Reflection Questions – Satan File 6: “The Far Reaches of the North” – Satan & His Boy

1 John 2:18: “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.”

1. John talks about (1) a person whom he calls Antichrist, (2) a worldview that denies various truths about Jesus and His coming which he calls the “spirit of Antichrist,” and (3) false teachers/missionaries who go about spreading these blasphemous heresies which he calls “antichrists.” Read 1 John 2:18-23 very carefully. As a group, draw out all the individual things this passage is saying. Even in John’s day, “Antichrist [was] coming” and “many antichrists” had already appeared. Because of this, John concludes: “we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18b). Well, the same is certainly true today: Antichrist is coming AND many antichrists have come! So, what does this tell us about our own “hour” 2000 years later? How could John be living in the “last hour” and we be living in it too?
2. In John’s mind, what specifically identifies someone as an “antichrist”? See 1 John 2:22-23, 4:2-3 and 2 John 7. What do these passages tell us about so-called Christian groups which deny the deity of Jesus (like the Jehovah’s Witnesses), or His coming “in the flesh”? What of religions that claim to believe in God, but which reject Jesus (1 John 2:23)? Who else might be included in this group John calls ‘antichrists’? Conversely, how can we know if we truly belong to God? See 1 John 4:2-3.
3. What is the TRULY SHOCKING thing about what John writes in 1 John 2:19? What does this tell us about perseverance as believers? In this vein, consider Jesus’ parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:3-9. Read this out loud. There is ONE seed which is cast upon FOUR different kinds of ground. Jesus explained the parable in Matthew 13:18-23. Read this out loud. Consider our Lord’s description of each of the four kinds of soil the seed – which is the Gospel (the “word of the kingdom,” 13:19) – fell upon. Why did the seeds which “fell along the path” fail to grow (13:4, 19)? The seeds which “fell on rocky ground” (13:5, 20-21)? The seeds which “fell among thorns” (13:7, 22)? Why did the seeds which “fell on good soil” grow (13:8, 23)? According to Jesus’ parable how many of these four kinds of soil produced salvation? Why does Jesus end His parable by saying what He does in 13:9 (see also 13:10-13)?
4. OK, back to 1 John 2:19. Understanding the above parable, WHY did John say, “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 it might become plain that they all are not of us”? Which of the four kinds of seeds were these ‘antichrists’ like?
5. Hearing such things can be terrifying for those of us who desire to follow Jesus and walk in the truth! But, fear not, God has given us help in discerning truth from error. As a group, brainstorm all the ‘helps’ He’s given the Church to keep her on the right path. Discuss.
6. But of all these ‘helps,’ one is the greatest by far. Read 1 John 2:20-21, 26-27. What is the “anointing” of which John is speaking? How does this “anointing” work together with God’s other helps (see Romans 8:14-16, 1 Corinthians 2:10-16, John 14:26)?
7. With this in mind, how do we obey John’s admonition to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1)?