Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the end times.
Little children, it is the last time: "Little children" is used again to speak of all of John’s Christian readers. In this greeting, he repeats the close attachment he feels for them. "Time" is hora, which primarily denotes "any time or period, especially a season...(b) a period more or less extended..." (Vine 235). It refers, therefore, to a fixed date or period. How does John use it elsewhere? Examples are in John 4:21; John 4:23; John 5:25; John 16:2; John 16:4; John 16:25; John 16:32. In all of these passages, "time" or "hour" (hora) is used to designate a time of unusual importance that typically involves great change. The article "the" is not in the Greek; and thus it should be translated, "It is last hour." In other words, John is saying, "This is a last-hour situation."