Tuesday 21st November - 1 John 2

Today’s chapter is 1 John 2

Tom writes:

This is where the antichrist language comes in. For John - as it was for all the authors of the New Testament - the End Times began at the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are now in the Time of the End and so we should expect a conflict of two Kingdoms to define our Age. The antichrist is the spiritual power who fights against the church. But the antichrist doesn’t look like we might think. The biblical picture of the antichrist is not aggressively opposed to religion or to the idea of God or being “good”. It doesn’t have the theme-tune from the omen or paint itself red. At least, most of the time it doesn’t. A front-on attack like that would be too easy for the saints to spot and snuff out before it snagged them. Instead this straying spirit smoothly steers us into seeing Jesus as a reflection of ourselves. It is very nice about it. Under its influence Jesus becomes an interesting person, but without power to make us change. God becomes a maker of the heavens but never close enough to touch. The antichrist deceives us into denying that Jesus really was God come to this very earth as a real human being.

If the antichrist can detach our faith in Jesus from our daily life, then we can live a weak faith that never threatens the gates of hell. If we can become Christians who “believe” but never “do”, who “chant” but never “change” then the antichrist has done its job; we’ve been taken out of the game. This is crucial if we are to understand the warfare we are in. We defeat the anti-christ through reminding ourselves that Jesus was God made flesh and that Jesus is our friend for this earth. Jesus brings heaven and earth together. And so we can never really love this world where the fragrance of the antichrist’s master can be sniffed at every turn. Instead we act and love the world into becoming all that it will be when Jesus returns. We live the future reign of Jesus’ Kingship now - through pressing into love and pressing away from sin. So as you commute today, or drop kids at school or work from home, or do your daily chores, look at the world differently. See it not as “home” but as contested territory, and choose to do all you do in a way that brings heaven and earth together, just like Jesus would do if he was living your life.

Question for reflection

How could you see heaven invade earth in an aspect of your life today?