K ING 'S BUSINESS PROPHECY SECTION Edited by Dr. Charles L. Feinberg, Dean, Talbot Theological Seminary
An Exposition o f II Thessalonians 2:1-12
by Dr. John A. Bitler
or seven years, this false church called Babylon, under Rome, will be destroyed by the ten kings or rulers of western Europe—Rev. 17:16. A ll Bibles will be burned, all the millions of books which teach Christian doctrine and principles will be burned, and all church property confiscated. V erse 3 con fd . AND THAT MAN OF SIN BE RE VEALED, THE SON OF PERDITION; In this void of truth following the destruction of Babylon, the religious system which still acknowledged God, Satan reveals his man who is completely controlled by sin. Satan energizes him with all his power, and thus he is the son of perdi tion, finally going to destruction. He is the man of law lessness, defying God. V erse 4. WHO OPPOSETH AND EXHALTETH HIM SELF ABOVE ALL THAT IS CALLED GOD, OR THAT IS WORSHIPPED: SO THAT HE AS GOD SITTETH IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD, SHOWING HIMSELF THAT HE IS GOD. This man of sin is in complete opposition to the true God, and to any who have faith in God. In his defiance and insolence he exalts himself above all that bears the name of God, or any object that is worshipped. He assumes the place of God in God’s own temple in Jerusalem, sitting in the holy place, show ing himself to all the world that he is God. Imagine such sin climaxing in insult and outrage to God, after all the light God has bestowed on the world through His Son. Christ said, “ I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him will ye receive” (John 5:43). This is the antichrist, come in his own name. I John 2:22 says “Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” The antichrist who comes in his own name denies that Jesus is the Christ, and instead calls himself the Christ or Messiah of Israel. The Messiah of Israel was both Israel’s God and king, and so he claims he is their Messiah and God, and is also their ruler. The antichrist
V ERSE 1. NOW WE BESEECH YOU, BRETHREN, BY THE COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND BY THE GATHERING TOGETHER UNTO HIM. Paul pleads with the believers at Thessalonica, in view of the certainty of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His saints, and the gathering together to meet the Lord in the air (which hope Paul taught them in I Thess. 4:13-18). V erse 2. THAT YE BE NOT SOON SHAKEN IN MIND OR BE TROUBLED, NEITHER BY SPIRIT, NOR BY LETTER AS FROM US, AS THAT THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND. They should not quickly lose their stability in the truth, nor be alarmed or disturbed by a false teaching by those supposed to be inspired by the Spirit, or by words that Paul is quoted as saying, or by a letter to which false teachers have signed Paul’s name, stating that the Day of the Lord had already come. Because they were suffering tribulation, and because the Day of the Lord is introduced by the greatest of tribulations, they were told that the Day of the Lord was present. Paul shows this to be impossible due to the fact that the believers have to be gathered to Christ in the air first, and then they shall appear with Christ in glory when He is revealed on the Day of the Lord. V erse 3. LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU BY ANY MEANS: FOR THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME, EX CEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST. The false teachers were deceiving these suffering believers by their false teaching. Paul gives another reason why the Day of the Lord had not come—that there must be an apostasy first, when all Christian doctrines are for saken. After Christ comes for His true church, the false church is left, and she soon repudiates every aspect of the truth, falling away completely from God’s light. Approximately three and one-half years will be all the time it will take for Satan to have all Christian teach ings abolished, and at the end of the first three and one-half years, or the middle of Daniel’s seventieth week
FEBRUARY, 1961
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