ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS.

I am posting here a brief article I have done on the man or mystery of lawlessness, which is my firm belief on these matters, especially in regards to what or rather who the temple of God is.

The Man of Lawlessness.

Jesus answered them; “did I not choose you, the Twelve? And [yet] one of you is a devil” (of the evil one and a false accuser).  He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he was about to betray Him, [although] he was one of the Twelve.  John 6:70-71  

                      

John 17:12, “While I was with them, I kept and preserved them in Your Name [in the knowledge and worship of You]. Those You have given Me I guarded and protected, and not one of them has perished or is lost except the son of perdition [Judas Iscariot—the one who is now doomed to destruction, destined to be lost], that the Scripture might be fulfilled”.

 But relative to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and our gathering together to [meet] Him, we beg you, brethren, ² Not to allow your minds to be quickly unsettled or disturbed or kept excited or alarmed, whether it be by some [pretended] revelation of [the] Spirit or by word or by letter [alleged to be] from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has [already] arrived and is here. ³ Let no one deceive or beguile you in any way, for that day will not come except the apostasy comes first [unless the predicted great falling away of those who have professed to be Christians has come], and the man of lawlessness (sin) is revealed, who is the son of doom (of perdition), ⁴ Who opposes and exalts himself so proudly and insolently against and over all that is called God or that is worshiped, [even to his actually] taking his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming that he himself is God. ⁵ Do you not recollect that when I was still with you, I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining him [from being revealed at this time]; it is so that he may be manifested (revealed) in his own [appointed] time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness (that hidden principle of rebellion against constituted authority) is already at work in the world, [but it is] restrained only until he who restrains is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one (the antichrist) will be revealed and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and bring him to an end by His appearing at His coming. ⁹ The coming [of the lawless one, the antichrist] is through the activity and working of Satan and will be attended by great power and with all sorts of [pretended] miracles and signs and delusive marvels—[all of them] lying wonders— ¹⁰ And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved. ¹¹ Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false, ¹² In order that all may be judged and condemned who did not believe in [who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely on] the Truth, but [instead] took pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2: 1 – 12.

The Apostasy – The Falling Away.

Yeshua tells us about Judas Iscariot, that he was the son of perdition and as such, he was the foreshadowing of that great falling away that will occur en masse before that man or mystery of lawlessness is revealed. 

There are always those who backslide and turn aside from following after the Lord for varying reasons; some return with a greater desire to follow after the Messiah and continue so. Then there are those who fall away and remain in such a state of lawlessness, resulting in ruin and utter destruction. But this falling away or apostasy indicates a single, definitive event that has eternal consequences of which there is no returning.

Yeshua says also, “Because iniquity (lawlessness, wickedness) abounds, is on the increase, the love of the many will grow cold or chill out”. Matthew 24:12. Various translations omit the force of what Yeshua is saying here because the definite article the, is left out. It is not just the love of many, but rather the love of the many, that is to say, the love of the most, the majority will grow cold. Why? Because of lawlessness being on the increase and abounding in great measure. This lawlessness has to do with our unwillingness to obey God’s laws, His instructions, His requirements of and for us.

Paul says to Timothy that in the last days there will be those who depart or fall away from the faith because they pay attention to, give heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons, i.e. things that are taught by human imagination and or things that devils inspire one to believe and therefore teach them as if they are the truth. Paul also goes on to say, for men will be self-lovers, money-lovers, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unyielding, false accusers, without self-control, savage, despisers of good,  traitors, reckless, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it; even turn away from these.  See 1Timothy 4:1-4 and 2Timothy 3:1-5.

Are these things not so? So very much false teaching is proclaimed in “churches” today by self centred, self seeking men and women whose own imagination leads them, or they are direct instruments and servants of satan masquerading as servants of righteousness. The great tragedy is the many listen to and obey them. The arena is being set for that moment when the falling away, the apostasy takes place.

Two words used for temple.

Something else to consider here is whether Paul was referring to the supposedly rebuilt temple that is believed by many, which may indeed happen by man's own design rather than the will of God. By this I mean, He allows men to do their own bidding in spite of the revelation of what He has revealed in the person of His Son.

First, we need to realise that the New Covenant writings basically use two Greek terms for temple. They are hieron (ίερόν) and naos (ναος or ναον).  While the Greek term hieron always seems to refer to a physical temple in the New Covenant writings, normally the Jewish temple, but can also refer to a pagan one. See Acts 19:27 as an example. The term naos is not always the case. Heiron is used more frequently, some 70 times, whereas naos is used some 40 times. It is easy then to see that there can be confusion in understanding of which temple term is being used by the writer to the reader. Naos can also be used to describe the physical temple, but most of the references are to another temple, i.e. the temple of the body of believers, also known as the church or an individual body, a person. 

Yeshua was the first in the new covenant writings to use naos to refer to something other than a physical Jewish temple.  “Yeshua answered and said to them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said to Him, Forty six years it took to build this temple, and you suppose to rebuild it in three days? But Yeshua was speaking to them about His body being the temple”. (John 2:19-21) So, while the Jews were thinking that naos was referring to a physical Jewish temple in verse 20, the scriptures are clear that in verses 19 and 21, Yeshua was using the term naos to mean something else. There already was a misunderstanding here of what Yeshua was talking about by the Jews themselves. This indicates that being a bible teacher does not always mean you know what is being referred to by the speaker. The revelation of the Holy Spirit needs to be given to correctly understand the meaning. This revelation is not reserved merely for the theologian but is given to any whose heart is pure towards the Lord.

So what does Paul mean in the 2 Thessalonians 2 passages? I realise that anybody who believes in a rebuilding of the physical temple will automatically dismiss this thought of, he 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, setting himself forth, that he is God. If the term heiron was used here it would put an end to any other possible view as to which temple Paul was talking about in this instance. He chooses to use naos instead; the term that is also used to describe the body of believers, i.e. the church.

I am persuaded to believe that all the revelation Paul had been given by the Lord Himself concerning the church, its functions, gifting and calling and the church’s designation as the temple of God and in view of the context of these Thessalonian passages, i.e. the falling away, Judas Iscariot being the foreshadow, this is exactly what he is referring to. This man or mystery of lawlessness actually takes its / his seat in the temple of God i.e. the church and as if he is God requires worship. He places himself in authority above all else. He is already there; we are waiting the time of his revealing. Do you not recall Yeshua’s own words, “Do not be mislead or deceived, many will come in my name, saying I am He, I am the Messiah”.

This revealing of the man or mystery of lawlessness will be with great power, signs and lying wonders, with great deceit, many will be deluded by him. If the love of and for the truth is not in you, you will be caught up in this great deception, you will be amongst that party that gives credence to the working of satan and therefore invite upon yourself the consequence of your own deceit. Let me say it like this, the more you give yourself over to false teachers and their teachings, the greater your chances of damnation when Yeshua returns in splendour, power and glory. So be it!!

Scriptures that show we are the temple of God. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 2:21. These scripture are all very emphatic; there is no confusing heiron with naos here. You are the temple of God. There is a temple of God already under construction and it is made up of living stones, a habitation for God by His Spirit where He will dwell for all eternity.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS.

Have you ever wrestled with questions you seek answers for that you don't seem to get? Personally, I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would all answer yes. Many don't want to acknowledge this is the nature of the case, especially to others. Perhaps it is so because we don't want to seem nonspiritual. No one of us have all the answers. There are times we don't understand why a loved one is taken away so suddenly, or when young children are molested and murdered horrendously. We just have to trust the Lord and hold onto faith in Him.

There is but One in Whom all the answers lay, and that is the Lord Jesus. Sometimes, He is willing for us to have the answer, perhaps at least, not immediately.  Such was the case as is written in the book of Acts 1: 6 - 7.

"So when they were assembled, they asked Him, Lord, is this the time when You will re establish the kingdom and restore it to Israel?  He said to them, It is not for you to become acquainted with and know what time brings [the things and events of time and their definite periods] or fixed years and seasons (their critical niche in time), which the Father has appointed (fixed and reserved) by His own choice and authority and personal power". 

The timing and seasons of all things belong to the Lord and in the course of time, He reveals events that will take place. In the gospel records, there are many occurrences where the Lord Jesus speaks openly of events that are to come, yet not their specific day to day, moment by moment fulfilment. We see the same thing in relation to the book of Revelation. The prophecy of the book as revealed to the apostle John was given by the Lord Jesus of things to come, near at hand and of future events.

The apostle Paul, to the Thessalonian saints says this. "But as to the suitable times and the precise seasons and dates, brethren, you have no necessity for anything being written to you.  For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the [return of the] Lord will come [as unexpectedly and suddenly] as a thief in the night".

Somewhere between the gospel and  Acts accounts and this writing of Paul, revelation was given of the precise timing and seasons of events that relate to the events that lead to the return of the Lord Jesus. Not just rough estimates or guesses as we so often do today, but, precise seasons and dates. Why? So that we are not overtaken or caught unaware of theses specific times and seasons. 

When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was subjected to all the frailties of human experience, otherwise He could not be a High Priest who could identify with us in our humanity. In His being subjected to human form and frailty in every regard as we ourselves, even not knowing certain things which only His Father knew, He had to trust in the Holy Spirit to lead, direct and reveal what He was to do and what to say while in His sojourn here on earth. His relationship with the Father took on a different status as a Son of man, yet being equal with the Father, He chose not to appropriate that equality. Let the apostle Paul speak as is recorded in Philippians chapter 2.

" Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being. And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross! Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father". 

I am saying that in order to say this. The Lord Jesus as the Son of man, was subject to human frailty, including lack of knowledge. He did not know the precise times and seasons of His return and events leading up to it. The Father chose to hide that from Him, otherwise, if He did know and said He did not know, that would make Him a liar and we know He most certainly is not that. When He was resurrected, in His resurrection, He was transfigured and glorified, subsequently, He was given the place of honour and glory He had with the Father before He took on human form, His relationship status once again reverted to being equal with God, Who knows ALL THINGS. Everything the Father does, He does through the Son. The Father has spoken in these last days and continues to speak through the Son, the Lord Jesus. This is the Father's good pleasure. More can be said, but this is sufficient for now.

I am persuaded to believe that the Lord Jesus revealed certain specific things to the apostle Paul in the revelations he received whether in the body or out of it, of events that would take place in the end and of His return. That is why Paul could enlighten the Thessalonians and remind them that they do not need to be reminded. 
A question then, " why is it that today, we have so many diverse opinions and views as to the Lord's return? " A question that requires answers. Think about this. 
The grace of the Lord be with you all.

BEING BUILT UP INTO HIM.

The Spirit of God is at work within the lives of His people to bring us into full maturity. This has ever been His goal, until we ALL bear the image of Christ and reach the FULLNESS of stature that is nothing less than His own. See Ephesians 4 v 13 - 16 & Galatians 4 v 19

These last days will see a greater working through hardships, disciplines and straitening. He will have for Himself a bride that is made ready, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. When He appears, we shall ALL be changed, transformed and then transfigured like unto Himself. We are sanctified now, yet the process of sanctification is also ongoing. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:3), "For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality."

Because of our stubbornness and pride, even our conceit and haughtiness,the Father disciplines us and trains us to submit to Him.We are to grow up into Him, in the spirit of humility. Let us not think that because He has "allowed" us to continue in our immaturity, that He is okay with it, He is not. He affords us opportunity after opportunity to put aside our own selfish desire and plans and submit to Him in all things.

Even as Israel will be brought into the constraints of the covenant, so will the ekklesia. We shall in these last days, be the ONE NEW MAN we have been birthed to be in Christ. We are being built up into a fixed abode, a habitation of God through the Spirit. This being built up, is the same as growing up into maturity of stature, which has everything to do with growing into the UNITY OF THE FAITH. As we are built up, so we grow up. This process is also end time event. The grace of God be with you all.