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Cornerstone Chapel - Audio Podcast
Mysteries in the Bible: Time of Lawlessness
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2 Thessalonians 2
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We're going to be looking at this next mystery. If you were here last week I mentioned that I was going to be speaking on this topic. For tonight, we're going to be looking at this part two, mystery in the Bible, the time of lawlessness. And this will include the topic of the Antichrist. And so last week was discussion of the Rapture. You can check that out on our website or on YouTube. That teaching. And tonight we're going to be on part two with the time of lawlessness as the Bible describes it. And so we'll be in chapter two. And I'm going to start in verse one. And it says here now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come. You can circle that word day unless the falling away comes first. Highlighter, Circle falling away. And the man of sin is revealed. You can highlight or underline man of sin or the man of lawlessness is revealed. The the Son of perdition. Some translations say the one doomed to destruction. Verse 4. Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time. Verse 7. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. I want to pause there. I want to pray. And then we'll continue in chapter two. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for bringing us all here safely. Thank you so much for just allowing us to sit at your feet in freedom and just glean from you and sit at your presence during worship. Lord, I thank you so much for what you are doing in the life of this church and at our school, at CCA and in our own homes and our jobs. Lord, a lot of us have had a hard week. We've had a rough week, Lord. We've had a worrisome week. We tend to just grow distant from you. So Lord, bring us back. Help us to just pause and reflect and turn our eyes back onto you. God, some of us have had a great week so far. And I pray, Lord, that we would continue to have a great week, but that we would not forget how good you are and to Continue to lean into you and press into you. God open our eyes and our ears for what you have to say for us tonight. How timely this is right now and everything that's going on in our world. Would you just allow us to be equipped and edified and that you would be glorified in all that we say and do. We love you and praise you in Jesus name. And everyone said amen. Well, this mystery in the Bible, Paul mentions it in verse seven. It's called a mystery of lawlessness. And if you were here last week, I don't have it on the screen, but you can check back on the last teaching. The word mystery, when that appears in the Bible roughly 27 times depending on your translation, it does not mean in the our English vocabulary when we say the word mystery. What the term mystery means is mysterio in the Greek. And it just means a hidden truth that was concealed and now it's revealed in the New Testament. So something that was hidden and the topic of the rapture was not a discussion in the Old Testament because it was hidden. It was always part of God's plan. But Paul was given the privilege of revealing it in the New Testament and he mentions that he and Apollos. Actually we don't know much about Apollos. We only know some of it from Acts and First Corinthians. There's, there's actually an interesting theory that he may have written the book of Hebrews, but Apollos and Paul are said to have been just mere servants, but given the privilege to reveal God's mysteries to everyone. And we see here in the Bible we looked at the mystery of the rapture. What is that going to look like? It's this one time event that is supposed to take place without any prophecy that has to happen beforehand. Okay. And so many people have different views on the rapture when it'll happen. A lot of people now, which is trending, believe that there won't be any rapture. I, I very gently disagree with you. It is clearly in the Bible. But the topic I can debate with you is when it'll happen. Okay, so that's, that's not a salvation issue, which is great. We don't need to get divided or tripped up on the rapture of the church. We just know that we will get raptured and we will be with him someday and that Jesus is coming back soon. And when all this is said and done and Jesus is ruling and reigning, we're going to just be so happy. All right, then we're going to be like, oh, thank, thank the Lord. He's here now and we're with him. But he reveals to us also in here, in Second Thessalonians, this mystery of lawlessness. And he mentioned here in verse 7. For the mystery of lawlessness, he says, is already at work. Okay. When Paul wrote this 50 some ad that is roughly 2000 years ago, and it was already at work and his time. The same is true for us. And I'm going to talk about what that means necessarily. What is lawlessness? And what does he mean that it's already at work? If you're taking notes, we're going to be taking a lot of notes tonight. So I have a pen or pencil or highlighter handy. This is like a classroom setting for tonight, and I love it. It's really good. And we need to just dive in and get into God's Word. And we're going to look at a lot of Greek words in second Thessalonians 2. 7. I put the NLT up there because I like how NLT translate as well. For this lawlessness is already at work secretly. It's already at work secretly. And it will remain secret until. Until that's, that's a, that's a big word. Until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. And we're going to look at what that means. But on the screen, lawlessness in the Greek is just a simple word named anomia, and it means contempt of law or wickedness. This lawlessness, contempt of law or wickedness. Now we're going to look, as we see into Second Thessalonians chapter two, with this mystery of lawlessness. And the person behind this lawlessness is not necessarily against general laws that we have in our society, in our world, but it's actually against the laws of God. When you look deeper in Scripture, that's exactly what Paul, even Daniel will mention it in the his prophetic book of Daniel, that it's against God's laws. And there might even be a clue as to knowing whether this man, the Antichrist, could be Jewish or Gentile. And I'll give you my opinion, because we don't know and frankly, I don't care. But it is interesting to see. Maybe God revealed it to us in the pages of His Word. But I want to look here at what lawlessness means, because you're going to read it a lot in Second Thessalonians, Chapter two. And there's a man behind it, the man of lawlessness, or the man of sin, or the one doomed to destruction The Son of Perdition. A lot of titles that we're going to be looking at and dissecting. What is Paul talking about? Well, I've kind of put it together in three different categories. Three different categories. But before I do that, I want to continue reading where I left off in verse seven, because then it's going to make more sense. I'm going to go all the way down to verse 12. So continuing chapter in verse 7 he says this mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he wants you to circle that word. He. If you're reading out new King James, it's the capital H. He who now restrains will do so until he, capital H is taken out of the way. Verse 8. And then you can highlight that because that's key. And then meaning afterward, the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. Okay, and I'll talk more about that. That's the final destination of this Antichrist figure. It's not like he's going to be destroyed at the, at the very get go, he has some time. But verse nine, the coming of the lawless one is according to the work of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion. You can even circle or highlight that word delusion that they should believe the lie and that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Okay, so before we look at the three categories that I've tried, so what, simply put, that we can understand what is. What is Paul talking about? And there's a timeline here. He's telling the Thessalonians. So in the context of this book, in Thessalonians, the Thessalonians believed that the day of the Lord or the Rapture or the second Coming had already come and that they missed it. And Paul had to write this book to let them know. No, you did not miss it. And he says, when I was here, I told you all this stuff, but I guess I need to tell you again because there were some false teachings creeping in the church in Thessalonica. And he writes it again saying, no, here are two main things. It's really three main things when you look at it, that have to happen first, before the day of the Lord, which is also known we call the Tribulation the seven years. So on the timeline that I put on the screen last week, I'm gonna look at it again with you all in this end times context. Okay? And Daniel chapter nine is, is very key. Go do your homework. Read Daniel chapter nine. I wish I could do a whole sermon on that, but we don't have that much time and I would love if the Rapture happened just now so that I wouldn't have to do the rest of the sermon. But I'm, I'm going to do it anyway. I'm kidding. No, I love this stuff. There's 69 weeks that Daniel decrees in Daniel 9, 24 through 27, okay? That started at the time when Artaxerxes in Nehemiah let the Jews go back to Israel and rebuild the temple. Starting right there, you had 69 weeks or 400 some years up until there's a cross on the screen when Jesus died on the cross. And scholars would agree that it's around 33 AD. And you, when you do the math, it's to the day when Daniel predicts this and it's really from the angel that gives it to Daniel, but it's from the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the triumphal entry. And then when Jesus is cut off, it's mentions that in Daniel and he's crucified. Once that happened and Jesus died for our sins, was dead for three days, rose again, stayed on Earth for another 40 days, and then went back to the Father, his ascension. Then the church age begins at Pentecost. That's Acts chapter two. We are now living in that orange in the church age. That's where we are right now. Okay, I don't know where we are on the dotted lines, but we're in there somewhere. Okay? And then the Rapture, we believe in a pre Trib rapture view. Again, there's the pre trib, the mid trib and the post trib, the mid trib. Believers. Believers believe that the Christian will be, the church will be raptured midway of the tribulation. Post trib believes that they'll be raptured afterward, only to come back down with Christ again. We lean and we've always leaned towards a pre trib rapture. And a lot of people say, well, where do you even get that? You can read it right out of Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3 describes it that the, that we believe a pre trib rapture that Jesus talks about. And when the church is raptured and taken up, then the seven year tribulation will begin after that. But I'd mentioned last week that we don't know exactly if there's a gap of time. There could be weeks, months, maybe even years before the Tribulation actually starts. I don't think it'll be that long, but there could be a gap of time. And then that is what's known as Daniel's 70th week. There's 69 weeks. There's a gap which is known as the church age or the time of the Gentiles. And that's the time where it's us as Gentiles who are non Jewish. God is being patient and waiting for us to get saved. That's the church age. Then after that gap time, the Rapture will take place. And then we have the 70th week that is described in Daniel as well. And it's split into. There's the first half and the second half. The second half is known as the Great Tribulation. The first half, and I said this last week and maybe I people misunderstood me when I said that the first half is going to be more of a time of peace. When. What I mean by that is when the Antichrist comes on the world scene, the Bible makes it clear that he will bring this false peace. He will try to unite all peoples together, and he will most likely reign in Israel. Okay, there, there are scholars that also believe that he may reign in the literal Babylon that's revived in Iraq. And I, I could see that as well. But in that time, yes, there's still gonna be cataclysmic events that happen with the seals and the trumpets that are open. But relatively speaking, that first half will be a time of this false peace. And I believe that's when the Antichrist will usher in the mark of the beast. I believe that's when the two witnesses are going to be on the world scene. It will be a cataclysmic time. But the last half is the worst of the seven years. Does that make sense? The last three and a half years will be the Great Tribulation, otherwise known as the time of Jacob's trouble. And that's been predicted for a long time in the Old Testament. And that last three and a half years will be the worst that the world's ever seen, because in the midway point, the Antichrist will break this covenant. Now a lot of scholars wonder, what will this covenant be? And I believe it's be some sort of peace treaty that he makes with Israel. He's going to unite Israel and the world together. And I believe that peace treaty could be a building of a temple, or it could be some other thing where maybe a temple is already rebuilt. A temple has to be built. And we're going to talk about that because it tells us that the Antichrist will sit inside the temple. And, and I, I've actually been researching more about where the temple could go. It technically could fit right now on the Temple Mount. And I don't believe the Dome of the Rock will be destroyed. I think it'll, they'll both be there because it'll be uniting all these religions. There's going to be one world religion that the Antichrist is going to have in mind. There's going to be one world currency. Everybody's going to be coming together with this false peace. But it's very interesting, I've been researching a little bit more that technically they do believe that some archeologists and I really loved researching this now recently, that they believe that the temple, the actual temple, may have actually been in the city of David, which is south of the Temple Mount. Now that's a whole different discussion. I'm not going to go there right now. But it's very interesting. They've dug up some stuff and I've been to Israel about five times and I never knew this, but they have discovered some things where the City of David is right south of the Temple Mount, where it is right now. And technically there's an interesting thought, a theory that in a way the Jews may want to go back to the Old Testament way that Moses did and set up a tent, a tent of meeting the tabernacle, the original tabernacle, and set it up there without having to have any brick or mortar. Just an interesting thought. It's very interesting. I don't know how the Lord, what the Lord's, you know, what he sees. We can't know the future, but it is interesting. How will this Antichrist unite everybody together? And again, that's where it comes tricky. It's like, are the Jews really going to accept a gentile Antichrist, a savior? Are the Muslims going to accept a Jewish Messiah? And then Muslims are looking for this Messiah figure too. So I, I don't know how it's going to look, but it'd be very interesting how everything ties together. But in that halfway point, some treaty that the Antichrist makes, he's breaking it. And the Jews eyes are open. Everyone, their eyes are open. And then they realize this guy is not who he says he is because everyone's praising this guy, like this guy who can make war with the beast. Who can, who is like him. And then literally all hell will break loose. And the last three and a half years will be the worst of it. And right after the last of the, of the three and a half years, that whole seven years, Christ comes back immediately and he destroys the Antichrist. He sets up his kingdom. It's going to be a glorious time. But in those seven years, it will be a very interesting, interesting time that the world's never seen. But before that, I believe the Rapture will happen. But I want to go ahead and talk about before this day of the Lord that Paul mentions here in second Thessalonians, as we continue to read. I want, I want to see these three things. We're going to dissect these three things. There's first a rebellion that Paul talks about. Then he's going to talk about this restrainer. Okay, we mentioned that in second Thessalonians 2. And then number three, the revealing. And that is the revealing of the Antichrist. So these things, these three things happen in order. Okay, so we're going to look at first, the rebellion. What is the rebellion all about? The Bible talks about in 2nd Thessalonians 2, 3, that before the day of the Lord begins, which is the tribulation, there will be this great apostasy or a great falling away. Now, the Greek word is apostasia, and it only appears this one time in the New Testament. It's apostasia, and it means rebellion or falling away. And what scholars agree on is that it's a total abandonment of the true God, the Bible and the Christian faith. And it talks about the opposite of revival happening before the day of the Lord. It talks about a great falling away. Now, I don't want this to scare us, but it's just something that Paul mentions, that this is going to happen. And again, I don't know how that'll look. I don't know if it's going to be by the hundreds, thousands. It's going to be a great rebellion. However that looks globally, it's going to begin. This is where scholars differ and this is where I kind of wonder, when will this actually happen? It's going to begin sometime before or right after the Rapture, but it has to happen before the Antichrist is then revealed. So it does happen before the Antichrist, but does it happen before the Rapture or after? It's, it's uncertain, but it will happen. The Bible makes it clear that there will be a great rebellion or a falling away of the faith. This apostasy. Now you can link it with First Timothy 4:1. Because Paul writes about in the last days people will abandon what they know, the faith and follow things like doctrines of demons. Okay, he uses a strong word there, doctrines of demons. You can link that with new age. You can link that with literal demons where we have satanic stuff that's creeping in the church or you know, across our schools or the global, you know, a global pandemic of this doctrine of demons. And that will happen in the last days. The last days is always a reference before the great tribulation, before that seven year period. So a rebellion has to happen. And again, I'm all for revival and I do think God is doing something and stirring up something. But some somewhere down the road a rebellion will happen. And that's why the Lord is always telling us to stay alert, stay sober minded, stand firm in your faith, don't follow the crowd and stay true to the Lord because this rebellion may be tempting and luring to where? Oh, you know, I don't believe in there's a God anymore. I don't believe that Christianity is real. I'm going to just do my own thing. And that, that may, that may happen sooner than we think. We don't know. But that's number one, what he talks about. Number two, he mentions this restrainer now in second Thessalonians 2, 6 through 7, number me, read it again. He says now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time that he is the Antichrist. So he's telling the Thessalonians, you know what's restraining him. But then he says in verse 7 he, he changes the, the neuter to the masculine in the Greek language. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. So what in the world is Paul talking about? The he that we most likely agree on and what we will teach here at Cornerstone Chapel and many other churches will teach us that the he is most likely the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Now could you, could you say it's the Church? Yes, because technically the Holy Spirit indwells inside believers of the church. But when the church is removed and taken up to be with the Lord, the restrainer, the Holy Spirit, I believe he's still going to stay here on earth because you cannot get saved without the Holy Spirit. And we know that people will get saved in the tribulation, there's going to be a remnant and a revival that believe in the Lord Jesus that didn't before. But this Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, he's the one holding back, in a sense, pure evil and lawlessness in the world. Now you say what? I feel like it's bad right now. We have not. We have not seen what pure evil may look like. And Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is literally playing defense, restraining what could come. And it's interesting to note that the man of lawlessness, this Antichrist or this secret of lawlessness, cannot come into full power until the Holy Spirit lets it happen, until the Holy Spirit takes a step back. Now, when you read in your Translations, it does not mean I believe. I don't believe he will be removed from the earth, but he's only going to step aside. He. In a way, he's playing defense like in football. And I always think of the commanders, but they lost the Cowboys last Sunday, and that was brutal. So I hope they win a Super bowl before Jesus comes back. But anyway, he's playing defense. He's holding them back. And then he says, okay, the Lord says, now's the time, and he'll step aside and pure evil and lawlessness will come like never before. So we think it's bad now. And it is bad. It's. It. It is only worse. And something in someone, the Holy Spirit, is holding pure evil back. And pure evil is just ready. Now, again, the Holy Spirit, he'll step aside and make the way for the lawless one to be revealed, meaning the Antichrist will then come and everybody will know that. That this man is some world leader, savior, what have you. Now, I believe it's linked with John 16:8. You can write that down. John 16:8, Jesus describes really what the Holy Spirit's function is, but he mentions him, that he's presently active in the world right now, calling the world to repentance. That's how the Holy Spirit works, and that's how really we get saved. He. He lures us or he woos us into a relationship with Jesus. And that's what Jesus says. When I go back to the Father, I'm going to give you the comforter, the. The encourager and the counselor, the Holy Spirit, who will be with you. And, you know, there's a whole different sermon you can do on the Holy Spirit, but those that are believers, the Holy Spirit indwells inside of you. But technically, before you're. Before you're a believer and before you get saved, the Holy Spirit is actually with you and he's trying to lure you into a relationship with Christ. And then it's us who accept that or we reject it. We. We get the Stiff arm, we say, I don't want that. So technically, the Holy Spirit is with us. He's just not in us until we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. But he's presently active in the world, and I believe he'll be presently active in the tribulation. But once he steps aside for a time and lets lawlessness come, then he'll start working in the lives of, of others and allowing them to maybe seek repentance and find Jesus. So I don't believe the Holy Spirit will be taken like the Church will. He will still be active. But right now he is restraining evil at its purest form. Again, we think we, we've seen crazy evil stuff, but we have not seen the worst of how, how bad it could get. And I don't want to see that. And I thank the Lord that the Holy Spirit is holding back and shielding us. And then once the time is up, the Holy Spirit takes a step aside and the Antichrist is at full front for everyone to see. Last but not least, this is what I want to talk on the most is now the revealing, the revealing of this man known as the Antichrist. Now it's interesting, the Antichrist, that term is only mentioned in First John, chapter 2. The term antichrist is actually not even mentioned in Revelation at all. He's actually referred to as the Beast. And that's actually his most famous title is the Beast. So it's interesting that we call him the Antichrist. But he's only mentioned that really one time in First John. But he's known as the Antichrist. Other names that he has starts in Daniel 7, 8. He's known as the little horn that, that comes subtly into power. And technically Daniel talks about that. He's not just on. He doesn't come on display and he doesn't like, make his way into power on his own. He's actually in a way voted in. He's amongst other leaders. And then it goes down to three, and then it goes down to one. That's how Daniel describes it. So it's very interesting the way he's going to rise up into power. He will not come on just on his own. That's why he's described as a little horn. It's very subtle. That's why I don't think we'll, we're gonna, we're not gonna expect, really. And people have been expecting, who's the Antichrist right now that we've, we've can play that game all we want. All right. But he's known as the Little horn in Daniel 7, the Willful King in Daniel 11:36. Daniel has a lot to say about the Antichrist and has a lot to say about the end times. It can get very confusing reading Daniel at times because you're trying to figure out where is Daniel at right now in the timeline. But Daniel is known as like the little Revelation. You don't, you, you don't have Revelation really without Daniel. Daniel has a lot to say about the end times and the Antichrist. He's known as the man of sin or the man of lawlessness again in Second Thessalonians 2, 3. And then famously known as the beast in Revelation chapter 11. And then Revelation chapter 13 is where he's really detailed on who the beast is. Now, again, it's not on the slide, but the Antichrist will actually be not just one person, but he'll have a partner in crime with him. It's known as the false prophet. So a lot of people forget that there's not just one man, there actually be two known as the, the, the beast of the sea and the beast of the earth. There's two of them, one for world dominance and the other one for this religious power and bringing everybody together. So there will be an Antichrist, but another man with him known as the false prophet. But this is who the Bible is describing. And in second Thessalonians, Paul mentions him as this man of lawlessness. He says, no one's going to deceive you by any means. Verse 3, that day will not come until the falling away comes first this rebellion, and then this man of sin is revealed, the son of predition. Okay, so what does all that mean? Well, if you're taking note, once again, in the Bible, there actually have been types of lowercase antichrists. And John tells us that in first John, that many antichrists have come, but there will be the Antichrist that comes. And I just put a small bullet point list of types of antichrists that appear in the Bible. Nimrod, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, Goliath actually, and Judas. And all of them have some similar traits of the Antichrist. They either defy the living God, they were all about world dominance. They were believing that they were God. They were totally anti God. And these are different types of small antichrists that have come throughout the Bible. And side note, it's very interesting. David is actually referred to as a type of Christ. And you've got David and Goliath's story when you dig deep into that story. You've got literally Jesus fighting the Antichrist in a sense. That symbolism right there. All right. They don't teach that in Sunday school. All right. By the way, if you, if you've never seen the house of David, I love it. I think you should watch it. If you have prime, check it out. Yeah, they take some liberty and some somewhat don't stick to the Bible. But for now I actually think it's really awesome, the house of David. But anyway, bullet point number two, the son of perdition. Take note of this, very interesting. Only appears twice in the New Testament. And the Son of Perdition, that title is only given to Judas and the Antichrist. And what's interesting to me is that Satan in our Bibles is told to only possess two different people. Judas and this Antichrist. Now Judas is a very interesting character and I've heard interesting stuff that. Will the Antichrist come in the spirit of Judas? I don't know, but it, it would not shock me because Jesus calls him in John 17:12, the son of perdition. Same title that Paul gives this Antichrist figure. The son of just means destruction or the one doomed to destruction. And I've gotten this question before, like, do you think Judas is in heaven now? I don't, I really don't believe that he's in heaven because the way the Bible describes it, he felt guilty for betraying Jesus, gave the money back to the Pharisees. But that was guilt. There is no repentance sign of that. Bible also says he was a thief. He stole from the, the money that they would make in their ministry. He was a conflicting man and Jesus knew that. And Jesus even said to his disciples, all of you are clean, but one of you is a devil. And he mentions how Judas was the one doomed to destruction. And Satan also entered Judas. You know, we believe in our Bibles that you cannot have Satan possess you or any demon possess you. If you have the Holy Spirit in you. If you're, if you're a believer in Christ, they don't share space. So the Judas and Antichrist parallels, very interesting to me this Greek word for lawless or wicked. Again, it's, it's connected to lawlessness, but it's animos. And it again means without the laws of God. Not just that he's against all laws, let's get rid of all laws of society. He's just against laws of God which can equate to the Torah, the first five books of the, of the Old Testament. And it's interesting in First Corinthians, 9. It mentions how the Gentiles are also like this, that they were once lawless or wicked because they were without the laws of God. So that's why some scholars think that that might be a reference to the Antichrist being a Gentile. I have gone back and forth if the Antichrist is Jewish or Gentile, and to be honest, I really don't know. I have leaned that he is going to be Jewish. And then other times I'll look and be like, wow. I think the argument could be made that he's going to be gentile because all these other names besides Judas really were Gentile. And then there's been theories that maybe the Antichrist is gentile, but the false prophet's Jewish. There's been speculation that the Antichrist is Jewish and the false prophet will be the Pope. All right. I don't know. People have thought, they thought Ronald Reagan was the Antichrist. Barney the dinosaur. I don't know. Like, whoever is the Antichrist, I don't think we will be here to see it. However, what's to say that he's not alive right now? He could be. He could be alive and just behind the curtain. He will be a political figure. The Bible mentions. He will be very charismatic. He. He'll. He'll have a lot of knowledge. He'll know what he's doing. He'll know what to say. A lot of people speculate. Is it Trump? No, I don't believe it is. President Trump could be wrong, but don't think so. I could be, but it could be where he is setting the stage, because interesting things are happening where he is all about peace, and maybe the stage is being set. There's speculation about even Jared Kushner. I mean, there's interesting stuff out there. So it, but it's definitely not a she. It says a he, so we got to take that off the list. No Hillary Clinton, no anybody else, or it's got to be a he. So now what? You can go down this rabbit. There's so many rabbit trails you can go down when it comes to this. The, the, the whole thing about Revelation as well. When you read Revelation 13 and the, the, the whole AI thing right now that's happening, how that could very well be linked with the mark of the beast. I mean, how. You read Revelation now, and it's like we're reading our world news right now. There's been speculation that if the Antichrist himself, you know, has a mark that is linked with him, could he himself be some type of half human Half AI? I don't know. I don't know. But I would not be surprised now with, with everything from robots to cloning to AI to the Neuralink to everything. Back in the 80s, it was the credit card. It's like we have everything right now. It's like it's setting the stage. Something's happening and we have to be alert and know truth. But again, so much speculation that you could have of who this man might be. What we do know though is, is right here from the pages of Scripture. So again, if you're taking note, this is just straight from second Thessalonians, chapter two. We do know that this Antichrist figure will exalt himself and defy everything concerning God and worship. He will defy everything. In a sense, I think he'll defy all religions and he'll have his own religion. I, I don't even, you know, when I was in Bible college, the, the lot of speculation was that Islam will be the world religion. I actually don't think that it would be. I actually think it's going to be a brand new religion that he's going to make up because he's going to defy everything that is considered religious or God or any worship. Some think like, is he going to be an atheist? I don't think he'll be an atheist because I think he's going to create this new world religion that everyone's going to unite under. And you're going to have to take the mark of the beast to be linked with that. The mark of the beast is a very interesting topic too. He's going to sit in the temple of God claiming he is God. So there will be a point at the halfway point of the tribulation where he will sit in a temple. There has to be some sort of literal structure that he's going to sit in and claim that he's God. And the world will see it. And part of the world will say, yes, this is it. Others will say, no, we've been d. We've been duped. And that's why Jesus says you need to flee when that happens. The abomination of desolation spoken up by the prophet Daniel. Read Matthew 24. That's the midway point of the tribulation, this abomination, whatever that is. And I believe it's going to be the Antichrist proclaiming that he is God and deceive many. But others eyes will be open and say, we got to get out of here, we have to run. And it's all going to be. Israel is the epicenter of the world right now. Israel and it's always been, it's going to forever be okay. He's used by Satan with counterfeit power signs, miracles and evil deception. So Satan is behind this and empowers him and possesses him with all these power signs, miracles and deception. What that looks like, I don't know. But he is going to have the capability because of Satan to deceive many where people will believe the lies and they'll see that he can do all these amazing things. That's why when you read Revelation chapter nine and chapter 13, people say, who is like this beast? Who's like him? Who can make war with him? There's no one like him. There'll be something about this guy where he will be the ultimate superman and that no one can touch. He'll be it. And he's also actually going to defeat the two witnesses. Read your Bibles. He kills them and the two witnesses have power. And God allows the Antichrist to overpower them to where the people are celebrating. They're gone. They're dead. And it says that they exchanged gifts. Very interesting. And how will the whole world see him? It's not that hard now with television and social media. Everyone's going to see that and they're going to celebrate that these two men have died. Only to their surprise. Three days later, they rise back up. Huge earthquake. It's epic, crazy story. So Satan in a way has some power. But then God will always overcome Satan. And in a sense, he is defeated and destroyed by the Lord Jesus. Hallelujah for that. Okay, Because Paul inserts that there. He's like, I want to comfort you really quick. He says, for the mystery of lawlessness, verse seven is already at work. He who now restrains will do so. And he is until he is taken out of the way. The Holy Spirit, then the lawless one, the Antichrist, will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth. Some translations say he will slay with the words of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. Hallelujah. Now that won't happen at the beginning. That's the destiny for the Antichrist. At the end it will happen. The Lord will will destroy him and defeat him and he'll be thrown to the lake of fire. So Revelation describes now I love how the new King James says, the whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth. Right. It doesn't mean he has bad breath. He's talking about he will breathe his words. The Living the living Word of God, who he is. The Word of God will destroy the Antichrist, which is amazing. All right? Some of you have bad breath and you can kill people all the time with that bad breath. Just get a Tic Tac, please. All right. But that's not what this is talking about. He's talking about the Word of God. And then last but not least, I want us to understand with all of this happening, I love how Paul concludes how we can stand fast and understand who we are in the Lord. Okay? And I don't believe that we'll be here for all this. We could see the setting of the stage for it. I even wouldn't be surprised if we're still here when, say, the temple plans are put out and they start building it, and then the Rapture happens. There's interesting stuff that has to still happen that we may see before the Rapture. But all of this to say, I love how Paul ends Second Thessalonians, and I'm going to put it on the screen. I love what the NLT says. And I just want you to. You can either take this note down or study when you go back home, but I've underlined the things that we need to also take to heart. And in second Thessalonians 2, 15, 17, he closes with this. With all these things in mind. Okay, this is heavy stuff. With all these things in mind. This is. This is really to equip and prepare us because there's a lost and dying world that needs to get saved. Say, hey, we know the end, and if you're on God's side, he'll take care of you. And he says, with all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip. Stand firm, keep a strong grip on the teaching that we passed on to you both in person and by letter, he's referring to this. This book, Second Thessalonians. Hold fast to that. You and I have got to stand firm in our faith and hold on a tight grip to the Word of God so that we know what truth is. And no matter what comes our way, no matter what comes our way, if we're. Again, if we're not here for the Antichrist, which I don't believe, we're going to probably still be here for maybe smaller Antichrist that are against and opposed to everything about God, we have to stand firm and still keep a strong grip on the entire Council of God's Word, from Genesis to Revelation. Don't just read the New Testament and say the Old Testament is done with. No, you got to read the whole counsel of God. You got to know everything that God gives for us. And then Paul says, now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, our Father, who loved us by his grace, gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you. These things should comfort us. These things should comfort us in the sense that he could come back at any moment and that's going to be awesome. For the non believer, it's not so great. But there's still time. The clock is ticking. But Peter says he is patient with you. Why does the Lord, Terry? Why does he delay? Because he's patient and he wants none to perish. But. But all to come to what repentance? Let's try that again. All to come to what repentance. He wants all to get saved. And that's our hope. But may this encourage, strengthen you. Stand firm, church. Hold a tight grip to the Bible. Don't let it go. It's God's word. Amen. Let's pray, Father. God, we thank you for tonight. Lord, we thank you so much for your word that you reveal to us the end. Lord. Even though some of it's cloudy, some of it's blurry, some of it still doesn't make sense. You still give us your word and you are in control. God, you told us some things. Some. Some of these things are coming that are scary. A rebellion, a man of sin. But Lord, you tell us in the pages of your word that you will overcome, you have, you will defeat him. And Lord, we just want to be right standing with you. God, if there's sin in our life that we haven't given up to you, God, I pray that we would give it up right now. We would leave this church not the same. We would leave here changed and transformed. God, you would do a work in our lives. I pray, Lord, that if there's anyone in this room that is not holding fast to the word of God, not standing firm on truth, that they would right now, Lord, they'd feel convicted. They would feel that encouragement. I'm going to be bold in my faith. I'm going to stand firm. I don't care what comes my way. I don't care what deception may come my way. If I know truth, then things that are counterfeit I can see. And Lord, I pray that men and women and young people in this room right now would just hold a tight grip to the word of God. Lord, it is so precious. It's like treasure that we can find. And when we seek you with all our heart. Jesus, you say that you will be found. And so, Lord, we're not looking for the Antichrist. We're looking for Jesus Christ. He's the author and finisher of our faith. But we want to be prepared and we want to let people know how to get saved. And that God is patient and waiting for everyone. If everyone would just fall at his feet and surrender God. We know that the road is narrow. We know that. And few find it. But when they do find it, Lord, it is beautiful. And God, we want to be encouraged. We want to strengthen each other. We want to be comforted by you and your Holy Spirit. We thank you that he is alive and active and working in our lives right now. These penetrating hearts. He's working in marriages, he's working in families. He's working in the most evil person out there to get them saved. God, you want all to come to repentance. Lord, we thank you for your word. And I pray, Lord, that this is edifying and encouraging to us, that we don't have to be divided over this. But we can look to you and say, God, come quickly. And until then, we want to be found faithful. We love you. Go before us now. It's in Jesus name we all pray. Amen.