John's First Letter - Christology Matters

John opens with an emphatic word: “it is the last hour.” The last hour began with Jesus’ first advent and continues until His promised return, so John’s statement at about 90 AD does not require a short calendar window. Date setters keep making the same mistake because God never revealed how long that last hour would last. Jesus plainly said that no one knows the day or hour, and Acts 1 says the Father has kept times and seasons in His own authority.

Date setting has repeatedly produced embarrassment, false hope, and spiritual confusion. Columbus, William Miller, Harold Camping, and others all proved that human calculations cannot uncover what God has chosen not to disclose. Jesus calls believers to wait, watch, and work until He comes, not to prognosticate. Jesus, during His earthly incarnation, voluntarily restricted the use of His omniscience, yet He now knows exactly when He will return.

John then identifies the reality of antichrist in three connected forms. The spirit of antichrist is an attitude against Christ or an attitude that substitutes something else for Christ. Antichrists are actual people who embrace that attitude, whether by openly opposing Christ or replacing Him with the state, self, ideology, or a counterfeit messiah. The Antichrist is the future ultimate false messiah who will oppose Christ while presenting himself as Christ’s substitute.

Satan’s strategy is counterfeit. False Christs, cult leaders, and religious frauds succeed because people accept substitutes for the real thing. Prophecy requires care because Scripture gives facts, while many popular claims are merely conjecture or guessing games. Scripture establishes Christ’s return, coming tribulation, resurrection, and Christ’s ultimate victory at Armageddon; Scripture does not authorize speculation about the Antichrist’s name, ethnicity, or present location.

John gives two tests for identifying antichrist. Antichrists abandon the church, not merely one local congregation for another, but Christianity itself. Their departure manifests that they were never genuinely part of Christ’s people, even when they once appeared to belong. Antichrists also reject biblical Christology. Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ denies both the Son and the Father.

Christology determines which God a person worships. Biblical Christology confesses Jesus as the eternal second Person of the triune Godhead, fully God and fully man through the virgin birth, crucified for sins, literally raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and returning again. Every religious system that remakes Jesus into a created being, mere prophet, guru, avatar, or spiritual idea presents a counterfeit Jesus. Christianity is all about Jesus who is the Christ; remove Christ from Christianity, and nothing Christian remains.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Date setting rejects Christ’s clear words Jesus said no one knows the day or hour, and that boundary is not an invitation for better calculations. Date setting turns divine mystery into human performance, then damages credibility when the prediction collapses. The last hour calls for readiness, not prediction. [44:39]
• 2. Wait, watch, and work until Christ comes Jesus’ return is certain even though its timing is concealed. Waiting is not passive escape, watching is not obsessive speculation, and working is not spiritual busyness. Christ’s command keeps attention fixed on faithful obedience in the present. [45:16]
• 3. Antichrist always offers a counterfeit Christ The spirit of antichrist works both against Christ and instead of Christ. A substitute may look religious, moral, political, spiritual, or even conservative, but it remains destructive when it displaces the true Son of God. Satan’s counterfeits must be measured by the real Christ. [52:32]
• 4. Christology determines fellowship with God The denial of Jesus’ true identity is never a minor doctrinal difference. Whoever rejects the biblical Son also rejects the Father, regardless of religious language or claimed devotion. God has made the identity and work of Christ the decisive issue. [60:37]
• 5. Christ must come before every allegiance Political, cultural, and social agreement cannot establish Christian faith. A person may sound right on many issues and still deny the deity of Christ. Christ is not an addition to another identity; He is first.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [27:48] - John’s Warning About the Last Hour
• [29:07] - How Can It Still Be the Last Hour?
• [30:31] - The Failure of Date Setters
• [40:26] - No One Knows the Day or Hour
• [41:27] - Jesus and the Kenosis
• [43:47] - Wait, Watch, and Work
• [45:26] - The Spirit of Antichrist
• [48:14] - Counterfeit Christs in the World
• [51:52] - The Future Antichrist
• [53:23] - Prophecy: Facts, Conjecture, and Guessing
• [56:18] - Antichrists Abandon the Church
• [59:19] - The Christological Test
• [61:13] - The Biblical Jesus
• [65:08] - Counterfeit Jesuses and False Religions
• [78:53] - The Question That Settles Everything

Bible Reading

1 John 2:18–23

18 “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.” [27:43]

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.” [28:01]

20 “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” [28:21]

21 “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.” [28:21]

22 “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.” [28:36]

23 “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” [28:46]

Mark 13:32–33

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” [40:36]

33 “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.” [40:47]

Acts 1:6–7

6 “So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’” [43:49]

7 “He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.’” [44:19]

1 John 4:1–3

1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” [01:03:05]

2 “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,” [01:03:15]

3 “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.” [01:03:35]

Observation questions

1. In 1 John 2:18, what does John say is already present in the world, even while he says that the antichrist is still coming? [52:03]
2. According to 1 John 2:19, what did these people’s departure reveal about their relationship to the church?
3. What two meanings of “anti” help explain how antichrist can be both openly against Christ and a substitute for Christ? [47:01]
4. In Mark 13:32–33, what command does Jesus give instead of giving His followers a date for His return? [45:16]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does Jesus’ statement that no one knows the day or hour rule out attempts to calculate the date of His return, even when those attempts use Bible passages and current events? [43:33]
2. How does John’s distinction between “many antichrists” and the future “antichrist” help believers take present deception seriously without becoming consumed with speculation about one future person? [52:05]
3. What does it mean in practical terms that a person who denies the Son does not have the Father? How does this make the identity of Jesus more than a minor doctrinal disagreement? [01:00:34]
4. Why is confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh important? What is lost from the gospel if Jesus is treated merely as a teacher, prophet, spiritual guide, or created being? [01:04:53]

Application questions

1. What forms can date-setting or end-times obsession take today—social-media predictions, fear-driven headlines, fixation on signs, or constant speculation? Which of these temptations is easiest for you to be drawn into? [44:39]
2. Jesus calls His people to wait, watch, and work. Which of those three is most difficult for you right now: waiting patiently, watching faithfully, or working obediently? What would one concrete step look like this week? [45:16]
3. Antichrist can mean opposition to Christ or replacing Christ with something else. Is there any allegiance—politics, personal comfort, reputation, a relationship, success, or ideology—that is competing with Christ for first place in your heart? [47:39]
4. When you hear someone speak positively about Jesus, what questions could help you graciously discover whether they mean the biblical Jesus: fully God, fully man, crucified for sin, risen bodily, and returning again? [01:02:45]
5. Have you ever avoided a spiritual conversation because the other person’s beliefs seemed too complicated? How could focusing first on the simple question, “Who is Jesus?” make that conversation clearer and more loving? [01:19:21]
6. Political or cultural agreement cannot establish Christian faith. In what ways can believers be tempted to assume that someone is Christian because of shared values, voting patterns, or moral opinions? How can Christ remain first in those evaluations? [01:18:38]
7. John’s warning about those who leave Christianity should lead believers to humility, not suspicion toward every person who changes churches. How can the group encourage one another toward steady fellowship, truth, and perseverance in Christ? [57:43]