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.
Last hour -- Of what? Of the situation they faced. A connection of John’s epistle to his Revelation. (Revelation 1:1, Revelation 1:3 where his subject is concerning things that were "at hand" and to "shortly" come to pass. That is, the end of the Mosaical dispensation as seen in the temple worship and the existence of the Jewish nation. Thus, this was the "last hour" for these Jewish false teachers as they ridiculed and mocked the gospel.