SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
10/13/2014 11:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Do Not Be
Forgetful
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Thess.
2:3b-5
Message of the
verses: “for it will not come unless
the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of
destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or
object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying
himself as being God. 5 Do
you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these
things?”
I have a different attitude about the study of the
endtimes than when I first became a believer, for when I first became a
believer it was more sensationalism than just being a practical part of the
Christian faith. I was all wrapped up in
looking at the world situation and trying to have it come into line with the
teaching of endtimes prophecy, but Paul was teaching the Thessalonians in a
more practical way, and I believe that is the proper way of doing it. The second coming of Christ is the hope of
all believers as Paul writes it to Titus “Tit. 2:13 looking for the blessed
hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ
Jesus.” When a person becomes a believer
they have to understand how things will end, that is at the end of the age and
that is what the endtimes teaching brings to them. God has had a plan since before He created
the earth and all who dwell on it and that plan was to bring those He chose
from eternity past to salvation through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that happened when Christ came the first time to planet earth. He also had a plan to end sin, and to judge
those who are not believers, and that will happen at the end of the millennial
kingdom.
As I am preparing for our home Bible study on the end
times I came across a section from John MacArthur’s commentary on 1
Thessalonians chapter five that I may not have included when we were looking at
that section a few months back. I will
copy it here to show the different things that will happen in the end
times. ““The phrase the times (chromos)
and the epochs (kairos) refers in a general sense to the end times (cf. Dan.
2:21; Acts 1:7). Though the two words
may be used here in an overlapping sense, there is a subtle difference in
meaning between them. Chronos refers to
chronological time, to clock time or calendar time. Kairos, on the other hand, views time in
terms of events, eras, or seasons, such as the times of the Gentiles (Luke
21:24). Taken together, the two terms
suggest that the Thessalonians were curious about the timing of the end-times
events.” MacArthur then goes on to
identify different end-time events, and although I will list them here we
probably will not have time to go over them all, but will at least look briefly
at them. “The Rapture, the rise of Antichrist, the salvation of
Israel, the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments, the Second Coming, the battle of
Armageddon, the sheep and goat judgment, the binding of Satan, the millennial
kingdom, the loosing of Satan and subsequent worldwide rebellion at the end of
the Millennium, the Great White throne judgment, and the new heavens and the
new earth.” These are some of the
things that are still to happen and are part of the endtimes that Paul taught
to the Thessalonians when he was with them, things that they had forgotten, and
the reason why he had to remind them in this second letter that he wrote to
them.
In his second letter Paul chose to write to them about
the “apostasy” in order to show them that they were not in the Day of the
Lord. MacArthur writes the following on
this word “apostasy” “The basis meaning of apostasies
(apostasy) is ‘revolt,’ or ‘rebellion.’
In its only other New Testament appearance it refers to forsaking the
Law of Moses (Acts 21:21).” “and they
have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the
Gentiles to forsake
Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to
the customs.” “The Septuagint, the Greek
translation of the Old Testament, uses it three times to empress rebellion
against God (Josh 22:22; 2 Chron. 29:19; Jer. 2:19). Thus, the word marks a deliberate defection
from a formerly held religious position.”
“Paul was not referring here to apostasy (defection from
the gospel truth) in the general sense.
There have always been apostate churches, like that of Laodicea (Rev.
3:14-22), as well as apostate individuals.
Such generalized apostasy, because it is always present, cannot signify
a particular time period. Therefore, it
cannot be the specific event Paul has in mind.
“Apostasy will reach its peak in the end times:
‘1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult
times will come. 2 For men will be
lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to
parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving,
irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of
good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5
holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;
Avoid such men as these…13 But evil men
and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2
Tim. 3:1-5, 13 cf. 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Peter 3:3-4; Jude 17-18).” Now I find it revealing that 2 Timothy was
the last letter recorded by Paul before he was martyred, and also 2 Peter was
the last letter that Peter wrote before he was martyred. Now we have to find out what specific event
that Paul was referring to when he uses the word “apostasy.” Paul uses the definite article and thus
reveals that he did not have in mind the general meaning for apostasy, but a
specific meaning for it.
The apostasy that Paul is speaking of has to do with an individual
that he describes as “the man of lawlessness.” The word lawlessness literally means “without
law,” “Everyone who practices sin also
practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4).” Now we know that if we look back through
history that there have been many men who have been lawless, that is they have
lived in such a way that they made their own laws. We have spoken about some OT rulers along
with NT rules, along with modern rulers who fit this description, men like
Nero, Stalin, and Hitler, but Paul is speaking of a person who is worse, in
fact much worse that these men. These
men we spoke of did not rule the whole world, but the one Paul writes of will
in fact rule the whole world for three and a half years. People will think that the person is the
answer to all of the world’s problems, and as we look at the world today there
are many problems to be solved. Some
will think he is the Messiah, but after the first three and a half years he
will change, he will be possessed by Satan and then the whole world will know
his true colors.
Now Paul further calls this man the “son of
destruction.” MacArthur writes “The
expression son of is a Hebraism indicating a close association, or of the same
kind, just as a son shares his father’s nature.
The Antichrist will be so c completely devoted to the destruction of all
that relates to God’s purpose and plan that he can be said to be ‘destruction’
personified. He, however, belongs to destruction
(apoleia; ‘ruin,’ not ‘annihilation’)
as one to be destroyed. He is fixed for
punishment and judgment; he is human trash for the garbage dump of hell.”
In my morning Bible reading I looked at John 12-13, and
these chapter speak of the Lord’s washing of the disciple’s feet, and then
partaking of the Lord’s Supper. In
John’s gospel we read about another person who is spoken of as a son of
destruction and that of course is Judas.
We read that Satan entered into Judas and then we read he went out and
it was night. Judas went out to plan the
betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus had said of him that it would have
been better if he had not been born.
MacArthur writes “the NASB translates the same Greek phrase ‘son of
perdition’) The title is thus reserved for the two vilest people in human
history, controlled by Satan (John 13:2; Rev. 13:2) and guilty of the two most
heinous acts of apostasy.
We have not answered the question of what apostasy is
Paul referring to here yet, but will do so now.
What Paul is writing about is what Daniel wrote about in Daniel chapter
nine, and the same thing that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:15 and that is the
“abomination of desolation.” The
Antichrist will exalt himself by taking “his seat in the temple of God,
displaying himself as being God.”
MacArthur finishes his commentary on this section by
writing “We need not fear the judgment of that Day. Believers are ‘not in darkness, that the day
would overtake [them] like a thief’ (1 Thess. 5:4). We are waiting for Jesus to return from
heaven (1 Thess. 1:10) and gather us to Himself (2 Thess. 2:1; cf. John
14:1-3). We look for the true Christ,
not the Antichrist. Only those who are
deceived and forgetful risk losing the confident hope and expectant joy of
Christ’s return before the Day of the Lord.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am thankful
that I have the right prospective on the study of the end times, and because of
this I think that it will make me a better teacher in our Bible study.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs 3:5-6.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:8-11.
8
But no you also, put them all aside:
anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have
laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new
self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One
who created him- 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek
and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freemen,
but Christ is all and in all.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Potiphar” (Genesis 39:1).
Today’s Bible
question: “When the kingdom of Israel
was divided, what were the two parts?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/13/2014 1:32 PM
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