Daily Bread - Feb 01 07

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 - "And now you know what holds back the revealing of him in his time. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work only right now He holds it back from the midst until He comes."

The antichrist cannot be revealed until the time of the administration of the church is complete. Jesus is the one who is now holding back the ultimate deception and rebellion of iniquity which cannot be revealed until He comes: "The mystery of lawlessness is already at work - only right now He holds it back from our midst until He comes. At that time, the lawless one shall be revealed whom the Lord shall return and destroy with the spirit of his mouth and wipe out with the appearance of His coming."(2:7-8).

Jesus first comes to finalize the administration of the church age by receiving the church unto Himself, and then the lawless one shall be revealed. Jesus will then return with His saints (which includes the church) to fight against the antichrist and his armies (Revelation 19:11-14; Jude 14-15).

Paul had already revealed to the church at Thessalonica that there would be a catching away of the church and made it unique from the Second Coming of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). Paul makes the catching away event equivalent to the resurrection from the dead. When Jesus comes, the dead in Christ will rise first, and those who are alive will be caught up together into the clouds to meet Jesus in the air according to His promise that He would return and receive us unto Himself (John 14:2-3).

It is at this time that Jesus comes with a shout of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God. Paul also describes the catching away in the context of the first resurrection to the church at Corinth. He revealed that not everyone would die, but some would immediately be changed from the corruptible and earthly into the immortal and heavenly - an event that would take place at the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).

We know from the words of Jesus that it will be an event that He personally initiates as suggested by 1 Thessalonians 4:16. Jesus said, "With absolute certainty I tell you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." This is the one event that no one knows the timing of except for the Father (Matthew 24:36). As far as the Second coming goes, when we overlay the book of Daniel with the Book of Revelation we can calculate the exact time of the Second Coming of Christ from the day that the antichrist desecrates the Temple (Daniel 11:31; 12:11; Matthew 24:15).

When we look for this most important event in the book of Revelation it is only discovered in the words "after these things" which refers to the time after the church age as John wrote the things which he had seen, Chapter 1, the things which are, chapters 2-3, and the things which shall be after the things which are, chapters 4-18. (Revelation 1:19; 4:1). The only event in the book of Revelation that describes a catching away is found in Revelation 12:5 which speaks of a man child that was born to a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars which is an Old Testament symbol for Israel (Genesis 37:9-10). The most appropriate understanding of this man child born of Israel is the 144,000 that is first mentioned as being sealed in Revelation 7:4 and then seen in heaven in Revelation 14:1 with the seal of the Father's name written in their forehead. To attempt to make the church fit into this symbolism is a violation of the fact the church is symbolized as a man in that the church is the body of Christ.

When we examine the book of Revelation for the Trump of God or the last trump the only thing that can be found is in Revelation 10:7; 11:15-18. However, this does not concur with the fact that it is Jesus Himself who descends, neither is there any mention of those who are alive in Christ being caught up. In fact, the only way that anyone during the Tribulation makes the company of the resurrected saints is through death.

Jesus spoke of the time at the end of the Tribulation when He would send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet who will gather together His elect, but by context this is associated with His return to the earth with His saints in Revelation 19:11-21. The reason that the events of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 1 Corinthians 15:51 are not found in the book of Revelation is because they occur before the Tribulation of Revelation 4-19. The very simple fact is that the church is not one time mentioned in these chapters.

Daniel speaks of the time of the resurrection of the just, and even though it is mentioned in association with the time of the Tribulation it is also grouped with the resurrection of the unjust which we know to be separated by 1000 years (Daniel 12:2; Revelation 20:5). The warning that all of us should take heed to is that Jesus said that if anyone adds to the words of this book then the plagues of this book will be added to them. It is very unwise to add the word church to Revelation 4 through 19 which takes in the whole of the Tribulation period.

Blessings,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org