RAP4.TXT

THE MAN OF SIN AND THE RAPTURE

As we  look at  II Thessalonians  2, we  discover more information 
that  points to the Rapture  at the end of  time.  In this passage 
God is teaching us that two events must happen before  He is ready 
to come  for His believers.   The first is  the rebellion, and the 
second  is  that  the  man  of  sin  must be revealed.  He will be 
revealed  at the  coming of  the Lord  Jesus Christ, at which time 
Christ will  slay him with the breath of  His mouth.  That is, the 
wicked will be  cast into Hell.   Let us read  these verses of  II 
Thessalonians 2:1-9:

    Now we beseech  you, brethren, by the coming  of the Lord 
    Jesus  Christ, and  by our  gathering together  unto him, 
    that  ye  be  not  soon  shaken  in mind, or be troubled, 
    neither  by spirit nor by word  nor by letter as from us, 
    as that the day of Christ is at hand.  Let no man deceive 
    you  by any  means, for  that day  sahll not  come except 
    there come a falling  away first, and that man  of sin be 
    revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth 
    himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is 
    worshipped, so that  he as God  sitteth in the  temple of 
    God, showing  himself that  he is  God.  Remember  ye not 
    that,  when I was with you, I told you these things?  And 
    now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in 
    his time:  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, 
    only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of 
    the way.  And  then shall that  Wicked be revealed,  whom 
    the Lord shall consume  with the spirit of his  mouth and 
    shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him 
    whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power 
    and signs and lying wonders.

Who  is the "man of sin"?  If we  see that he is Satan himself, as 
he works  through his  emissaries called  false prophets  or false 
Christs, we will find total Biblical validation.  We find in these 
verses that he  is worshipped as  God.  Revelation 13:4  speaks of 
the dragon, who is Satan, being worshipped.

    And they worshipped the dragon which  gave power unto the 
    beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying "Who is like 
    unto the beast?  Who is able to make war with him?"

Thus the language of  II Thessalonians 2, which speaks  of the man 
of sin  being worshipped, points us  to Satan as being  the man of 
sin.  But how can Satan be called a man?  Isn't he indeed a fallen 
angel?   We  shall  see  that  he  is  called a man because he was 
typified by the king of Babylon who, of course, was a man.

In Isaiah 14 we read of the fall of Lucifer.  From  the context we 
know  that  this  Lucifer  is  Satan  himself.   But  as Isaiah 14 
discusses the fall of Lucifer, God speaks of Lucifer as a man.  We 
read in Isaiah 14:16:

    They  that  see  thee  shall  narrowly look upon thee and 
    consider thee saying, Is this the man that made the earth 
    to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?

He  undoubtedly is called  a man because  he was prefigured by the 
king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:4).  As Revelation 18  teaches, Babylon 
is often  used in the Bible  as a figure of  the kingdom of Satan.  
Thus we  immediately see the parallelism that  exists.  On the one 
hand we have Babylon, which is ruled over  by the king of Babylon.  
On the other we have Satan's dominion, ruled over by Satan.

This man of  sin, whom we see  to be Satan, takes  his seat in the 
temple.  What does taking one's seat refer to?  Jesus is seated at 
the  right hand  of God  ruling over  everything (Ephesians 1:20).  
Thus, to  take a seat is Biblical language meaning to rule or have 
authority.  The man  of sin, Satan, takes his seat or rules in the 
temple. 

But to what  does the "temple"  refer?  Is there  to be a  literal 
reconstruction of the temple?  Nowhere is the  Bible do we read of 
a future  reconstruction of  the temple.   The fact  is, since the 
veil of the  temple was rent at the time  Jesus hung on the cross, 
the temple in Jerusalem ceased to have any significance as  a holy 
place.  Rather, the Bible speaks of the body of believers as being 
the temple.  We read in Ephesians 2:19-21:

    Now therefore  ye are  no more  stangers and  foreigners, 
    but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household 
    of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles 
    and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief 
    cornerstone,  in  whom all  the  building   fitly  framed 
    together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.

In I Peter 2:5 we read:

    Ye  also,  as  lively  stones,  are  built up a spiritual 
    house,  an  holy   priesthood,  to  offer   up  spiritual 
    sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

And  in  I  Corinthians  3:16  God  emphasizes  that  the  body of 
believers is the temple, as He declares:

    Know ye not that ye are  the temple of God, and that  the 
    Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Therefore  we see very clearly that  the temple is the church, the 
corporate body  of believers.  It is here  that Satan will operate 
as the man of sin.   Thus we know that before Christ  comes again, 
the man of  sin (Satan) must  take his seat  (rule) in the  temple 
(the church or body of  believers) where he will be  worshipped as 
God.  Since  he is a spirit,  he cannot be seen  to literally rule 
amongst  the  body  of believers.   He can  rule, however, through 
false  prophets and pseudo Christs who are bringing another gospel 
than the true Gospel.   The Bible speaks of this  kind of activity 
in II Corinthians 11:13,14:

    For   such   are   false   apostles,  deceitful  workers, 
    transforming themselves into apostles of  Christ.  And no 
    marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of 
    light. 

Similarly we read in Matthew 24:24:

    For  there shall  arise false  Christs and false prophets 
    and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if 
    it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

These  verses emphasize the  utter deceitfulness of  Satan in this 
effort.  The gospel he brings will be so much like the true Gospel 
that even the elect would be deceived if that were possible.

Note in  the Matthew 24  verse that these false prophets will come 
with signs and wonders.  Satan will not only come with a gospel so  
closely patterned after the true Gospel that even the  elect would 
be deceived  if that were possible, but he also will give life and 
vitality  to it  through signs  and wonders.   Even as  Jesus came 
2,000 years ago with  signs and wonders as He brought  us the true  
Gospel,   so  Satan   will  attest   to  the  seemingly  God-like, 
Jesus-related character  of his  gospel by  coming with  signs and 
wonders. 

The  passage we  are presently  studying, II  Thessalonians 2:1-9, 
also  speaks  of  signs  and  wonders.   The  false  prophets  who 
represent  him will  come with  signs and  wonders even as verse 9 
teaches: 

    Even him  whose coming is after the working of Satan with 
    all power and signs and lying wonders.

We must realize, of course, that these false prophets have been so 
deceived  that  they  are  convinced  they are servants of Christ.  
Satan  is  the  great  deceiver,  the  father of lies (John 8:44).  
Moeover, II Thessalonians 2:10,11  teaches that God himself blinds 
these who come because they refuse to believe the truth.

Thus  we  see  that  God  is  declaring in II Thessalonians 2 that 
before Christ comes there must be evidenced the activity of Satan, 
as those who come with signs and wonders,  and who in fact are his 
servants, will rule or  have authority among the body of believers 
where  the  true  Gospel  ought  to  be  proclaimed.   These false 
prophets will be convinced that they  are true prophets of Christ.  
But  because they  are coming  with a  gospel other  than the true 
Gospel, they will in actuality be causing people to worship Satan.  
This is the chief  nature of the rebellion which  must come before 
Christ  returns.   The  church,  consisting  of  congregations and 
denominations all over the world, will be infiltrated and  finally 
overrun by  those who  bring other  gospels.  The  chief method of 
immediately recognizing this threat is especially  in relationship 
to the focus on signs and wonders.

We probably  should insert here  a paragraph on  the definition of 
the true Gospel.  In Revelation 22:18 God declares:

    For I  testify unto every  man that heareth  the words of 
    the prophecy  of this  book, If  any man  shall add  unto 
    these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are 
    written in this book; and if any man shall take away from 
    the words of  the book of  this prophecy, God  shall take  
    away  his part out  of the book  of life, and  out of the 
    holy city, and from the things which are written in  this 
    book. 

Before these verses were penned, God was declaring His Word by the 
Scriptures which were available  to that time in history.   But in 
addition  He  brought  His  divine  Word by special visitations of 
angels,  by dreams, by visions, by voices, and by unknown heavenly 
languages called  tongues.  Thus  Peter and  Paul or  some of  the 
members of the  church in Corinth could  receive direct revelation 
from God.   But then God came to the  last chapter of His revealed 
Word.  When God wrote Revelation  22 utilizing the Apostle John as 
His scribe, He indicated His Word had been completed.  Never again 
could there be a vision or a voice or a tongue from God.  Thus the 
true Gospel is  circumscribed by the  Bible.  It alone  and in its 
entirety  is the articulated, verbalized  Word of God.  Therefore, 
anyone who  comes with a gospel based upon the Bible, but to which 
he has added  the possibility of  divine truth from  other sources 
such as visions, voices, tongues, dreams, or infallible utterances 
of  church  leaders,  is  bringing  what  is by definition another 
gospel.   The  moment  we  consider  anything  at  all  to  be  as 
authoritative  as  the  Bible  itself,  we  then   have  a  gospel 
consisting  of the Bible plus our  other source of supposed divine 
truth. The Bible will then be interpreted  not only by itself, but 
by  these  other  supposed  sources  of  divine truth.  Obviously, 
doctrines will  then be forthcoming  which will be  different from 
those that come when the Bible alone is considered to be the  Word 
of  God.   In  view  of  the  teaching  of Revelation 22:18, these 
supposed extra-Biblical sources  of divine truth (visions, voices, 
etc.)  cannot  be  of  God.   Even  though  they  may  be from the 
recipient's own mind, nevertheless they are ultimately from Satan.
Those who  listen to these  other sources are  unwittingly serving 
Satan rather than God.

Returning to II Thessalonians 2, we read in verse 7:


    For the  mystery of iniquity  doth already word;  only he 
    who  now letteth  will let  until he  be taken out of the 
    way. 

The  word  "letteth"  is  an old  English word for restrain.  This 
passage  is thus teaching  that the one  who restrains sin will be 
taken out of the way.

There are those who  teach that the one who restrains  is the Holy 
Spirit.   And  since  He  indwells  the  believer,  they therefore 
suggest  that  this  verse  must  be  teaching  the rapture of the 
church. 

They  are  correct,  of  course,  in  teaching  that  the  one who 
restrains sin is God Himself.   We need only recall the event that 
occurred in  Abraham's life.  He  had left Canaan  to dwell in the 
land of Gerar, to escape a  famine.  While there, for fear of  his 
life he told the king of Gerar  that Sarah, his wife, was actually 
his sister.  Consequently, the king  of Gerar took Sarah into  his 
palace.  There he was warned of God not to touch Sarah because she 
was Abraham's  wife.  The king of Gerar responded by indicating he 
had not touched her.  Then God declared in Genesis 20:6:

    Yea, I know  that thou didst this in the integrity of thy 
    heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning  against me; 
    therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

We know  not only from  this incident that  God restrains sin, but 
also because of what the  Bible declares concerning the nature  of 
mankind.   It states that  the heart of  man is desperately wicked 
(Jeremiah 17:9).  It indicates that out of the heart of  man comes 
murder,  adultery,  etc.    (Matthew  5:19).    Only  because  man 
experiences this restraint is  he able to live a  reasonable life, 
manifesting  some  virtues   such  as  love  between  parents  and 
children, kindness and loyalty  between friends, and compassion on 
the underprivileged.

We  must note,  however, that  this restraint  does not take place 
because of the presence of  believers.  While God the Holy  Spirit 
does  indeed indwell believers, the Holy  Spirit is not limited to 
them.  He does His work of restraining sin in the world completely 
apart from the believers.

Thus  when  God  speaks  in  II  Thessalonians 2 of taking Him who 
restrains out  of the way, He is not suggesting that the believers 
will be raptured, for they are not  the restraining power.  Rather 
He is  indicating that  He will  remove His  hand of restraint, to 
permit wickedness to multiply.   This is indicated by the context.  
For in  these verses  God is  speaking of  rebellion.  Matthew  24 
speaks  of wickedness  being multiplied.   Revelation 20 speaks of 
Satan being  loosed.  All  these passages  teach one  and the same 
thing.  There will come the  time when God will allow the world to 
become desperately  sinful.  He  will accomplish  this by removing 
His  restraint on unsaved  man and on  Satan and his angels.  They 
will be seen to be more wicked than ever.

Returning  to II Thessalonians  2:1-11, we see  that before Christ 
returns to  receive His own,  the man of  sin described above must 
first be revealed.   God then declares  in this passage  that when 
the  man  of  sin  is  revealed  Jesus  will  destroy  him  by the 
brightness of  His coming.  That is, Satan  and all the wicked who 
follow him (the  unsaved) will be  judged and cast  into Hell when 
Christ comes.  For it  is in Hell that the wicked  are punished by 
eternal destruction.

But notice that II Thessalonians 2:1-3 speaks  of the gathering of 
the believers  to meet  the Lord  Jesus.  God  is saying that this 
gathering together of believers to meet Christ will not take place 
until the man of sin is revealed.  Since verse 8  states that when 
the man  of sin is  revealed these wicked  will be destroyed (that 
is, judged and  cast into Hell)  by His coming  we immediately can 
see  the  simultaneous  timing  of  the assembling together of the 
believers to meet Jesus  (the Rapture) and the destroying of Satan 
and the wicked  (Judgment Day).  And  since the assembling  of the 
saints  together  to  meet  Jesus  must  be  the same event as the 
Rapture, we see that again we are being taught that the rapture is 
simultaneous with Judgment Day.

Therefore,  again  we  find  total  agreement  with  all the other 
passages  we have looked at which  teach that the Rapture comes at 
the same time as Judgment Day and the end of the world.

Let us now look at one  more path that emphasizes this same  truth 
concerning the Rapture occurring at the end of the world.

Continued in RAP5.TXT