ.
In these four passages what do we learn about the antichrist? Essentially we learn that:
1. there has been and always will be antichrist in the world.
2. Anybody who denies the deity of Jesus is an antichrist.
John here is writing to Christians to remind them that anything short of believing that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is deity, Jesus is messiah, Jesus is the only way to the father is heresy. Its false teaching and those teachers are known as antichrist.
Conclusion:
When we look at all the evidence what we learn is that there is not just one person who is the antichrist but there are many. And if we were going to boil it down and say, what is it that make someone an antichrist, I believe that to be considered an antichrist one must purposefully be trying to convince others to stop believing in the deity of Jesus.
I wanted to clarify this point because there are many people who do not believe in the deity of Jesus but that in itself does not make them an antichrist. Because many people who choose not to believe in Jesus are perfectly fine with others believing in Jesus.
Its those people who make it their mission convince others to stop believing in Jesus. It is those people who John would say are the antichrist. They are against Christ, and they want everyone else to be against him as well.
