1 John 2:22 (The Antichrist Is and Are)

1 John 2:22

Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.

There are many terrifying characters in the Bible; the stuff of nightmares incarnate. King Herod ordered the slaughter of all infants in one of his cities in order to try and kill the Messiah (Matthew 2:16-18). Athaliah, mother of one of Judah's kings, in a homocidal rage attempted to murder the entire royal family to ensure she became Judah's next ruler (2 Kings 11:1-2). King Nebuchadnezzar captured Zedekiah, Judah's last king, and ordered his soldiers to kill "the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes," (2 Kings 25:7). All of these humans were malicious monsters, but the Bible tells of a more fearsome beast that will come after them; a liar, deceiver and murderer who can only be stopped by God, Himself. This is the antichrist.

In the days after Jesus left the earth, His disciples warned about the coming of the antichrist. Jesus' disciple John wrote to a group of believers, "Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour," (1 John 2:18). John says that the world (then and now) is in its last days. The one to usher in this ending is the antichrist. Although John says that this antichrist has not yet come, there are antichrists already walking the earth. They are so numerous that John says some of them were (and are) among believers (1 John 2:19). These antichrists are all deceivers "who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ," (1 John 1:7), and they are creatures disparate from believers (2 Corinthians 5:17). They are twisted inside, because they are possessed by "the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world," (1 John 4:3). These monstrosities belong to the darkness. They are all liars and murderers (John 8:44).

John wrote in another letter to a mother that there were
antichrists trying to invade her home and do wickedness
to her children, but she and all believers should
never let in these creatures (2 John 7-11).

Even if the antichrist who will bring in the end of the world is not now among us, there are swarms of antichrists stalking the corners of the earth. The antichrists lurking here are all led by one desire, to deceive saying Christ has not come (1 John 2:22), in order to bring about one end, to murder everyone who believes them by leading them away from eternal life (1 John 2:26). What can followers of Christ do to survive, when they are surrounded by hordes of antichrists mindlessly seeking to destroy and kill every last one of them? 

John writes to his fellow believers that they have nothing to fear of the antichrist. John says of all who follow the Christ, "You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth...no lie comes from the truth," (1 John 2:20-21). Every believer currently living or passed has received an anointing from God (2 Corinthians 1:20-22), and this was done to keep them in the truth and away from the lies (Ephesians 6:16). Jesus says those who follow Him are sanctified, kept away from the clutches of darkness, by God's truth, which is the Word of God (John 17:17). Jesus also says those who are sanctified by the truth are continually taught by the Holy Spirit; kept in the truth, safe from lethal deception (John 14:26). John affirms this, when he writes, "The anointing you received from Him remains in you...His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in Him," (1 John 2:27). It is because God's followers are anointed, kept in the truth and sanctified by the Word of God that they can say they are God's children "and have overcome [the beasts of darkness], because the one who is in [the believer] is greater than the one who is in the world," (1 John 4:4).

Those who follow God are children of the light. They do not
belong to the darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:5), and their light
gives them strength to overcome the dark (John 1:5).

If you are a follower of Christ, "see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what He promised us—eternal life," (1 John 2:24-25). The antichrists want to eternally kill every person on earth, including themselves (Revelation 16:9), but those who follow Christ have been raised from the dead and can never die (Ephesians 2:5). God's children are not helplessly waiting to suffer at the hands of these monsters, but have been fully equipped to face these devils and fight back! (Ephesians 6:10-18).

They can't keep their chains on me

When the truth has set me free

This is how it feels when you take your life back

This is how it feels when you finally fight back

When life pushes me I push harder

What doesn't kill me makes me stronger...

No! Not gonna die tonight!

- Skillet

Sources

• The Bible (New International Version)
• Skillet: Not Gonna Die Tonight