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John was straitening out the misunderstanding that a single antichrist will come.
Like He said "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets"
Not one but many.
Which includes all of the false Christs being taught today for a love offering "of their God, money".
The subject context of Matt.24:24 is singular, since if you read the verses before and after, it nails the tense down about a singular false one...
Matt 24:23-26
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, "Lo, here is Christ, or there"; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, "Behold, he is in the desert"; go not forth: "behold, he is in the secret chambers"; believe it not.
(KJV)
The "false Christs" phrase is Greek pseudochristos (5580). It's made up of the Greek words 'pseudo' and 'Christos'. And Christos in the Greek is... singular.
Likewise with "false prophets", it's the sole Greek word pseudoprophetes (5578), from pseudo and prophetes (singular). It's the same Greek word for "false prophet" in Rev.16:13; 19:20; 20:10; Acts 13:6. You'll also find places where pseudoprophetes is rendered plural. But it's the subject of verses 23 & 26 that help us narrow verse 24 down about a singular false Christ, along with 2 Thess.2 and Rev.13.
The context Christ gave there is the same that Apostle Paul gave with the false one of 2 Thess.2, and also by Christ again through John in Rev.13 about the "another beast" that sets up the image of the beast. John understood this, and so did those that he said had heard that "antichrist" (singular) shall come. It's because that was one of the specific warnings for the last days Christ gave His Apostles.
There's no way to treat the Matt.24:23 & 26 verses in the plural sense concerning the false one Christ told us to not believe on.
So where did John get the "many antichrists" idea from for the last phrase of 1 John 2:18? The same place where Paul got the idea of the "mystery of iniquity" from, i.e., the Old Testament Scriptures. The mystery of iniquity idea is about the 'crept in unawares' of Jude; the "tares" idea our Lord gave in His parable of the tares of the field. The singular 'antichrist' is Satan himself. His followers are the "many antichrists".