Biblical Clues Point to “The Man of Sin”

Brother, the last time we were together, I gave a sermon that had an atonement type of flavor to it. We talked about fasting. Today, the sermon I'm going to give will have a trumpet's kind of a flavor to it. Now, don't fear, I do know the order of the Holy Days. But you, as a speaker, you do need to give what you feel inspired to give at certain times. And this is just the order that it came in this year. There's a section of Scripture I'd like you to turn to. We'll just jump right into it.

Over here in 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2.

2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2.

I finally got my watch back on trumpets. I've not had this for a couple of months now.

Wouldn't you know, the first time having my watch back, I went overtime there in Beloit.

So, you know, the old saying, you know what it means when the minister takes out his watch?

It means absolutely nothing.

Okay, 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, starting here in verse 1. And we're going to read a number of verses. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you. So, we see right away this is going to have a trumpet's kind of a flavor to it, talking about the return of Christ or that general time setting. 2. Brethren, who is this man of sin? Who is this son of perdition?

Who is the antichrist? Can we know? Does the Bible give us evidence? Does the Bible give us clues as to who this is? It's important for us to understand that. The whole world will be deceived by this individual. We're going to be reading a scripture later on that says that perhaps if we're not careful, we could be deceived. So, we need to understand this. Now, whether Christ comes in my day or your day or our kids' day, well, that's up to God and Jesus Christ. But we certainly want to be aware of what's going to be taking place so that we are not taken by surprise. So, today, what we want to take a look at are biblical clues that point to the man of sin.

Biblical clues that point to the man of sin. That's the title for the sermon. We're going to do a little bit of detective work today. We're going to take a good long look into the scriptures. And you may have other clues you see, but the ones I see are the ones I'm going to illuminate for you today. And there are four of them. So, let's get right into it. The church has traditionally taught, and rightfully so, that this man, this man of sin, is a powerful religious figure to appear at the end time just prior to Christ's return. If you want to take a look at our booklet, the book of Revelation Unveiled, you'll see that we continue to affirm that teaching in that booklet. Let's turn over to Revelation 13. Revelation 13. You want to look at verses 11 and 12. Here we're beginning to see some evidence that's going to point to our first clue.

Revelation 13. Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercised all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell on it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. So we've got a couple of beasts being spoken of here. The first is a political power.

We see at the end of verse 12 that it had a deadly wound, and that wound was healed. We understand that to be the deadly wound being when Rome, the Roman Empire, under the Roman branch, came to an end in 476 AD. It was healed by the resurrection of Justinian, his rulership in 554 AD.

So here we see some clue, some evidence here. We take a look at verse 11. This man of sin says two horns, figuratively speaking, speaking like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.

So here we begin to see some information we need to take note of.

This man of sin is deceptive, very much like a false Christ. As a matter of fact, as we progress through the sermon today, he's going to claim to be God himself.

Now, it's going to take something to pull that off, and we'll get to that as we progress through the sermon. So here we see a false Christ looking like a lamb, and yet speaking like a dragon.

So there we see the power behind this individual. The power behind this individual is none other than Satan the devil. Satan the devil. Put a marker here because we'll be coming back to this section several times today. But let's go over to Matthew 24. Why give this sermon?

Is it because this is something that you are not aware of? No, you're very aware of this. Is this something new? No, nothing new. But again, my job as a pastor, as an elder of Jesus Christ, is to put you in remembrance of various things that you know so that we don't forget, so that they are always in mind. Matthew 24, starting in verse 23, if anyone says to you, look, here is Christ or there, do not believe it. It can be so tempting when this man is on the world, saying, to believe he's Jesus Christ. For false Christ and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I've told you beforehand, this is Jesus Christ speaking, red letter in my Bible. Therefore, if they say to you, look, he's in the desert, do not go out, or look, he's in the inner rooms, do not believe it.

For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of man be. So Jesus Christ says, I'm not about to come and just, you know, there's not going to be some secret rapture. I'm not going to kind of sneak in. When I come, you're going to know that I've come. You're going to know lightning is pretty visible. Verse 28, for wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of heavens will be shaken. Looking there at the fifth and sixth seals of Revelation. Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven. We've speculated about that. You know, in Revelation chapter 6, it talks about the heavens being scrolled away and people being able to actually see Jesus Christ and his armies. God gives people the ability to see Jesus Christ and the armies. His armies of angels. We've speculated that that may be what this is referring to. The sign of the Son of man appearing in heaven. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he will send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together as elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. So, momentous things taking place here.

This is not, again, this is not something where earlier Christ said, if people say he's over here, over there, we're going to know when Jesus Christ returns. And, brethren, think on this for a moment.

Think on this for a moment. You know, Mary was at her uncle's funeral yesterday and, you know, I don't think she knew this particular uncle real well, but she's looking forward to the time when he's resurrected.

Looking forward to sharing his life with him again.

Think about, you know, we think about the return of Jesus Christ so much from our perspective.

But think about the return of Jesus Christ from Christ's perspective, from God's perspective.

As Jesus Christ is circling the globe and collecting the saints, Old Testament saints, Old Testament saints, New Testament saints as he goes.

Can you imagine the joy that Jesus Christ feels when he looks around, oh, there's Abraham, there's David, there's Deborah, and the various other ones who, you know, God and Jesus Christ, who remember their prayers? They're still clear. But for so long, those voices have been silenced because they are in the grave. They're dead. But now those people are coming alive again.

And God the Father and Jesus Christ can resume their relationship. So this is a tremendous day for God the Father and Jesus Christ, not just us, but for them as well.

But something else, let's go back to Revelation chapter 13 again.

More evidence as to who this man is. We look at verse 12 of Revelation chapter 13. Revelation 13 verse 12.

Middle of the verse 12, it says, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast. The man of sin causes people to worship a human being and a system.

Is that something God the Father or Jesus Christ would have us do? Of course not. So there's going to come a person who's going to be able to do all sorts of wonderful things according to what the world looks at it. But notice his theology. Notice where he's coming from spiritually.

A true man of God would be pointing to the true God and the doctrine of God.

Let's go over to Isaiah chapter 8. Isaiah chapter 8.

Isaiah chapter 8 and verse 20.

To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. No light in them. The apostle John had a lot to say about light in 1 John chapter 1 and throughout the course of that book. So this is something that we need to take very close awareness of, note of, that the proper man of God has an understanding of the word of God and wants to obey the word of God. And this individual is not doing that.

Galatians chapter 1 verse 6.

Galatians chapter 1 verse 6. Notice what Paul says. We saw what Isaiah said. Look at Paul now. Galatians 1 verse 6.

Verse 9. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Verse 9. As we have said before, so we'll say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Let him be accursed. Clue number one, biblical clue number one, as we're looking to see clues pointing to the man of sin, is this is a powerful religious figure backed by Satan. Backed by Satan. Let's turn also over to Revelation 16. Revelation 16, verse 13 and 14. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, our man of sin. So here we see demonic activity is rife here. For they are the spirits of demons, performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. And brethren, here we see the name of that final battle. People want to talk about the battle of Armageddon. We know what people are talking about when they say that, but it's a misnomer. The armies gather at Armageddon, which is 55 miles north of Jerusalem. They only gather there. Then they come down to Jerusalem, and that's where the final battle is going to be. And it's not called a battle of Armageddon. It's called a battle of that great day of God Almighty. That is the name. We see it right there. So, biblical clue number one. We've got a powerful religious figure backed by Satan. Strong demonic activity here. Let's move on now to take a look at another clue. Let's go back to chapter 13 of Revelation. Revelation 13, verses 13, 14, and 15. It says, He performs great signs so that He even makes fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of men. And He deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which He was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast, who was wounded by the sword and lived.

So we see a couple of things here. We'll talk about that in a moment. Verse 15, He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as without worship the image of the beast to be killed. So we see a very close relationship between this religious figure and a political figure. Very close working relationship. As we look at Scripture, we don't see where one is over the other. They seem to be equal in weight, equal in power. One very much needs the other. They work in tandem together. So again, as you and I are looking at the world scene, if we see a strong religious figure and a strong political figure and they seem to be working together, that's telling us something. But I want to take a look at this a little more specifically. Verse 13, this individual is going to perform great signs. Who else is performing great signs at this same time? Who else is performing great signs at this same time? You've got a marker there in chapter 13. Let's go to Revelation 11. Here we're talking about the two witnesses. Revelation 11, verses 5 and 6.

So at the end of the age, you're going to have the man of sin, the antichrist, you're going to have this political power. These two fellows, who very much are promulgating Satan's way on earth, but you're also going to have the two witnesses. Nobody can be on the fence at this time. You're either from one doer or the other. And it's interesting, as I was thinking about this and putting my thoughts together for the sermon, Satan loves to try to counterfeit the things of God. So this man of sin is going to try to counterfeit the working of the two witnesses. Again, as you see that taking place, as you will be maybe in a place of safety. Who knows where we're going to be at that time. But as God gives us the awareness of what's happening on the world scene, we're going to be able to see, well, these men are preaching the way of God. These two fellows preaching the way of God. These other fellows, they're not. They're preaching something totally different. So there's a counterfeit here. Verse 14 and 15. There's a second thing I want to point out. Going back to chapter 13 again. Revelation 13, verses 14 and 15. We see that this man of sin is paving the way in helping the Roman Empire, the Roman, the individual who's running the revived Roman Empire, giving him status. He's paving the way. In a sense, he's like an Elijah, a false Elijah. You know, Elijah came and taught people about the true God. Elijah restored the worship of the true God. Elijah worked toward mending the family. The false Elijah will teach people about a false God. The false Elijah, this man of sin, will restore the worship of the Holy Roman Empire. This false Elijah will destroy and work to destroy the human family. And this false Elijah will help prepare the way for this political power. So again, as you see this happening on the world scene, as you see this happening in the newspapers, and this person beginning to rise up, we need to be aware. We need to know what we're looking at. The world will be lulled to sleep. The Bible talks about God giving people a spirit of deception.

This country will be no different. Let's look at Ezekiel 7. Again, put a marker in Revelation. Ezekiel 7. Here's a prophecy for our day-to-day. Ezekiel 7, verse 1. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to be saying, And you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, to the land of Israel. Now, how do we know this is a prophecy for our day-to-day? Because at this point, there is no Israel. At this point, there is no Israel. An end has come upon the four corners of the land. So we're looking at a time of total destruction. Now the end has come, verse 3. The end has come upon you. And I'll send my anger against you, and I'll judge you according to your ways, and I'll repay you for all your abominations. So God in His righteousness will act. My eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will repay your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

The religions of America will not save America. If people ask their priests or ministers or rabbis, why are these things happening? Why haven't you warned us? They don't have a clue. But as these things take place, people will realize they have been deceived.

Verse 5. Thus says the Lord God, a disaster, a singular disaster. You can't have multitudes of singular disaster. So again, the time stamp here is the great tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble. Who's Jacob? We're Jacob. We're Israel. Behold, it has come. The end has come. It has dawned for you. Behold, it has come. Doom has come to you who dwell in the land. The time has come. A day of trouble is near.

And not of rejoicing in the mountains. A day of trouble. Prophetic language. Now upon you I will pour out my fury. Again, more prophetic language, the fury part. And spend my anger upon you. I'll judge you according to your ways, and I'll repay you for all your abominations. My eye will not spare. No, I have pity. And so on and so forth. Verse 10, behold it has come.

Doom has gone out. As I've said to you in the past, I'll read it again. Verse 14, which I think is a very possible explanation as to why our nation goes down. Ezekiel 7, 14. They have blown the trumpet, the alarm of war, and have made everyone ready. But no one goes to battle. No one goes to battle. So here we see the state of this country. Why is this going to take place? Well, we're going to have to see some of that as it progresses.

But one of the things we want to see now is the second Biblical clue, this man of sin, is that he will act like a Latter-day Elijah, a false Elijah, but acting like a Latter-day Elijah. Let's go back now to Revelation 13. Let's look at verses 16 through 18. Revelation 13, verse 16. He causes all both small and great, rich and poor, and free enslaved to receive a mark on their right hand and on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him understand. Understanding calculates the number of the beast. For it's the number of man. His number is 666. I'd like to quote a little bit from our booklet, The Book of Revelation Unveiled. It speaks to this particular portion of Scripture. And I quote, The second beast of Revelation 13, man of sin, will cause all both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has got that mark. What's behind this strange-sounding practice? How will it affect people as time draws near?

End time draws near. There is historical evidence that in ancient Babylonian culture, slaves were identified by some kind of mark, either a tattoo or a brand on the face or the back of the hand. There may be parallels between this ancient practice and what God reveals will happen in the end time.

However, and we're not going to dismiss the idea. It could be some sort of a physical thing. Some people have thought about maybe a microchip under the skin. Any number of things. We're not discounting that possibility. But the book goes on to say, and again, I quote, However, we should consider that receiving a mark on the hand or forehead could well be figurative.

Remember from Revelation 7, verse 3 that God's servants were sealed on their foreheads. In Deuteronomy 6, verses 2 and 3, Moses told God's people to keep all of his statutes and commandments, noting, You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. The hand and the forehead here represent one's actions and thoughts, respectively. Likewise, again, continuing to quote the booklet, Likewise, the mark of the beast is evidently a mark of disobedience to God.

Many Bible students have pointed to God's seventh-day Sabbath as an identifying sign of his people in Exodus 31. And see, the mark of the beast is running counter to that. They believe that forced observance of Sunday may be something the man of sin enjoins on people. That if you're not keeping Sunday, then it could be billed very poorly for you from a commerce point of view.

We're just buying groceries. So, again, these are things we're looking at as we're thinking about this man of sin. This is not in the booklet, but I would like to have you turn to Daniel 7. As I was reading that section, this other verse came to my mind. Daniel 7. Talking about the man of sin, talking about this antichrist, of course, the ultimate antichrist is Satan the devil. But here in Daniel 7, verse 25, He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law.

And then the saint shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. Three and a half years, the last three and a half years prior to the return of Christ, time we refer to as the times of the Gentiles. The Great Tribulation takes place during this time. The last year of that three and a half year period is the day of the Lord, which we celebrated on trumpets. So it may well be. Who knows? It says here, and I was trying to look at different translations. I really didn't get into the Greek here, but this person will try to, they have the intention, at least, of changing times.

People have talked about having Sunday as the seventh day of the week. The International Organization for Standardization already recognizes that, and it's been recognized for years. But according to them, Sunday is the seventh day of the week, the way they figure time. Of course, that's not what we do in this country. But again, let's go back to Revelation 16. This individual, this man of sin, is going to be doing something with a mark, whether it be something physical or spiritual or both. Again, this is something that should light up our minds that we know who this individual is.

Going back to our booklet, the Book of Revelation Unveiled, and I quote, The Bible does not explicitly define the specific methods that the beast will use to identify those who participate in commerce at the time of the end. Some sort of advanced surveillance may be involved.

As to the number of the beast, 666, we are told to count the number, and that's the number of a man. One early explanation attributed to John's disciple Polycarp, who, according to his student, Irenaeus, said the number is derived from adding together the numerical equivalence of the letters in the word latinos, the Greek word for Roman. So this is a Roman system, and it's identified with those numbers, if that has validity. So, clue number three. Clue number three is the mark of the beast. This man of sin will be enjoining upon mankind the mark of the beast.

At this point, brethren, I'd like to take a look at the power behind the scenes. I've already made mention of that power at Satan the devil. Let's go over to Revelation 12. Revelation 12, Mr. Armstrong, called us an inset chapter. It brings us up to speed as to what's happening with the church. Revelation 12, verse 17.

And a dragon, Satan, was enraged with the woman, with God's church. And he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So Satan is going to be waging war on us. The man of sin will be very much in favor of that. That should be obvious as a clue to where he's coming from. Revelation 13. Let's go back there again. This time we'll start in verse 1.

So you have that to call upon. But here in verse 1, we see this beast coming up with seven heads, ten horns. The seven heads represent empires. You know this. Babylon, Persia, Greece. With Greece, there's four heads there. And Rome. So when you add those all together, you've got seven. And the ten horns are the ten resurrections of the Roman Empire. Let's see. Let's see where we want to go here next. Verse 2. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear. His mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. So again, we see the power behind all of this. And I saw one of the heads that had been morally wounded. His deadly wound was healed. So again, we're talking about Rome. The part of the Roman Empire headquartered in Rome ceased in 476 AD. The part in Constantinople went on for another thousand years. And more. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshipped the dragon and gave authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? So again, tremendous things taking place here at the hand of Satan the Devil. Verse 5, He was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. He was given authority to continue 42 months, 3 1⁄2 years, biblically speaking. Then He opened His mouth in verse 6, and blasphemed against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell on it. It was granted Him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. That's why, brethren, I keep on saying we have to have that close relationship with God. God's people are going to be protected. Some of God's people are going to be protected. Some of God's people aren't. It's not because you or I, if we're not protected, it's not necessarily because we're weak. If we understand history, 11 of the apostles, who were great men of faith, were martyred. It wasn't because they were weak. Take a look at the people in Hebrews 11, who went through all they went through. They were people of great faith, and yet God allowed them to go through some very horrible things. So we've got to be able to stand having that relationship with the great God. Revelation 13, verse 12. And he exercised all the authority of the first beast in His presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. So the bottom line here, it's very similar to the last point, but the man of sin, beast number two and beast number one, the political power, the Bible doesn't show where one is over the other. They seem to be equals, a satanic duo. So again, something for us to look forward to, another clue for us to take a look at. Now, I was reading to begin with in the sermon today, 2 Thessalonians. I want to go back over there. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.

This whole chapter is referring to the church, religious deception. Paul's warning the people there to be careful, to be aware. Let's begin again. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 1.

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to Him, we ask you, end time. Return of Christ. Not to be soon shaken and minor troubled. There were people on the scene then that were saying Christ had already come. Fake news. Fake news is nothing new. Fake news. But notice what they were troubled by. Either by spirit, or by word, or by letter. By spirit. Perhaps somebody thought they had the spirit of prophecy. And they sounded very dogmatic in what they were saying. They were sure of themselves. They were sure of what they were saying. They were sure of the vision they had. Either by spirit, or by word, oral, communication, or by letter. As if from us there was false communication going out. Paul wanted to rectify that. He wanted to let the people know exactly what was what. As though the day of Christ had come. Let know in verse 3, let no one to see you by any means, for that day will not come, unless a falling away comes first. Have we seen the falling away? Well, we've seen falling aways. We saw 1 and 95. Are we going to see something else? I don't know. I don't know. Maybe so. You know, we see through a glass darkly when it comes to prophecy. And some of this, I think, brethren, we'll understand as we look at it in the rearview mirror. And the man of sin is going to be revealed, the son of perdition. The falling away is from biblical truth. Hold fast to the truth you have. Love the truth you have. Verse 4, This man of sin who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or it is worshiped. So he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Now, that's quite a claim to make. And you know something, brethren? He pulls it off. He pulls it off because of all the things he's been able to do with lying wonders, with things that look so—to use the word from the sermonette today—look so authentic, look like the real deal, so much so that, if possible, the saints themselves could be deceived.

Now, we don't understand everything about verse 4. It says that he's going to sit in the temple. Will there be a temple rebuilt? I don't know. Maybe so. Do we need a temple for sacrifices that take place? The answer to that is no, we don't. I'm not going to turn there, but in your notes, if you want to jot down Ezra 3, Ezra 3, verses 1-3, we see where they were doing sacrifices, and all they had done is rebuild an altar. So you can have sacrifices, and there will be sacrifices at the end of the age. Before Christ returns, sacrifices will begin again. Again, that's something that people say, Christ can come at any time. Do we see that right now? Are sacrifices taking place right now? Well, not godly ones. I remember years ago, I may have mentioned this to you, but years ago, I need to write down my stories. So I remember, so I don't plague you. Maybe I should just have a raising of hands if you've heard this one before. But one of the elders when I was in Tennessee, they did this thing called speelunking, going caving. And I'm a little claustrophobic, and I said, how big is this cave? He said, well, you know, the entrance is a little on the small side, but when you get in there, there's rooms really big, and there are rooms the size of the cave we went into. But when we got there, you had to have a serious four-wheel drive vehicle to get to that location, off-road. It took us about an hour and a half, off-road, to get there. We got to this cave. It was about the size of a manhole cover.

And had I not been afraid of just wearing yellow or pink panties in front of everybody, I would have left. Because I didn't want to go in there, and then when I got in there, it only got worse. As you're crawling through this maze and we're going several hundred yards, at least it seemed like several hundred yards, the only thing you can see, you saw two feet in front of you. And that was it. I mean, you were in just a little circle. And we went, went, went, and we saw different parts of the cave that were as big as this room and others. So at the end, one of the fellas says, well, there's still a little more cave left. You want to go back and see what's in the back? And no one had been back there. I said, sure. I thought I was going to dive our heart attack anyway. I might as well die, you know, leading the people here. Got to the very end of the cave.

And of course, all we have are our flashlights and we're looking around and we see an altar and we see animal heads and we see bowls that have been filled with blood. And we saw the satanic sign where people had dragged their bodies way back into that mountain and they were doing animal sacrifices to Satan. At least that's what it appeared to us.

So anyhow, what that has to do with this, but we're going to have sacrifices at the end of the age and a world-dominating religious figure is going to stop those. It's going to stop those before Christ's return. So that we do know. We don't have that happening yet. Verse 5, 2 Thessalonians 2.5.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? Again, it's the job of the minister to remind people of things. Verse 6, And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. So there is a restraint that God is exercising here. God is now pulling back the curtain on all knowledge. He's going to reveal this to us at a time that he wants revealed to us. And it's interesting, brethren, as we've been studying the book of Mark and our Bible studies, we see over and over where Christ told people after they had been healed, well, don't tell anybody about this because Christ, number one, wanted to tell people about himself and not have people who don't quite understand everything talk about the situation. And also, Christ wanted to deal with the time on his own basis when he wanted to reveal things. Verse 7, For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. So here we've got this mystery of lawlessness, describing opposition to the law of God. 1 John 3, 4. What's sin? Sin is the transgression of the law. The Greek word for lawlessness is anomia, describing willful opposition to the law. Verse 7 maybe is not the most clear in the New King James. Let me read it in a New Living translation. 2 Thessalonians 2, 7. And the New Living says this, For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way.

It comes to the point when God says, you know, it's now time to reveal these things. I'm going to step out of the way, and they will be revealed. Verse 8, And then a lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming. In your notes, you might want to jot down Revelation chapter 19, verses 11 and 20. Revelation chapter 19, verses 11 and 20.

Because that shows how they will be thrown into the lake of fire, how he will be thrown into the lake of fire with the beast.

Verse 9, The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. Power, power of Satan. Signs, what are signs? Signs are those things that have significance. These aren't just inconsequential things, but these are signs, these are things of consequence and lying wonders.

People will be in awe of what they see. And of course, again, in your notes, I see my time is running short. My watch actually works. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 9, Satan deceives the whole world.

And also, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 13 through 15.

I'll read that for you.

And no wonder for Satan himself transformed himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great thing if his ministers also transformed themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose then will be according to their works.

Verse 10, And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth.

Brethren, the love of the truth. One of the big points for this whole sermon. Yes, we're looking at clues for the man of sin. We're looking at what's going to be taking place at the end of the age. But the big thing for you and I to take away from this sermon today is we need to be people who have a love of the truth.

What is truth? John 17, 17. Your word is truth. We need to have a love for God's word, where we don't want to be separated from it. We have a deep commitment to reading it and obeying it. You know, I'm counseling a couple of people now for baptism. And there's a number of things I go through when I'm counseling people for baptism. But the biggest thing, if you're thinking about counseling after the feast, I'd be happy to talk with you about that. But the biggest thing about getting ready for baptism is the one word, commitment. Commitment. We may not understand everything in the Scriptures. I don't ask people to read every booklet we've got, to listen to five years worth of sermons, to write a half a dozen study papers. I don't see that in the New Testament, but that's fine if some people do that. I don't do that. But I do want people to understand the commitment they're getting into, the fine print as to what they're committing their life to. So today, brethren, what we've done today is we've taken a look at this man of sin, the end-time individual who is going to claim to be God, and many, many people around the world are going to believe him. Clue number one, Biblical clue number one, he's a powerful religious figure backed by Satan. We'd have to wrap our mind around all of that means and the power that is there. Biblical clue number two, he'll act like a latter-day Elijah, but a false Elijah. Biblical clue number three, he and the first beast will enforce the mark of the beast, which may well be forced Sunday observance upon mankind. And Biblical clue number four, the man and the sin and the beast are equals. So we want to look at that relationship. So, brethren, as I spoke to you here several weeks ago now, remember the sermon where I talked about how we need a strong one-on-one relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ? That means everything to us. In a short time, we're going to be at the Feast of Tabernacles. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the messages. For those of you going to Del's, I think Mr. Bradford talked about the messages, as we were going through them in our teleconference. I'm really excited about what I'm going to be hearing. We've got 10 services. We've got six Bible studies. And I'm really looking forward to digging into the Word of God. Special feast for me? My fiftieth. My fiftieth Feast of Tabernacles. Not bad for a guy who's 51 years old. But this is an opportunity for us. If we don't feel where we are, where we should be spiritually, to say, you know, this feast is going to be a turning point. I'm going to dig into every message. I'm going to make sure I spend plenty of time in prayer and meditation. I'm going to take nice walks out and look at God's creation and think about my Father and all that He's done. This feast is going to be a great spiritual feast. Let's do that. Now, we talk about going to the feast and having the best feast ever. We can't tell that until this time next year. If we go to the feast, we don't really do anything with our life and what we've heard, then we're just kind of traveling through. We're just kind of passing through life. Now, we want to take note of what's being said. We want to see positive change in our lives, individually, each and every one of us. If we see that, then you and I can say, boy, we've had the best feast ever. So, I'll be here next Sabbath enjoying the fast day with all of you. So, see you then.