1 John 2:18-23

[Hidden In Him]

The Return Of False Christs: When The Final Hour Will be At Hand

                               

     There are many would-be "prophets" out there who see certain events taking shape in earth and are quick to assume the last hour must be at hand, and begin telling everyone the Lord's return is now imminent. Unfortunately, such people ignore passages like the one we will cover here, which identify a very specific phenomenon that will have to take place first before we are anywhere close to seeing the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sign John will specifically discuss in this passage is the rise of false Christs in the earth.
     This study is actually a companion to the Introduction Study for this series, so it will contain similar information. But I will go into more detail on exactly what to expect in the future, after first explaining again what the term "rival Christs" meant to John when he used it:

     Little children, it is the last hour, and even as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many rival "Christs" have arisen, whence we know it is the last hour. They departed from us but they were not of us, for if they were of us, they would have remained with us. But they departed that they might be made manifest, that not all are of us. And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all this. I wrote unto you not because you do not know the truth but because you know it, and that any lie is not of the truth. Who is the liar if not the one denying that Jesus is the Christ. This is a rival "Christ," the one denying the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son has neither the Father. The one confessing the Son has also the Father. (1 John 2:18-23)

     When John here mentioned "rival Christs," he was referring more specifically to the false Christs Jesus prophesied would come. The term "antichristos" literally meant "a rival Christ," and this is what both the Antichrist himself and the false Christs were: Men who rivaled the true Christ in some way, whether politically or spiritually. Both could rightly be referred to as "rival Christs," hence John coined the term to describe both under a single term. But Jesus clearly prophesied that both would appear in advance of His return:

     The disciples came to Him privately saying, "Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" And Jesus answered and said unto them... "When you shall see the abomination that causes desolation standing in the Holy Place, that having been spoken of through the prophet Daniel, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains... for then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be. And if those days were not shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, the Christ is here, or there,' do not believe it. For there will arise false Christs and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. If therefore they say unto you, 'Behold, He is in the wilderness,' do not go forth, or 'Behold, He is in the private rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes forth from the East and shines as far as the West, so too shall the coming of the Son of Man be." (Matthew 24:3-4, 14-16, 21-27)

     John knew it was the last hour because the appearance of these false Christs were a fulfillment of part of Christ's prophecies in Matthew 24. By the phrase "and by this we know it is the end-times," he meant, "we are seeing the events prophesied in the gospels now coming to pass."
     Again, as stated in church tradition, Simon was the first false Christ, and though he was present among the Christian congregation in Samaria, he eventually departed from them because he was never of them to begin with. This is recorded in the Book of Acts:
     
     Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
     When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
     But Simon, having seen that the Holy Spirit was given by the laying on of the apostles’ hands, offered them riches, saying, “Give me this authority as well, so that on whomsoever I may lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your riches come to ruin with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be obtained by riches. There is no part nor share for you in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this your wickedness, and ask the Lord God if [this] thought of your heart may truly be forgiven you. For I perceive that you are subject to the poison of bitterness and the bond of iniquity." And having answered, Simon said, “You pray to the Lord on my behalf, so that nothing which you have spoken may come upon me.” (Acts 8:9–24)

     While some Christians today read this as if Simon truly got saved, this was not the early church tradition, nor does it mesh with what John was saying in this passage. According to the fathers, Simon was only pretending. After being rebuked by Peter for attempting to buy the Holy Spirit (something no true Christian would ever dare to do), he went back to applying himself with greater zeal to the art of sorcery:

     This Simon, then — who feigned faith, supposing that the apostles themselves performed their cures by the art of magic and not by the power of God; and with respect to their filling with the Holy Ghost, through the imposition of hands, those that believed in God through Him who was preached by them, namely, Christ Jesus — suspecting that even this was done through a kind of greater knowledge of magic and offering money to the apostles, thought that he too might receive this power of bestowing the Holy Spirit on whomsoever he would... [But after being rebuked by Peter], not putting faith in God a whit the more, Simon set himself eagerly to contend against the apostles in order that he himself might seem to be a wonderful being, and applied himself with still greater zeal to the study of the whole magic art that he might the better bewilder and overpower multitudes of men. Such was his procedure in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, by whom also he is said to have been honored with a statue, on account of his magical power. This man, then, was glorified by many as if he were a god, and taught that it was himself who appeared among the Jews as the Son, but descended in Samaria as the Father, while he came to other nations in the character of the Holy Spirit. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, XXIII:1)

     That he declared himself to be "the Son" in Judea meant he professed to be "the Christ" who descended upon the man Jesus. Thus, Simon was essentially the first false Christ, and though present amongst the church early on, he departed from among them to start his own false religion.
     But this is how the early church knew it was the last hour. False Christs were manifesting themselves, making it appear as if prophecies the Lord spoke regarding the end-times were already being fulfilled. And not only did they have these prophecies, but the early churches also an anointing that had been given them from the Lord. Thus, they already knew about everything John was saying. He was telling them nothing new and nothing they were not aware of well already. They already knew the signs that would precede the second coming and they were watching things unfold. John was simply writing to remind them of them once again.


Partial Fulfillment Of Prophecy: Why History Repeats

     So were the things happening during New Testament times a fulfillment of Christ's prophecies, or are the false Christs in scripture still destined to emerge in the future? The correct answer is both. The partial fulfillment of prophecy is a phenomenon the Lord has been using for several millennia now. He allows prophetic utterances to receive a partial fulfillment shortly after they spoken, but will put off the ultimate fulfillment to a much later time. By this means, prophecies that the Lord knows will take millennia to fulfill are given credibility in the immediate, so that they can be preserved until their fulfillment finally takes place hundreds or in this case thousands of years later.
     This was taking place not only where the false Christs were concerned, but also where the Antichrist and the mystery of lawlessness were as well. It appeared as if the stage was already being set for the Antichrist to emerge as well. Paul discussed this in his second letter to the Thessalonians:   

     Now we implore you, brothers, by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him, that you not become quickly disturbed in mind nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by report, nor by letter as if written by us [intimating] that the Day of the Lord is here. No one should deceive you in any way if the apostasy has not [yet] come first and that man of lawlessness has been revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or is worshipped, so as for him to sit down in the temple of God, exhibiting himself that he is God.
     Do you not remember that when I was with you I was telling you these things? And you know it yet remains for him to be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already on its way to realization, only he is holding back at present until he manifests out of the midst, and then shall that lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus Christ will annul with the breath of His mouth and depose with the brightness of His coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-8)

     When Paul said, "the mystery of lawlessness is already on its way to realization, only he is holding back at present until he manifests out of the midst," he was talking here about the Antichrist still holding back, not having revealed himself yet to the world. From these words, it's apparent that Paul believed he was already alive, but just hadn't revealed himself yet by rising to power over the Roman empire. When he did, he would fulfill the role ascribed to the Antichrist of scripture.
     The reason Paul and the entire early church believed these things was because of events that took place during the reign of Emperor Gaius around 40 A.D. Emperor Gauis, whose nickname was Caligula, sought to be worshipped as a living god, and to this end he declared that:

     [all] such statues of the gods as were especially famous for their sanctity or their artistic merit, including that of Jupiter at Olympia, should be brought from Greece in order to remove their heads, and put his own in their place. (Suetonius, Gaius 22.2)

     In other words, this would be the emperor's was way of saying "I am your God now." There was one problem, however: The Jews. The rest of the world seemed willing to go along with his plans, but as the Jewish historian Josephus wrote:                 

     [Regarding his wish to be honored as divine] Gaius bore a grudge for being ignored in this respect only by the Jews. So he sent his legate, Petronius, to Syria to take the rule over from Vitellius, and ordered him to lead a large force into Judea. If they received him willingly, [Petronius] was to place a statue of him in the temple of God. But if they treated him with arrogance, he was still to do this, after mastering them in battle. (Josephus, Antiquities 18.261)

     According to Tacitus, it was only because of Caligula's assassination that these plans never went through:

     Under Tiberius there was quiet. Then at the command of Gaius Caesar to place a statue of himself in the temple, [the Jews] took up arms instead. But Caesar's death put an end to the commotion. (Tacitus, Histories 5.9)

     Nevertheless, Jews and Christians alike were now aware that plans had been in place that would have essentially fulfilled the Jewish prophecies, and had Caligula not been assassinated in A.D. 40 they would have.
     Since tensions continued to be great between Rome and Judea even after Caligula's death, it was now apparent that "the mystery of lawlessness was already on its way to realization," and that it was only a matter of time now before another emperor emerged and the true Antichrist finally revealed himself, marched on Jerusalem, and had an image of himself successfully placed in the temple in Jerusalem after conquering it. But the eventual conquest of Jerusalem by Rome in A.D. 70 proved to be only a partial fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, since the abomination that would cause desolation was never set up in the temple as expected. Instead, the Jewish temple was destroyed and reduced to rubble without Emperor Titus fulfilling the prophecy. But by then, the early church knew that its ultimate fulfillment was destined to take place at a much later time, as one can read from documents like the epistle of Barnabas (see... )
     And history is indeed now destined to repeat itself. Just as armies marched on Jerusalem and conquered it, so too will armies do so again during the end-times, and this time the ruler who does so will set up an image of himself as a god in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.
     As for false Christs, what this means is that history will repeat itself here as well. More powerful false Christs will emerge in the future than did during New Testament times, since what happened then was only a precursor to a much greater fulfillment of the prophecy during the last days. Thus we can know that once we again see false Christs arising in the earth, it will be a sure sign that the Lord's return is drawing near.


What The Coming False Christs Will Look Like

     If the re-emergence of false Christs in the earth will be a sign that it is the last hour, what might they look like? The Lord Jesus Christ gave additional insight into this in Matthew, Chapter 24:

     If anyone says to you, "Behold, the Christ is here, or there," do not believe it. For there will arise false Christs and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. If therefore they say unto you, "Behold, He is in the wilderness," do not go forth, or "Behold, He is in the private rooms," do not believe it. For as the lightning comes forth from the East and shines as far as the West, so too shall the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the corpse may be, there will the vultures be gathered. (Matthew 24:23-28)

     For starters, they will be mere flesh and blood, not having been resurrected from the dead like the Lord Jesus Christ. For another, their teachings will lead to spiritual uncleanness. Jesus was comparing them to spiritual "corpses" here, and that consuming their teachings will be like feeding upon rotten flesh, something highly offensive to the Jewish ear but readily understood. If Jesus Himself was the "bread of Life," and consuming His body would lead to eternal life, then feeding upon the "corpses" of the false Christs will lead only to spiritual uncleanness and death.
     Yet despite these things, the false Christs will have followers flocking to them like vultures. In other words, whether in the deserts or in private chambers, they will attract "followings" to themselves. Why? Because they will come performing signs and wonders; demonically-empowered ones so great that they will deceive if possible even the very elect.
     Things will again be as they were in New Testament times, for as Paul wrote, the coming of the Antichrist will be preceded by the emergence of the false Christs in the earth, just as Jesus prophesied:

    The coming of the lawless one will correspond with the demonic activity of Satan, [manifesting itself] in all the power, signs and wonders of falsehood and in all the deceitfulness of unrighteousness unto those who are perishing, on which account they have received not the love of the truth for them to be saved. And God is sending them this demonic activity that endorses falsehood for them to believe a lie for this reason: That all may be condemned who have not believed the truth but [instead] delighted in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

     Why is God going to allow the false Christs to manifest such powerful signs and wonders? It will be for the sake of those who delight in unrighteousness. It will give them a reason to believe in lies rather than the truth, and expose what they will truly wish to believe in their hearts. As for their specific teachings, John stated that they will deny that the True Jesus as described by the apostles is the Christ, and deny thereby deny both the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22).
     All of these were distinctly Gnostic doctrines, suggesting again that Gnosticism will be the religion through which they come. But until they come, scripture teaches not to be fooled into thinking the Day of the Lord has arrived. Any declarations by would-be "prophets" that claim the Lord's return is at hand should be ignored until we again see the prophecies of our Lord Himself coming to pass.