The Workings of a Religious Spirit, Part 5

"Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you...Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 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." (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)

I have taught this message at least a few times over the years, but writing it this time, it has hit me especially hard just how serious this situation is. I had to stop in the middle of the post to come back and add this paragraph so you would not take it too lightly. Let him who has ears hear what the Holy Spirit is saying.

Our view of the inspiration of the Bible is that known as verbal plenary. That means we believe the very words of scripture are God breathed. They are exactly as God intended them to be. That means every word, every phrase is important to our understanding of theology.

The few verses above seem to hide in the middle of the epistles of Paul. Undoubtedly, there have been hundreds and thousands of sermons preached on this passage since they were penned by Paul. There is a factor in these verses that has rarely been mentioned. It is in regard to the timing of the events described.

Paul begins by telling his readers any report they have received that indicated he thought they had missed the return of Jesus was not from him. He says two things must happen before Jesus comes back. There must be a falling away, and the man of sin must be revealed. The two things could occur together. The falling away of many people from the faith might allow the revealing of the man of sin, or his being revealed might cause the falling away of many people. (I had to read that sentence twice so do not feel badly if you do.) In either event, Paul says these things are going to happen. They have not happened yet. They will happen in the future.

The word "revealed" in the verses above is a very specific term. The Greek word is often translated "manifest". To reveal or to manifest something means it is already there but we cannot see it. When it is revealed, it becomes visible. That does not change the fact it was there. We did not know it was there until it was revealed. The man of sin is going to be revealed before Jesus comes back. That has to happen.

Notice the tense change from the future, "that Day will" to the present, "who opposes". This is the point most people miss. The day has not come. We know that because the man of sin has not been revealed. Again, he is already here, but has not been revealed. Paul then tells us what he is doing presently--before he is revealed. He is opposing and exalting himself above God and he sits in the temple of God pretending to be God. (You might want to read that sentence again too.) This is happening right now. We have not understood this concept so we have not taught it. The result has been that he continues to get away with it. Worse yet, he is doing it in our church buildings. You read correctly.

Right now, the man of sin is working in churches everywhere to oppose God and steal the worship that is rightly due Him. That is an incredible statement, we know. At this point we have to ask you to trust that we know what we are talking about. We could go here and there throughout scripture proving this point, but that is not really the purpose of this blog. However, if you stick it out awhile longer, it will become apparent to you that the man of sin is at work. That is assuming you have not already come to that opinion from reading the volume of anecdotal evidence in the first few posts of this blog.

By way of giving you a direction to head should you want to study this subject, note Paul did not say the man of sin is in The Church. He is in the temple, the physical building. His is opposing God and seeking worship. Perhaps we could give but one example of his work. Have you ever been in a church that did not walk in love toward everyone? That is an ouchie. Okay, let us rephrase. Have you ever been in a church that did walk in love toward everyone? That did not help. Well then, grab your own picture of a perfect fellowship of believers and measure any given church against it. Give yourself permission to be wrong at any point because you may not know any more about the perfect church than they do. Jesus said everyone would know we are His disciples because we have love for one another. (John 13:35)

I am very well aware that most people relegate this passage of scripture to events occurring contemporaneously with the rapture of the church. Traditional teaching is that there will be a very powerful man, a world leader, who will one day reveal himself to be the antichrist. It is fine to believe that is all Paul is saying here, but, and this is a big but, one still has to deal with the present tense. That was no accident. Paul or his scribe were not having a bad day. The man of sin is already at work. Do not believe me? Explain Ephesians 2:2. Even if you think the man is a real, flesh and blood man, it is the spirit behind his actions that causes the problem. That spirit is at work every Sunday in many churches. The next post will explain how that is even possible. Stay tuned and God bless.