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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
For that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding Him back, so that He may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
2 Thessalonians 2:3b-12
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Jesus hasn’t returned yet. It was true during the days of the Apostle Paul more than 2,000 years ago and it’s still true today. We looked at this in yesterday’s message from the opening verses of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.
What’s also true is that He, Jesus, is going to come back at a time unknown to anyone except God (Mark 13:32). Therefore, it’s a fruitless effort to try and calculate the exact time of His second coming as people have tried to do and will most probably always try to do.
Now, the scriptures make it clear that no one knows the day or time when Christ comes back to judge the world but it does let us know that there were be certain events that happen in advance of His return. One example of this is found in today’s passage as we continue to look at 2 Thessalonians 2. Look as Paul speaks further about Jesus’ second coming:
For that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. Vv.3b-4, 9-12
Here we find God’s word making it clear that the day of the Lord, that time of Christ’ return, won’t happen until a great rebellion breaks out led by a yet to be revealed “man of lawlessness” who will be in step with Satan and his evil works. While this person remains unnamed, we will be able to recognize them when they do come because the scriptures tell us this about him:
1. A time of rebellion will be occurring.
No one really knows what this rebellion will look like but we can assume that it will be happening spiritually on a global scale.
What will that rebellion look like?
We can see that it is a revolt against God to the point where the man of lawlessness will establish himself as a substitution for the Lord. The scriptures tell us “he will oppose” and “exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped”, setting himself up in God’s temple” and “proclaiming to be God”.
Any rebellion will have a powerful leader at its front and in advance of Jesus’ return, the one spearheading the rebellion will be the man of lawlessness.
2. The man of lawlessness will possess unique might and ability.
If someone is going to mimic God and strive to get people to follow them, they would need to be convincing to those they are deceiving and leading astray.
In today’s passage, we learn that the man of lawlessness will “use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie and all the ways that wickedness”. He will seem convincing to those who don’t know the true God, those who are “perishing” because they “refused to love the truth” that would save them. This rejection of God and His promise of salvation through Jesus left them ripe for deception.
3. God will assist in the facilitation of those deceived by the man of lawlessness.
As a form of His punishment for the rebellion, God will send “a powerful delusion” on those who refuse to place their trust and hope in Him, those who “delighted in wickedness” instead of believing in the truth. This delusion will lead those rebelling to “believe the lie so that all will be condemned”
God doesn’t take anyone disrespecting Him lightly.
4. The man of lawlessness is “doomed to destruction”.
Just as Satan’s complete destruction and defeat is already sealed (Revelation 20:7-10) so too is the man of lawlessness. Despite the special power he will display in performing the signs and wonders that draw people to follow him, ultimately God will bring His unmatchable force to bear and ultimately destroy the one who tried to impersonate Him.
Ultimately, no one who partners with Satan to carry out wickedness against God will escape His wrath and punishment. As believers in our Lord, we can rest assured that the ultimate victory comes through Him and His Son Jesus.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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