The Restrainer of the Lawlessness

Transcript

GR 42
6/16/1974
The Restrainer of Lawlessness
2 Thessalonians 2:6-12
Gil Rugh

I’d like to begin reading with verse 6 this evening. 2 Thessalonians, second chapter, 6th verse. And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming, that is the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they may all be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in unrighteousness or in wickedness.

In 2 Thessalonians, the second chapter we've spent some time looking at the first five verses, and looking at some related material in the Old and New Testaments. Now a section dealing with the events following the rapture of the church and to give the Thessalonians comfort that they weren't in the tribulation that was something that was future. By the time the tribulation comes, the Thessalonian Christians will be gone. Two things that would precede the real outbreak of the tribulation—the departure of the church from the earth and verse 3 the apostasy and the revelation of the man of lawlessness, the man of sin. King James has it also identified here as the son of destruction, the son appointed, or the one appointed for destruction.

We looked last week at his character in opposing or exalting himself above so-called god or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God and connected this with the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, Daniel chapter 9, Daniel chapter 12. Christ referred to him in Matthew chapter 24, then we looked into Revelation chapter 13 as well. The setting up of the image of this man we identify as the anti-christ, the political ruler of the world during the close just before the time of the second advent of Christ to earth. So he starts out politically and he ends up not only being the political ruler, but a religious ruler declaring himself to be God in the temple. Then Paul's question, do you not remember that I was still with you, I was telling you these things.

All right, now going on in verses 6 to 12 which we read this evening, he talks about what is holding back, the outbreak of lawlessness, the manifestation of the man of lawlessness. Well verse 6, you know what restrains him now, so that he may be revealed in his time, so ah, the area that Paul evidently discussed as well or at least he thought the Thessalonians would have information on it, that you know what restrains him now, what is holding back the anti-christ and his revelation or unveiling now. That in his time he may be revealed according to the fact that it would be in the time that God has marked off that he will be unveiled. God is still in control, even when we talk about the unveiling of the man who is Satan's man and dominated and controlled by Satan. He still is limited to a certain time when he can be unveiled and it's a comfort to Christians to know that God is in control even of these events which are the strongest outburst of rebellion against God that will have ever taken place.

Verse 7. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Now remember, mystery in the bible refers to something that could not be understood apart from divine revelation. So the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. I take it, it refers to the fact of the lawlessness that had already begun in Paul's time as he writes. In John in the first epistle he noted that there were many anti-christ’s already present, so lawlessness wasn't something that was going to be future. It had already started. Now the unregenerate, the unsaved person, a person who has not come to trust Christ, does not understand what is going on with lawlessness in the world. We see this by the solutions they try to come up with. What is wrong with people? Why do we have the lawlessness that goes on? Well, twe have psychology and psychiatry, and crime commissions, and sociologists, and one thing and another, explaining what the problem is. But none of them comes up with the biblical explanation because it takes divine revelation to understand lawlessness. All lawlessness backs up to one basic lawlessness, because man is rebellious against God, lawless with regard to God. Then this rebellious nature, this lawlessness expresses itself in other areas as well, not just religious. But man misses it, why? It's a mystery. If you reject the revelation that God has given, then you can't understand lawlessness as it's present.

You and I need to be aware of that. The world puts on a great push and this is going to be the answer. You know sometimes you and I as Christians think that maybe they’ve got something there. Often in modern psychology and psychiatry, we view them as having the answer that different kinds of sickness are the cause of the problem. No, the bible knows nothing of that. If you've read any of Jay Adams works, that we’ve recommended from time to time, he’s made that clear.

All right, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. It had already begun in Paul's time. It continues in our day, and we think, boy it really gets bad at times, but it is still under restraint. Verse 7 Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Even though lawlessness is already present, and seemingly it is getting worse, it is still under restraint. And it will continue until the restrainer is removed. We'll talk about that in a moment.

Verse 8, though, until he is taken out of the way, the restrainer, then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming. So when the restraint is removed, then the lawless one will be unveiled. So that is really a third, or connects to the second reason, why they couldn’t be in the tribulation, and becomes the third. The rapture hasn't occurred if sin hasn’t been revealed, and the restrainer hasn't been removed. Of course, there is lawlessness, and as long as the restrainer is here, the lawless one can’t be revealed. Do you know why? Because lawlessness then will outbreak, have an outbreak to a degree that is never been seen before. It's going to get so bad that Jesus, in Matthew chapter 24, said that if He didn't intervene at the end of seven years and bring those days to a close, there wouldn't be a person left alive on the face of the earth. That's how fast people will be killing one another off with lawlessness, rebellion. When Christ intervenes, events will have been set for Armageddon, and the armies of the world will be gathered together for one great last clash. The armies of the orient, the armies of the western world, the remnant of the Russian armies, all gathered together in the region of Palestine for great battle to decide who’s going to rule the world. Jesus said if He didn’t intervene, nobody would because there wouldn't be anybody left to rule. But because of believers He intervenes, and brings the chaos to a close. Now the restrainer, verse 6, you know what restrains him now, so Paul assumes that the Thessalonians knows what the restraining influence was. He goes on in verse 6, he says what restrains him, and then in verse 7, he makes clear that the restrainer is not just an influence, it is a person. Only he who now restrains in verse 7, will do so until he is taken out of the way and it seems that this pretty well narrows down our alternatives to one person. Who could restrain Satan? But we know no created being is capable. Michael is the highest in the rank of angels that we know of in scripture. He's the only angel identified as an archangel, and yet in the book of Jude we have recorded that Michael the archangel when addressing Satan does so with respect out of deference for the position that Satan once held as the anointed cherub that covered the throne of God. So we know of no created being that would be of sufficient power to restrain Satan, so I take it that what we are talking about here God Himself, and God in the person of the Holy Spirit is the restrainer. The reason that the anti-christ cannot be revealed as yet and lawlessness cannot really begin to break out in force is because the Holy Spirit is still present. But there’s coming a time when God is going to remove the Holy Spirit, and then the restraint will be off.

Now you look around in parts of the world today, and you see people treating one another in ways that are almost subhuman. And you think, how can that go on? But keep in mind, that is going on while there’s a restraining influence. So when the restraint is lifted, we will see how lawless and rebellious man really is. Now, I think it fits the Holy Spirit as the person in view here as the Godhead, because it refers to His being taken out of the way. Now, the Holy Spirit will be taken out, but He won’t be gone. A couple of questions before they come up. How are people going to be saved in the tribulation is sometimes asked, if the Holy Spirit is gone? Well the Holy Spirit is not gone in one sense. The Holy Spirit is God and He’s omnipresent, and the Holy Spirit was present in the Old Testament and He will be present during the tribulation in the same way that He was in the Old Testament. He will be removed in that He will not be indwelling people as he does now. Paul writing to the Corinthians noted that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. It’s the Spirit of God that dwells within us. So at the rapture of the church, which we have talked about, believers will leave. At the same time, the Holy Spirit will leave as well. His dwelling place will be removed, and in the same way that he came in Acts, chapter 2 He will leave at the rapture. So you talk about the coming of the Spirit in Acts chapter 2, that doesn’t mean that He wasn’t here before. He wasn't here in His indwelling ministry before Acts chapter 2, and He will not be here in His indwelling ministry after the rapture of the church. The indwelling of the Spirit is a ministry particular to the church age, the period of time from Acts chapter 2 to the rapture of the church. So it fits perfectly as He came in Acts chapter 2 to establish the church.

Now you can look back to John chapter 16, a verse we mentioned last week in our study. John 16, and verse 16, I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper or Comforter, that He may be with you forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. We are in the closing moments of Christ’s earthly ministry, the night of the betrayal, in John chapter 14. And here, even this far along after the disciples have been with Him some three years, the Spirit of God still does not indwell them. He is with them, but He shall be in you, and this is fulfilled in Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 1 Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit.

At the rapture of the church the Spirit will leave with the believers, and His restraining influence will be withdrawn. So Satan will be given the largest degree of freedom in the earth that he has yet realized. God will not be holding him back and down as He is doing now. So Satan, being the epitome of rebellion against God, will then unveil his man who will lead the world in rebellion against God as the tool of the devil, the false Christ, and lawlessness will break out.

So in 2 Thessalonians 2 we talk about the one restraining, we’re talking about the Holy Spirit. Now governments, perhaps a restraining influence to a degree, the church does to a degree, but the Holy Spirit is the only one who ultimately is restraining the devil in his rebellious
activity. Verse 8, Then that lawless one will be revealed. So again, I take it that it makes clear a pre-tribulation rapture. Otherwise, you're left to try to determine what is restraining lawlessness, and Satan. Then the lawless one will be revealed and he's the one whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming. We won't go back since we have looked at the verses in Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 7, Daniel chapter 9, Revelation chapter 13, Revelation chapter 19, dealing with Jesus Christ's personal intervention in bringing to an end the activity of the anti-christ. We'll be doing this in Matthew chapter 24 in our men’s and ladies bible studies as well.

Okay, now verse 9, here describing the anti-christ and his ministry. The one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power, signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness, so you note who he parallels. His coming is in accord with the activity of Satan. This tells something of his character, and it also tells something of the dynamic of this man. It's going to be in accord with the activity of Satan. So he's not going to be lacking for a personal dynamic power. It will all be there. I take it, apart from Jesus Christ and from the world's standpoint, even beyond Christ, this will be the most desirable person the world has ever confronted. For the unbeliever, Christ was not desirable, but from the unbelievers' standpoint, this will be the most desirable person the world has ever seen. The most magnetic personality that has ever come on the scene in this world, the anti-christ. His activity is in accord with the activity of Satan, and it’s with all power, signs, and false wonders. And these words are used to describe miracles, used to describe the miracles of Christ and the apostles both. So there’s not necessarily any indication here we have false miracles. I believe we have the supernatural at work here. It’s just the supernatural activity of the devil’s powers, signs, and false wonders. So is the anti-christ not only going to come as a dynamic person, he is going to come with supernatural power, and this is going to account for the following after him of the world.

Now connected with that, verse 10, with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish. So connected with his miraculous activity is the deception of wickedness. We not only have this dynamic, magnetic, miracle-working person, we have the most deceptive person the world has ever known, and we’ve seen some pretty deceptive people. You wonder, wow, how could they pull this? Well, we haven't seen anything until the anti-christ is on the scene. We’re glad we're not going to be there to see it, but he is going to be totally deceptive. I take it this gives some insight on how things are going to be falling together. In his rise to power during the first three and one half years Israel isn't going to have the slightest inkling there's anything insincere about this man. And, other people as well are going to be taken in by him. He is total deception and it’s a deception of wickedness. Now we looked in Revelation chapter 13, so it may seem if you weren’t here we're skipping some of this. The miracles that are done under the authority of the anti-christ such as the calling down fire from heaven, the giving of life to the image that's constructed after the anti-christ’s appearance, the supernatural is obviously at work. It’s no mean thing to call down fire from heaven, that’s impressive. We can think of Elijah and that was something. You read the account of Elijah calling down fire from heaven consuming one batch of 50 soldiers, and the next batch of 50 soldiers. Pretty soon you find one of these men crawling up on his belly saying, don’t let it come down, I don’t like to be fried. And yet here's a man that’s going to do the same thing. That's supernatural. It's supernatural coming from Satan, because Satan has no problem handling the supernatural, and here he's going to have the freedom to give it to this man.

All right, note that as you are involved, and this is another comfort to believers, all deception of wickedness for those who are perishing, present tense denoting their character. They are those in the process of perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. There's a certain group of people involved here in being deceived by the anti-christ. They are those who did not receive the love of the truth, and thus they are not saved. They are in the process of perishing. And again you note that believers are excluded here. We don't have believers involved here being deceived by the ministry of the anti-christ, because believers have been removed. Now, some have taken from this that no one who has heard the gospel before the rapture of the church can be saved because they did not receive the love of the truth, so as to be saved. They have been deceived. Now I think there is support from this text, in this context, to indicate that there is going to be more difficulty for those who heard, not easier after the rapture because of the activity of this man, the removal of the Spirit and His restraining ministry, and so on. I take it this doesn't imply that it's impossible, but the general statement is true. The bulk of those will not be saved. Just like the bulk of humanity will not be saved whether they've heard or not during the tribulation period. But these that we're dealing with are unbelievers. You note the problem, and this ties, you note where the responsibility is. They did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. God takes no blame for the fact they're not saved. They could have been saved. They could have fallen in love with the truth of God, and come to believe in Jesus Christ, but they wouldn't receive the truth. They had closed out the truth, so who's fault is it that they aren't saved? It's not God's fault. He gave the truth, but they refused the truth, and so they're not saved, so they're involved in being deceived. And what happens, if for this period of time more than any other period of time in history, God gives man over to his sinful desires? Man has refused the truth and chosen a lie, so now God, and this is just a further carrying on of Romans chapter 1, God gives man over to himself and man doesn't want the truth. So, God now renders him incapable of receiving the truth, and refuses to deal with him so that he might know the truth. Thus man is given over to himself. Now it's not God's fault that man has said I don't want the truth, I'm not interested in the truth, so God says fine. Here is the error, here is the lie that you love, go on and be deceived by it, and man does. To those who are in the process of perishing because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved, and it makes it very clear here how salvation comes. You cannot have salvation apart from the truth of God, and the truth of God is the word of God. Jesus made that clear in John 17:17; Thy word is truth. He said that in prayer to his Father. Those who reject the word of God have rejected the truth and thus turned aside from any hope of salvation, and this is those who are involved here.

Start one statement before verse 11, For this reason, because they did not receive the love of the truth, God will send upon them a deluding influence, a strong delusion as the King James has it, so that they might believe what is false, or believe the lie. So we see here, it’s going to be difficult to be saved in the tribulation because these who have rejected the love of the truth or they wouldn't be in the tribulation and now God in along with everything else, sends a strong delusion or a deluding influence upon them, so that they'll believe the lie. I take it, the lie in the context, is related to anti-Christ, his person and ministry. Men are going to be more open, and more receptive to the lie that anti-Christ is God, than they normally would be. Now you say that's hardly fair, that God would do that, but you understand who we're dealing with. In verse 10—those who have refused the love of the truth. Now God is not obligated to continue offering the truth. They have already refused it, so God is taking them on the basis of their decision. If you don't want the truth, what are you left with. You're left with a lie. I mean, they are the only two alternatives; what is true or what is false. They have rejected the truth, so now God gives them what they've asked for and what they want. They don't want God, they don't want the truth. They want to be deceived, and so God gives them what they want, and sends a deluding influence. I take it men will be more receptive to the lie than they would even be today, and thus fall in after the anti-Christ so that they might believe what is false. And the purpose being, in verse 12, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness or unrighteousness. In order that they may all be judged, condemned, damned, as King James had it. In some of versions, who did not believe the truth. In other words, they’ve rejected the truth so God gives them the error that they want in order that He can judge them when it's done. They don't want what God offers. They want what they want. The conclusion of it is, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but took their pleasure in wickedness because that’s the only two.

You notice how cut and dried the scripture is. Those who don't want the truth, who refuse to believe the truth, are taking pleasure in wickedness. There’s no middle ground of people who don't think they want the truth, but of course they wouldn't be wicked. To reject the truth marks you off as being wicked. What is more wicked than rejecting the truth of God? You are in effect rejecting Him, because His word is truth, and Jesus has identified Himself as the Truth, the truth of God, God Himself and His character are inseparable. So these who have rejected God's truth are given over to themselves, and the end of that would be their destruction.

They choose to follow the anti-Christ. They choose to follow this one who is the great deceiver. They want to be deceived. They want to go on in their make-believe world, and so they do and they will end up with the same destiny as the one they follow. The Book of Revelation makes clear that the anti-Christ and the false prophet conclude their ministry by being sentenced to hell. You might turn over there, the book of Revelation. This tells you about the conclusion of the ministry of the anti-Christ. Chapter 19 is where we’re going.

While you’re getting chapter 19, remember 2 Thessalonians 2:8 and then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming. In Revelation chapter 19, Christ is seen with the armies of heaven, following Christ as He appears from heaven. Verse 15—from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron, treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. Then the invitation to the fowl’s of heaven to come to the great feast to the bodies of those who will be slain. Verse 19, And I saw the beast, the man of lawlessness that we were talking about in 2 Thessalonians, and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. The destiny of the anti-christ is hell. Now you'll note here, the anti-christ and the false prophet are cast into hell alive. No one else is at this point. There is another thousand years before those others who are slain at this point are resurrected and cast into hell for eternity. But these are destroyed by the word of His mouth, the sword that goes forth out of His mouth at His second coming.

Over in Revelations, chapter 20, at the end of the millenium, a thousand years later, we have Satan cast into the lake of fire. At the end of a thousand years, Satan attempts a rebellion against Christ as King. They come up and surround Jerusalem, in verse 9, to attempt to put Christ off the throne, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are also. You notice, they're still there after a thousand years. They haven't been consumed into ashes and nothingness. They are still there to be tormented day and night forever and ever. Same type of expression that's used of the eternal life of the believer, the eternal suffering of the unbeliever. Then in verse 11, the great white throne, and all unbelievers, from Adam down to the end of time, are at this judgement, the great white throne. And you'll note the end here, verse 14. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. Hades has been the temporary dwelling place of all the wicked. Now, everyone in Hades, the contents of Hades, is thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. So we see the destiny of the anti-christ. The destiny of the devil, the destiny of every man and woman who is a follower of the devil, the anti-christ, is the same. Suffering and torment, day and night, forever and ever and ever, away from the presence of God.

It’s just and it's in harmony with the character of God. There’s nothing that can be said to dispute the fairness of it. It’s all done in order that God be demonstrated as just, just in condemning them. How can a just, and loving, and holy God send people to hell? Simply because He is a just and holy and loving God, and those who reject the truth and refuse salvation that’s found in Christ, have chosen their destiny and the place that they will ultimately be. You say, a rather startling concept. We think of it in the prophetic realm here with the coming anti-Christ, but you think of a thousand years from now. I don’t know if you think in those figures, but a thousand years from now, every person alive, or who have ever lived, is going to be in one of two places. Either in the presence of God or away from the presence of God. Those people that we know, that we have talked with, that we work with, visit with, they’re going to be in one of two place. They’ll be there in a million years and a hundred million years and in a billion years. Either suffering torment day and night forever and ever, or enjoying the presence of God forever and ever. All based upon one little seemingly simple decision. Did they receive the love of the truth to be saved or not?

Now that’s fantastic when you think it all hinges on that. Not the accumulated efforts of my life, not the accumulated pile of good things I’ve done, but it all hinges, something that significant, on either do I receive the truth of God and place my faith in Jesus Christ or I don't. On that simple decision hinges where you will spend eternity and where I will spend eternity. It's going to be one of those who places, and you choose the company that you're going to be in by how you respond to the truth of God.

You and I as believers, this is an encouragement. It was given as an encouragement to the Thessalonians. They ought to understand, that as bad as things get, as suffering persecution breaks out, the Holy Spirit's still here. He performs the ministries we've looked at in Romans chapter 8 on my behalf, and when He leaves I'm leaving, too. I wouldn't want to hang around after he's gone. This will be no place to be because it's solely His ministry to holding back lawlessness and the rebellion that will break out at the end of the tribulation.

We'll just take a couple of minutes if you have comments or questions. We close out this section and Paul moves into some other areas of application of what he has said here.

Verse 13 follows this. We'll be doing this a couple of weeks from now. But we should always give thanks to God for you brethren, beloved by the Lord because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation. So following this up about those who are going to hell because they have rejected the love of the truth, he says, we rejoice because you've been chosen. The harmony is men are not saved because they choose not to believe. Men are saved because God has chosen them to believe. God is not responsible for man's rebellion against Him, but He does get the credit for the fact any do ever respond. And in His justice, He’s provided a salvation that allows Him to be just and at the same time provide the salvation, so it harmonizes out there. People aren’t saved because they don't want to be God says, but they are saved because I’ve chosen them to believe in Me.

Another question from congregation: One of the mysteries that we will find out eventually I suppose. —we’ll understand it better in heaven than we do now, but I guess we’ll probably never will be able to put it all together. You know, I can’t understand why He chose you, but that's the amazing thing about it that, you know, we were chosen. You know we often get bent out of shape and say oh, how can God not choose so and so. The amazing thing, is how could God choose us. You know, not under obligation, and so it becomes an evidence of His great love and mercy and grace. Rather than calling into question His justice and love and mercy and grace, it just further magnifies it.

Another question: Well that's true, they make their decision in ignorance, to a certain extent. There are people who have never heard of Jesus Christ, who live and die and never see a Bible. But Romans chapter 1 says that they’re responsible because the amount of light has given through the creation. They respond negatively to that and that's sufficient to show that God is just in condemning them. He’s not required to give further light to those who reject what they already have. That’s almost an act of mercy because if you're going to hell it’s better to go to hell having never heard the clear proclamation of the truth than to go to hell having heard it because that makes you more responsible, although that's a nonsense statement. How can you talk about better going to hell?

Another question: No, all unbelievers aren't. These are those who are born in the millennium; to those who go into the millennium in physical bodies. Now any overt act of sin will be judged by Christ, but there will be those who will be submitting because He's ruling with a rod of iron, but are chastening under His rules and when the first opportunity is given, where it seems they've got a change to rebel, then they take it. And that's this group. I think of these, these and I can't read this passage, without constantly thinking how close they come. They come right up to the brink of the end of a time as we deal with it, the end of the thousand years, and they rebel against Christ at the very end. You know, they don't know close they are, and yet their decision is made and it shows their sinful character. A number like the sand of the sea, can you fathom that? After Christ rules perfectly for a thousand years, no poverty, no suffering, things like that. At the end of a thousand years there's a number like the sand of the sea, you can't even number them. There are so many who decide they'd rather have the devil as king than Christ. Just an evidence of how sinful man really is.

Another question: I don't think so. Some take from Revelation chapter 12 that since he's the beast out of the sea, the sea in scripture is often used of the Gentile nations, so he would be a gentile and the false prophet is the beast out of the land. The land would be a reference of Palestine, so he'd be a Jew, but I think that the possibility, although I don't think that it's strong enough evidence that I want to say that I thought that’s the way it was. I think most probably the anti-Christ himself will be a gentile because he does come from the western world powers. The false prophet could be a Jew, I really don’t know. There'd be no problem with that. I don’t know that there’s much beyond that. That’s the only evidence that I’ve ever heard for the Jew.

Another question: The false prophet and the anti-Christ, what is the distinction between the two? The false prophet, how does he come in here? There are just two men. He comes in as a man who serves the anti-Christ. His function is to direct worship to the anti-Christ so he sort of, I don’t know how we’d say it, they often parallel it with the Holy Spirit and Christ, Moses and Aaron. His purpose, though, is to focus people’s attention on the anti-Christ and to demonstrate that the anti-Christ is god. He has given him power to do miracles. So that would be their relationship there.

Another question: No, ah, during the first 3 1/2 years he’s going to function favorably with Israel, but ah, in light of his political position in the western world and during the last 3 1/2 years he just declares himself God, not connected really with the Jewish situation because he turns against the Jews immediately, ah, so while he is a false christ in one way, he never does function as I’m the fulfillment of old testament prophecy as such, ah, it's just he claims on his own powers to be demonstrating he’s God.

Another question: No, I take it he's a natural person, ah, human being, that he's just given over to Satan very fully, ah, and has been empowered by Satan and so on, but he'd be a person, ah, a person probably who, well, not probably, who has rejected the truth himself and, chosen this course.

Okay, let us close in prayer this evening.
Father, we do thank you for your love for us, for the fact that we have been chosen for salvation and not condemnation, for even as we look at the events that lie before, we thank you for the security that again we have in Christ, Lord for the Spirit who indwells us, Lord for the provision you have made for us as your children, that we be removed from this earth before wrath breaks out before man’s lawlessness is to such an extreme. Lord we thank you for the ministry of the Spirit in our lives daily as believers. We pray that you’ll continue to use us as messengers of the life that's found in Christ. We pray that we might be bold in presenting your truth to the men and women we come in contact with, in order that they might be brought to the knowledge of the truth through the ministry of the Spirit in order that they might come to know Christ personally, Father, that they might share in the blessed hope that is true of every believer. Thank you for the privilege we’ve had for being in the word again this evening.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.