Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also (1 John 2:18-23).

Since the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles on the first Pentecost after the Lord's resurrection (Acts 2:1-4), we have been in the last hour (1 John 2:18) or time (cf. Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17). This is the age when God speaks to all mankind through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). It is the "ends of the ages" (1 Corinthians 10:11), the culminating period to which all previous ages pointed (Ephesians 3:1-12) and which will be brought to a close by the appearance of the Lord, the resurrection of all the dead, the deliverance of all rule to the Father by the Son, the fiery destruction of the material universe, and the judgment of all peoples of all ages (1 Corinthians 15:21-28; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; John 5:28-29; 2 Peter 3:10-12).

This last age will be characterized by false christs (Matthew 24:5,24) and false teachers (1 Timothy 4:1-3), and their appearance is evidence we are indeed in that last age (1 John 2:18).

The world speculates about the Antichrist, who he is, and when he shall appear. "The time is ripe and getting riper for the Great Dictator, the one we call the 'Future Fuehrer.' This is the one who is predicted in the Scriptures very clearly and called the 'Antichrist'" (Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth. 92). Popular movies dramatize the idea.

The fact is the term "Antichrist" is only found four times in the entire Bible and only in the books of First and Second John. Antichrist is not one great enemy of good to arise just before the Lord returns. Rather there are many antichrists, and they were already present in the first century (1 John 2:18; 4:2-3), they had once been among the Christians but went out from them (1 John 2:19), because they were "not of them" (Ibid). Anyone who denies Jesus is the Christ (1 John 2:22) is antichrist. Since one can only come to the Father and receive the life from Him by believing and obeying the Son (John 14:6; 8:24; Matthew 7:21), those who are antichrist deny both the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22-23). Anyone who denies "that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh" is antichrist (1 John 4:2-3; 2 John 7).

The term "Christ" is the New Testament Greek equivalent of the Old Testament Hebrew term "Messiah." Both literally mean "anointed." Kings, priests, and prophets were ceremonially anointed with oil when they were set into office (1 Samuel 10:1; Exodus 28:41; 1 Kings 19:16). Thus, priests were designated as "anointed" (cf. Leviticus 4:3,5,16), and the King of Israel was "the Lord's anointed" (cf. 1 Samuel 26:9).

The Old Testament prophesied the coming reign of the "Lord's anointed" (Psalm 2:2), "Messiah the Prince" (Daniel 9:25). He in His person would combine the offices of prophet (Deuteronomy 18:18-19), priest (Zechariah 6:12-13), and king (Psalm 2:6). He would be the Son of David (2 Samuel 7:12-16) as well as the Son of God (Psalm 2:7), man (Psalm 22:22; 45:7) as well as God (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Of course we know that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah (Christ) promised and prophesied by the prophets of old (Luke 2:11; John 20:30-31; Acts 2:36). Jesus the Christ is the Prophet like Moses through whom God now speaks (Acts 3:19-26; Hebrews 1:1-2), the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:5-11; 7:20-28), the King of kings (1 Timothy 6:13-16) who reigns on the throne of David, the throne of God (Luke 1:26-33; Acts 2:29-36; Hebrews 1:8; Revelation 3:21). He is the Savior of the world (Luke 2:11; John 4:42; Acts 5:31; 13:23; Philippians 3:20; 2 Timothy 1:8-11; Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:4-7; 2 Peter 1:1,10-11; 2:20). He was anointed as Christ by the reception of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 61:1-3; Matthew 3:16-17; Luke 4:16-21; Acts 10:38).

He is the Son of God (John 20:30-31). He is God, deity, divine (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews chapter 1), equal to God the Father in His nature (John 5:17-18).

But He became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). He was and is truly a man, having the same nature we have, tempted to sin in all the ways we are, yet without sin (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 2:9-18; 4:15). He is "the seed of David according to the flesh" (Romans 1:3; Matthew 1:1).

He became the Son of God and the Son of Man by being born of the virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-23; Luke 1:26-32; John 3:13). He is demonstrated to be the Son of God by His literal, bodily resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4; Luke 24:36-43; Acts 2:29-32; 10:36-41; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8).

Some in the latter part of the first century had spiritually left the brotherhood, whether they had physically left or not (1 John 2:19) by denying Jesus is the Christ (1 John 2:22) or by denying His fleshly (human) nature (1 John 4:2-3; 2 John 7). They were antichrist, and were severed from both the Son and the Father.

To be in fellowship with God and have the eternal life that comes from Him through His Son we must believe these fundamental truths concerning Jesus of Nazareth. To deny He is truly and fully God or to refuse to accept He is truly and fully man is to be antichrist and to be severed from both the Father and the Son.