Abide in Him

To abide in the Son and the Father, believers must have the truth abiding in them (1 John 2:24–27). In today’s verse, the Apostle John continues that thought, but he adds a new note. The believer is to abide in Christ not merely for the sake of present fellowship but with a view to the day of Christ’s appearing. The hope of His return shapes the present life of every Christian.

“And now, little children, abide in him,” John writes, “so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming” (v. 28). The address as “little children” is tender, but the exhortation that follows is urgent. To abide in Christ is the deliberate continuation of trust, obedience, and fellowship over the course of one’s life. If this abiding flags, there is reason for concern; if it continues, the believer enjoys the settled communion that John has been describing throughout the letter.

The reason for the exhortation is the certain return of Christ. John assumes throughout this epistle that Jesus will appear again at the end of the age, raising the dead, judging the world, and gathering His people to Himself. He does not argue for this doctrine here; he treats it as the established faith of the church. Christ has come once in humility to redeem His people; He will come again in glory to consummate that redemption. The expectation of this return shapes every Christian.

At that appearing, John says, those who have abided in Christ will have “confidence.” The word he uses suggests boldness, the freedom to stand openly before the One who comes to judge, knowing that judgment holds no terror for those united to Him. The believer who has walked with Christ all his days will not need to flinch when Christ at last appears in His glory. Rather, he will lift his head with reverent joy, recognizing the One whom he has loved and trusted and longed to see.

But there is also a sober warning. Those who do not abide will “shrink from him in shame at his coming.” The verb is striking. To shrink back from Christ at His return is to recognize, in that moment, that one has not been on His side. It is the realization, when concealment is no longer possible, of a hollow profession of faith. John sets these two possibilities before his readers as a powerful incentive to the abiding that he commands. The Christ who is coming is the Christ in whom we are now to live.