What does the Antichrist is coming mean in 1 John 2:18?

Little children, it is [the] last hour, and, according as ye have heard that antichrist comes, even now there have come many antichrists, whence we know that it is [the] last hour.

It is the last time. There are many Antichrists. That is a solemn thing. God's patience, how wonderful! As long as there is a soul to win, God's patience goes on bearing with wickedness and corruption; but many Antichrists are come in. It is often thought to be something requiring depth of knowledge. No; little children are told of it; it is a common truth. Antichrist was to come in; but that before he comes there are many Antichrists, and they might seduce them - there is danger. The Antichrist is to come, who will deny both the Father and the Son.

They cannot mistake him; there is no subtlety in Antichrist. His is a bold, open denial; but John speaks of Antichrists already come. He says, "They went out from us because they were not of us." Jude says, "There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation." It was a common doctrine that Antichrist was to come, and the babes knew he would come in opposition to Christ, to oppose and set aside what Christ had done, but the Apostle tells them there are many Antichrists now; there were those before the Antichrist came. He tells them they will need the unction of the Holy One, as well as the warning of the Apostle, to be able to detect; for "Satan transforms himself into an angel of light." It is the seductions of the Antichrists now in the world, against which he warns them; those who, by the power of Satan, set up to seduce away from Christ, not to frighten away, but to ensnare those who have not the unction from the Holy One.

314 It would not be judged wise, in our days, to be speaking of the antichrists to babes in the faith. Later on, one might think, would be a better time to speak to them of prophecy and of the antichrists. Certainly, if it were only a question of theories, and indeed, in that case, better never to speak of them at all. But the word of God is practical, in prophecy as in everything else. It treats of the antichrists as a matter affecting the walk of the saints. The antichrists have come! let the saints discern them and avoid them.

Verse 18. "As ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last time." The existence of antichrists marks the last days of Christianity and proves their commencement in John's time.

In his epistles John shows a similar concern for those who were in danger of being deceived. It was not deception connected with wrong teaching about the timing of the day of the Lord, but what is even more serious, deception flowing from wrong teaching about the Person of Christ. Does not the apostle John insist upon the vital nature of the doctrine of Christ? In his first epistle he especially warns the little children. “Who is a liar, but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son. Whosoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father: but he that acknowledges the Son, has the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father” (1 John 2:22-24). In these verses we have again the same elements that we have seen before. He is the Christ, the Son of God and of the Father. Like the Thessalonian believers, the little children that John addressed knew that Antichrist was coming (1 John 2:18a) but he warns them that, “even now are there many antichrists” (1 John 2:18b). What constituted them antichrists was the denial of the truth as to Christ's Person. They professed themselves to be Christians while at the same time denying the revelation of the eternal God that has come to us in the Son. The safeguard of the little children was to abide in the teaching of the apostle's concerning Him. They were to receive no new, no novel teaching about the Person of Christ. The Unction (the Holy Spirit) which they had from the Holy One (the Lord Jesus) would enable them to continue in the Son and in the Father (1 John 2:20, 24).

The babes knew the Father. They had the Spirit of sonship. Nothing less than this could be included in Christianity, for, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” All who are Christ’s have His Spirit, and by Him the love of God fills the heart, and in this way He witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God. These may not have known the Father’s world, as the fathers, and, in knowing Him that is from the beginning, neither were they strong like the young men, and able to hold the field in spite of the fierce onslaughts of the wicked one, but they knew the Father, and in abiding in the light of the Father’s love, they would in a little while arrive at maturity. They are informed that it is the last time, or hour. An hour with John is a period of time, characterized by a certain event, which may be good or evil. He speaks in the gospel of the hour of life-giving (John 5:25), of resurrection (5:28), of the hour being come for His glorification (12:23), of a woman’s hour being come when she is in travail (16:21), and here he says it is the last hour. There was nothing more to be waited for except the coming of Christ, for the evil had been now fully developed; the antichrists were present. When the antichrist comes, it will not be any fresh development, for already there had come many antichrists, and by this, he says, we know it is the last hour. When the antichrist himself comes, there will be no room for the many antichrists, but as he is to be the great masterpiece of Satan, and the end to which all the activities of the devil tend, he has today many of the same kind though of less spiritual power. This is what proves the last hour to have come, because when antichrist arises, there is nothing to look for but the appearing of Christ, who shall consume the antichrist with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. 2:18). These antichrists had gone out from the apostles, and from those who were standing for the truth, and were causing their hateful influence to be felt where the apostles were not present to withstand them. They did not now acknowledge the apostles, nor the Christ whom they served, though once they had done so, for they had evidently at one time made a profession of faith in Christ. The devil whom they served and whose children they were, had been able to introduce them into the sphere of the profession of Christianity; but now they had gone out on lines of their own, and whatever name they may have given themselves, they denied boldly all that was the truth and life of Christianity. Had they been real believers they would have remained in the fellowship of the apostles, but their apostasy proved they never had part or lot in the matter. They denied Jesus was the Christ, and thus proved themselves liars. They denied the Father and the Son, and thus proved themselves antichrists. But the babes had the unction from the Holy One, and Christ became to them a means by which everything was tested. Jesus must be confessed to be the Christ. This was a very simple test indeed. He who denies Jesus to be the Christ, is a liar; and the babes knew that no lie was of the truth. Nothing that these deceivers said was to be listened to; they were detected and exposed and judged out of their own mouths. They were liars all of them. They were not like people who had never mixed among Christians, nor made any profession of belief in the glad tidings, for, as we have here, they had attached themselves to believers, had been in the Christian assembly, under the power of the ministry of the Spirit, and now they had broken loose from all that was of God, and were spending their energies in denying that Jesus was the Christ, and in denying the Father and the Son. They do not seem to have presented anything as a substitute for Christianity, they spent their time denying the truth. They may have spoken of the Christ, but if they did, they affirmed that Jesus was not He. They may also have spoken of the Father, the boast of the Jew was, “we have one Father, even God,” and it is common enough to hear men speak of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, while denying absolutely the Father and the Son. To confess the Father and the Son, is to admit that the world is in rebellion against God, and that the devil is prince and god of it, and that its judgment is certain, and also that man after the flesh is not in any relationship with God. But whoever denies the Son has not the Father either, whereas he who confesses the Son has the Father also.

The name ἀντίχριστος signifies an opposer of Christ. It is used only by John in his first and second epistles, though those opposed to Christ are referred to by others under different names. It is important to distinguish between an antichrist and the antichrist. John says, "as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists;" whereas "he is the antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son." 1 John 2:18, 22. He is the consummation of the many antichrists. To deny Jesus Christ come in the flesh is the spirit or power of the antichrist, but it eventuates in a departure from the special revelation of Christianity: 'they went out from us.' 1 John 2:19; 1 John 4:3; 2 John 7. Now this clears the ground at once of much that has obscured the subject. For instance, many have concluded that Popery is the antichrist, and have searched no farther into the question, whereas the above passage refutes this conclusion, for Popery does not deny the Father and the Son; and, in Revelation 17, 18, Popery is pointed out as quite distinct from 'the false prophet,' which is another name for the antichrist. It is fully granted that Popery is anti-christian, and a Christ-dishonouring and soul-deceiving system; but where God has made a distinction we must also do so. Besides Popery there were and there are many antichrists, which, whatever their pretensions, are the enemies of Christ, opposers of the truth, and deceivers of man.

There are in this epistle two words both translated "little children." The one used in 1 John 2:12 and 28, is simply "children," embracing all believers, since all are children of God. The other used in 1 John 2:13 and 18, is really, "babes," the beginners in the Christian life. These are the ones who are told that it is "the last time;" that is, the last epoch, in the last days of which the Antichrist will appear, so that already men of antichristian character were at work.

To the babes the apostle speaks principally of the dangers to which they were exposed from seducers. He warns them with tender affection, reminding them at the same time that all the sources of intelligence and strength were open to them and belonged to them. "It is the last time"; not exactly the last days, but the season which had the final character that belonged to the dealings of God with this world. The Antichrist was to come, and already there were many antichrists: by this it might be known it was the last time. It was not merely sin, nor the transgression of the law; but, Christ having already been manifested, and being now absent and hidden from the world, there was a formal opposition to the especial revelation that had been made. It was not a vague and ignorant unbelief; it took a definite shape as having a will directed against Jesus. They might for instance believe all that a Jew believed, as it was revealed in the word; but as to the testimony of God by Jesus Christ they opposed it. They would not own Him to be the Christ; they denied the Father and the Son. This, as to religious profession, is the true character of the Antichrist. He may indeed believe or pretend to believe, that there shall be a Christ; yea, set himself up to be it. But the two aspects of Christianity (that which, on the one hand, regards the accomplishment in the Person of Jesus of the promises made to the Jew; and, on the other hand, the heavenly and eternal blessings presented in the revelation of the Father by the Son), this the Antichrist does not accept. That which characterises him as Antichrist is that he denies the Father and the Son. To deny that Jesus is the Christ is indeed the Jewish disbelief that forms part of his character. That which gives him the character of Antichrist is that he denies the foundation of Christianity. He is a liar in that he denies Jesus to be the Christ; consequently it is the work of the father of lies. But all the unbelieving Jews had done as much without being Antichrist. To deny the Father and the Son characterises him.

But there is something more. These antichrists came out from among the Christians. There was apostasy. Not that they were really Christians, but they had been among the Christians and had come out from them. (How instructive for our days also is this epistle!) It was thus made manifest that they were not truly of the flock of Christ. All this had a tendency to shake the faith of babes in Christ. The apostle endeavours to strengthen them. There were two means of confirming their faith, which also inspired the apostle with confidence. Firstly, they had the unction of the Holy One; secondly, that which was from the beginning was the touchstone for all new doctrine, and they already possessed that which was from the beginning.

The meaning of the word “Antichrist” is “against Christ” or “instead of Christ” (1 John 2:22). Antichrist is the name of that man who will appear between the rapture of the believers and Christ's appearing to set up His kingdom of peace (the millennium) and will draw off the people from awaiting Messiah. He will show himself that he is God and will demand worship (2 Thess. 2:4). Being an instrument of Satan he will imitate Messiah as well as be hostile to him. This is why he is compared with a lamb and a dragon (Rev. 13:11). The Antichrist will be a Jew (compare Dan. 11:36-37). For the Jews would not respect another as their king.

"The Antichrist" is a title only found in John's first epistle (1 John 2:18-22). Other titles belonging to the same transgressor may be found scattered over the Book of God. Almost from the beginning of Christianity there have been antichrists, but this does not touch the fact of a personal Antichrist yet to come, with whom no others can be confounded. Thus John writes: "Little children, it is the last time (or hour); and as ye have heard that the Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time" (1 John 2:18). "Antichrist" means one who sets himself in opposition to Christ, and this manifestly where Christ should be exalted. This is sufficient to let us know where to look for antichrists in our own day — not in the atheistical lecture hall, but in the Christian university and pulpit. In like manner, when the last great deceiver is manifested his connection will not be so much with paganism, as with Judaism, and apostate Christianity.