1 John 2:18-29 - The Denier is the Liar

1 John 2:18-29 

Deceptions of the Last Hour

18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 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 they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Let Truth Abide in You

24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

The Children of God

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.

Here we hear that the spirit of the antichrist liar is the denier of Jesus Christ.  There is no truth in this type of person because they deny the word of God.  This includes all cults which say Jesus was just a man or perhaps a good prophet, but not the very Son of God, which is the only truth about Jesus Christ that the spirit of antichrist cannot abide.  This is how we identify the spirit of truth from the spirits of error.  Such can even arise from within the church gatherings but end up leaving when pressed to confess Jesus as the divine Lord and Son of God and not just a prophet or man without a permanently divine nature in union with that man.  This is why we try to capture this truth that is difficult to comprehend and define in a creedal statement that includes the words, ‘hypostatic union.’  To acknowledge that the Christ eternally existed with God the Father along with His Spirit and who came to us as a man (John 1:1-3, 14) is essential to believing faith that receives Him as the Word of God become a man to be able to save us as only a perfect sacrifice could ever accomplish.  Only God is perfect.  Only the Son of God therefore can save us.  This the antichrist cannot agree with and is set against to deceive many into false faith or outright rejection of the person and work of Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior (Titus 2:13).  We therefore see that those who reject this truth and leave us are not of Christ but are in opposition to Him and the gospel of God.  We who have believed God by taking Him at His word with supernatural faith to receive Him and be changed (John 5:24, Galatians 2:20) by a spiritual rebirth are now able to fully understand these truths and know they are true by the understanding given by his Spirit living inside us (John 3:3, 14:26, Romans 8:9-11, Ephesians 1:13-14, 1 Peter 1:23) now.  These things John wrote to encourage our faith to hold to these truths and not be fooled by the lies that say otherwise.  Only the liar who is an antichrist set against Christ denies who He is.  Only the liar denies the Father and His only Son.  Without having God’s Spirit, these truths are denied.  Only those who acknowledge the Father and Son are one in Him and have His Spirit (Romans 8:9).  Knowing here things, we who have trusted and received Him continue in the truth and reveal the liars as we have the absolute hope of a certain eternal life through taking God at His word and not denying it in rebellion as in Eden’s Garden under the lies of the serpent who made us doubt the Lord and His clear word of what was permitted and what doubt earns as punishment for that sin of denial, namely physical and spiritual death.  We abide, continue to live in the grace of God in Christ by faith and can see those who try to dissuade and convince us otherwise.  We hold to the Son and Father by the clear understanding given by His Spirit who anoints and teaches (John 14:16-17, 26, 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, 1 John 2:27) us these things.  We have our confidence in these promises and truths and ready ourselves accordingly form his return by faith and perseverance to practice righteousness in return out of obedient thankfulness.  We remember that the denier of these things is the liar who is of the spirit of antichrist and we resist those by faith.