Last Hour

Every once in a while, I read something in scripture that might as well be in another language, for all that I understand of it. I had that feeling this morning, when I read 1 John 2:18-19: "Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. "

Problem #1: Almost 2,000 years ago, John wrote that it was the last hour.

Problem #2: The proof it was the last hour was that some unidentified anti-christs left the church.

Obviously the last hour isn't a literal statement; the world didn't end an hour later. Just as obviously, this isn't another case of a false prediction of the end of the world. So "the last hour" must be John's way of saying that with Jesus' death and resurrection we have moved into the final stage, "the last hour," of the redemption story. 

It's like a drama in four acts: Act I was the original sin of Adam and our separation from God, Act II was the covenant made with Israel that would produce a savior, and Act III was the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, which ended that separation from God for Jew and Gentile alike. Now the last hour, Act IV, where the Gospel message goes out and disciples are made.

Act IV, though, isn't a triumphant epilogue, like Aragorn's coronation at the end of the Lord of the Rings. Act IV is a bloody battle, it's the Gospel being counter-attacked by a furious Satan who knows he's losing. That's why these anti-christs (meaning those preaching an anti-Gospel) are the proof that we're in Act IV. And this act will go on as long as it takes for Jesus' harvest of souls to be complete.

That's my best interpretation at the moment. I make it a point in this blog to record only scripture and my own meditative response to it. It will be interesting to look at a commentary and see what the smart people have to say.