2 Thessalonians Chapter 2
A word of Warning, continued
VERSE 8 “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.”
“And then shall that Wicked one [the system of error] be revealed [Greek: apokalupsis, uncovered, exposed, recognized], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness [Greek: epiphania] of his coming [Greek: parousia presence].”
Notice that it is the spirit of the Lord’s mouth and the brightness of his presence which will destroy the Wicked One. This is where the erroneous doctrine has developed that truth binds Satan.
Although Verse 8 does say that the reveling of Christ will have the effect of destroying the Wicked One, the reference is to the man of sin, the system and not to Satan personally. When the people know that the Church of Rome is the Antichrist, that knowledge alone will (eventually) destroy the system. Satan, however, is an individual, a personality, not a system—and he is invisible. An invisible being cannot be fought with truth!
Satan’s visible system can be destroyed with truth but not Satan himself. At the end of the present age, the beast (the false system, the Antichrist) will be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone—into perdition, everlasting destruction, Second Death—from which there is no resurrection, but Satan’s destruction will not occur until the end of the Millennium. The Church, risen and glorified, not truth and light, will destroy Satan at the end of the Kingdom Age. Satan’s visible organization, system, or headquarters down here on earth will be destroyed earlier, but the invisible cannot be equated with the visible.
And even so, this verse is speaking of Jesus’ epiphania, that particular period of his presence and not the present time. When the epiphania comes, Jesus will be reigning, but now Satan is the god of this world. Now there are children of disobedience, but in the Kingdom— when Jesus rules and exercises his great power—all will have to obey, even if they are not in heart harmony. Insurrection will not be tolerated until the Little Season at the very end of the Kingdom. As the Pastor said, some will falsely conclude that the Kingdom Age is over and improperly try to seize power.
“Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”
What is going to be destroyed?
Not Satan but his system, the nominal Church (both mother and daughters). At the beginning of the Harvest, Jesus served a meal to his followers through the faithful and wise servant, a human agent. That was a quiet message, but not a startling one. It is very enlightening and even mind-boggling to be brought out of darkness and given understanding of the Scriptures, but what will destroy the nominal system is a subsequent public enlightenment as the result of Christ’s presence.
First, Jesus feeds his Church quietly, and he will not interfere with the last members’ being taken violently—just as God did not interfere with the crucifixion of His Son. The Father restrained Himself because Jesus’ death was a necessity and a fulfillment of prophecy. Therefore, at the present time during the Second Presence (once again bear in mind the age in which we live, this is the age of faith, NOT sight, remember this presence is invisible and only discerned by those so enlighten by the spirit those who have been awake and looking, not to the desert, nor the inner rooms, nor to skies as do the majority of the professing church, but to the more sure word of prophecy), Jesus has been feeding and strengthening these few (a relative handful), especially with the end-time message (the “harvest message”, “present truth”), but in time the message will seep out to more and more people to become general knowledge. That general knowledge and enlightenment—when the people see the incongruities—will be the downfall of Papacy, the downfall of the great Antichrist system. The attitude presently has been that the fault lies with certain individuals, leaders and popes, but that the system itself is legitimate and ordained of God.
We will continue with our examination of Verse 8 in our next post.
A word of Warning, continued
VERSE 8 “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.”
“And then shall that Wicked one [the system of error] be revealed [Greek: apokalupsis, uncovered, exposed, recognized], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness [Greek: epiphania] of his coming [Greek: parousia presence].”
Notice that it is the spirit of the Lord’s mouth and the brightness of his presence which will destroy the Wicked One. This is where the erroneous doctrine has developed that truth binds Satan.
Although Verse 8 does say that the reveling of Christ will have the effect of destroying the Wicked One, the reference is to the man of sin, the system and not to Satan personally. When the people know that the Church of Rome is the Antichrist, that knowledge alone will (eventually) destroy the system. Satan, however, is an individual, a personality, not a system—and he is invisible. An invisible being cannot be fought with truth!
Satan’s visible system can be destroyed with truth but not Satan himself. At the end of the present age, the beast (the false system, the Antichrist) will be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone—into perdition, everlasting destruction, Second Death—from which there is no resurrection, but Satan’s destruction will not occur until the end of the Millennium. The Church, risen and glorified, not truth and light, will destroy Satan at the end of the Kingdom Age. Satan’s visible organization, system, or headquarters down here on earth will be destroyed earlier, but the invisible cannot be equated with the visible.
And even so, this verse is speaking of Jesus’ epiphania, that particular period of his presence and not the present time. When the epiphania comes, Jesus will be reigning, but now Satan is the god of this world. Now there are children of disobedience, but in the Kingdom— when Jesus rules and exercises his great power—all will have to obey, even if they are not in heart harmony. Insurrection will not be tolerated until the Little Season at the very end of the Kingdom. As the Pastor said, some will falsely conclude that the Kingdom Age is over and improperly try to seize power.
“Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”
What is going to be destroyed?
Not Satan but his system, the nominal Church (both mother and daughters). At the beginning of the Harvest, Jesus served a meal to his followers through the faithful and wise servant, a human agent. That was a quiet message, but not a startling one. It is very enlightening and even mind-boggling to be brought out of darkness and given understanding of the Scriptures, but what will destroy the nominal system is a subsequent public enlightenment as the result of Christ’s presence.
First, Jesus feeds his Church quietly, and he will not interfere with the last members’ being taken violently—just as God did not interfere with the crucifixion of His Son. The Father restrained Himself because Jesus’ death was a necessity and a fulfillment of prophecy. Therefore, at the present time during the Second Presence (once again bear in mind the age in which we live, this is the age of faith, NOT sight, remember this presence is invisible and only discerned by those so enlighten by the spirit those who have been awake and looking, not to the desert, nor the inner rooms, nor to skies as do the majority of the professing church, but to the more sure word of prophecy), Jesus has been feeding and strengthening these few (a relative handful), especially with the end-time message (the “harvest message”, “present truth”), but in time the message will seep out to more and more people to become general knowledge. That general knowledge and enlightenment—when the people see the incongruities—will be the downfall of Papacy, the downfall of the great Antichrist system. The attitude presently has been that the fault lies with certain individuals, leaders and popes, but that the system itself is legitimate and ordained of God.
We will continue with our examination of Verse 8 in our next post.
