end of the first three and one-half years, as we have seen, and it is because the deyil has been cast down to earth at this time. The first sin in the universe was Satan’s will to ascend into heaven and to exalt his throne above the stars of God, and to be like the most High God— Isaiah 15:13-14. When Satan is cast out of heaven, he is desperately determined to fulfill his will to be God, and he does so by means of his human agent, the man of sin, filled by Satan and sitting in the temple of God, claiming that he is God. Satan’s whole purpose is to be like the most High, and so he imitates what Christ will do, for Christ will sit on His glorious throne in the temple in Jerusalem—Ezekiel 43:1-7. V erse 7. FOR THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY DOTH ALREADY WORK: ONLY HE WHO NOW RESTRAINS WILL CONTINUE TO RESTRAIN, UNTIL HE BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY. A mystery in scripture is a truth which has been hidden until it is revealed at the proper time. The mystery of iniquity or lawlessness, in the self-will of man, has always been working; but the understanding of the mystery awaits the revelation of the ultimate goal of man’s will, which is to oppose and exalt himself above God, making man to be God, thus achieving long-sought-after liberty from divine government, in order that man can do his own will on earth. It is unbridled self-will, with no restraint. God is now restraining and hindering the full development of this evil by God’s presence on earth in the form of the Holy Spirit in the true church; but when God takes the church to heaven, the hindrance to this evil is re moved, and this mystery of iniquity is manifested in Satan’s man who claims to be God. V erse 8. AND THEN SHALL THAT WICKED BE RE VEALED, WHOM 'THE LORD SHALL CONSUME WITH THE SPIRIT OF HIS MOUTH, AND SHALL DESTROY WITH THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS COM ING. The church must depart before the lawless one can be revealed; the light that is still in the world must leave; and darkness cover the earth and gross darkness cover the peoples. After the church is gone, the Holy Spirit and God’s truth are not here to act as a barrier to the development of this evil, and it develops rapidly in the apostasy, culminating in the revelation of the antichrist, who is the religious leader of the world. The mystery is now revealed as man openly taking God’s place in God’s temple, the consummation of the mystery of iniquity. The antichrist is revealed at the beginning of the second three and one-half years, and he reigns until Christ descends from heaven in great power and glory. The Word of truth issuing from Christ’s mouth is applied in judgment according to the power of God, and the false prophet is cast alive into the lake of fire for ever—Rev. 19:20. This is the Day of the Lord, when Christ executes judgment on all evil, destroying this law less one. Then Christ sits on His own glorious throne in His temple in Jerusalem, and rules the earth. V erse 9. EVEN HIM, WHOSE COMING IS AFTER THE WORKING OF SATAN WITH ALL POWER AND SIGNS AND LYING WONDERS. When Satan will be cast out of heaven down to earth, he will be in a terrible rage, and he energizes this man of sin. To prove this
also denies the Father and the Son, the main Christian doctrine, and thus any trace of Christianity must have been destroyed from the earth, and the name of the true God must never be mentioned by anyone, under penalty of death. The Jews are returning to the land of Israel, and soon they will build a temple in Jeru salem in order to carry on the worship of God under the law, offering animals in sacrifice to God. The first beast of Rev. 13, the dictator and supreme military com mander over the ten Western European nations, will stop the temple worship of God in Jerusalem at the end of the first three and one-half years, the middle of Daniel’s seventieth week, breaking his covenant with the Tews. Thus the name of the true God is banished from Judaism also, at the same time that all vestiges of Christianity are destroyed by the Satanically-revived Roman Empire under the beast. Thus, anyone who preaches the name of the true God during the second three and one-half years, or the great tribulation period, will be killed although God will preserve a remnant who will proclaim the true God. The man of sin is a Jew (also called the antichrist, false prophet, the king, and the idol shepherd) and sits in the temple of God in Jerusalem, while the image of the first beast stands in the temple—Matt. 24:15. The proof that the antichrist is a Jew is found in Daniel 11:37— “ neither shall he re gard the God of his fathers.” In Rev. 13:11-18 the anti christ is called a beast because of his atrocities; and he has two horns like a lamb, imitating Christ in His com ing reign as king and prophet; but the antichrist speaks as a dragon because he is energized by Satan. The anti christ forces those that dwell on the earth to make an image of the first beast, and this image or idol is called the “ abomination of desolation” in Matt. 24:15, and it stands in the temple. This is an abomination to God and brings desolation upon Israel, because God sends all the Russian and Arab armies to destroy Israel at this time, the beginning of the last three and one-half years, because God can no longer tolerate such insolence and defiance to His name. Ezekiel 38 and 39; Daniel 11:40-45. V erse 5. REMEMBER YE NOT, THAT, WHEN I WAS YET WITH YOU, I TOLD YOU THESE THINGS? Paul had told the Thessalonians these facts when he was in Thessalonica previously, and that is why they should not have been so shaken and troubled about the Day of the Lord. V erse 6. AND NOW YE KNOW WHAT WITHHOLD- ETH THAT HE MIGHT BE REVEALED IN HIS TIME. Because Paul had told them these things before hand, they knew what was restraining the development of this wickedness, so that the man of sin should be revealed only at the time ordained for him. Satan will be in full control in the earth at this time, because he will be cast out of heaven down to the earth at the end of the first three and one-half years—Rev. 12:9-14—and he will be furious, because he knows he has only a short time. Beyond Satan’s terrible power, we see God still on His throne, governing the universe and controlling the earth, the devil being merely a tool in God’s omnipotent plan to put God’s Son on His own throne on earth. Thus Satan’s man of sin is revealed only in God’s proper time. There is a great and terrible change in events at the
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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