THE COMING OF CHRIST

A study of 1 John 2:28-3:10

²⁸ And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

⁴ Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. ⁵ But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. ⁶ No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

⁷ Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. ⁹ No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

Outline

The future coming of Christ’s presence – his visible appearing of one now unseen will be met with confidence by the children of God. They will be unashamed in contrast to those who will shrink from his presence (Matt.22:12; Rev.6:15-17). We will recognize him as righteous because we have been born of God into his family and share his character. This is due to the great love of the Father, not our own merits. Our contemporaries cannot recognize our character because it cannot recognize the character of Christ. We cannot even recognize ourselves in this world as anything different. What we are does not now appear to the world; what we shall be does not yet appear to us. The exact state and condition of the saints in heaven has not yet been revealed. We shall only know when Christ appears. We shall see him as he truly is; and we shall be like him. On the last day and through eternity we shall be both with Christ and like Christ. With that we must be now content. This promise motivates us to live a life of moral purity like Christ.

Sin is an active rebellion against God’s will and a violation of his holy moral law. It is the flouting of God’s will for his people; the refusal to live within his commandments. It is saying that God’s purpose does not apply to us; that we are free to live any way we want. There are people who call themselves Christians and yet do not believe that the moral law applies to them, that it is dated and they want to be free to live as they choose. Jesus came to remove our sins by taking them upon himself on the Cross, even though he was sinless. If we abide in him we shall not habitually sin either. If we do sin, it shows that we are not abiding in him and neither have seen him or know him. To see and to know Christ, the sinless Savior of sinners, is to outlaw sin; to sin is to deny Christ and to reveal that we are not abiding in him. Sin and Christ are irreconcilably at enmity with each other. Let no one lead you astray and tempt you to sin.

The source of sin is to be found in the devil, who rebelled against God from the beginning. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil: all those works which he has insinuated into the perfect creation of God, to spoil it. Morally, his work is enticement to evil; physically, the infliction of disease; intellectually, seduction into error. He still assaults our body, soul and mind in these three ways. The destruction of his works was a loosing, as if these diabolical works were chains that bound us. They are not absolutely destroyed for the devil is still doing his wicked works, but he has been defeated and in Christ we can escape from his tyranny. Se we must not compromise with either sin or the devil, or we will find ourselves fighting against Christ.

Therefore, sin is incongruous with the Christian. He cannot and does not want to habitually sin. The reason is the new birth in which a new nature has been implanted within us of the seed of the life-giving power of God. The implanted and abiding seed is the word of the gospel, the Holy Spirit who imparts the divine nature. It is the Christian’s supernatural birth from God which keeps him from sinning.

Questions for Reflection

1. What is your conception of the coming of Christ?
2. What gives you confidence when he appears to you at the day of judgment?
3. What causes people to be ashamed at his coming?
4. Why do people not recognize our Christian character?
5. What will we look like in heaven?
6. How do we purify ourselves?
7. What is our attitude to the moral law of God?
8. Why do people rebel against the moral law?
9. What do you say to a person who claims to be a Christian and yet lives an immoral life as taught in the Bible?
10. What are the effects of lawlessness in the world?
11. What are the works of the devil?
12. How does Christ destroy the works of the devil?
13. How can we overcome the influence of the devil?
14. What keeps us from sinning?