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| Jesus (left) and the devil (right) |
We are told that Man of Sin is really the Man of Lawlessness, "For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 ESV). The activity of Lawlessness is from Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:9). Right now great lawlessness is rising in America and the world (see Germany whose courts allow Muslims to burn Jewish Synagogues down for political protest, see http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2017/march/german-courts-echo-nazi-past), and this is concerning because Jesus tells us in last days, "Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name, And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures (see Revelation 2:4 NLT) to the end will be saved." (Matthew 24:9-13). Christ associates this lawlessness not just with rebels but with the religious, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness," (Matthew 23:27-28 ESV), and Jesus warns, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." (Matthew 7:21-23). Contrary to the spirit of the sixties (1960's Revolution), Laws are founded in love. The reason we have laws is to protect, and love always protects (1 Corinthians 13:7 NIV). When the LORD gave the Commandments to Moses they were all based in love, "Love the Lord your God alone, have no idols, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet." All of these commands and laws Jesus rephrased as they were intended, "Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:36-40). Laws were not meant to be totalitarian punishment standards with no mercy, but they were meant to keep love protected, if God says do not murder your neighbor this shows love to your neighbor, if the Lord says have no other gods, this is to show love to God. You see God the Trinity is a God of Loving Laws, not the Talmud or legalistic laws, but Laws that are intrinsic and symbiotic with love, "Love (God is Love 1 John 4:8) does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth (Jesus is Truth John 14:6); It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out." (1 Corinthians 13:6).
As we watch the fabric of civilization and the destruction of laws, as people turn against Police and all respect is removed, we see love die. Now people like in the morbid and malevolent movies, called The Purge, I do not recommend these movies, people will feel free to do great evil because there is no protectors, no knights to keep loving people safe from harm. The propaganda of Antichrist tells people they are oppressed, and sometimes this is true as in case of Israelites under the Romans, and even now, but the only freedom is found in Christ, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed." (Luke 4:18). But the anarchy spirit is the Lawleness already at work (2 Thessalonians 2:7) it wants to bring forth its antimessiah whom many will believe to be messiah, but he will be ruthless tyrant "And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made," (Revelation 13:7-8) and
and "He (Beast, Man of Lawlessness and Satan) required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead.And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name. Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.His number is 666." (Revelation 13:13-15).
Lawlessness is descending upon the earth, on people, and love is growing cold as Jesus foretold, for as I said, you remove laws of protection you lose love, because "love always protects," (1 Corinthians 13:7 NIV) and "love rejoices in justice." (1 Corinthians 13:6). Christ and Father are not harsh judges, as Satan tries to make people believe with his propaganda, in contrast, God who could have called us to face our punishment for sin, took that punishment on Himself on the cross (Romans 3:21-31) and offers us full clemency through faith in Christ and his sacrifice! So the LORD has offered us human beings acquittal and forgiveness of all transgressions and wicked deeds if we will receive this grace, this gift of salvation from the Son Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4-9). On top of that Christ is righteous judge, and He is about, "Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Corinthians 2:4-6), this means God sees our innermost thoughts and motives, "For the Word of God (Jesus Christ, see John 1:1-15 and Revelation 19:13) is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." (Hebrews 4:12-13). Thus Christ knows a person who stole a loaf of bread to feed their staving child, and a person who stole a loaf of bread for kicks and to get a thrill (joy ride), He knows is someone murdered someone in a fit of rage (emotion) and then came to their senses or out of holy zeal like Saul (Acts 8:3), or who planned murder with the thought and purpose of a sadistic way to enact revenge. Christ is just, and when He opens the books (Revelation 20:12) He will judge all people, but He has offered clemency for every bad deed, sin, mistake, and wrongful error if people will receive it through believing and receiving Christ's free gift of salvation (Romans 10:9-10, John 3:16, John 6:40, and Ephesians 2:4-9).
In contrast to Christ who offers full acquittal, absolution, and forgiveness to all people (), Satan and his Man of Lawlessness will be ruthless and cruel judges, the very picture and caricature the devil accuses God of and seduces people to believe God is cruel and mean Lord, is actually what Satan is really like, for Satan is a Thief, liar, and murderer, "For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies," (John 8:44), "the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I (Christ) have come to give you life abundantly." (John 10:10). The devil and his antichrist will force people to bow and serve him or die, "The second beast (False Prophet) was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast (Man of Lawlessness), so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed," (Revelation 13:15), and take a mark to buy and sell, "He required everyone--small and great, rich and poor, free and slave--to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666." (Revelation 13:16-18). We see Satan and his Man of Lawlessness and false prophet (read all of Revelation 13, see 2 Thessalonians 2 and Matthew 24:10-24) are controlling, totalitarian, harsh (kill people if they don't bow, sound like another religion today?). Jesus Christ never forces anyone with the threat of death like the Nazis did, but says, "Who do you say I am?" (Matthew 16:13-20). Granted there is Eternal Judgement for those who do not choose to believe Jesus (John 3:17-18), but Christ has given mankind every opportunity to believe and be saved from eternal judgement (see 2 Peter 3:1-18, 1 Timothy 2:14, and Romans 1:20). Jesus doesn't want anyone to go to hell (2 Peter 3:1-18) but Christ knows there are stubborn hearts who will want mountains to fall on them to hide them from Wrath of Lamb (Revelation 6;16), and they will still not believe when they can (Revelation 16:9-11). I put it this way to philosopher, Jesus is having a birthday party (Wedding Supper of Lamb Revelation 19:6-9), and invites everyone who loves him, now put yourself in Jesus' shoes, if it was your birthday party, would you invite people who hate you, are indifferent, and wanting nothing to do with you to your birthday party? Of course not! So why would you expect God to invite such people? And yet He does, Jesus has extended an invitation (the Gospel) to all people, even the dead (1 Peter 4:6), but if they don't RSVP or respond yes (Romans 10:9-10) they don't get to be with Him in heaven and New Earth. So Christ Jesus has sent every person, male or female, slave or free, strong or weak an invitation to be saved from judgement and be with Him, but they must say yes, "I RSVP:
Repent of my sins,
Saved by confessing and believing Jesus is Lord (God of Israel) and was Raised from dead by God (Romans 10:9-10),
Visit with Him daily in a relationship via prayer and following His commands, and being filled with Power of the Holy Spirit." (Jeffrey Gassler)
When I say Law I don't want you to think I am reviving following the Law of Moses, for that old covenant is obsolete and passing away, "For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God," (Romans 10:4), "Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the Law of Moses," (Acts 13:38-39), "Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the Law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith./Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus," (Galatians 3:22-26), "When God speaks of a "new" covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear," (Hebrews 8:13), "Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are already priests to offer gifts according to the Law, They serve at a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary. That is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle, “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain, But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises. If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it," (Hebrews 8:4-8), and "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose (to fulfill them)." (Matthew 5:17). I am referring to the Law as love, for laws keep love safe from harm, families are safe because there are laws that keep men from breaking down the door and shooting them, or someone driving on road is protected from a car accident because there are stop lights, signs, and so forth to keep everyone aware of each other, and to abide by law, and so everyone is loved because no one gets in car accident or lives in fear a renegade car will drive everyone off the road, and should that happen the traffic laws empower the Police or highwaymen to catch that person, and make them pay for harming you.
Christ is lawful, for laws protect and safeguard love, justice is loved by love (1 Corinthians 13:6, and God is love 1 John 4;8). All of Christ's commands are love focused, instead of focusing on keeping laws you focus on loving God and others which then never violates any laws of Moses anyway "Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and strength, this is greatest commandment" (Matthew 22:37-38), "the second command is like it, love your neighbor as yourself, these two fulfill all of the law of Moses and the prophets," (Matthew 22:39-40), "My command is that you love one another as I loved you," (John 15:12). Jesus said, "If you love me, obey my commandments," (John 14:15), and He said this in last book of the Bible, "But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don't repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches." (Revelation 2:4-5). Lawless because they aren't protecting their love for God or each other by practicing love! For the Law has transformed into love, love is its true nature rather than legalistic regulations, it is no longer about regulations to be holy but rather to love God and people. So let us not let our love grow cold, and let us resist the lawlessness unto the end (Matthew 24:13). I want to make it clear I am not saying follow the laws of Moses, I am saying through Christ who is love (1 John 4:8, Colossians 2:9) we love Him via his commands of love and the focus is Jesus, loving Him not keeping laws, those commands aforementioned are centered simply on loving God with all we are and people as we love ourselves, its not some rule following act we have to do, its all love based. I want this to be clear, because as I have aforementioned in this post, we are dead to old law, and alive in a New Covenant of Grace (Ephesians 2:6-11), which we did not earn but Christ earned for us! I am simply trying to get across in this post, that lawlessness and anarchy have roots in Satan, but abiding by good laws is Christ like, especially if the laws of land are based in love as all laws should be, because it is through loving God and focusing on just loving Him and others that all the laws are fulfilled (Matthew 22:39-40) and Christ already accomplished the Law for us so we don't have to, "For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God," (Romans 10:4), for when we try to fulfill laws and be good we always fail, but when our eyes are fixed on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and our hearts are abiding and consumed in His love, we end up obeying the law even though we aren't focused on it! Do not turn Jesus' commands into rigid, legalistic laws, but instead realize Christ's commands are all about love, they are steeped in love, and the commands are made of love, not to become holy but to show love! To make it even clearer, Christ lives in you (Colossians 1:27) and so He who fulfilled the law of Moses is fulfilling it in you, you don't have to do the law anymore, you are under the New Covenant of Grace thru Christ, and so Christ's commands to Law are rather fruit of this Grace and what Christ is doing; we love God with all we are, and love others because Christ lives in us and helps us do this, and so it is the fruit of love and God Himself bleeding through us, not by us focusing on laws of Moses, but focusing on Jesus who lives in us and fulfilled the Law, and abiding in His love and sharing that love like fountain of His love to others. Amen.
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