Last time we heard that Antichrist is coming – and now is. John said this to encourage a church that had endured a painful division over false teaching.
Now we hear about the coming of Christ – and particularly the appearing of Christ.
Each of our three sections tonight uses the word “phanerow” – or “appearing” (2:28, 3:2 (twice), 3:5, 3:8).
John uses the word 9 times in his epistle – twice in 1:2 “the life was made manifest [or appeared], and we have seen it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifest [or appeared] to us.” Once in 2:19 – the antichrists went out from us “that it might become plain [appear] that they all are not of us.” And once in 4:9, “In this the love of God was made manifest [appeared] among us…”
In other words, at the beginning and the end of John's epistle he speaks of the “appearing” of Christ in the flesh – in the incarnation of the Son of God.
But here, in the middle of John's epistle, he speaks of the “appearing” of Christ in terms of his future coming...
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