FIRST JOHN

The Exclusivity of Christ

1 John 2:8, 18-28

INTRODUCTION

"Can't we all just get along?" How often have we heard this question the past several years? This statement is normally made by people who are unwilling to compromise their beliefs but who believe that YOU should compromise your beliefs. In the spirit of this willingness to compromise a Roman Catholic bishop "in the Netherlands has proposed people of all faiths refer to God as Allah to foster understanding, stoking an already heated debate on religious tolerance in a country with one million Muslims.

Bishop Tiny Muskens, from the southern diocese of Breda, told Dutch television on Monday that God did not mind what he was named and that in Indonesia, where Muskens spent eight years, priests used the word "Allah" while celebrating Mass. [The bishop continues:] 'Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn't we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? ... What does God care what we call him? It is our problem.'"

One good thing about this episode is that the Dutch outright rejected the bishop's suggestion: "A survey in the Netherlands' biggest-selling newspaper De Telegraaf on Wednesday found 92 percent of the more than 4,000 people polled disagreed with the bishop's view, which also drew ridicule.

'Sure. Lets call God Allah. Lets then call a church a mosque and pray five times a day. Ramadan sounds like fun,' Welmoet Koppenhol wrote in a letter to the newspaper." From the article Dutch bishop: Call God ‘Allah’ to ease relations.

Such a proposal by the Dutch bishop shows that the winds of culture are shifting. He though is not the only one who has raised the eyebrows of millions of Christians. One prominent figure running for political office claims that he believes Jesus to be his Savior; however, he then goes on to say that although he believes in Jesus, he also believes that there are many other paths to God. This statement sounds so compassionate and gracious; however, if it is true, it is Hindu and not Christian. It totally flies in the face of what Christianity claims for itself.

A WORD ABOUT THE ANTICHRIST

In this study we will analyze John's comments about the Antichrist. Since most of us grew up in a conservative Baptist church, we nearly all agree that the Antichrist is a figure who will emerge 7 years before the return of Christ and persecute God's people (the Jews and also probably Christians) during the time of the Great Tribulation. There is really nothing new about that idea.

Both John and especially Paul though give us more insight into the Antichrist. First of all, whereas he does appear at the end of time, his spirit has been working continuously throughout history. Paul writes: "For the mystery of lawlessness is ALREADY at work" (2 Thess. 2:7). According to the NT the spirit of Antichrist was working in the city of Sodom where the Sodomites persecuted Lot (Rev. 11:8), in the land of Egypt where Pharaoh persecuted the Jewish people (Rev. 11:8), in the of Babylon where Nebuchadnezzar made all people worship his statue (Rev. 17:5), in the person of Judas Iscariot who persecuted Jesus (John 17:12), and also in the Roman empire where Jew instigated a great persecution against the Christians living especially in modern-day Turkey (see the entire book of Revelation, especially Rev. 17:9, 18). The Bible which focuses primarily on 2,000 years of God dealing with His people lists all these as examples of the Antichrist moving against God and His people.

It would be strange if the spirit of Antichrist moved against God's people for 2,000 years and then just stopped after the first century. A closer look at history though shows us that that same spirit has been operating since the time of Christ. Probably the worst persecution against Christians occurred around 300 AD just before the Christian Constantine became emperor and stopped these persecutions. Surely the most recently examples of the spirit of Antichrist would be Stalin, Hitler, and Mao Tse-Tung. Never has any century seen such wholesale slaughter of Christians and Jews as the 20th century saw. If the spirit of Antichrist was not operating through them, then surely he does not exist.

All these examples do not indicate that there will NOT be a final appearance of Antichrist. Actually these examples should confirm for us that Antichrist WILL appear at the very end of history before Jesus returns.

WE LIVE AT THE DAWN OF TIME (1 John 2:8)

According to John we actually live at he dawn of time. According to Matthew before Christ came, people lived in great darkness: "The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and those who were sitting in the land of shadow and death, upon them a light dawned" (4:16). If you look at the world before Christ came and the world after He came, you are going to see a radical difference. Christianity has definitely improved the world we live in. More people will go to sleep tonight free because Christian principles have permeated the world. When Christ came, He ushered in the dawn of time. In fact John actually calls Him "the bright morning star," the star which shines at dawn.

There are 2 reasons John calls Jesus the "bright morning star" (Rev. 22:16) and claims that we live at the dawn of time. First, dawn indicates that full day is coming. That doesn't seem all that important because everybody knows that at dawn the darkness is overcoming the light. Yet remember that this is not the only time that both light and darkness coexist. Dusk is also the other time of the day when light and darkness coexist. Remember though that at dusk though the darkness is overtaking the day, while at dawn the day is overtaking the darkness.

The second reason John says we live at the dawn of time is that at that time of the day darkness and light do coexist. Not just light but also darkness. Although we do have the light of Jesus in our lives and in our society, darkness is still among us, even within us.

Not this spiritual light and darkness are different than physical light and darkness in one very important way. Each dawn the physical light naturally and easily overcomes the physical darkness; the physical darkness does not resist physical light. However, at our dawn of time spiritual darkness fights with all its might against spiritual light. Satan will not go down without a major fight. Because spiritual darkness is both powerful and aggressive, at times it can get pretty dark. The wonderful thing is that no matter how strong the darkness may get, we still live at the dawn of time where light also exists. The darkness will never ever overcome the light (John 1:5--"And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it); because Jesus is so powerful, it is just not going to happen.

JOHN WAS LIVING IN THE LAST HOUR (2:18)

The Emergence of Antichrists

Whereas it is true that until Jesus returns, we will live in a world in which light and darkness coexist. Yet at times darkness does seem to reign supreme. In fact right before Jesus does return, the darkness will be so dominant that Jesus said that if He did not return, then all mankind would be wiped off the face of the earth (Matt. 24:22). According to John he was living in that last hour:

"Children, it is THE LAST HOUR,
And just as you heard that Antichrist is coming
Even NOW many antichrists have arisen.
From this we know that it is THE LAST HOUR" (2:18).

Why would John make sure a claim? He made this claim because whatever else is true about the last hour before Jesus' return, it is the time of the Antichrist. According to Jesus the main characteristic of the last hour, the great tribulation is the emergence of antichrists (Matt. 24:24). Based on what Jesus said, John can now say: "Even NOW many antichrists have arisen; from THIS we know that it is the last hour." (We all know that Christ did not physically return at that time; however, what John was going through was completely indicative of what will happen during the last hour right before Christ returns.)

According to Jesus what is one of the main acts of antichrists? To mislead many, and if possible, even Christians (the elect):

"For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many" (Matt. 24:5);
"Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many" (24:11);
"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders,
so as to mislead if possible even the elect" (24:24).

What Jesus predicted came true. When antichrists emerged, they did mislead many: "They went out from US, but they were not really of US, for if they had been of US, they would have remained with US, but they went out in order that it might be shown that they are not of us" (2:19).

At this point many Christians misinterpret this verse. I remember that when I church was at when through a church split, that one of the people quoted this verse: "They went out from us, but they were not really of us." Well church splits ARE bad. They do serious harm to the witness of the church and of Christ in that community. HOWEVER, John here is not speaking about the normal church split caused by immature Christians. Rather he is speaking about THE church split caused by the spirit of antichrist. When John writes that they went out from US, he was saying that they were leaving the apostles and the message about God which they taught. (As we saw in chapter 1, this message is not one among many. It is THE message.)

Whatever else this verse is teaching us, it is teaching us to be careful about what the NT (Bible) teaches. We're not dealing with the opinions of man when we read the Bible. Rather we are dealing with the Word of God. Rejecting what the apostles said about Jesus and God is the same as rejecting God Himself. To put it in a more positive way, Jesus says: "He who receives WHOMEVER I send receives ME, and whoever receives ME receives HIM who sent Me" (John 13:20). You can't get any clearer than that.

The Message of Antichrists

So just exactly what was it that the antichrists were rejecting about the apostles and their message? The apostles' claim that Jesus was the divine Son of God.

"Who is THE liar? The one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
Who is THE Antichrist? The one who denies the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22).

So what is the primary purpose of antichrists, especially the very last Antichrist? To reject the belief that the Jesus who walked upon the earth 2,000 years ago was none other than God the Son, the Son of God. (The word "Christ" here does not refer to Jesus being the Messiah of the Jews but rather the divine Son of God.)

HOW THIS APPLIES TO TODAY

John's claim about Jesus being the unique Son of God, God the Son, so totally flies in the face of what people are claiming today. Sixteen (16) % of the world (the Muslim world) flatout rejects that Jesus is God the Son; others water down His deity by claiming that we are ALL sons of God. (Whether they realize it or not, this last group is promoting Hinduism.) In either case, such a rejection of the uniqueness and exclusivity of Jesus being God the Son is the work of antichrist. The people who reject the exclusive nature of Jesus, even today, are in harmony with the spirit and work of antichrist.

"But we all believe in God? Isn't that all that matters?" Not according to John. According to John Christianity doesn't simply say that there is a God. Rather Christianity claims that there is one God and that He is the eternal Father of the eternal Son of God, Jesus, God the Son. Yes, we can BECOME sons and daughters of God, but "becoming" means that at one time we were NOT sons and daughters of God. Rather when we accepted Jesus as the Son of God, His Spirit came within us and transformed us into God's sons and daughters (John 1:12).

Furthermore, rejecting the exclusivity of Jesus and claiming that we all worship the same God means that there is no right or wrong. If every religion is right, if we are ALL worshiping the same God, then there is no right or wrong since everybody is right. (That is the true agenda of those who reject the exclusivity and absoluteness of Jesus. It means that they can do whatever they want and still be OK.) John though earlier categorically claimed that there IS right and wrong whenever he claimed that "God is LIGHT and in Him there is NO DARKNESS AT ALL" (1 John 1:5).

At this point Christians adopt one of 2 attitudes: (1) glee that every person who is not a Christian is going to go to hell or (2) horror at the idea that every person who is not a Christian is going to hell. Neither I nor John nor the NT said this. There are millions and millions of people who have never heard about Jesus. According to one of Osama Bin Ladin's relatives who recently became a Christian, Muslims are being shielded from the truth about Jesus by the dictatorial mullahs. Does that mean that every Muslim is going to hell?

Probably the best answer to that is this question: "How would that person have responded if he had heard about Jesus during his lifetime?" For example, if a Muslim rejects the Islamic teaching that Allah is full of hate towards infidels and instead he accepts those parts of the Koran which are actually Christian, such as peace, love, forgiveness, mercy, is it quite possible that that person would have accepted Jesus if he had ever heard the truth about Christ? I think so. My biblical example would be Cornelius (Acts 10).

Many conservative Christians sound like the 12 disciples who wanted to rebuke some people, who were actually doing good, because they were not part of the apostles' group. Jesus though responded: "He who is not against us is for us" (Mark 9:40). This principle may be operating in a huge way on Judgment Day.