It is extremely important for all of us to understand our place and our time in human history. That understanding can only come from divine revelation. God used Christ’s Apostle John to help us understand the point in history in which we live. He wrote, “Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that anti-Christ cometh, even now have there arisen many anti-Christs; whereby we know that it is the last hour.”(1 John 2:18 ASV)
Here the Apostle John does not contrast the expression ‘little children’ with ‘young men’ and ‘fathers’ as he did in chapter 2, verses 12-14. Here, as a general term of endearment, the Apostle John calls all the followers of Christ ‘little children.’
The Apostle John reminds the followers of Christ that they had already heard about the coming of a being called ‘anti-Christ.’ The term ‘anti-Christ’ refers to one who not only opposes the true Christ, but he opposes the true Christ by presenting himself as the true Christ. “He is one who would supplant Christ by assuming to be and to do what Christ is and does.” (H.D.M. Spence, Editor, Pulpit Commentary, Volume 50, I. John, (Wilcox & Follet Co., Chicago), p. 68)
In the Bible the word, ‘anti-Christ’ is used only in this one passage. However, several years earlier God used the Apostle Paul to express the same concept using other words. The Apostle Paul called this being “the man of sin … the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3b-4 ASV) His “coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 ASV) It was from Paul’s message that those to whom John writes had heard about the coming of the anti-Christ.
In the message to the followers of Christ who lived in the city of Thessalonica Paul made it clear that the anti-Christ would be destroyed by the true Christ when he comes into the world the second time to bring judgment on the world and to bring history to a close. That means, there will be no further historical periods in human history following the time in which the followers of Christ to whom this epistle was first directed lived. Therefore, John reminds all of us that the period in which we are living is the ‘last hour’ or the last time or the last period of history. This period of history is often called ‘the last days’ in scripture. (See, for example Acts 2:17.)
Because, “it is the last hour,” (1 John 2:18) it is the climactic period of human history. The climactic period of human history is the period ushered in by the coming of the Christ which took place at his birth in Bethlehem. It will close when Christ returns in power to usher in judgment.
John goes on to tell us that the real anti-Christ had not yet appeared, but was still to come. Though the real anti-Christ had not appeared he said that at the time he was writing there had, “arisen many anti-Christs.” (1 John 2:18) He emphasizes that the existence of the ‘many anti-Christs’ are forerunners of the real anti-Christ. Thus, he shows that we live in that same period of history during which the paramount anti-Christ, the man of sin, will appear. Therefore, we live in the ultimate or final period of history which shall be terminated by the triumphant return of Christ.
By inspiration from God the Apostle John not only informed the followers of Christ that there were many anti-Christs, he also tells us about their origin. He wrote, “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 they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19 ASV)
These people had left the fellowship of those who followed Christ. They separated themselves from the fellowship of the followers of Christ because of a fundamental and basic incompatibility expressed in the words, “they were not of us.” The reason they departed was because they had never been truly compatible with the body of believers.
The words “of us” express the essence of the unity of those who follow Christ. That unity comes from being “of us.” There must be a basic compatibility. Without it, division and separation are inevitable. With it unity in its full maturity is not automatically assured but it is certainly possible. With the unity implied in the words, “of us,” there remains no basic incompatibility which would stand in the way of ongoing fellowship. To whom did John refer when he used the pronoun, ‘us.’ And what is the basic cause of the compatibility which grows out of being part of ‘us.’ What makes the ‘us’ a cohesive, basically united group? Nine verses further on, John clearly identifies the people to whom, along with himself, he refers to as, ‘us.’ He says, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” (1 John 3:1 ASV)
The ‘us,’ then, refers to those who are called children of God. The unity of the followers of Christ is based on the new form of existence which they received through a divine process called ‘regeneration.’ Regeneration is also called the ‘new birth.’ That means that the unity among the followers of Christ grows out of having the same Father. That makes each one a member in God’s family. The basic antipathy is between God and the world. The true follower of Christ has renounced the world because he “is a new creature: [and] the old things are passed away;” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ASV)