The Man of Lawlessness
The man of lawlessness
When God created the earth and made man, He committed to love. He is so powerful. Between the uncreated God and His creation, there is literally and infinite difference in the amount of power we each have. God is all powerful. That simply means He has all the power. All flesh is grass. This simply means apart from God, we have no power. Certainly God has made available to all people, good and bad alike, a temporary and relatively small amount of power inherent in life, but He can withdraw it at any moment. No breath is guaranteed:
Isaiah 40:6-8 The voice said, “Cry out!” And he said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
Because of the infinite difference of power between us and the uncreated God, and because He is so good and has committed Himself to love, He does not force anyone into a relationship with Him. He is completely committed to a relationship with us, but He doesn't force anyone to choose Him. He placed Adam and Eve in the garden in perfect fellowship with Him, but gave them a choice to step out of that fellowship, if they wanted to. Obviously, at the suggestion of the one that wanted them dead and consumed in fire like he would soon be, they decided they wanted to step out of perfect agreement with God.
Because of love, God lets us ultimately get what we want. We have always had a choice to live with Him or without Him. Jesus left His perfect fellowship with God to ensure anyone who wanted to live in agreement with God in restored perfect fellowship would be able to:
John 17:20-22. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
Some have chosen to be restored to God, and many have not. What we choose now will determine where we will live forever. If we will have Jesus, He WILL have us. But, He will not force us. God is committed to love.
Just as God began creating the world on one day, and just as one day came and Jesus was born, a day is coming soon when Jesus will return and take back everything that is rightfully His. Those who have chosen to live in agreement with Him will. Those who have chosen to live separate from Him, will. He is the source of life. Where He is there is life, where He is not there is the absence of life...described in the Bible as perpetual death:
Mark 9:43-44 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’
Jesus has a plan to prepare the Earth for His return. He is actually quite far along in His plan right now. You can see it unfolding all around if you know what to look for (He said watch many times). The gist of His plan is that everyone will be forced to choose either Him or man's own wisdom. Everyone will get what they want.
Right now the world is crying out for a savior. Some think Jesus is the savior, some think their union is their savior, some think government is their savior, some think love....there are many more proposed saviors than I can list here. The Bible says that as world events continue to get more intense...as the evil continues to grow...and the Church gets more refined, a clear choice will be presented before all mankind: choose Jesus, or choose the human "messiah"...the antichrist.
Satan will be allowed to offer the world an alternative to Jesus. Jesus' public ministry lasted 3.5 years. In love, He gave many the opportunity to see His heart: healing, forgiving, restoring, judging evil, and promoting even the hidden good in the hearts of all who came near. The Bible says antichrist will get 3.5 years to do the same. The last 3.5 years, the "Great Tribulation," is the antichrist's opportunity to demonstrate who he is. He hasn't chosen love, like Jesus, he has chosen force and deception. He will force all to worship and serve Him. He will come in like a lamb and go out like a beast.
Antichrist will offer the world what it wants: peace, love, and prosperity apart from God. Just like Jesus was a perfect representation of His Father's heart, antichrist will be a perfect representation of his father's heart. Created Satan wants to be like uncreated God. This is what is in Satan's heart:
Ezekiel 28:12-19 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God : “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.” ’ ”
Antichrist will be like his dad: anointed, arrogant, and gifted. He will be what the people really want. Satan was defiled by the "multitude of his iniquities, and the iniquity of his trading." What did Satan trade? He traded what wasn't his: wealth and power. Satan was the first redistributor of wealth. He conned a third of the angels into joining him by promising them wealth and power in his kingdom. Wealth and power only belongs to God, but satan started trading it for his own power before it was even his! Satan's son, the antichrist, will do this exact same thing:
Daniel 11:39 Claiming this foreign god’s help, he will attack the strongest fortresses. He will honor those who submit to him, appointing them to positions of authority and dividing the land among them as their reward.
Ultimately, mankind gets what it wants. If we put our trust in Jesus and invite Him into our lives, we will get to live in His perfect provision forever. But Jesus is invisible right now. It takes some faith to choose Him. If we want the "savior" we can see, the one who makes the most sense to the world , the one who promises things that aren't even his, if we invite him to be our king, then we will live near him for all eternity:
II Thessalonians 2:8-12 And then 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. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working 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, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Now is the time to find out what the Bible says is going to happen soon. The stakes are so high, but the rewards for agreeing with God are also amazingly high:
Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.
When God created the earth and made man, He committed to love. He is so powerful. Between the uncreated God and His creation, there is literally and infinite difference in the amount of power we each have. God is all powerful. That simply means He has all the power. All flesh is grass. This simply means apart from God, we have no power. Certainly God has made available to all people, good and bad alike, a temporary and relatively small amount of power inherent in life, but He can withdraw it at any moment. No breath is guaranteed:
Isaiah 40:6-8 The voice said, “Cry out!” And he said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
Because of the infinite difference of power between us and the uncreated God, and because He is so good and has committed Himself to love, He does not force anyone into a relationship with Him. He is completely committed to a relationship with us, but He doesn't force anyone to choose Him. He placed Adam and Eve in the garden in perfect fellowship with Him, but gave them a choice to step out of that fellowship, if they wanted to. Obviously, at the suggestion of the one that wanted them dead and consumed in fire like he would soon be, they decided they wanted to step out of perfect agreement with God.
Because of love, God lets us ultimately get what we want. We have always had a choice to live with Him or without Him. Jesus left His perfect fellowship with God to ensure anyone who wanted to live in agreement with God in restored perfect fellowship would be able to:
John 17:20-22. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
Some have chosen to be restored to God, and many have not. What we choose now will determine where we will live forever. If we will have Jesus, He WILL have us. But, He will not force us. God is committed to love.
Just as God began creating the world on one day, and just as one day came and Jesus was born, a day is coming soon when Jesus will return and take back everything that is rightfully His. Those who have chosen to live in agreement with Him will. Those who have chosen to live separate from Him, will. He is the source of life. Where He is there is life, where He is not there is the absence of life...described in the Bible as perpetual death:
Mark 9:43-44 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’
Jesus has a plan to prepare the Earth for His return. He is actually quite far along in His plan right now. You can see it unfolding all around if you know what to look for (He said watch many times). The gist of His plan is that everyone will be forced to choose either Him or man's own wisdom. Everyone will get what they want.
Right now the world is crying out for a savior. Some think Jesus is the savior, some think their union is their savior, some think government is their savior, some think love....there are many more proposed saviors than I can list here. The Bible says that as world events continue to get more intense...as the evil continues to grow...and the Church gets more refined, a clear choice will be presented before all mankind: choose Jesus, or choose the human "messiah"...the antichrist.
Satan will be allowed to offer the world an alternative to Jesus. Jesus' public ministry lasted 3.5 years. In love, He gave many the opportunity to see His heart: healing, forgiving, restoring, judging evil, and promoting even the hidden good in the hearts of all who came near. The Bible says antichrist will get 3.5 years to do the same. The last 3.5 years, the "Great Tribulation," is the antichrist's opportunity to demonstrate who he is. He hasn't chosen love, like Jesus, he has chosen force and deception. He will force all to worship and serve Him. He will come in like a lamb and go out like a beast.
Antichrist will offer the world what it wants: peace, love, and prosperity apart from God. Just like Jesus was a perfect representation of His Father's heart, antichrist will be a perfect representation of his father's heart. Created Satan wants to be like uncreated God. This is what is in Satan's heart:
Ezekiel 28:12-19 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God : “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.” ’ ”
Antichrist will be like his dad: anointed, arrogant, and gifted. He will be what the people really want. Satan was defiled by the "multitude of his iniquities, and the iniquity of his trading." What did Satan trade? He traded what wasn't his: wealth and power. Satan was the first redistributor of wealth. He conned a third of the angels into joining him by promising them wealth and power in his kingdom. Wealth and power only belongs to God, but satan started trading it for his own power before it was even his! Satan's son, the antichrist, will do this exact same thing:
Daniel 11:39 Claiming this foreign god’s help, he will attack the strongest fortresses. He will honor those who submit to him, appointing them to positions of authority and dividing the land among them as their reward.
Ultimately, mankind gets what it wants. If we put our trust in Jesus and invite Him into our lives, we will get to live in His perfect provision forever. But Jesus is invisible right now. It takes some faith to choose Him. If we want the "savior" we can see, the one who makes the most sense to the world , the one who promises things that aren't even his, if we invite him to be our king, then we will live near him for all eternity:
II Thessalonians 2:8-12 And then 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. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working 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, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Now is the time to find out what the Bible says is going to happen soon. The stakes are so high, but the rewards for agreeing with God are also amazingly high:
Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.
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