I John 4: 2
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
You have probably heard the word “antichrist” before. Do you know what it means? The antichrist is someone who violently opposes Jesus, the true Christ. The antichrist strives to hide the true person and work of Jesus. The antichrist is a destroyer of faith, of lives and of hope. The antichrist leads people to destruction. Therefore, it is important that we are aware of the antichrist and wise to his tactics so that we will remain strong in the one true faith.
The antichrist is the spirit that is in any teacher that denies the confession of God’s Word about Jesus, in particular Jesus’ incarnation, which means, His coming into the world in the flesh to save. Why is this so significant?
When Jesus Christ came into the world, true God and true Man, He came in power to overcome the rule and realm of the evil one. Jesus came forgiving sins (granting absolution instead of satan’s accusations), healing people of their diseases (granting hope rather than satan’s despair), and driving out demons (granting freedom in place of satanic possession.)
The victory of Jesus in this world began at HIs temptation and continued throughout HIs ministry. Therefore, the first step of the antichrist’s attack is to deny Jesus’ existence. The antichrist denies the reality of Jesus’ entrance into this physical creation. The doctrines of the antichrist intend to make the war over the Gospel a mere squabble over philosophical concepts rather than the physical realities of sin, death and devil – and Jesus true victory through His cross and resurrection.
Why is it important for us to know this? We live in the real world, and so also is the substance of our faith is grounded in the real world! The Christian faith isn’t a philosophy! Jesus isn’t just a teacher or another historian figure. Jesus is true God and true man who came to save us.
Therefore when we confess “I believe in Jesus Christ,” we mean “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord.” We believe this Jesus came to save us though all that He did in the real world. Jesus’ life, death, resurrection all happened. And His coming again in glory to judge the living and dead will happen.
Therefore, today we are warned of the antichrist so that we will be prepared. The antichrist would still lie about the reality of Jesus coming into the world and strive to enslave people in fear. In the face of this persistent lie, we confess the pure truth about Jesus Christ, true God and true man. Jesus has overcome our sin, death and the devil. Because of this we live each day in faith, hope, love — without fear — anticipating Jesus’ coming again in glory to judge both the living and the dead.
Let us Pray, I thank you Heavenly Father for the clear confession of your Holy Word about your Son Jesus, who has truly come into the world in the flesh to save me. I thank you for the warnings of your word about the lies of the antichrist who would cause me to doubt the physical reality of Jesus and what He did for me. Strengthen my faith in you and my love for others. In Jesus name, Amen.