Dec
7
Christmas and the Antichrist(s)
Filed Under Christmas
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” - 2 John 7
Who is the antichrist? Is the antichrist one person or multiple people? John seems to think both. He speaks of both an anitchrist and antichrists in 1 John 2:18. He speaks of a “spirit of antichrist” in 1 John 4:3. A full treatment of the topic of “antichrist” would require a thorough examination of personified evil in Scripture, the devil, the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians, as well as the verses mentioned above. That is not the focus of this post.
There are two things I want to point out from John’s theology of antichrist as it pertains to the Christmas season. First, John believes that there are and have been many antichrists. Does he mean then that all these men have been the earthly personification of absolute evil? No, that is not his definition of what is an antichrist. Rather, and secondly, John defines an antichrist as someone who “does not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.”
Therefore to be anti-incarnation is to be anti-Christ. To be pro-incarnation is to be pro-Christ or put another way it is to be a Christ-ian. Whether or not you think you should celebrate the incarnation at the end of the month of December is irrelevant to the fact that you must celebrate the incarnation. The incarnation must be an important doctrine to you. The church must proclaim loudly that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became a man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul. He was, is, and continues to be both God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person.
This is the truth of the gospel, the truth of Christmas, and the litmus test for spiritual warfare against antichrists. So this Christmas, remember that you are doing spiritual warfare as you worship our Incarnate Savior. Do not be ashamed of the wonderful mystery of the incarnation. Be bold to proclaim what theological label John puts on someone who denies the incarnation: antichrist. At the root of being a Christian at Christmas is not what kind of ornaments are on your tree, what kind of cantata your church choir sings, what sermons series your pastor presents, or what type of gifts you give. Rather, being a Christian at Christmas is confessing that Jesus Christ, the second person in the Trinity, came “in the flesh” in order to “save his people from their sins.”
Joy to the world, the Lord is come; let earth receive her King!
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