With a great falling away set to occur when the man of sin comes around (2 Thessalonians 2), I was hoping to get some opinions on what the truth is that a billion plus individuals will refuse to love is, and what the lie is that they will instead choose over the truth?
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.
The first thing in expounding a scripture is to establish the reason for the book it is in. 1st Thessalonians was written because Paul had taught the Rapture in Thessaloniki, but because he was forced to flee after only three weeks, he did not teach it comprehensively. Because Paul taught that every saint must expect the Second Coming of the Lord at any time, the saints were dismayed when some of the saints died and no Rapture had occurred. Paul writes to correct this and show that the dead saints will suffer no disadvantage to the living saints at the moment of rapture.
2nd Thessalonians is written because the hefty persecution (1:4-5) caused some to teach that the Great Tribulation was upon them and they had missed the Rapture. Paul writes to correct this. Chapter 2 starts with the subject of rapture - (i)
"the coming of the Lord" and
"our being gathered to Him".
Note that the word for "coming" in
verse 1 is
"parousia" in the Greek, which strictly means "(His)
PRESENCE". It is not His "arrival" on Mount of Olives, but His PRESENCE in the clouds.
In
verse 2 we have a special term. All through the Old and New Testament, the
"DAY of the LORD" is taught to be a day of vengeance and wrath upon the earth. But here we have the
"DAY of Christ". If we study the way the Holy Spirit uses this term in other scriptures, we learn that it means the "
day that we, the Church, are caught away to meet the Lord and be judged by Him" (see
1st Cor.1:8, 5:5, 2nd Cor.1:14, Phil.1:6). This confirms
verse 1 and our gathering to Him for the Bema (Rom.14:10, 2nd Cor.5:10).
In
verse 3 Paul says that this "day" of being Raptured to face judgment as the Church cannot come until some events have occurred. They are (i) an apostasy, (ii) the Beast must be revealed, and, and (iii) a "Withholder" must be removed.
Apostasy.
The word "apostasy" means to fall from an elevated position to a low position, or to fall away from a position of truth to a lie. Implied is that that which becomes apostate once held a high position and will, in future, tumble to a low position. On examining the population of the earth, we find three distinct Peoples. (i) The Nations, or the Gentiles, (ii) The Nation of Israel, and (iii) The New Man or the Church. The Nations are the enemies of God and at best, are totally fallen, depraved and sinful. There is no high position to loose. The Nation of Israel is largely dispersed throughout the Nations as Chastisement for breaking the Law, and those who retur to the Land after it was declared a Nation again in 1948, are indifferent to the Law and hate and reject Jesus Christ. They are about to embrace the Beast, and are thus at an all-time low place in God's estimation. The Church is is the only entity that can fall away. And scripture agrees. Already in Acts there was trouble in the Church, the letters are written because of problems, and the last communication regarding the Churches in Revelation 2 and 3 show five apostate Churches of seven, with our Lord no longer calling the Church but only individual OVERCOMERS. The APOSTASY is in the Church.
The Revealing of the man of sin.
By studying Daniel Chapter 9, we can see two distinct points in the career of the Beast. He (i) obtains a stature and position to enable him to negotiate what no other man has been able to do up to now - to enable Israel to have the daily oblation. This, by default, means that a Temple must be standing, for it is there that Moses commands the oblation, and (ii) three and one half years later he will break this pact, stop the oblation, and command universal worship towards himself. But these two decisive points in his career are only dome when he is in power. His REVEALING is another thing altogether. Revealing somebody means that they were hidden, and are now made manifest. Since the Beast comes out of the Abyss, his REVEALING is one of two possible occasions. (i) When he appears out of the Abyss, or (ii) when he is presented by the ten kings who give their power to him. Thus, the REVEALING of the Beast is sometime BEFORE he makes the pact with Israel in Daniel 9:27. This EVENT will therefore be MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS before Armageddon, and MORE THAN three and one half years before the Abomination of Desolation.
The Withholder.
There is much dispute among Bible scholars as to who this might be. By Paul's words in verse 5 and 6, he had obviously told the Thessalonian saints who this was. But to us, the "WITHHOLDER" is not named. Can we discover who he/it is? We have some evidence. The grammar must first be examined. It poses no problems. Something WITHHOLDS (i) lawlessness overtaking the whole world, (ii) the Beast being manifested. Options are few. Could it be Christ? No. He was removed 2,000 years ago. Could it be the Holy Spirit? No. The Holy Spirit is evidently present throughout the Great Tribulation as is shown by the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11. Could it be the Church? No. Because (a) it is apostate, (b) it is not removed and passes through the Great Tribulation (Rev.7), (c) it is not removed and is Overcome by the Beast (Rev.13:7). But there is One ENTITY that has all the qualifications. The OVERCOMERS OF THE CHURCH!
Our Lord Jesus said that we are salt, and if we keep our flavor, we prevent corruption. An apostate Church has no flavor left, but there are "THEM" (plural) who have the power "to cast down the Accuser" and "THEY (plural) OVERCAME HIM" so that the Accuser is forced out of heaven
(Revelation 12:10-11). The Man-Child (plural) is defined by the fact that he will rule the nations with a rod of iron, and besides our Lord Jesus Christ, the only people who will rule the nations with a rod of iron IS OVERCOMERS OF THE APOSTATE CHURCH
. Revelation 2:26-27 says;
26 "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father."
To the Church is given, NOT to fight against flesh and blood, but against Principalities in high places (Eph.6:12). And the weapons are spiritual, not carnal. The Man-Child does not overcome the Beast.
He overcomes HIM who gives the Beast his power - the Adversary - the Devil (Rev.13:2-4). And he OVERCOMES,
"... by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death" (Rev.12:11). Not only do the Overcomers overcome the apostasy in the Churches, not only do the Overcomers retain their flavor as salt to prevent corruption, not only do the Overcomers Overcome the Accuser - the Devil, but their presence in heaven after Rapture means that the Devil is DISPLACED from heaven.
Who is more qualified, other than our Lord Jesus Christ, to be the WITHHOLDER than the OVERCOMERS of the apostate Church?
... it surely must have been the "gather ye *