Thessalonians, Part 7

Brethren, today we're going to continue with our Bible study series that we've been doing. And thank you for doing this. We're doing a study on Second Thessalonians. And last time, which about a month ago, we covered the first chapter. And my intent today is to cover the second chapter, chapter 2 of Second Thessalonians. Just as a little marker, during Paul's second journey, one year after the Jerusalem Conference in 49 AD, Paul then stopped in Corinth after starting the church in Thessalonians. So he went to Macedonia, northern Greece today, and then he stopped at the Thessalonian church there, and then he stopped in Corinth. He already stayed there for about a year and a half. From Corinth, he wrote first Thessalonians to encourage the brethren in Thessalonians, and also to address some misunderstandings about the coming of Christ. Now, regrettably, that correction of misunderstandings brought maybe other misunderstandings, and so he immediately wrote Second Thessalonians to further correct the issue. So in the first chapter of Second Thessalonians, in summarizing it in one short sentence, he basically thanked God for their faith and patience in their trials and persecutions that they were having, and he reminded them that God is righteous.

And therefore, in that righteousness of God, he does give people time, time to repent. And we must not think that when things keep going wrong, and because he's giving people time to repent, that God is not in control. He's just in his mercy and in his righteousness, he's giving those people some opportunity so that when the final judgment does come, which will come at Christ's Second Coming, as he's describing, he would have given them full opportunity to repent. In other words, that is his righteousness, his great righteousness and love for those people. And so, using that approach, he started or approached the subject of Christ's Second Coming when there would be the judgment and righteous judgment. So, let's go then into Second Thessalonians, and we're going to go start reading from chapter 2, verse 1. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus and our gathering together to Him, we ask you. So, he says, okay, let's get straight down to the point concerning the coming of Christ and our gathering together to Him. So, it was not just the coming of Christ, but the issue was about us getting together with Christ. There were some misunderstandings. As you may recall, in the first letter, there were some people who were concerned that some people had died, and therefore, they would not have the opportunity of seeing Christ's coming, and then he tried to explain, look, they will have an opportunity because they'll resurrect first before we are changed. But then he goes back to it, says now, regarding the issue of us gathering together with Him, because there were still some areas to be clarified, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled. So, he's saying, look, Christ is going to come. And as we read for instance in the prophecy of that Jesus Christ gave even in Matthew, he says, it will become like lightning coming from the east to the west, and everybody will see it, and it will be at the sound of the trumpet, and everybody will see it. So, regarding that, don't be misled, he says, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter. In other words, don't be troubled. If somebody comes and says, well, I had a vision, I had a vision, I had a dream, and, you know, this is what's going to happen. You know, don't be troubled by these people that says, well, God spoke to me in a dream, in a vision last night, and I'm coming to you with this vision, you know. So, don't be troubled by that. Don't be troubled by word. So, for instance, we go to a church poplar, or we have some gathering together of the church, and we're talking, and somebody says something. So, don't be troubled by something that somebody might say, or not be troubled by letter, as if from us. It would not be troubled by somebody sending you in modern, modern, in today's type of approach would be, don't worry if somebody sends you a link on the internet, or a website to look at, or an email about something, as if it was from us, or from some authority in the church, or something like that. And then he says, from us, as though the day of the Lord had come.

So, don't be deceived if some people are going around and saying, Christ is already up. Christ has come, or the day of the Lord has come. Not being misled by that. And we've seen that people have said that throughout generations, many years, there's even churches that said, well Christ has come, but now he's acting in a different way, and things like that. So, don't be deceived by that. And I just want to turn to Matthew 24 briefly. Keep a little finger in Thessalonians, of course, because, or a little marker there, because we're going to be keep going back to it. So, in Matthew 24, verses 23 to 27. Matthew 24, 23 to 27.

Says, then, if anyone says to you, look, the eyes of Christ, or there, do not believe it. If somebody says, well Christ has come, or the eyes of Messiah, or whatever, don't believe it. For false Christ and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive even if possible the elect. They will come with great miracles. They will come with great power to do things that if it is possible they see the very leg.

See, I told you beforehand. Therefore, if they say to you, look, he is in the desert, do not go out. Or look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, souls coming of the Son of Man be healed. So, don't be deceived that the day of the Lord has come, or that Christ has come. Now, some people may say, well, the day of the Lord has come.

It's interesting now, some people mentioned the beast and pomegos, says, well, we already are in the heavenly signs, and now we're getting into, we've lost the heavenly signs now into the day of the Lord. And you, you worry about it, you worry about it, because the heavenly signs will be such visible thing that it hasn't happened yet. We know it hasn't happened, but if you've been there, happened already, then wow! You know? But I want you to look at Joel, chapter 2. Joel, chapter 2. Because here it says clearly, Daniel, or Zayah, Joel, chapter 2, verse 31.

And it says, and here's a description of the heavenly signs. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. So some people say, oh, well, there's an eclipse, and the moon goes into a red color. That's it. It's the heavenly signs. For heaven, this will be something really, really special. It will be a very unique miracle. It will be a miracle. I don't think it'll be just a normal thing that a star is coming and hides the sun or whatever it is. This will be, I believe, a miracle. God is so powerful. It will be a miracle.

And the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. So this will happen before the day of the Lord. So the day of the Lord hasn't come yet. So don't be deceived. That's what Paul is saying after the Thessalonians. So let's go back to chapter 2, which says at the end of verse 2 of the second Thessalonians, it says, the seat from Mars is dealt with the day of Christ that come.

Let no one deceive you by any means. Let nobody deceive you by any means, whether it's by spirit, by word, by letter, whatever it may be, by email, by an internet website that it's fascinating and it's got some amazing little blogs out there or a little video clip or whatever it is. Don't let anybody deceive you by any means. For that day will not come unless two things happen first. Two things have to happen first. One is the falling away first and the man of sun is revealed, the son of perdition. Now the falling away, that's basically apostasy.

That's apostasy. And we have to keep something about prophecy in mind and that's duality. Duality is such an important thing as far as prophecy. You know apostasy has happened. Apostasy has happened. It has happened many years ago in the early New Testament Church and the church became, you know, there was a period that the Christian church as Christ and apostles and Paul were leading it was one thing. And then a time came after Paul died which is referred to as the age of shadows. I'm going to quote from a book entitled story of the Christian church by Jesse Lyman Earl Beck page 41 that says, for 50 years after St Paul's life a curtain hangs over the church through which we strive plainly to do.

And when at last rises about 120 AD with the writings of the earliest church fathers we find a church in many aspects very different from that in the days of St Peter and St Paul. So right there there was apostasy because the writings of Paul and then he died and then there are a few writings still like John and Peter that came during that period. But secular history is kind of got a blank there. There's no quote unquote historic record day of that period until about 120 AD.

And then there are the so-called early church fathers. But those writings are already about a church which is already apostate. In other words, has already deviated from the truth. So we've saw that apostasy coming. Now look at what happened in those years then. That apostasy came. And then you look back. How long, and I'm not saying referring to how many years it's got to be the gap, but how long afterwards did the, let's call it, the man of sin got revealed in the form of the leadership in the papal area starting with the Paul and starting with the the decrees that were put in the middle of the fourth century where it became then a dictat and it became then, in a sense, a man of sin being revealed of that time or a prototype of the man of sin.

A prototype because that was like the first cycle of prophecy. There was apostasy and there was that prototype of the man of sin with all the decrees that came in in about 325 of the council of Nicaea and in 300 in run about a contraband and out of exact date, but about 385 or so with the council of constantinopleth and the decrees that came out of that and also other things that happened during that era, pulling up that church that became and persecuted many that kept the sabbath and kept the pals on the days and became a great persecution through the dark ages that we know.

What I'm saying is prophecies in duality. There was an apostasy of the church first and then there was a time gap and then it came, let's call it the second wave of persecution, but it was more government-centered, more, yes, with a religion, but a religion backing up a government and that is prophetic of what is going to happen in the future. There's a duality. There's like that happened and that sort of similar will happen again in the future. We may say, history will then prove it, correctly or not, that we may have had already apostasy in the late, let's call it, in the late era, now that we may have had an apostasy. Remembering how many of God's people used to keep the feast, what, 30 years ago? And many keep today. In numbers, then may, may be, I'm not saying it is for sure because, you know, a lot of the things will then look back and say, aha, that was it. When it happens, we don't really know. So, if that is the case, then the next way is something building out for the man of sin to be revealed, which will have all the implications of a beast and a woman that writes a beast. And that woman, who should be the false prophet, will then be this, what it calls a tiara, the man of sin, which will be revealed.

But what I was trying to say is, think of always as duality. You know, you see things that have happened and they're going to happen again. The first time is like a prototype and the second time is the reality, the real thing. So, let's look at some examples, for instance, of the apostasy and what the Bible says about that, which is the first thought. And we first look at Jude, Jude 3 and 4. That's just before Revelation, Jude 3 and 4. Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly. I found it necessary to write to you, to give you a warning and to contend earnestly about our common salvation, for the faith which was once for all delivered to the sense. For certain men have crept in unnoticed. They've crept in unnoticed. Whether they creep in unnoticed, they say they creep obviously into the church. So, some men crept into the church and led the church away into an apostasy. That's kind of the first portion of it, which is the apostasy. For certain men have crept in unnoticed. And so, at the part of Jude, he was already saying that this was already happening. And apostasy hadn't really started, but he was already warning them. They have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly men who turned the grace of our God into luminous. And basically, what he's saying is, you don't have to keep the law. That's what it says. You don't have to keep the law. God is, God's grace. Yes, you need love. And yes, love is important. And therefore, we don't have to keep them all. And that was the problem. Now, Paul is very clear in 1 Corinthians, you can have all knowledge, you can have all fight, you can have everything. If you don't have love, you're not. We have to have love. But that does not strip away God's law, because God's law is love.

God's law is love. And therefore, that does not say, well, you can throw away God's law, because all you need is love. No. You need God's law. You need God's principles. You need a button of trust. And you need love. If you just have knowledge and all the other things without love, just like a symbol or a trumpet, it's like me. When I was young, like four years old, people would have given me a little symbols and went around the house, it would be a terrible noise. You would not want to hear that. So don't have a gift for your own spirit. I don't know. But why not be the thing that you want to do? But the point there in the sign, using that analogy in 1 Corinthians, is that if you have knowledge, if you have all these things, you're nothing. If you don't have love. But that does not mean that all you need is love, and you don't need all the other things. Because the other things tell us how to love. They tell us the direction of love. The God's Ten Commandments tell us what real God's love is, not what's God and not what's not. So, so you were saying they were turning the grace of our God into new pollutants. It was, they were saying, well, all you need is love before you can go away with the Lord. That's not it. That's not it. And deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, they deny the true God and the true Christ. There's many ways you can deny God and deny Christ. Many ways people can act as be an anti-Christ. Elsewhere it says, you know, people, they deny Christ came in the flesh. That's the anti-Christ. There's two angles to it. A lot of people think, well, it's only the angle that Christ came in the flesh. That is true. That is true. People that deny that God came in the flesh and became a full man and suffered as a full man. And that's why the doctrine of the Trinity, in a sense, is the type of anti-Christ because, you know, it didn't really live it. It's a separate being, you know. So Christ came as a man and suffered. But the other side of it is that the Messiah came, Christ came, became a man, which meant that he was God. He was God. And other people say, no, deny, no, he was not God. He was a being or he was an angel, he was some being very important, but he was not God. That is also denying Christ what he was, what he gave up, and he became a man. So, so yeah, we have warnings about different things, doctrines, approaches, ways of looking at things that would creep into the church. And that's what we find today. We find people going in many directions, many directions, not just one, many directions. And, and his warning, be careful. And then look a little bit further down in verse 19, verse 19 of Jude, Jude 19. These are sensual, sensual persons who cause divisions. Because of these doctrine or different ideas, they cause divisions. The divisions in the church, of course, not having the spirit, not having the spirit. That is a frightful statement to some of these people that are causing these things. So let's go on back with, with the Thessalonians. And we're going to look at the second part of that, of that verse, which says we're reading in verse 3. The falling away comes first. So we looked at that and it's dual. And it's possible that has already happened at the end of time. And, but the other part has not happened.

And the man of sin is revealed. This part has definitely not happened. The man of sin is revealed. So what is sin? Sin is the transcription of God's law.

One John 3 verse 4, sin is the transcription of God's law, is revealed. So the man that does things that obviously translates God's law, for one, as we'll see in a moment, he proposes idolatry. And idolatry is straight in the face of God's law.

So, but he says until he's revealed. So then man has not been revealed. The game duality. Okay, so the prototype is out there, the prototype of the reality hasn't happened. The son of predation. Here was the son of destruction. The son that will lead to a lot of desolation, a lot of destruction in the world.

So let's continue now in verse 4 to describe a little bit more about that man of sin. He says, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, all that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he's God.

So he says, he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God. So it's not just the vicar of Christ, because the vicar of Christ, quote unquote, is somebody in place of it.

But it's more than that. He stands, as he says, he opposes and exalts himself above. So it's not just the representative of Christ on earth, it's more than that. So it's going to take a title greater than that. And then we continue reading.

Above all that is called God and that is worshiped. Now let's look a little bit more about this prophecy. There's a prophecy of this in Revelation 13. So let's look a little bit at that in Revelation 13. In Revelation 13. Obviously, we'll mark it down just a little, and come back to it. Revelation 13 talks about two beasts. Verse 1 to 10 talks about the first beast, which is more of a beast of the government, of the rulership. And then, starting from verse 11, talks about another beast. And it says in verse 11, then I saw another beast coming out of the earth, and that he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon.

You now know lamb, obviously, representing like a lamb of God, Christ, in the words coming across as a Christian, but spoke like a dragon. And he was a dragon, Satan, he spoke like Satan. In other words, deception. That's what Satan thinks. Deceptions, deceives, truth and lie meets together. It's a little truth with a little bit of life, or a lot of truth with a tiny bit of life, but it's still arsenic. It's still poisonous. So, you can have a lot of truth, but just a little bit of life. It's still poisonous. It's still bad. So, that's how Satan talks. It's truth and lie. It's deception. It's all mixed up. Verse 12. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. So, he exercises all the authority of the first beast. So, he's got power over that first beast, and he says, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast. That's idolatry. That's idolatry. And that's the man of sin. That's sin. Idolatry.

Who's deadly, wondrous, ill. So, I'm not going to go into that. And we do have booklets that cover this into more detail about this section. So, I'm not going to go into those bits, but I just wanted to show you at this stage of that this leader, which will be an organization, but it will be a leader of that organization. And you will cause people to worship that first beast. And so, let's continue then in second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 4, the second part of verse 4. And it says, so that he sits as God in the temple of God. So, this man of sin will sit as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Again, think about your reality. Think about your reality. What happened in 70 AD? In 70 AD, there was, or was the time that the temple was destroyed. Christ prophesied the temple will be destroyed. Let's look at that prophecy of Christ in Matthew 24. Matthew 24.15. Matthew 24.15.

See, in Matthew 24, they asked him, says, you know, what will happen, you know, when is the time of the sign of your coming, in the end of the age, and then Christ goes and tells them that it will be different things. But really, he does explain that this temple will be destroyed. And he looked at it and says, yeah, Matthew 15, Matthew 24 verse 15. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in holy place. Whoever reads, let him understand. Then those who are in should be at lead to the mountains. But remember, Christ is talking about the abomination of desolation being future, future to when he was living. And yes, it happened in A.D. 70. So, let's look at Daniel because he says, spoken of by Daniel. So, let's look at Daniel, what he says. So, let's go into that and we're going to look at Daniel 8. Daniel 8.

Daniel 8.

Verse 9 to 14. It says, Daniel 8. This is the so-called vision of a ram and a goat, or the vision of the 2300 evenings and mornings as a goat. And he says in Daniel 8 verse 9. And out of one of them came a little horn, would grow exceedingly, would grow exceedingly great towards the south, towards the east, and towards the glorious land, and it grew up to the house of heaven. So, somebody became very proud towards everybody and proud even towards the house of heaven. And it crossed down some of the house and some of the stars and the ground and trampled them. And he even exalted himself as high as the prince of the host. He exalted himself as high as Christ. He noted the prince in chapters. And by him, the daily sacrifices were taken away, the daily sacrifices. So, they had sacrifices in the temple, and those daily sacrifices were stopped.

And the place of the sanctuary was crossed down. So, that area of the temple was crossed down. He went into the temple, and it caused that daily sacrifices to stop. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices, and it crossed through down to the ground and it all burst and crossed. And then I heard a Holy One speaking and another Holy One saying that a certain one was speaking, said to that certain one, how long will the vision be concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation? You see, that's the abomination of desolation that Christ was referring to this time. And he says, and giving the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot. And he said to me, for two thousand three hundred days, but you can look in your margin, it's actually evenings and mornings. So two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings. So it's actually one thousand one hundred and thirty days.

So, and then the sanctuary will be cleansed. And so what we see is YHSA prophecy given to Daniel about an abomination of desolation, somebody that will be very proud and will stop the sacrifices in the temple for a period of two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings. In the words, eleven and eleven fifty days. So then what we do is look at it again, still in the same chapter, at the last part of verse twenty five and verse twenty six of the same chapter. And it says, through his standing etc. And then the last part says, he shall even rise at the ranks of princes. In other words, this person will challenge Christ. So it's still a prophecy. So we can see prophecies have duality, certain anti-talks happen, but it's not the ultimate version that he says, but he shall be broken without human needs. And the vision of the evenings and mornings, which was told is true, still not the vision, for it refers to many days in the future. So it's for many days in the future. Now, if you look at Daniel 11, just one or two or three pages down, Daniel 11, verse 31, Daniel 11, verse 31, they say that is the longest prophecy in the Bible. And that describes the struggle between the North and the South. And then in Daniel 11, verse 31, it says, and forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall be filed as sanctuary fortress. Then they shall take away the daily sacrifices and place their abomination of desolation. And this prophecy has been fulfilled, and it's very highlighted, described by, for instance, our booklet, The Middle Eastern Prophecy. You can go into it very carefully, study it carefully, this. In the Middle Eastern Prophecy booklet, it goes through it very, very detailed. But this already happened, and this is referring to an theocracy of epiphanies that happened about 168 years before Christ, we see. So that had happened. So this abomination of desolation was a prophecy that happened. Christ then, he spoke to the apostles, and he says, when you see the abomination of desolation happening, then three. But it had happened already. So think about duality. Think about duality. So it had happened. It happened again when was looking at the temple at that time in 1718. And that's what happened. Christians and people fled, fled before, and before it happened, there are different historical reports that they fled, and they learned the warning. There was a vision, they fled, they said, they said, so. So that happened. But the point is, when we read now in Thessalonians, it's talking about this man of sin that is going to be revealed. And that is still to happen because we're going to see a little later, he's going to be destroyed by Christ. And we're so in Daniel that the ultimate of his prophecy was that he would be confronted by the prince of princes, which he referred to Christ, and he'll be destroyed at that time. So it is duality on duality. You see, it happened with angiopathy and geocracy. It was the duality was at the time of Christ after he died, some, what, 50 years after he died, so 40 years or so after he died. In 1870. And then it's going to happen again when the man of sin will be revealed. So it's still perfect.

The interesting point is there's no temple.

There's no temple. There's no altar. So the implication is here, and the Church believes that there's going to be something that will cause them to start offering sacrifices in that area, because those sacrifices will be stopped.

So that's something for us to keep our eyes open onto, to see.

Look at Revelation 11, please. Revelation chapter 11. Because in Revelation 11, while this man of sin will come up, and for that period, as we'll see a little later, or three and a half years, he's going to be receiving the word and saying, this is God and worship God in the temple, and this, God is going to, at the same time, going to have somebody saying, he's a liar.

He's a liar, in parallel. So when this is going to happen for that period of three and a half years, at the same time, God is going to have somebody witnessing that that is a liar. And as you know, in the Bible says, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, believe it. So that's why there's two witnesses. And let's read now those two witnesses, because they're going to be pointing to that, that that, that I don't want, that guy's a liar. So there's going to be this thing in the news. People are going to watch it. It's going to be headline news. So, Revelation 11, chapter 1, I think the verse 1, Revelation 11 verse 1, Then I was given a read like a measuring rod, and an angel stood rise and measured the temple of God, the altar, and those worshiped there. Okay, I always like to look at it until we know better exactly what this because today there's no temple of God. So the way I look at it is in the duality because there's a spiritual temple of God, which is not to change.

And so I look at it in both ways, physical, maybe there will be an altar, and there must be an altar, maybe not a full temple, but there must be something built up in Jerusalem for those sacrifices. That's the way we, we believe unless we then show us differently, and then we'll understand in a different way. But when it says rise up and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship in there could mean rise up and measure the church of God. And are we measuring up to the standards that you and I should be? And maybe that's what has been happening in the sense that God is measuring and drawing lines and says no, and then he's measuring, and maybe that's what's happening. Maybe that's what's happening. In verse 2, they leave out the court which is outside the temple. Don't do that for those outside the church. So maybe the pressure is in the church, there are certain tests, the certain stresses in the church. God is measuring us, is checking us how well are we. God is preparing the bride, and that's what it is. Maybe that is a spiritual intent there. And do not, but leave out the court which is outside the temple. Do not measure it, for it's been given to the Gentiles. And they will create the Holy City underfoot for 42 months. That's 42 years. So there will be the Gentiles. So there will be a time in the Gentiles after the fleeing, as we will look in a moment, that the Holy City will be trampled by Gentiles. And it says, in parallel to that, I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy $1,260. And that is three and a half years. 12, etc. So that's what they will do. These are my two lampstands, and it says, and if anyone wants to hunt them, fire proceeds from the mouth and destroys them, and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to hunt them, he must be killed in this manner. So they'll be very specially protected. They'll be doing some very special miracles. On the other side, the man of sin will also be making very special miracles.

So there will be a major conflict happening, and people will be saved. And it says, verse 6, These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy, and they have power of the worst to turn them to blood, and to strike to earth with all plagues as often as they desire. Wow, that's a lot of power they lack. And when they finish their testimony for those three and a half years, witnessing for God that the false prophet is false. Saying, he's a liar. When they finish that, when God decides that's enough, the beast that descends out of the bottom of the split, who'll make war against them, overcome them and kill them. So they'll be killed. And that their bodies will lie on the street, and in the great city, which spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified, and it was a Jerusalem. And then, continue. And then those from the people, tribes, tongues and nations will see the dead bodies three and a half years. Yeah, all we need is one of these internet phones, and you can look it up, and everybody will see, you know, around the world. Thirty years ago, we could not see how this prophecy would be true. And now, everybody around the world will be able to see it. It's unbelievable. It's technology what is made this possible. We'll see that their bodies three and a half years, and not allow their bodies to be put in graves, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. They pointed to the false prophet, and all those that follow the false prophet are lions. So, this will be at the same time as this man of sin. So, let's go back to this man of sin in verse 4. He says, So he sits as God in the temple of God, show himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was with you, I told you these things? So, apparently, he had told him about that. And he says, And now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed his own time. What is restraining the man of sin to be revealed?

What is restraining the man of sin to be revealed? For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. And whatever it is, it is this mystery of lawlessness. It's already in society, in all the regions out there. Grace, you don't have to obey God's law. It's there at work. Only he who now restrains, he in capitals, who now restrains, is restraining this man of sin to be revealed, will do so until he's taken out of the way.

So, basically, what it means is brethren.

The question is, who is holding this anti-Christ from coming?

Who knows when is the time for Christ to come?

Who is the only being that knows when is the right time for Christ to come? Only the Father knows the time.

And when is the right time?

God will allow it, and things will happen.

When is the right time? God will stop restraining, will allow things to happen, and things will just go. So, you'll remove that, whatever is holding a time to happen.

And the anti-Christ, they call him revealed. You see, God is restraining Satan now. God is restraining Satan until God allows him to come. And when does God allow him to go?

Look in Revelation 12. Revelation 12.

Revelation 12. We'll start in verse 7.

And then I heard a loud voice saying, In heaven, now salvation and strength in the kingdom of God and the power of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren accused them before our God, day and night, has been cast down. And then look in verse 12. Therefore, rejoice of heavens, and you would dwell in them, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you, having great threat, because he knows that he has a bit of a short time. At that time, it is possible that to a link. I think they are over time, we'll see whether it is or not. But it is a time that God restrains Satan, he knows his very short time, and then all these things stop happening. And then, when he is released, and when he comes to earth, verse 13, what is one of the first things he's going to do? When the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted a woman who gave birth to the male child. Doesn't that apply together with Matthew 24, where Christ said, when you see the abomination of desolation, flee? Why? Because Satan has come to earth and he's persecuting the woman. And the church flees. The two, it appears the way we understand at the moment, at this stage, it appears very linked, and that's what it is. So the church flees for three and out of the years. Look at it. But the woman, verse 14, when I say the church, I should more correctly say a portion of the church. Not a portion, a portion of the church. It says, but the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to a place where she's nourished for a time, ten times, and not the time. One, ten times, two, three, and not the time, and half, three and a half years from the presence of the serpent. So the church would flee for three and a half years, which is the 1260 days.

And then if you read a little further in verse 17, it says, and the dragon was enraged with the woman, because that portion of the church was protected, and he went to make war with the rest of the church, the rest of the whole spring, those that did not go to the place of safety, those that were not protected, that did not flee, with the rest of her offspring. They are the ones, like the others, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So they believe in Christ, they believe in the doctrines and teachings of Christ, and they also believe in all the temple mountains. So a portion of the church will not be protected. So for him to attack the rest of the church, he has to stop certain countries being democratic like they are. And so the first thing that he has to do, he has to destroy America, England, and the nation of Israel, which he will do. And so that's a whole different subject. But anyway, just showing you, putting back to 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 8, we saw, we tried to put this into some sort of context, and it says, then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the bread of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming. You see, this man of wickedness, this man of sin, has to be right at the end time, because he will be destroyed by Jesus Christ himself. He will be destroyed by Christ. So it will be a human being that will be destroyed right there at the time of Christ. So it can't be in A.D. 17, it can't be at the time of the Antiochus Ephesians. It is a third dual, a duality on duality, still to happen. It says, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan. Yes, he has come to earth, and now you'll do all these works, because he knows he has put a short time with all power and signs and line ones, with all power and signs and line ones. As we read elsewhere, in Matthew 24, Christ said, you'll receive many. You can read in Revelation 13, when we read a little earlier on in verse 13 and 14, that he says they will be seen with signs. That though they have a lot of miracles, line wonders. It will be people will follow it, hook, line, and sink. And verse 10, with all unrighteous deception. So it will be deception, which is unrighteous. In other words, false doctrine. With all different time of false doctrine, because it's unrighteous, it's not properly, it's not following the law, and it's deception, which is wrong teachings. So it will be false doctrine. So people will go for that. Amonta, and when he says, the coming is according, and with all unrighteous deception, among those who perished, because, because they did not receive the love of the truth.

They will follow that, because they did not receive. The gospel would have been preached as a witness, and they did not receive it. They did not receive the love of the truth. They rejected it. They did not listen to it. They did not apply. They did not have love for the truth. God's word is true. Remember when Satan first went to Christ, when Matthew 4, and it says, oh, if you feel God had turned these stones into bread, and it says, you should, shall live by the word of God, not by bread alone. You see, so the bread, the word of God, is true. Elsewhere we see the word is true, and the word of God is true, and so they rejected the truth, God's word, the Bible, the teaching of the truth. Interesting enough, for every, if you read in Philippians chapter 6, when it says, put on the whole armor of God, the very first piece that you ought to put on is the one that's going to protect you from the shield around your waist of truth. It's the first one you put on, the truth, the word of God. So, that's interesting.

Verse 11, and for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. What lie? Well, in context, we said this man is to be worshipped. In context, that he is, stands as God, that he's like God in the context, but the lie obviously is everything that is untrue, everything that is against God's word, it's a lie.

So, they should believe that lie of unrighteous deception, as we read it before, in all unrighteous deception, which is sin. What sort of sin will they push? For one, it's idolatry. Right? It's idolatry, because they will be worshipped in this image. It's idolatry.

The two witnesses will be there saying, hey, that idolatry, don't do that. And if someone wants to welcome the two witnesses, they'll be, they won't have a chance. So, but on the other side, you'll also have a mark. You read that in Revelation 15, you know, they worship this beast, and it's got a mark, the mark of the beast. So, they'll have idolatry, and they'll have a mark, whatever, like a rubber stamp that goes with it. In the head, where you think, and in the hands, where you basically do work. On the other side, what is God's true sign?

God's true sign is God's law. Listen and say, these are the law and the commonment. You can read that in the pteronomy 6. The 6 that says God's law is going to be a sign for you. And the major sign of God's law, the real indicator, is the sign, which is keeping the sign. Now, difference between a sign and a mark, a sign is voluntary. A mark is forced upon you. A sign, I follow that sign, it's a sign, I carry that sign. It's a one-and-a-half, it's voluntary. Nobody forces upon you. A mark is forced. And so, the sign for God's people is the 7th. The mark of the beast is observing something, and that's the mark of the beast.

And they will enforce that. That mark's been around it for many years, but it will be enforced again. And so, that's what will happen. Let's continue then reading verse 12. That they may all, they all may be condemned, would not believe the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. They have pleasure in unrighteousness. So, they do not believe the truth, but they believed the lie. And then continue then in verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, because of the brethren beloved of the Lord, because God from the beginning shows you for salvation, through sanctification by the Spirit, and belief in the truth. From the beginning, God shows you. We have been called. We've been called. But does it mean from the beginning God shows you? Does it mean, pray this the night? No. No. Because from the beginning, God decided to call people. That's for a wish plan. And now man can come to God unless God calls him. The point is God calls some now, and God will call others later, because God's beside us that all men will be saved. So, they all are, quote unquote, predestined to be saved. Whether they will be saved or not, it's their choice, because we are pre-moral agents. God decided to call son before. So, he chose, chose you for salvation. He decided to call son now.

Now, the question is whether we respond or not. You can think about the pettable of those people coming to the wedding in Matthew 22, that he says, well, put out and invite people to the wedding. It was decided to invite people to the wedding. And they said, no, I don't want to come. Oh, I don't want to come. They rejected the calling. So, they didn't go to the wedding. They were not chosen to be in the wedding. They were called, but they did not respond. They were not in the wedding. So, it says, yeah, to which he called you by our gospel. He called us through the gospel. So, God decided, and the people were called by preaching of the gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast. Hold on. Remain loyal to the end. Hold on. Don't give up. Don't give up. And now, it's easy to give up, but hold on. Hold on. Stand fast.

Remain faithful to the end. Therefore, brethren, remain faithful to the end.

And all the traditions which we have taught, whether our word or our witness, there's nothing wrong with traditions. If they're God, it is traditions. If they're according to God's words. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 tells people, he may take me and follow the traditions that I'm giving you. Follow those traditions, because they've got me. So, there's nothing wrong in having traditions provided they've got me. So, it says, all the traditions which we've taught, whether by word or our emphasis, now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father, who has loved and given us everlasting consolation and good ultimate grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and word. In other words, he's saying, now I pray that God would encourage you and help you to remain faithful to the end. I think it's a very encouraging chapter to them, to show them in context the coming of Christ, that Christ is not coming straight away. There are still a few things to happen. Understand that they did not have the Book of Revelation at that time yet, but Paul had a very good understanding of these things, and he gave them a very good understanding, saying, hey, things will not happen until this man of sin. The apostasy happened, and this man of sin used to be revealed to happen. So, things are still to happen, and it is important for us to have this perspective, so we don't get deceived, because it's going to be, people are going to be easily deceived, because there will be a lot of false miracles, a lot of false miracles, that if it would be possible, will be seen, they're very related. So, as he says, as Paul says, let me just say the same thing. We all pray, brethren, let's pray for one another, and let's encourage one another, that we all remain faithful to Him.