LEARNING DAILY

 

2 Thessalonians 2:7-11, For the mystery of unrighteousness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way, 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 the power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them a 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.

 

It might take several days to understand what these verses are telling us. Paul is writing to the Church the events that must take place at the end of days before the Lord Jesus Christ returns to establish His kingdom on earth. He begins with a mystery, the mystery of unrighteousness. He wrote this during his day – what would he write about the unrighteousness we see in the world today. I have written this before; Paul thought the last days were occurring during his lifetime. We must be in the last of the last days! Believers, you better be ready for the rapture of the Church because the trumpet could blow at any time, calling us to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds. Look around and see that there is no mystery about unrighteous living in the world today. If it disgusts me, can you imagine the disgust of our heavenly Father!?

 

This mystery of unrighteousness will only become worse and worse after the Church is removed from the earth and the “lawless one”, the one called the Antichrist, is revealed. The Holy Spirit is the Restrainer; after the Church is removed, He is still on earth but no longer convicting of sin through Believers who have been removed. [I always get in trouble about this – I hope I have explained the role of the Holy Spirit at this time correctly] The “lawless one” is energized by Satan’s power, performing signs and wonders that resemble what Jesus did while on earth (David Jeremiah Study Bible). The purpose of this is to take the place of Jesus Christ in the minds of people while trying to draw the people left behind to follow him. God knows the evil that exists on earth now. Know that He is restraining the evil we see right now. Can you imagine what it will be like when He no longer restrains the evil we see? We need to be thankful for His restraining power in the world today.

 

With the restraining power of the Holy Spirit reduced the Antichrist comes on the scene with Satan’s power, performing his miracles and wonders. This person is a powerful political figure who will control the political and economic affairs of the entire world. He will demand the entire population of the world to worship the beast; it is a death sentence to those who will not do this. However, after Satan and this “lawless one” have done their work of deceit and evil, they will be overthrown by the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the seven years of tribulation.

 

My thought for today is triggered by the terrible evil that has become prevalent in the world right now. It will become much worse after the Church is taken out of the world. I am thankful I will not be here when evil and darkness become worse!