Tag Archives: antichrist

ANTICHRIST – WHO IS HE?

Bible Study, ,

ANTICHRIST – WHO IS HE?

Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For it they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. (1 John 2: 18-19)

Who is this antichrist of whom John writes? Is he some powerful political figure around whom the world unites? Is he a person who will arise in the last days at the end of history?

What does John mean by “the last hour”?

“Hour” is a Hebrew metaphor that means “time.” And the Messianic age is the last age before the end of time . . . 

“John’s reference to antichrist in the singular in 2:18 makes us want to imagine a future bogeyman, but John says plainly that the antichrist “is in the world already” and “those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh … is the deceiver and the antichrist.” John’s concerns in this passage aren’t eschatological (concerned with end times) but pastoral. He’s worried that the church he is writing to may be convinced by the proto-Gnostics to deny that Jesus came in the flesh. And if Jesus wasn’t human, he didn’t die and wasn’t resurrected, and that destroys Christianity. It’s a false gospel that damns.

So, what’s John’s real point?

“The false teachers had been part of the Christian community, but because of their heresy, they withdrew — further demonstrating their error and worldliness. They couldn’t remain where the true gospel is taught, and therefore shouldn’t be allowed any influence. (John will have more to say about them throughout the book).”

http://oneinjesus.info/2011/04/1-john-218-19-the-last-hour-the-anti-christ/ (retrieved November, 2015)

The Apostle John is the only Biblical writer who used the term “antichrist”, and he used it to refer to a group of false teachers, arising from within the church, who denied the humanity of Jesus. “Antichrist” in the original Greek, was not preceded by the definite article, “the”. John was not writing about an individual who was still to come but a “spirit” or mind-set of error and false doctrine which operated in the minds of some who were bent on perverting the truth and drawing believers away from Jesus.

This same “spirit” has been and is still active in the world today. People who claim to be followers of Jesus but believe and propagate anything that deviates from the truth of Scripture manifest the spirit of antichrist. There are many so-called “Christian” cults which fall into the category of “antichrist”.

Jehovah Witnesses deny that Jesus is God; Mormons claim that the authority of their Book of Mormon overrides the authority of Scripture and that, therefore, what their book says is the truth above the Word of God; Roman Catholicism denies that Jesus was true man – it claims that Mary was immaculately conceived and did not have the nature of the rest of humanity – therefore Jesus was not born in the likeness of Adam. If Jesus was not true man, He cannot be the Saviour of mankind. The modern movement called “the New Apostolic Reformation” claims that its leaders have the authority of the Biblical apostles and prophets, – and so we can go on. 

John’s point was than any person or group of people claiming to be Christian but believing and propagating anything that contradicts the revealed truth of Scripture about the deity or humanity of Jesus and teaches their false doctrine as an authoritative substitute for the truth, is “antichrist”.

What is the proof of their falseness? They claim exclusivity and have no fellowship with true believers.  

This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For it they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

The church has, in the main, been fooled by equally false teachers from within who believe that “the Antichrist” is some future powerful and evil figure who will arise from an anti-God nation to claim the right and power to rule the whole world. There is nothing in the Bible that authenticates this teaching. It is a subtle ploy of the devil to lull believers into complacency, and to keep us from being watchful of what we believe and who we follow.

Millions have been sucked into believing these false doctrines and following their proponents without doing what the Bereans did:

 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. (Acts 17:11)

There is no excuse for ignorance!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

What Does the Bible Say About the Rapture?

Apologetics, ,

What Does the Bible Say About the Rapture?

First of all, to understand the Biblical concept of the rapture, we must put it into its Jewish cultural context. How would the Bible’s readers have understood what it is saying? Many believers today have the tendency to dismiss the Old Testament as irrelevant, preferring to focus on Jesus as though He was not born into a family with a history and cultural background. That leaves us open to all sorts of misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

Would it surprise you to discover that the Bible is about a wedding? When God met the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, His intention was to invite them into a marriage relationship with Himself. He spoke marriage talk to them. His language followed the Hebrew courtship process exactly:
Step 1: Exodus 6:7 – “I will take you as my own (segula) people …”
Step 2: Exodus 19:5 – “…out of all the nations you will be my treasured (lachah) possession.”
Step 3: Exodus 19:10 – “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash (mikvah) their clothes…’”
Step 4: Exodus 20:1-17 – The marriage contract (ketubah).
Step 5: Exodus 19:18 – “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace; the whole mountain trembled violently.” The wedding ceremony took place under the canopy (chuppa) provided in this case by fire and smoke.

In a Hebrew wedding ceremony, after the marriage has been contracted under the chuppa, the bride and groom are escorted to the bridal chamber, prepared by the bridegroom at his fathers’ house and approved by his father. The groom picks up (raptures) his bride and carries her over the threshold into the bridal chamber where the marriage is consummated. Then the bridal couple return to their waiting guests to enjoy their wedding feast.

At Mount Sinai, God invited His people into a marriage bond with Himself and treated them as His wife, even though they rejected Him and were unfaithful to Him. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on the believers, the same phenomena occurred as at Mount Sinai, noise and fire. This time the people responded to God, and the church – the bride of Christ – was born. The consummation of that marriage awaits Jesus’ return for His bride – “I am going there (to my Father’s house – understood) to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2b,3. NIV).

When Jesus returns He will pick up (rapture) His bride and consummate His eternal spiritual union with her, followed by the marriage supper of the Lamb – Revelation 19:7,9. – “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready…Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’”

In contrast to the theory that Jesus will come secretly to snatch His bride away, the Biblical picture is clearly that of a noisy affair. At Sinai there was the blowing of trumpets and the noise of shouting (thunder – which should be translated ‘voices’) – Exodus 19:16, which accompanied God’s proposal of marriage. At Pentecost there was the noise of a violent wind and tongues of fire when the believers responded to His proposal of marriage.

When Jesus returns, His coming will be announced by the blowing of trumpets and the shout of the archangel, hardly a quiet affair according to Scripture! “For the Lord Himself will come down with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up (raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17.

Scripture is clear that everything will happen simultaneously on Jesus’ return. “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power on the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed.” 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10a.

There is never a hint of a third return of Jesus in Scripture. Two comings, yes! The first time Jesus came, He introduced us to His Father and prepared the way for us to be reconnected to Himself by His death. He invited us into a marriage relationship with Himself and the engagement period began at Pentecost. In the interim the bride is being prepared for her wedding day and the bridegroom has returned to His Father’s house to prepare the bridal chamber.

When He returns to claim His bride, that’s it! Like the five foolish virgins who were not ready, all who have not been made righteous by His blood and have not lived out that righteousness as a reflection of Him, – “…fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints)” – Revelation 19:8 – will be shut out of the presence of the Lord and consigned to eternal separation from God.

Once again, if we understand Scripture correctly, we are never encouraged to be apathetic about living out our faith because there will be a second chance for those who miss it the first time. There is no second chance. When Jesus returns, all creation will know it and all humanity will be judged; the righteous reputed into the bridal chamber with Jesus and the unrighteous consigned to eternal fire – instantaneously. Too many people have been lulled by this false teaching into believing that they will have time to respond – a typical Satanic deception to lure people off course. Jesus had spoken – “Watch and pray. Do not be deceived.”

Is a Rebuilt Temple on God’s Agenda?

Apologetics,

Is a Rebuilt Temple on God’s Agenda?

According to popular prophecy teaching, the antichrist, an evil political figure, who will come out of one of the great world powers, (thought at one time to be from the European Union, the ten horns of Daniel 7:7) will appear on the world’s stage at some time during the great tribulation. He will be revealed after the church is secretly raptured and out of the way, setting himself up in God’s rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and proclaiming himself to be God.
Is there any Biblical justification for this teaching?

”Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day (the day of the Lord – vs 2) will not come until the rebellion (the falling away – apostasia) occurs, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4 (NIV).

If we read this passage without referring back to the discussions on the antichrist, the man of lawlessness and the man doomed to destruction, we could erroneously interpret this as referring to a specific individual. However, we have already seen, from John’s identification of antichrist and Paul’s identification of the man of lawlessness, the man doomed to destruction, that they are both referring to more than one person, a category of people who deny the deity and humanity of Jesus, who have Judas-like characteristics and who have fallen away from the faith.

Once again, in order to understand Paul’s teaching correctly, we must examine his use of words in the original language. One English word is used to translate two Greek words for ‘temple’. The Greek word ‘hieron’ from the root meaning ‘hallowed’ or ‘holy’, is used in the New Testament to refer to the physical structure of the temple, that which is devoted to God, and everything outside of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. It is never used figuratively.

A second Greek word, ‘naos’, from the root word meaning ‘to dwell’, is always used with reference to the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary which is the dwelling place of God. The ‘naos’ was the place where only the priests ministered.

After the Book of Acts, the word ‘hieron’ is only used once (1 Cor 9:13), referring to the physical temple. In the Book of Revelation, only one word, ‘naos’, is used for the temple.

In John 2:19, 21, Jesus spoke of His body as the temple (naos). “Destroy this temple (naos), and I will raise it again in three days…But the temple He had spoken of was His body.”

If we allow Paul to interpret his own writings, we will see clearly that he equated the naos with the people of God, both individually and collectively. In his explanation about the problem of sexual immorality, he wrote, ‘All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple (naos) of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God.’ 1 Corinthians 6:18,19 (NIV).

Not only is each individual a temple of God, but also the church collectively. Paul said, “In Him (Jesus) the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple (naos) in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” Ephesians 2:21,22 (NIV).

Without using the word naos, Peter explains the same concept in 1 Peter 2:5, “…you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Since the naos in the New Testament is used of believers as the dwelling place of God, Paul’s reference to the naos in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 can only refer to a succession of individuals who deny the deity and humanity of Jesus, who have fallen away from the faith and who operate in a Judas-like, treacherous way to set themselves up in the church as God, usurping the place and authority of Christ and speaking in His name. Therefore, Paul cannot possibly be talking about a single, evil, political figure arising from outside the church who proclaims himself to be God in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem after the rapture. Accurate interpretation of the language and context does not allow it.

Before we conclude this examination of the Biblical facts, we must ask the question, what would be the purpose of a rebuilt temple? Is it in God’s agenda to have the temple rebuilt in Jerusalem?
The book of Hebrews is an extended and comprehensive apologetic regarding the completed work of Christ on earth. To sum up, the writer says, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins…First He said, “sacrifices and offerings you did not desire”…then He said, ‘”Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:4,8-10 (NIV).

“He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place, once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.” Hebrews 10:12.

To have the temple rebuilt and to re-introduce the sacrificial system would be to negate everything Jesus did on the cross and to step out of the freedom of grace and back into the slavery of the Law.
(To be continued…)

Who is the ‘Man of Lawlessness’?

Apologetics,

Who is the ‘Man of Lawlessness’?

“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Is the ‘man of lawlessness’ the same person as the man ‘doomed to destruction’?

We have already explored the identities of antichrist and the man doomed to destruction and argued for the case that both John and Paul were referring to the same category of people — not an individual but rather a succession of people who manifest the same characteristics. They are people who have apostatised from the faith, having once been in it but subsequently have fallen away as did Judas whom Jesus described as the man ‘doomed to destruction.’

According to John, antichrist is a spirit already present in the world in his day, arising from within the group of believers. The spirit that denies both the full deity and the full humanity of Jesus is the spirit of antichrist.

The title, ‘man of sin’ or ‘man of lawlessness’ (2 Thessalonians 2:3) has led millions to believe that he will be a single evil individual called the Antichrist. How does this tie up with John’s ‘many antichrists’ and Paul’s man ‘doomed to destruction’?

Paul uses different terms, man of sin, man doomed to destruction and the lawless one, to describe the same phenomenon, paralleled by John’s antichrist, Daniel’s ‘little horn’ of Daniel 7:8 and ‘the beast’ of Revelation 13:2. It is generally accepted that these all refer to the same thing.

The question is, is the Bible referring to a single individual and if so, who is this person? In Daniel 7, the little horn is not a man. Rather, it will have eyes like a man. Revelation refers to the beast which, (according to Daniel 7:17, ‘The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth,)’ is a kingdom, not a man. Therefore, to be true to the way the Bible interprets itself, all these references point to a category of people rather than an individual.

The next question we must answer is, ‘Is the term, ‘man of’, used elsewhere in Scripture and, if so, how is it used?’ Did Paul ever use the expression in such a way that it does not refer to only one man? In 2 Timothy 3:16,17, Paul wrote, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Can this expression possible refer to only one man? No. It makes sense that it refers to every person, man or woman, who is equipped through the word of God for good work. It cannot be understood any other way. In the same way Paul uses the expression ‘he is God’s servant’ in Romans 13:4, to refer to all civil officers throughout history who restrain evil under God’s authority.

If we allow Paul to interpret his own writings, in the light of the above Scriptures, we must conclude that the expression, ‘man of lawlessness’ or ‘man of sin’ could apply to a category or succession of people who place themselves above or outside of the Word of God.

Both John and Paul are telling us that there is a spirit in the world that was already at work in the early church, arising from within the church that represents a kingdom that sets itself against or above Christ.

Why is this a warning and why is it relevant for believers of every age? To relegate the ‘antichrist’ to some future evil person and to some future date is to leave the church vulnerable to both apathy and deception. Paul and John’s warnings are relevant for the church of every age so that we are not caught up in the subtle deception of this kingdom that is administered by Satan to fulfil his desire to rule in the place of Christ.

(To be continued)

Who or What is the ‘Restrainer’?

Apologetics, ,

Who or What is the ‘Restrainer’?

“Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way.” 2 Thessalonians 2:5-7 (NIV).

Up to this point we have established that the spirit of antichrist operates in a category of people who were already in the world during the days of the apostles. They had Judas-like characteristics, traitors from within the church who fell away, denying both the deity and humanity of Jesus. Before the coming of Jesus and the rapture of the church, they would take their place in the church, usurping the place of God. They would head up a powerful and destructive kingdom which would make war on the saints but Jesus would return and destroy them with the breach of His mouth.

According to Paul, there was a ‘restrainer’ who was holding antichrist back. Paul does not identify the restrainer but his readers knew who he was because Paul had discussed it with them when he was with them in Thessalonica. He confirms that the secret power of lawlessness, obviously people who were acting outside the law of God within the church, was already at work.

Before Paul was martyred, he warned the Ephesian elders who had come to say goodbye to him before he proceeded to Jerusalem where he would be arrested and taken to Rome for trial and execution, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” Acts 20:29-31 (NIV).

What was it that was holding back the unleashing of this onslaught against the church? When we discover what it was, we will realise that Paul did not disclose it in his letter for obvious reasons. It would have been politically dangerous for him to do so.

Popular prophecy teachers interpret this ‘person’ to be either the Holy Spirit or the church or perhaps both since the Holy Spirit will leave the earth with the church when the church is secretly raptured. This puts a spanner in the works of the idea that there will still be an opportunity for people to believe in Jesus during the seven years of tribulation after the church is raptured. Since it is the work of the Holy Spirit to apply salvation to people’s lives, how can they be saved if He is no longer on the earth? The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, makes us alive and gives us the assurance that we are the sons of God. Without Him no-one can be given new life in Christ.

We have to look elsewhere for the identity of the restrainer. The Reformers all agreed that the restrainer was the Roman government. As long as the Caesars were in power, the antichrist spirit operating through people was being held back. Paul uses the word ‘he’ collectively as we have already discussed regarding the ‘man of lawlessness’, indicating that it was a succession of individuals, representing a kingdom, that held back the tide of people headed by a succession of spiritual leaders who would manifest the antichrist spirit. They would be functioning within the church but not be a part of it because of their apostasy.
(To be continued…)