Good Tuesday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
My wife and I have just returned from spending a few days visiting friends in a small town in southern Germany, in Europe. I’d never been there before, but various things there reminded me of the harsh reality of WWII and a man named Adolf Hitler. In the few days we spent there it was not difficult for me to imagine what life was like in that little town in the 1930’s and 1940’s, during Hitler’s rise to global power. In those years many people thought Hitler may have been ‘the antichrist’ spoken of in the Bible.
Let’s return to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and what Paul was explaining to Christians in 51ad about a future “day of the Lord.” As we saw yesterday, not only will this ‘antichrist’ person be very wicked and fully opposed to God, God’s Truth, God’s Purposes and God’s people, 2 Thess. 2:4 says: “He will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.“ So, in addition to being very wicked, this man will declare himself not only to be the political dictator of the world; and supreme leader of all militaries; this ‘antichrist’ will also declare himself to be the supreme GOD, above all the gods, of all religions!
This ‘antichrist’, knowing the sacredness of both Jerusalem and what we call ‘the temple mount’, will base his global influence from the city of Jerusalem, and eventually demand worship of himself, by all people, from the great Temple in Jerusalem. This temple is presumed to be a Jewish Temple which of course does not exist today but will exist in that day. Evidently this future temple will be rebuilt on the same Temple mount where King Solomon built the first magnificent Jewish temple (2 Chron. 5,6) which was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar in 586bc, (2 Chron. 36:19) and also where the second temple was completed, on the very same location in 515bc. (Ezra 6:14,15) That second temple was destroyed by the Roman army in 70ad. Today the Islamic ‘Dome of the Rock’, built in about 692ad, is located on that same temple mount site as the previous two Jewish Temples.
Now that presents a problem, doesn’t it? Is it possible Paul is using the term “temple” to refer to the Islamic “Dome of the Rock”, or will there be, yet a third Jewish temple constructed on that temple mount? Because that same phrase “temple” is used by multiple Biblical writers when describing both the past two Jewish temples and this future temple in Jerusalem, when the ‘antichrist’ will rise to global power and declare himself to replace the God of the Hebrews and all other gods, and because this antichrist will intentionally desecrate Jewish worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we conclude there will be a third Jewish temple constructed on that same Mount Moriah location, in Jerusalem, where the previous two temples have stood.
Because of the animosity between Muslims and Jews, and the battle over access to and what takes place on that temple mount in recent times, it is not difficult for us to imagine it will require a remarkable miracle of political and religious compromise for either the Dome of the Rock to be side by side with a new, third Jewish Temple, or the Jewish Temple to actually replace the Dome of the Rock. Daniel, among other prophetic writers, describes this ‘antichrist’ as initially being a man of global peace who actually draws many nations into harmony with a great covenant of peace for seven years. (Daniel 9:27) But then midway through this peace covenant, this great leader turns vicious, violent and vindictive, demanding worship of himself alone and setting up an image of himself as God in that great Jewish temple in Jerusalem! That will unleash a terrible time of global suffering, especially for Jews and Christians.
For the Thessalonian Christians in 51ad and for us today, one question rises to the top. What is holding back this global rise of evil from taking place right now and consuming us in it? Paul gives us God’s answer: “…You know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the One who now holds it back will continue to do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed…” (2 Thess. 2:6,7)
So, if this person Paul refers to as the ‘lawless one’ is the ‘antichrist’, and the ‘secret power of lawlessness’ is actually the power of Satan working in this ‘antichrist’ to breed all types of wickedness and God opposition throughout the world, then who is the ‘One who now holds it back…’? Well, that One would need to have a power superior to the power of Satan if He is strong enough to restrain and prevent the rise of the ‘antichrist’ until God’s timing, isn’t that right? And there is only ONE such powerful force and that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God who created all the angels in the first place. (Col. 1:15-17)
We know that resurrected, ascended Jesus Christ is currently seated and reigning at the right hand of God in heaven, right? (Heb. 1:3; Rom. 8:34) It was Jesus who sent the powerful Holy Spirit of God at Pentecost (Acts 2:3,4) to empower and work through God’s people here on earth to accomplish God’s purposes here, right? Therefore the “One who now holds it back” is the powerful Holy Spirit of God here on earth, especially empowering, guiding and working through God’s people.
Thus, when God’s people are ‘raptured’ up to be with Jesus, while the Holy Spirit may still be here on earth, all God’s people, through whom the Holy Spirit accomplishes God’s purpose here gone from here, having been taken up to be with Jesus! With the Holy Spirit empowered church gone from everyplace in the world it should not be difficult to imagine how rapidly and dastardly the advance of lawlessness could spread violently across the world. Which is why Paul wrote: “…and THEN the lawless one will be revealed…”.
But Paul wants us to not fear because Jesus will be victorious as Paul concludes: “…the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming.” (2 Thess. 2:8) So Paul again calls all who read his 2nd letter to the Thessalonians to be aware and prepared for Jesus to come and rapture up His global church; which will unleash the global spread of evil under the guidance of the ‘lawless one’, the ‘antichrist’; but then in God’s timing victorious Jesus will return to earth triumphantly to defeat this ‘lawless one’ and establish His kingdom of righteousness on earth for 1000 years!
Oh my, so much to consider as we contemplate the global struggle of good and evil, holiness and wickedness, right and wrong, light and darkness, the church of Jesus and the powers of the dark kingdom. Do you see the importance, my friends, of God’s people firmly rooted in God’s truth and empowered by His Holy Spirit in these tumultuous times? The ‘lessons learned’ notes at the link below will be very helpful as you seek to understand this more deeply and a victorious worship song will encourage us with Jesus as the Victor, and tomorrow Paul has yet a few more powerful things to show us.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Thess. 2:3-8.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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