The Last Hour

1 John 2:18-19 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
 
WHEN we are within the last hour of a significant event in our lives such as a marriage, a baptism or a graduation, we make final preparations for the moment it occurs. John’s use of last hour is an urgent plea for the church to be prepared for the moment Jesus returns. None of us want to be locked out of the bridegroom’s reception: Matthew 25:10-13 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ 12 But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ 13 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”  
   Jesus used day and hour to urge us into earnest devotion to his truth. One way to be prepared for Jesus is to know who is not Jesus. John first refers to the antichrist. This is one prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders.
   This man has not appeared, but there are many from the first century to today who have been anti – opposed to – Jesus as the Christ. Jesus warned of those antichrists: Mark 13:6 “Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.”
   John defines these false teachers. First, they deny Jesus is Messiah: 1 John 2:22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist – he denies the Father and the Son.
   The antichrist also denies Jesus is the Son of God: 1 John 2:23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. And the antichrist denies Jesus came in the flesh: 2 John 7 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 
   Do not be as those who went out from  us. They have rejected the truth and are not ready for the hour Jesus comes.
   Know Jesus. He has come in the flesh to reveal the Father. He is Savior, risen from the dead, ascended to heaven. He awaits the Father’s command to return at any hour. If you knew Jesus would come one hour from now, would you be eager and ready to meet him?