2Th 2:1-12; Deception Causes Pain. God Will Use It as Discipline.
length: 58:20 - taught on Sep, 20 2023
Class Outline:
Wednesday September 20, 2023
Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
In the Tribulation, the antichrist promotes the usual deceptions, but with his own power, signs, and false wonders.
Deceptions in the NT: wealth (MAT 13:22; MAR 4:19); sin (HEB 3:13); empty deceit (false doctrine COL 2:8); desire (EPH 4:22).
Promoted by a miraculous world ruler.
Unbelievers during the Tribulation:
They believe the signs and wonders, but then also they have to believe the claims and boasts behind them.
Anyone would be awestruck with antichrist’s powers, but what about them in light of his so-called truth?
Powers should not deceive when the message of the powerful is spoken.
And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.
Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. 2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. 3 I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;
One of the signs is that he is killed and comes back to life.
They are amazed, anyone would be, but their amazement does not diminish upon learning that he blasphemes God, makes war with Christians and murders them.
they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?" 5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
Despite what he says and does they are going to follow him because he wins wars, performs signs, and was resurrected.
2TH 2:10, 12 they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved … who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
The deceived follow unrighteousness which in turn makes them dull to the clear warnings from God (folly).
As believers we must recognized that all sin dullens our spiritual intellect.
Our passage and here in Rev 13 deals with the unbelievers who have always been known to be so.
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
They enjoyed wickedness and that’s what antichrist did.
As did his aide-de-camp the false prophet.
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. 12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. 15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
False conclusion of romanticism:
No one should be judged for their decisions in light of holiness.
We may on some level want to sympathize with the unbelievers. If they do not worship the devil, and the beast, and his image, they will be killed.
They were warned over and over.
The 144,000 spread the gospel, cannot be hurt by the beast, and have the name of the Lord right on their heads as they boldly travel all over speaking the truth of the gospel.
Another angel goes about the whole earth, to every nation and person, telling them the good news of the gospel and that judgment it coming.
And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters."
8 And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality."
9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."
Common grace: The truth is made clear to all.
Just as we saw in Rom 1
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God
You can worship the beast and die or you can believe the gospel and die. One will die at the hand of the antichrist and the other will die followed by eternity in the lake of fire. One will be persecuted for a short time and the other forever. These truths are made plain. But millions refuse to believe the gospel of Christ.
Wickedness dulls good thinking. It quenches the desire to know the truth of a matter and therefore the desire to seek for true answers.
Righteousness on the other hand inspires good thinking, living righteousness not positional righteousness. All believers in Christ are declared righteous by God, but not all of them are good thinkers. The human mind like the human body was meant to run on the goodness of God, that which is right. Unrighteousness or wickedness destroys the ability of both the body and the mind to function the way God would have them be, even in a fallen world.
the immoral man sins against his own body
When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
In part of His answer as to why He spoke to the people in parables:
For the heart of this people has become dull,
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness;
Living righteousness seeks the truth and so people who thirst for righteousness develop skills for learning the truth behind a matter. They ask, seek, and open doors. The beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord.
The wicked are dull of thinking, seeing, and hearing.
God sends a working error or strong delusion so that they will be judged.
For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
In whatever way God does so, He does it for the purpose of judgment.
In a moral universe, seeing the truth is key to living in a prosperous way before God. The deceived do not prosper.
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity … [worshipped idols]
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; … [homosexuality]
God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper [every manner of wickedness and sin]
We lose a good deal of the meaning when we try to define just how God does this. We must simply understand that He does judge people in time by giving them over to things that will cause more wrong and pain in their lives.
Whether it is by circumstances or from forces that God works withing them, He blinds them.
He said, "Go, and tell this people:
'Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
Keep on looking, but do not understand.'
10 "Render the hearts of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull,
And their eyes dim,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed."
For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep,
He has shut your eyes, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, the seers.
It is a judicial blinding. In 2TH 2:11 it is a working delusion in the sense that to be misled by falsehood is the divine judgment inevitably incurred in a moral universe by those who close their eyes to the truth.
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