I JOHN corrupting others. One worthless person will always be more effec tual in destroying than ten faithful teachers in building, though they labor with all their might." They offer only a counterfeit gospel rath er than that which is the grace of God (Galatians 1:6-7). Such teach ers often appear as angels of light (II Corinthians 11:13). We know that we are in the fin al age of this present world (I John 2:18). What the duration of this period will be, no one knows for sure. The exact moment of the con summation is not revealed in the Bible. Of this much we can be sure: our age will terminate with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to take the Church unto Himself (I Thessalonians 4:13-18). As we come closer to that time antichrists with their evil systems, will lead more people astray as they make light of the truth of God's Word. At the final climax of the age there will be the appearing of the antichrist. He is the one outstand ing evil person, called the son of perdition (II Thessalonians 2:3). The word antichrist means either against Christ or instead of Christ Both meanings can be combined. He will assume the guise of Christ and at the same time actually op pose Him. Presenting himself as being for the Saviour he actually is against Him (I John 2:19). (These are not backsliders because they never were really saved. They had a doctrinal departure from the truth. They had only given mere mental assent to it. There are many people like that today. Unfortun ately some who profess to be saved have rtever really been born again. They know it intellectually but not experientially.) The antichrist de
nies that Christ is God. The antichrist, who will be the incarnation of Satan, personifies all that is false. Our Lord said to the Pharisees, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do (John 8:44). Satan is the one who habitually denies the essential deity and humanity of our Saviour. After the Rapture of the Church Satan exalts himself above Cod (II Thessalonians 2:3-4). The words "lie" and "liar" ap pear not less than eight times in I John. From the original Greek we get our English word "pseudo," meaning false. Thus, a falsehood is a lie. The ninth commandment for bids the children of Israel from bearing false witness (Exodus 20:16). Christians are forbidden to lie (Colossians 3:9). These are sol emn words taken from the Bible. They should challenge our lives to make certain they do not become a part of our lives. It necessarily follows that one who rejects the Son has likewise rejected the Fath er. All who become confederates of the lie that denies Jesus Christ's eternal oneness with the Father, fall under the same condemnation as the antichrists. To deny the Son is to cut off oneself from the Father; As God's children, we must not allow ourselves to become side tracked by false teachers. The epis tle of I John maintains this strong emphasis throughout. The Christian must always be on guard. Decep tion will characterize our age as well as its ultimate downfall. Some deceivers will present their heresy under the guise of the new ortho doxy. The first simple message, coming from our Lord during His three years of teaching here on earth, cannot be improved upon.
Page 26
Made with FlippingBook HTML5