Participants: Jon Paulien & Jon Ciccarelli
Series Code: TBOTB
Program Code: TBOTB000012B
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00:01 Welcome back to the Books of the Book.
00:02 We're in Second Thessalonians Chapter 2. 00:04 And Jon, we are ready. We are seat belted. 00:08 We are ready for the ride. 00:09 This is gonna be, this gonna be a lot of 00:11 great stuff, heavy stuff in the several minutes 00:14 that we have together. So, take us there. 00:16 All right, one of the toughest, most challenging passages, 00:20 hope you have your thinking cap on. 00:22 In verses 5 through 7, one of the key things 00:26 and you can see it in the translation 00:27 just a little bit that we gave you, 00:29 but there is a neuter masculine pattern. 00:33 In other words, there is a restraining power here. 00:37 What that which restrains? 00:39 But then it's also, He Who restrains. 00:42 So it's neuter, that which restrains. 00:46 And it's masculine, He Who restrains. 00:50 But the same thing is true of this lawlessness. 00:53 You have a man of lawlessness, that's masculine. 00:56 You have a mystery of lawlessness, that's neuter. 00:59 You have never seen this in English 01:01 that's why I am taking the time. 01:02 Why this is such a challenging text. 01:04 Not only that. There is Jesus who comes. 01:09 The Lord Himself is a He but He destroys the wicked 01:13 by the breath of His mouth, which is neuter. 01:16 So, Paul whatever you want to identify this restrainer 01:21 or this man of sin, it's got to be something 01:24 that's both neuter and masculine 01:26 and that complicates the understanding tremendously. 01:30 Furthermore, at the end of verse seven, 01:33 it talks about, "He Who now restrains 01:36 will continue until He is out of the way." 01:41 Now He is out of the way, my translation, 01:44 some people say till he is taken out of way. 01:46 Some people say, till He was drowsed. 01:49 You can translate it either way, 01:51 so translations tends to go one way or the other. 01:54 But it's actually neutral until He is out of the way. 01:58 It doesn't tell us whether He's an active agent. 02:01 I will stay here until I feel like going. 02:04 Or if He's a subordinate agent 02:07 I'll stay here until somebody kicks me out. 02:10 The text isn't clear on which it is 02:12 and it's crucial to understanding this text. 02:16 Because who is the restrainer. 02:18 Is it some earthly power that is subject to God and His rule? 02:25 Or is it God Himself who removes Himself when the time is right. 02:29 So it's God everything is going by my plan 02:31 when the time is right I will get out of the way 02:33 and everything's gonna take place. 02:35 That part is not clear. So who is this restrainer? 02:40 Because Paul is saying, this man of sin, 02:42 this man of lawlessness will be revealed. 02:45 But right now He's being restrained. 02:48 So as Paul is speaking, a restrainer is already 02:51 at work whoever it is. 02:53 Is that work in Paul's day. 02:55 It's a law upholding power 02:57 because it's restraining lawlessness. 03:00 He's on a divine time mission. 03:02 I mean ultimately who can restrain Satan? 03:05 Only God. Yeah, right. 03:07 So and who can hold back the second coming? 03:10 Satan can't, only God. 03:12 So this is a law abiding power that's operating 03:17 on a divine plan, a divine time mission. 03:20 And at some point He leaves the scene. 03:23 The Earthly scene and allows this man 03:26 of lawlessness to be fully revealed. 03:30 So and it's neuter masculine. 03:32 So you have all of these complications and scholars 03:35 have gone a number of different ways 03:37 trying to figure out who it is. 03:39 But the two possibilities that I think are most likely 03:43 is one of them is the idea of Rome 03:46 that the restraining force is the Roman Empire, 03:51 and that the restrainer is the Roman emperor. 03:55 And that of course would be subordinate power to God 03:58 would be removed in God's timing. 04:01 And many early Christians believe this. 04:04 A number of the early writers like Hippolytus and others 04:09 wrote on these things and they had the idea 04:11 that as long as the Roman Empire is going, 04:15 the apostasy won't come. 04:16 The apostasy will be after the Roman Empire falls. 04:20 That's was a common belief and when the Roman Empire fell, 04:24 people started looking for the apostasy. 04:27 And you can see that in the early church writings 04:29 but there's an other option. 04:31 And the other option is that the restrainer is God, 04:34 because only God can restrain Satan. 04:37 Right. And the restraining force 04:39 then would be the gospel, 04:42 as the gospel is going forth it's restraining evil. 04:46 It's restraining lawlessness, it's restraining apostasy. 04:50 But when the gospel stops being preached, 04:54 oh the devil breaks loose in the world. 04:59 So those are the two options 05:01 that I think are the best options for understanding 05:04 who this restrainer in this passage is. 05:07 Well, that second option of God being the restrainer. 05:11 Seems to make sense to me, it agrees with the words 05:15 of the Jesus when He talks about the gospel 05:17 we preach in the all the world and then the end will come. 05:20 Right. Matthew 24. 05:21 Right and then in the Revelation 14 05:24 John the Revelator. You know, 05:25 that first angel's message out of the Three Angels message, 05:27 having the Eternal Gospel and then announcing 05:30 the hour of the judgment has come. 05:32 So you see in Jesus and in Revelation it seems to point 05:37 that the restrainer would be God Himself. 05:40 Amen. And one possibility we have to keep in mind 05:44 is that maybe it could be both, because in the western mind, 05:49 we kind of say, it's gotta be this or it's gotta be that. 05:51 And sometimes in the Hebrew way of thinking, 05:54 there can be a tension between two possibilities 05:57 and maybe both of them could possibly 05:59 be right in their own way. 06:01 And we'll explore that a bit further. 06:03 But why don't we move ahead to verses 8 through 10. 06:05 Okay. In verses 8 to 10 Paul writes, 06:09 "And then the lawless one will be revealed, 06:12 whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow by the breath 06:15 of his mouth and bring an end to by the brightness 06:19 of His coming, whose coming is according 06:22 to the working of Satan in all kinds of miracles 06:24 and signs and lying wonders and in every deception 06:27 of unrighteousness among those who are being destroyed." 06:31 Now you see, at some point comes this revelation of lawlessness. 06:37 The restraint is removed, then there is the Revelation 06:41 and the context of these verses is the second coming of Jesus. 06:45 You see that would be in support of the idea 06:48 that the restraint is the preaching 06:49 of a gospel and God's plan. Yeah. 06:52 And that when that restraint is removed, 06:54 when the gospel is no longer going forth to the world, 06:57 then evil will be allowed to show its full force, 07:01 will become public and obvious. 07:03 So that's one possibility. 07:05 Others however have suggested if the restrainer 07:08 is the Roman Empire, then the revelation of 07:12 lawlessness would be when the apostasy 07:15 in the church becomes public knowledge. 07:17 And so they would point to the idea that the Middle Ages 07:21 with all the excesses of the papacy in the Middle Ages 07:25 would be the place where this revelation took place. 07:29 So with the other view you could say, yes, 07:31 the Middle Ages was the mystery of lawlessness. 07:34 It's the place where, I mean, this is the church. 07:37 Yeah. And so people are saying, 07:39 this must be where God is. 07:41 And it isn't so obvious to everyone but at the end 07:44 it will become obvious to everyone. 07:47 And this is a painful truth in many ways, 07:50 to realize that opposition to God can have a Christian face. 07:55 Yeah, you know, I think if we're honest 07:57 we have to face ourselves and say, 08:00 you know, that's tension we constantly live with sin 08:03 is that opposition to the kingdom of God in my own life. 08:07 You know of really allowing that's surrender we talk about, 08:10 of really allowing Christ to reign over my life. 08:14 When Jesus came He said, I have come now 08:16 to proclaim the kingdom of God. 08:18 That you can now enter into the reigning of God. 08:20 And that's the good news, but the tension always 08:22 is trying to keep the control, 08:24 trying to keep me on the throne if you will. 08:28 Instead of letting Christ reign. 08:30 And so there are the struggle of pride and self centeredness 08:33 that definitely happen even after you're a Christian, 08:36 you know, wrestling with that. 08:37 It was a bit of a warning for all of us. 08:39 I think so. In this. 08:40 Yeah. I think even pope recently 08:45 has admitted that the excesses of the papacy 08:48 in the Middle Ages undermined the gospel 08:50 and often did great harm to many godly people. 08:55 But I would point out, there's a difference 08:56 between a system and the people who are in the system. 09:00 This is not about Catholics. 09:02 It's about a system that was often well meaning. 09:06 I think it, the system came into existence 09:08 through lots of little decisions, 09:10 the unintended consequences of which 09:13 where a system that often did harm as much as it did good. 09:18 And so, in that context we understand. 09:23 We're not talking about individuals here 09:25 but recognizing that even religion. 09:28 Religion means well, it's trying to serve God 09:31 and to honor something that God has done in the world. 09:34 But often religion gets more 09:36 focused in preserving institutions. 09:38 Yeah. Than in honoring God 09:40 and when that happens when money and wealth 09:42 and power become where it's at. 09:45 Then even though it has a Christian face, 09:47 it can be working against God. 09:49 Yeah. It can become scary really fast. 09:52 And in the final crisis, there will be no more mysteries. 09:58 All these things will be exposed. 10:00 History will become perfectly clear but prophecy gives us 10:03 windows into that history ahead of time. 10:06 Yeah, yeah. 10:07 Well, John, shall we move on to the next verse. 10:10 I think we need to. Okay let's do that. 10:12 Verses 10 through 12 Paul says, "Because they did not receive 10:16 the love of the truth in order that they might be saved, 10:20 and for this reason God sends them a working of deception 10:24 in order that they might believe the lie. 10:27 In order that all might be judged who did not 10:29 believe the truth, but delighted in unrighteousness." 10:34 Wow! John, that kind of gives me a major reaction 10:37 if you will--it sounds, it sounds terrible. 10:39 God sending a working of deception. 10:41 Yeah. Now, you're gonna have to really unpack this one. 10:44 God sending a delusion some translations have it. 10:48 What it's clear from the context is, 10:50 this deception exposes decisions that have already been made. 10:55 This revelation of lawlessness is exposing 10:58 what's going on, it's not creating it. 11:00 God sends a deception at the end in order to expose 11:05 the working of Satan, even within the church. 11:09 Those who are deceived or those who have 11:11 refused to receive the love of the truth. 11:15 There's three people in the world 11:16 those who love the truth, those who hate the truth 11:19 and that mass in the middle 11:20 that's kind of confused, you see. 11:23 In the end all of that will be exposed all that would be 11:26 revealed and the whole world will know who's on what side. 11:30 You know, we talk about truth more. 11:32 What is, what truth? 11:35 And there was a statement that Jesus 11:37 made that gets quoted often. 11:39 It says, and you shall know the truth 11:40 and the truth shall make you free. 11:43 But so often the verse just before 11:45 that and what Jesus said. 11:46 He says if you abide in my word, 11:48 you are my disciples indeed. 11:50 And then you will know the truth 11:52 and the truth will set you free. 11:54 You know and so I think it's important that we remember 11:57 the focus on Christ, of Him reigning 12:00 in our life and letting him reign. 12:03 Letting Him rule our lives and as we abide in His word 12:07 and in His truth, that also protects us 12:10 from self deception if you will. 12:13 It's interesting that my favorite author 12:16 outside of scriptures studied this text 12:18 and had some interesting things to say. 12:20 She would have said both. Both the restrainers. 12:25 Both the men of sin are there. 12:27 For example, regarding the Middle Ages, 12:30 she says, not till after the great apostasy 12:33 and long period of the reign of the man of sin. 12:35 Can we look for the advent of our Lord. 12:38 The man of sin, which is also styled mystery of iniquity 12:40 represents the papacy, which is foretold in prophecy 12:44 was to maintain its supremacy for 1260 years, 12:47 that's from Great Controversy, page 356. 12:50 But then later on in page 624 and 625, 12:55 she talks about the crowning act of the great drama of deception. 12:58 Satan himself will personate Christ. 13:02 In gentle compassion tones, he represents some of the same 13:05 gracious heavenly truths that the Savior uttered. 13:08 Heals the diseases of the people 13:10 and then assuming the character of Christ, 13:13 he claims to have changed Sabbath to Sunday 13:15 and commands all to hallow the day that he has blessed. 13:18 Only those diligent students of scripture will be shielded 13:22 from these powerful delusions. 13:24 So she sees are both end in this text, 13:27 that we've discovered here. 13:29 Yeah, well, it's been great studying this Jon 13:31 and it's been great being with you. 13:33 Knowledge is important but it's not everything. 13:35 It's abiding Christ. Until next time, 13:37 we'll see you. God bless. |
Revised 2023-01-25