Yesterday we left our study in Second John verse seven where John the apostle was sharing the reason he wrote the “elect lady” with an emphasis on the truth in love. He wrote:
For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Our discussion last time left us knowing that Jesus did come in the flesh and He “is coming back again”. Deceivers were in the world who were proclaiming that Jesus was nothing more than a spirit or phantom, and that He never really came in a fleshly body. We only have to read through the first parts of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to know that Jesus did indeed come in a fleshly body, and that He did so to identify with each of us.
John next identifies and labels those who deny that Jesus came in this manner. He called them a “deceiver” and an “antichrist.” Either people are for Jesus Christ or they are opposed to Him. If they proclaim Jesus to be anything other than who He was, the Son of the Living God, they are deceived, and the truth is not in them. If they have other ideas that explain away Jesus' personal description of Himself, “the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me”, then they are “anti” Christ.
Today there are many who are proclaiming “all roads lead to God” and “everyone must find his or her own way to God” or “not”, or “whatever”, but this is not in keeping with the Bible. The Bible is very clear, “there is none other name whereby we must be saved”, and the name is “Jesus”. (Acts 4:12) The marvel is not so much that there are deceivers and antichrists in the world as the fact that God loves everyone enough that He provides the way of truth so that we may know Him. The Bible is filled with story after story and precept after precept that declares that God loves us and desires to have a relationship with us. This is the truth that John is emphasizing to “the elect lady” and as we read the words that he penned to her, we can almost hear the emphasis that he is declaring to us as well.
Deceivers are entered into the world. They were present in John's day, and they are present today. To know the truth we must stay in God's word, the Bible, read about Him, learn about Him, and continue in the truth lest we also be led astray.
Next time we shall look at a warning that John gives us about not losing what we have, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
Look for the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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