As someone who is a collector–or as I like to think of it–a treasure hunter, fakes are everywhere. Probably the biggest area of counterfeiting is sports memorabilia. I know someone who has a signed Tom Brady helmet, a signed Patrick Mahomes helmet and several others, but he told me he has no idea for sure which ones are fake and which ones are authentic. That in fact, there are many businesses that exist for one simple purpose–to determine if the item is real or fake. Is it a counterfeit?
John realizes the existence of a counterfeit Christianity in his day–as it is also in our day. The key attack of a spiritual fake is on Jesus and His identity.
All true Christians have received the Holy Spirit of truth. “But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.” John 16:13 (NIV), the One who has come to reveal Jesus and guide us into all truth. So, we have a great help of direction and knowledge of what is right and wrong to be able to be on God’s path.
What we have in 1 John 2:22-23 is the main error and belief of anti-Christianity. And how terrible and destructive this error is.
Why Is It Wrong to Lie?
“And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:22-23 (NLT)
Why is it wrong to lie? Sure it is one of the Ten Commandments, but many of us have secret agreement with the little boy who defined a lie as “an abomination unto the Lord, but a very present help in times of trouble”. Why do parents often focus not as much on a bad action by a child but on the fact that they lied about it.
John presents us with the ultimate lie–denying that Jesus is the Christ. That is the supreme lie that leads to fakes and counterfeits.
Christ is not Jesus’ last name. Christ is a word that means Messiah, the Son of God, the Anointed One. The followers of Jesus were first called “Christians” in Antioch. This is a name that means “Christ’s ones” or “little Christs”. So, Christ refers not to Jesus’ last name, but to His work and mission.“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…” Isaiah 61:1-2a (NIV).
The Neverchanging Jesus
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 (NIV). What Jesus is, what Jesus was, what Jesus still is, and everything He will be–He is now, and will be forever. He will be exactly what He was. Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the Christ.
Now, Satan hates this truth above everything else and is using every possible way and strategy he can come up with to distort this basic truth of the Christian message. Throughout history, we have ways the devil has succeeded in twisting the identity of Jesus and making it appear to be something else. One example of this was what John was addressing in 1 John–that Jesus was totally a human man who had the spirit of Christ come on Him, and then left Him on the cross. And when Jesus was buried, He was nothing but a man, no longer the Christ. And any one of us can get this same spirit in us.
The Danger And The Answer
Why is all this important? It is because whenever someone denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who became flesh to die and rise again so we can be forgiven and have a relationship with God, they shut themselves off from the possibility of knowing God as Father and knowing the love of God. Someone is cut off from the blessing God has for them through a relationship with the Father.
When there is an incorrect idea and belief about Jesus–that is a denial of the Christian faith. The key question to always ask about a group, a potential cult is–Who is Jesus? The foundation of our faith is that Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, who was fully God and fully human on this earth. But realize that the fakes, the counterfeits are all around us.
