2nd Thessalonians 2, the man of sin

2 Thessalonians 2 

 

 1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

² That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

³ Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

⁴ Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

⁵ Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

⁶ And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

⁷ For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

⁸ And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

⁹ Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

¹⁰ And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

¹¹ And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

¹² That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

¹³ But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

¹⁴ Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵ Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

¹⁶ Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

¹⁷ Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

 

This passage is key in understanding the timeline of events leading up to the second advent of Jehoshua Messiah. Let’s look at this passage verse by verse:

 

Verse 1, the coming of Jehoshua will happen at the same time as the gathering of the Church. This speaks of the second advent of Messiah and the resurrection of the dead and translation of the living saints. These all happen at the last day according to the Son of God (John chapter 6). A pre-advent rapture to the sky is unbiblical and foreign to scripture.

Verse 2, we are not to fall into the trap of speculation concerning exactly when Messiah will return nor are we to be troubled about the timing of it and let it cause us to be anxious.

Verse 3, Paul warns of deceivers who will try say that the day of Messiah is at hand prematurely. He says there will be a great falling away first before the man of sin is revealed. When did this great falling away occur? Amazingly some people say it is happening now or that it will happen in the future prior to a seven year period before the Son of God’s return to earth. However if you study church history it is clear this falling away began in the 2^nd century culminating in the 4^th century with the union of Church and State with the Roman Empire. This means that the man of sin could have been revealed at any time form the 2^nd century onwards. The man of sin is something I will touch on later in this study just remember that is defined by transgression of the law.

Verse 4, the son of perdition man of sin will oppose God and exalt himself against him and all that He (God) represents. The titles given to the man of sin show clearly that he will be against God’s law as the man of sin is against all that is worshipped. God’s law is a part of worship. In the book of Daniel the little horn is described a sone that thinks to change times and the law (Daniel 7:25). The son of perdition will also sit in the temple of God showing himself as God. Futurists claim that this will take place by a future secular political leader in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. However by this point in time the temple in Jerusalem had ceased being a legitimate place of worship and was no longer God’s temple. All throughout the new testament the temple of God is said to be the church individually and corporately. So this means that the little horn will arise out of the church not out of a secular organization such as a political party. This little horn will claim authority and tiles that only belong to God.

Verses 5-7, Paul identified a restrainer that was holding back this anti-messiah power. The early church believed this to be the Roman emperor/empire. They understood that the little horn had to arise out of the church and that it was unlikely to be revealed until the imperial Roman Empire was taken out of the way since it was an anti-Christian power. The early church posited that this anti-messiah would be one to claim to be the bishop over the whole church. Because the church was held in check by the imperial Roman empire it prevented any bishop from gaining a foothold over the whole church.

Verse 8, It will be the Lord Jehoshua Messiah who will destroy the anti-messiah at His second advent. The bible says the Lord will come in flaming fire with a sword to dash the nations to pieces and cast the anti-messiah into the lake of fire.

 

Verses 9-10, The arrival of the anti-messiah and his coming into power is a work of Satan and signs, wonders and miracles will accompany his rise to power and thereafter. These signs and wonders are done with all deceivableness of unrighteousness meaning they are convincing and alluring. Everything but the kitchen sink will be used to deceive men and women. However, these lying wonders only deceive those who are not begotten above by the Spirit of Jehovah. To be begotten from above by God is to be sealed with His name and protects one from the anti-messiah’s deception that is part and parcel with unrighteousness. These lying sings will be used to promote unrighteousness which is the breaking of God’s commandments (lawlessness).

This is why it is an error to make the anti-messiah future because the very function of the anti-messiah will be lawlessness and this could only relate to God’s commandments because civil laws change all the time and every country has laws so a future political anti-messiah could not be lawless because civil governments aren’t expected to institute biblical law as the law of the land. The lawless factor in terms of prophecy and specifically in this text relates to God’s law not man’s law so the anti-messiah has to be someone who attempts to change God’s commandments. This could not possibly a future anti-messiah as God’s commandments have already been abrogated within the church and theoretically there is no more law of God to change or alter as the Church has said that the law is done away with. If the anit-messaih were future then he could not fulfill the lawless prophecy of attempting to change God’s times and law because this has already been done centuries ago and there is no more law in the church especially the Sabbath which is a law based on time.

Verse 11, it is because the unrighteous deceived ones receive not the truth, which is that God’s commandments still stand, that they are then sent a strong delusion which is the lie that the law is done away with.

Verse 12, the ones that are perishing spiritually believe not the truth and therefore they are damned, meaning they will be cast into the lake of fire. Again, the truth is the opposite of the lie. The lie is that God’s law is done away with and there is no law in the new covenant. The truth is that God’s 10 commandments are eternal and that the Messiah gave us His law in which entrance into the Kingdom will be based on.

Verses 13-15, contrary to the lies of the anti-messiah and those who believe those lies Paul thanks Jehovah God for those who do believe the truth and are sanctified (set apart) by it. It is the Holy Spirit that leads us to all truth and we are called of God when we hear the gospel and receive it by faith. The obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jehoshua is by remaining steadfast in the truth until the last day. The truths that Paul exhorts the brethren to keep are the ones taught by the apostles. We are not to rely on the church fathers, the reformers or anyone else for truth as all truth is found in the doctrine of the 1^st century apostolic church. Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians seems to be warning of those who would come after and try to change the traditions of the apostles.

Verses 16-17, Paul now gives a benediction from Jehoshua Messiah and God who Paul identifies as the Father. Paul says that the Father and Son have given the church consolation and hope via grace. This hope and consolation finds its ultimate fulfillment in the resurrection at the last day.

 

So what does this tell us about bible prophecy and what the church needs to look out for? I have shown that the man of sin will arise within the temple of God, which in the new testament is identified as the church. I have also proven that the man of sin will bring in lawlessness to the church and do this by the power of Stan through lying signs and wonders. As states this had to have happened in the past because the church has done away with God’s law so there is no more law’s to change. The early church identified the Roman emperor as the restrainer that was holding the revealing of the anti-messiah back. If the Roman empire is no more in existence then that means the anti-messiah has already been revealed. Ask yourself this, who has risen in the church that has attempted to change God’s times and law and claimed titles that are only for God?

The answer is obvious, the Roman Papacy. It was when the Roman empire adopted Christianity as the state religion that the Roman Papacy grew into a continent wide power. However, even long before that the Bishop of Rome was already exercising authority over the western churches and trying to strong arm the eastern churches into following their manmade customs. I will do a study soon on the specifics of how the Roman papacy attempted to change God’s times and law.

The gospel of the Kingdom vs. Hebrew Roots Part 1

 

Luke 16:16

 

^“The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.”

 

There is a growing movement out there called “Hebrew Roots”. This movement in effect calls believers to go back to the law of Moses and keep it. There are also other similar movements that do not call themselves Hebrew Roots but have similar beliefs, these would be various forms the Messianic movement including Messianic Judaism.

 

The above verse is very revealing in that the law and the prophets were until the time of John who then started announcing the arrival of the gospel of the Kingdom. There seems to be a distinction made between the dispensation (administration) of the law and the prophets and the gospel of the Kingdom. This is because there is. While the law of Moses is not abolished, as Messiah states shortly after this verse, we as believers in the dispensation of the gospel of the Kingdom are not under its administration.

Luke 16:17

^“And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”

 

What the Messiah is saying in Luke 16:16-17 is that the law and the prophets are brought to their fulfillment with the arrival of the gospel of the Kingdom. The gospel of the Kingdom is indeed a different administration than the law and prophets. Jehoshua fulfills the law in how He lived it out and how He wants us to live it out as taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Jehoshua is the fulfillment of the prophets being the eternal Davidic King promised to his father David. This is why Jehoshua is called the spirit of prophecy in the book of Revelation. Jehoshua is the final revelation of God’s will as the true and final authoritative prophet:

 

Hebrews 1:1-2

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

² Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

 

In effect, what Jehoshua is saying above is that the law and the prophets must now be filtered through Him and His commandments i.e. the Sermon on the Mount and His whole ministry in general. The law of Moses is now filtered through the law of Messiah and the prophets are now understood in light of Jehoshua. The Son of God is fulfilling not nullifying these things. The gospel of the kingdom has arrived in the ministry of the Son of God and its adherents are pressing into it.

 

John 1:17

 

^”For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

 

Moses gave us the law of God but the grace and truth of the law of God was given through Messiah. There is no contradiction here but rather a revelation of the intent of the law by the Son of God. As Paul says the law was our school master to bring us to Messiah:

 

Galatians 3:23-26

 

²³ But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. ²⁴ So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor. ²⁶ For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus.

 

The Hebrew roots and parts of the Messianic movement want to bring people back under the tutor that was the Mosaic Law. Paul says that the law was our tutor to bring us to the faith that was hidden in times past but is now revealed in the manifestation of the Messiah onto the scene of Israel as the eternal Davidic King. This is in agreement with what John says above, that the law was under the administration of Moses but now that Messiah has been manifested we are brought into the administration of the grace and truth of that law and thereby according to Paul graduate to sonship.

 

The law of Moses was the guardian of the Israelite nation and then when the faith of the Messiah came that was fulfilled in terms of its administrative authority. We graduate from being servants under the law of Moses to being sons and daughters of Jehovah God. To go back under the law of Moses is to go from being a son or daughter of God to being a servant. Paul even states that the goal of the law is Messiah:

Romans 10:4

^“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

 

This should be understood that Messiah is the goal not end of the law. The law has not been ended in terms of the moral law of Moses. but rather the law pointed to Messiah who lived out the law showing us it’s intent. The law of Moses had its place but now that faith has come in Messiah, who showed us how to live out the law, we are no longer under the tutorship of the law. This would be akin to our secular schooling all throughout K-12, in which once we graduate high school we then are no longer under the school system but we indeed use what we learned in our post schooling life. We will use those things we learned in school for our now post graduate career. We have graduated to a higher plane of society and will need that K-12 schooling as we navigate life but we are no longer under its stringent rules. In fact, now that we are graduated from that system we may not even need to use everything we learned but what we learned will be summed up and at our disposal for life’s situations.

 

The Hebrew roots movement is trying to put people back under the law of Moses yet Paul himself said he is not under the law of Moses but rather under the law of God and Messiah:

 

1 Corinthians 9

 

 ²¹ to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. ²² To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men that I may by all means save some.

 

Paul makes it clear that even though we nor him are under the law of Moses, we are indeed under the law of God and Messiah. This statement is interesting in that Paul now equates the law of God with the law of Messiah. This shows that the law of God is now to be understood within the context of the Messiah most notably His teachings. Paul is not teaching a lawless gospel but rather saying that the law of God is now under the administration of the Son of God not Moses. The law of Messiah entails all that He taught summed up in the Sermon on the Mount. Why is it important to understand this? Because the Sermon on the Mount is essential to the gospel of the Kingdom as it is the constitution of the Kingdom. To put yourself under the law of Moses will then lead to false conclusions regarding what is required of Kingdom Messianics and also it is to inadvertently place Moses above Messiah when the new testament writers say the opposite:

 

Hebrews 3

 

1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus; ² who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house. ³ For he hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as he that built the house hath more honor than the house. ⁴ For every house is builded by some one; but he that built all things is God. ⁵ And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken; ⁶ but Christ as a son, over his house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end.

 

As much glory as was bestowed upon Moses, far greater glory is given to the Messiah Jehoshua as He is the only begotten whereas Moses was a servant in the house of God. Jehoshua as prophesied of the Davidic Branch was to build the new covenant house of God (Zechariah 6:9-15). The author of Hebrews states emphatically that Jehoshua is counted worthy of more glory than Moses, which is in step with what Paul says in 2^nd Corinthians 3 that the old covenant under the administration of Moses was glorious but the new covenant under Messiah far exceeds it in glory.

 

Moses was a servant but the Son of God exceeds that title and is the only begotten Son of God due to Him being the prophesied seed of David. Thereby as a King He has the right to give law which was also prophesied of Him in Isaiah 42:4

 

“He will not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set justice in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law.”

 

The Davidic King has authority over heaven and earth and to think that He was simply here as a Moses revivalist preacher is to diminish His ministry and who He is as the long awaited Davidic King. Jehoshua gave His law in the Sermon on the Mount and it is this law that the nations wait for. Jehoshua is the banner (ensign) of God’s new covenant house which is the church:

 

Zechariah 6:13

 

“even he shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”

 

Jehoshua will not only build the new covenant temple but He will also bear the glory and be a King-Priest of the temple. This far exceeds Moses.

 

Hebrews 7:11-12

¹¹ If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

¹² For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

 

The cold hard fact is that there has been a change in the law and this change is specific to the Levitical priesthood, animal sacrifices and temple system of worship. With the Levitical priesthood being abolished the law has changed, which affects many aspects of the law of Moses. The feast days come to mind as they were to be held in Jerusalem within the context of the Levitical system of worship and the temple. These two things no longer exist so obviously this affects the requirement to keep the feasts. Certainly, we can celebrate the festivals of Jehovah and their meaning but to require it is outside the new covenant law. Yet this what the Hebrew roots folks do, they command believers in Messiah to keep these days but they absolutely do not have the authority to do so. They are tempting Jehovah God by doing so as Peter stated in Acts 15 regarding the Law of Moses. With no Levitical priesthood it is nearly impossible to determine what would be required to keep the feast without a physical temple. Since neither are around anymore then not one single person living today has the authority to require believers to keep the feast as they themselves wouldn’t know how and where to keep them.