1 John 2:28 - 29

So this morning we continue in our study of 1 John finishing chapter 2. Here John is going to be referring to the rapture of the church and the second coming off Christ.

Read:

28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

John here begins with his familiar, little children, teknion in Greek. He is admonishing us to abide in Him. This is another term that John seems to come back to over and over again.

Abide in Greek is meno and is used 118 times in the NT. (37 by John) It is used in the following ways:

to remain, abide

in reference to place

to sojourn, tarry

not to depart

to continue to be present

to be held, kept, continually

in reference to time

to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure

of persons, to survive, live

in reference to state or condition

to remain as one, not to become another or different

to wait for, await one

What does it mean to abide in Christ?

Hand out

John continues:

that when He appears, the Greek tense indicates that when it happens it be sudden and passive in nature, that is we will not bring it about. But be certain its going to happen.

But what is he referring to here. At the end of the verse he says; we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

The word used for His coming is parousia. It is used in these ways:

presence

parousia

the coming, arrival, advent

the future visible return from heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead, hold the last judgment, and set up formally and gloriously the kingdom of God

Depending on how the whole thing works out, we will next see Him at death or the Rapture, but if we are wrong it will be death or the Second Coming. Some see the second coming and the rapture as concurrent events.

No Sandwiched in the middle John says that; we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

What would cause one to be ashamed? The word in Greek from a root meaning to disfigure, or disgrace, to be ashamed. Peter uses it in and describes it as shrinking away at His coming.

Think about having to give a report or take an important test and you are unprepared. Maybe better that feeling when people show up at your house and your house is a disaster.

, - 13.

On the positive here, he says we are to abide in Him, so that we may have confidence.

This is an idea repeated over and over through out the NT. The word confidence means freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech, openly, frankly, i.e without concealment, without ambiguity or circumlocution, without the use of figures and comparisons.

openly, frankly, i.e without concealment

There is no need for excuses or double talk.

without ambiguity or circumlocution

Verse 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

without the use of figures and comparisons

When someone is born of someone else, there is almost always a family resemblance. You say, “Look, she has her mother’s eyes” or “He has his father’s nose.” Well, the children of God have a family resemblance to their Father in heaven. He is righteous, so those who are born of Him also practice righteousness. “God hath no children destitute of his image, or who resemble him not.” (Poole)