Apostasy (Study No. 3)
(2 Thessalonians 2:3a) “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first”
Ever since the first century there was those who departed from the faith once delivered to the saints. We read about Demas when Paul wrote to Timothy about him; “Make every effort to come to me quickly, because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Timothy 4:9). Demas had at one time been one of Paul’s “fellow workers” in the gospel ministry along with Mark, Luke, and others (Philemon 1:24). During Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, Demas was also in Rome (Colossians 4:14).
There is no doubt Demas would have been a saved man. However, his love for this world replaced his love for the LORD and for his fellow believers and for the work of the gospel. The apostle John wrote; “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15-17). Clearly this would have applied to Demas on scriptural grounds.
One just has to review the history of Christendom down to the present time to see multitudes who professed to have faith in Messiah fall away, either due to persecution or much more so due to spiritual seduction through the teachings of false prophets and teachers which have always been around but in these last days are a multiplying infestation within the wider Body of Messiah.
One just has to view the website of the largest Christian broadcasting and television network in the world to see this apostasy fermenting. You have a mixture which God hates. You have reputable Biblical ministries side by side with unbiblical ministries. Looking at the list of speakers on this website you have the mixture of those who are proclaimers of the truth of God’s Word alongside of the heretics misusing the Word of God. It seems profiteering on the blood of the Lamb is the going thing with this network!
In the letter Paul wrote to the assembly at Thessalonica he mentions the apostasy that will occur just prior to the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus, that will pave the way for the revealing of the man of sin to the world and to the Body of Messiah, and that the coming of this man of sin will be aligned with all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders being embraced by those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and be saved.
In fact because they have chosen spiritual deception God will give them over to it as he did with Ahab to listen to the false prophets whom God sent a lying spirit into their mouths to deceive Ahab who has already been captivated by occult power through his wife Jezebel, a witch and practitioner of the occult. Satan always goes for the leaders in the same way a sniper in the time of war will seek to take out the officers of the opposing force. If the sniper takes out the officers then the army lacks direction and the chain of command is broken.
Our Lord Jesus Himself said; “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23).
It has been said that our eyes are the window to the soul. What we look at will affect what happens deep down on the inside of us and ultimately effect what we say and do as believers. If we focus our eyes on whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable and on anything that is excellent or praiseworthy and think on these things, then our thoughts, our words and our actions will radiate the light of God in and through our lives to others (Philippians 4:8).
If we focus on the Word of God then it will affect even our bodies. As we read in the book of Proverbs; “Do not lose sight of them (God’s instructions in His Word); keep them within your heart, for they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body. Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life” (Proverbs 4:21-23). For example if we watch pornography continuously we will be entertaining and inviting spiritual darkness into our lives and ultimately have it expressed in outward actions. The body itself will be spiritually contaminated and defiled and ultimately filled to the full with spiritual darkness.
Using a metaphor of this teaching we can ask the question “who gives spiritual light to the Body of Messiah?” Teachers do, and they are the eyes for the Body of Messiah. If what they teach is a mixture of truth and error then spiritual darkness will not only affect them but also invade the body of Messiah they have the responsibility to shepherd and to keep from the wolves in sheep’s clothing encircling the flock. This is why those of us who teach will be judged with a greater strictness when we pass under the rod of the chief shepherd at the judgement seat of Messiah. In this study we will consider the Apostasy
“The Apostasy”
(2 Thessalonians 2:3-12) “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it (the Day of the LORD which includes the Second Coming of Messiah and our gathering together around Him at his Second Coming) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 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; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 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. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
“Let no one deceive you by any means; Spiritual deception and seduction is the great danger to the Body of Messiah. In times of persecution it is clear who is of the truth and who is not. When persecution is absent spiritual seduction is the tool Satan uses to spiritually seduce the Body of Messiah. In Matthew Chapter 24 the Messiah our Lord Jesus mentions spiritual deception at least four times. In fact His first warning was about spiritual deception. Satan will use any means he can to deceive even the elect saints. Many of God’s elect saints are being deceived today by the myriad of false prophets and teachers that the apostles also warned us about would be prevalent in the body of Messiah in the last days and lead many astray (2 Peter 2:1-4). Just watch the internet and television and you will see them plying their wares to attract attention to themselves and their ministries and raking in the dollars by the bucket full!
Today you have the hyper faith prosperity money preachers, the Kingdom Now, Kingdom Dominion doctrines, the ecumenical amalgamations of Protestant, Roman Catholic, evangelical and charismatic churches using the Alpha Course across the denominational spectrum with its original leader one who seems to have no qualms about shaking hands with the Pope of Rome. You have a growing interest within wider Christendom with interfaith dialogue and associations. Today you have so called ‘progressive’ churches that affirm unnatural sexual unions and avoid preaching about such Biblical truths as the need for repentance, about sin and its consequences, about the need for righteousness, about the reality of hell and the lake of fire, about Eschatology and God’s end time prophetic purposes for Israel, and about the judgement to come. Many minimise or neglect the preaching about the Second Coming of Messiah.
Then you have all kinds of spiritual manifestations of one sort or another that are not Biblical but attributed to the Holy Spirit, such crazy things as grave sucking, the reading of tarot destiny cards, falling gold dust and angel’s feathers, not to mention the glory clouds and all kinds of outrageous uncontrolled yelling and shouting. Then you have the New Apostolic Reformation movement that teaches an unbiblical form of apostleship and an organization loaded with money. It is all spiritual deception. The devil has the world and the apostates within Christendom deceived already, the ones he is after is you and I who want to remain true to the absolute authority of scripture and hold fast to our testimony to the Messiah our Lord Jesus. Those who stay true to the Word of God in many churches are being targeted today within apostate Christendom.
“…for it (the Day of the LORD which includes the Second Coming of Messiah and our gathering together around Him in the air) will not come unless the apostasy comes first.”
“…the apostasy” describes “a falling away, a defection from the truth or the apostasy or a forsaking of the truth” It is “the apostasy” or the last falling away that will happen on a global scale, especially after the revealing of the man of sin. It also needs to be said that if the Body of Messiah was to be raptured out before the man of sin is revealed then why would have Paul written to them about his arrival if they were no longer here on earth? This apostasy is a deliberate stepping out of a strong spiritually secure position in Messiah and stepping into a spiritually deadly situation and taking others with them and even teaching them to follow what is false. Truth is thrown to the ground and trampled underfoot! The apostasy then will pave the way for this man of sin.
“…and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,” or “the son of lawlessness” or one whom is without law, who has contempt for God’s law and the things of God and who loves to violate it and is rebellious and wicked.
“…who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God.”
“…he takes his seat” describes “to make or to sit down, to set, to appoint, to confer a kingdom on one, intransitively to sit down, to sit, to have fixed one’s abode, to sojourn, to settle or to settle down.”
“…in the temple of God displaying himself as being God.” the word “temple” is used of “the temple at Jerusalem, but only of the sacred edifice (or sanctuary) itself, consisting of the Holy place and the Holy of Holies. In classical Greek it is used of the sanctuary or cell of the temple, where the image of the god was placed which is distinguished from the whole enclosure. Metaphorically, the spiritual temple consisting of the saints of all ages joined together by and in Messiah.” When the man of sin is worshipped as God in the rebuilt temple structure on the Temple Mount in some way he will also be worshipped in Christendom.
Paul does not clarify which temple, but when you consider the close relationship between Judaism and Christianity this is a distinct possibility the apostates in both Judaism and Christendom will worship him as God. Historically about 160 years before the birth of Messiah when Antiochus Epiphanes the Seleucid Greek general and despot set up an image to Zeus in the Jewish temple, forbade the reading of Torah, slaughtered a pig on the altar in the temple and commanded the Jews to embrace Greek religious and secular practices, and killed many Jews who would not comply, many Jewish religious leaders compromised with Antiochus while a remnant refused.
The patriots, called the Maccabees, resisted Antiochus and eventually after quite a few pitched battles with his armed forces, kicked him out of Israel and re-consecrated the Temple, but many faithful Jews were betrayed by false brethren and martyred for their faith and opposition to his despotic rulership (Daniel 11:31-35). Antiochus was a major type of the Antichrist and what he did mirrors what the Antichrist will do when he arrives centre stage in world affairs, and this is a subject in itself.
“Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.”
Rabbi the apostle Paul had spent about three weeks or so with the assembly at Thessalonica and had taught them quite a lot about the matter of Eschatology or the doctrine of the last things or the last days. In all of the epistles in the New Testament 1 & 2 Thessalonians are the two letters that teach much about Eschatology. In fact in the New Testament the Second Coming of Messiah was often connected to holy and righteous living in preparation for His Second Coming. Today in many churches it is the norm in the preaching to have ‘feel-good’ seeker-friendly, seeker- sensitive ‘sermons’ motivational messages, where those who need to repent are comforted in their sins. As for the offense of the cross where God’s will and man’s will cross, it is smothered by much talk about love, however, is it the love that Bible speaks about or some human opinion about love that seeks to avoid offending people. Real love tells the truth as it is!
“And you know” The word describes “to discern, to discover, to perceive, to inspect, to examine, to be skilled in this knowledge.” It’s a knowledge that goes beyond a mere human understanding of the intellect but something revealed to one’s inner spirit based on what they were taught by the apostle Paul. This “knowing” is not perceived by the unsaved or by those within Christendom who are spiritually backslidden (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).
“…what restrains him now” describes “to hold back, to detain, to restrain, to hinder the course or progress of the man of sin’s appearing, to have the firm possession of and to cease from seeking to remove the restraint.” There are three things that restrain lawlessness today. There is human government where there you have those nations where just and fair law enforcement is practiced to restrain evil in society. Then there is the Body of Messiah working for the Kingdom of God and holding back the evil of satanic forces, and then there is the Holy Spirit Himself dwelling in the Body of Messiah corporately, but also independently from the body, restraining the man of sin from coming to power.
However the time will come when the one who restrains being the Holy Spirit Himself will remove his restraint of this man of sin, and once this happens lawlessness will abound in the world. While God will still be in control, His judgements will be unleashed in the earth. As it is written; “He is the LORD our God; His judgments carry throughout the earth” (Psalm 105:7). And again we read “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts” (Psalm 7:11-13). And yet again we read; “The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. The wicked will return to Sheol (Hell), all the nations who forget God” (Psalm 9:16-17). God makes a distinction between the wicked and the righteous when it is written of Him; “The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous” (Proverbs 15:29). This aspect of God’s nature and character is missing in the seeker-friendly, seeker-sensitive motivational messages we hear today.
“…so that in his time he will be revealed.” The time will come when the Holy Spirit will remove His restraining power and the man of sin will be revealed and the faithful Body of Messiah will recognise him, whereas the apostates will not, but follow and worship him and do his bidding to save their own lives in this world, having been fully deceived by the evil ones occult power. When the apostasy reaches the zenith of its manifestation the man of sin will be revealed, the restraint of the Holy Spirit will be lifted. When this happens the whole world will be plunged into the worst nightmare imaginable.
“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.”
“For the mystery of lawlessness” the word “mystery” describes “something confided only to the initiated and not to ordinary mortals, a hidden or secret thing, not obvious to the understanding, a hidden purpose or counsel.” This mystery is not known to the unsaved or the spiritually backslidden professing Christians, neither is it known by those who are ensnared in the apostasy (1 Corinthians 2:14). Only those who have the knowledge of God’s Word illuminated by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:15-16), will see this mystery of lawlessness for what it really is and hibernating as it were, until the time when it will be fully revealed in the man of sin and enforced throughout his vast empire. It is the mystery of lawlessness or Torahlessness, or that which is without law which is already at work in the world, and within Israel and within wider Christendom.
“…only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.” Some have suggested that this is a reference to the rapture of the Body of Messiah before the man of sin is revealed, because they say the Holy Spirit is living in believers and so the Holy Spirit will also be removed along with the faithful Body of Messiah. However the text does not teach this. It teaches us that the restraining power of the Holy Spirit is removed but not that He leaves this earth. Imagine a wild bull in a coral trying to get out but confined until the gate is opened to let him loose, this is the idea behind the restraint being removed. Once the Holy Spirit releases his restraining hold on the man of sin he will be revealed at the time God has appointed. This will occur after the power of restraint has been removed…
“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”
“That lawless one” describes “one who is destitute of God’s law, who departs from the Law of God and a is a wilful violator of God’s Law” This man of sin will not be subject to any law be it of God or of man, but only what this man of lawlessness decrees will prevail.
“…will be revealed” describes one “who is uncovered, who was veiled but has now been revealed to men to make bare his real intentions and purposes to men.” The mystery of lawlessness that has actually been at work down through the ages will be fully manifested in this man of sin. We also know that there have been many antichrists since the first century and that they all teach us aspects of the antichrist to come at the end of this present age (1 John 2:18). The word “antichrist” has two meanings contained in it. Firstly it means “against Messiah,” and secondly “in place of Messiah.” Satan must dethrone the Real Messiah within Christendom and replace Him with a false Messiah. This is why we see many theologians and denominations and even theological seminaries departing from the Biblical revelation of Messiah. Many have the right Messiah but have Him all wrong, especially those who are all for ecumenism and even interfaith associations and into the hyper faith prosperity and kingdom dominion camps.
In Matthew Chapter 24 the Lord Jesus spoke about many false Messiahs that would come after Him once He had ascended to the Father after His resurrection from the dead. The word “Messiah” means “the anointed one.” False Messiahs are not only a reference to those claiming to be the Messiah Himself, but more so to those false prophets and teachers who have a false anointing. They have supernatural power but it is not from God such as we see in the magicians of Egypt that were able up to a point to replicate the genuine miracles of Moses and Aaron. In the end Moses and Aaron prevailed! In these last days when false teachers and prophets are abounding within wider Christendom God is exposing many of them today even using the secular media to do this (2 Timothy 3:8-9). The man of sin or lawlessness will surely come and we will see him revealed, he…
“…whom the LORD will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.” The man of sin, or lawlessness, will be slain by the Messiah through the breath of His mouth, that breath being God the Holy Spirit, that same Spirit of God who was active at creation and who created things that did not exist by the words of the Triune God that came from His mouth. The Holy Spirit will slay the man of sin at the command of the Messiah. When God speaks the Holy Spirit goes to work, and whatever the Father and the Son decrees and declares comes into being. As it is written; “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere Him. For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples” (Psalm 33:8-10). When the Messiah our Lord Jesus returns He will put an end to the man of sin and his wicked and rebellious empire. The word “appearance” can also be translated as “brightness.” This refers to the visible Second Coming of Messiah, a public event that no one will be able to avoid. There is only one visible Second Coming (Matthew 24:27) (Revelation 1:7; 6:12-17). Concerning this man of sin…
“…that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish.”
“…that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan.” The man of lawlessness will be personally indwelt by Satan as this man of lawlessness is also called “the son of perdition.” The only other man in the Bible given the title was Judas Iscariot who betrayed the Lord Jesus. As we read what the Lord Jesus said about Judas when He was praying to His father in heaven. “While I was with them (His disciples), I protected and preserved them by Your name, the name You gave Me. Not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction (perdition), so that the Scripture would be fulfilled” (John 17:12).
We also read where Satan actually entered personally into Judas during the last supper when he was about to betray the Lord Jesus. Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this morsel after I have dipped it.” Then He (the Lord Jesus) dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. And when Judas had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to Judas, “What you are about to do, do quickly” (John 13:26-27). Judas was among the disciples and the man of sin will physically sit in the Temple of God at Jerusalem but also metaphorically dwell within apostate Christendom through the spirit of Antichrist. In the New Testament you have the spirit of Antichrist, his unseen spiritual power, you have many antichrists, those with a false anointing, and the antichrist himself being the full manifestation of both the spirit of antichrist and of the many antichrists that were before him (1 John 2:22-23; 4:1-3). The man of sin is coming…
“…with all power and signs and false wonders” All kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders will be accompanying the man of sin when he is revealed. The unsaved in the world will worship him and his image, all whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of life, while the faithful Body of Messiah will be persecuted. As the apostle John writes; “Then the beast was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast (He and the governmental system of his empire), all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 13:7-8). Notice the phrase “all those who dwell on earth.” This is a phrase that describes those who are at home in this world, “the earth dwellers.” Those who are being persecuted are “those who are dwelling in heaven, or heaven dwellers” These are they who are spiritually reigning with the Messiah in heavenly places even though they are still living in their physical bodies on earth (Ephesians 2:6).
“…and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish.” Those who pursue wickedness are slaves to spiritual deception. The activity of Satan is spiritual deception. In scripture when we see Satan describes as the serpent he is the deceiver and when he is described as a dragon he is the persecutor of the saints. When spiritual deception does not work his last ditch stand is physical persecution. Where the individual saints are being persecuted they will either be for the Lord Jesus or against Him. Where there is spiritual deception prevalent the demarcation between true and false brethren is not easily to discern and even the very elect can if possible be deceived (Matthew 24:24), if they are not maintaining spiritual watchfulness and living daily by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).
Notice the phrase “those who perish.” Some use this word “perish” to describe physical death and it does, however, it can be used metaphorically and it is used in this way in the New Testament to describe spiritual death. In the spiritual application “to perish” does not mean that something ceases to exist, but that it can no longer be used for the purpose for which it was created. Annihilation is not Biblical! When the New Testament speaks of eternal life the same Greek word eternal is used for eternal death. Whenever one physically dies they go to one of two places, either they go to heaven or go to hell. There is no place in between. The Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory is not Biblical. Why do the unrepentant wicked perish?
“…because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” This action is one of the human will. They perish eternally because they did not receive the salvation offered to them in the Messiah our Lord Jesus. Now the word “receive” describes an action of the will. It is to “take with the hand, to take hold of, to take up something available to be taken, a voluntary action, to sustain, to bear, to make one’s own and to embrace it.” Salvation is a free gift but it needs to be received by faith and with a willingness to submit to the will of God for one’s life. It is the faith of obedience (Romans 1:5; 16:26). It is he who believes in and obeys the Son of God who will experience eternal life (John 3:16-18, 36 KJV). The Messiah our Lord Jesus said; “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). The only way anyone can obey the Word of God is if they are born again and God’s laws are written in their hearts by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:33-34) (John 3:3) (Romans 2:28-29) (2 Corinthians 5:17) (Galatians 6:15).
If we really love the Lord Jesus then we will love His word the Bible and want to do what it says. Our obedience is not perfect, however, if we seek to keep ourselves under the power of the blood of Messiah and open to the control of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by a willingness to obey what we read in the Bible, then we will be empowered by the Spirit to keep His commandments and walk in that faith that pleases God and that He rewards for those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). We also need to keep in mind that we walk by faith and not be sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), nor by how we feel, or by our circumstances which are changeable, even at the best of times. If we have Biblical saving faith then we will have works along the like of the faith we confess, and having that faith that produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our life (Galatians 5:22-25) (James 2:14-24).
This faith is God’s gift to us as a result of His unmerited favour towards us. As we read; “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). The faith of obedience activates the will of God in our lives which He has planned from all eternity. David recognised this when he wrote; “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16).
Now those who perish do so because “they do not receive the love of the truth.” The word used for love here is the Greek word “agape” which is that divine supernatural love that can only be imparted into the soul and the spirit by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). This supernatural love from God is impossible for the unsaved person. The highest expression of love a human being can exercise is the Greek word “storge” which is that kind of love a mother might express in being willing to even give her life to save her child. This of course is a reflection of the love of God, but it is not agape. God’s love towards us is unconditional and is still extended towards us even though we are undeserving of it because of our sin and rebellion. While He is more willing to forgive us than we are willing to be forgiven, He still requires a response from us.
s Moses said to Israel; “I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). If men and women do not receive by faith the love of the truth, being God’s Word, then they cannot be saved, and if they persist in this rebellious attitude of mind and heart towards God then…
“For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence” God will see to it that they are deceived. The phrase “a deluding influence” describes “a wandering about aimlessly, a straying about, one led astray from the right way, who roams here and there without any compass to guide them, a state of mind the leads into deceit and doctrinal error.” This influence is one of a superhuman power, not produced by man or by the action of his will. This deliberate action of the human will not to seek, or to experience the love of the truth, will ultimately lead to a deluding influence from God and when this happens they will no longer be able to believe the truth even when they hear it.
Concerning King Ahab who has been mentioned already, he persistently rejected the Word of the LORD and because of this the LORD sent a lying spirit into the mouths of the false prophets who served Jezebel the witch and practitioner of the occult, and the wife of Ahab. After a final battle when Ahab was slumping in his chariot having been mortally wounded, as he died we are told the sun was setting, it was sunset. In other words he died spiritually as well as physically. Metaphorically in the Bible when the sun is setting it represents physical and spiritual death, however, in the Bible when the sun is rising it represents resurrection. Ahab refused the love of the truth and God sent him a deluding influence to the point where he could no longer love and embrace the truth. Likewise God will send a deluding influence to those who refuse the love of the truth…
“…so that they will believe what is false,” describing “that which is an outright lie, a conscious and intentional falsehood, a perverse, impious and deceitful precept” being imparted by the spirit of antichrist that has been permitted by the LORD.
“…in order that they all may be judged.” The word “judged” describes “to separate, put asunder, to pick out, to select, to choose, to determine, resolve, to decree, to bring before the judgement of a court, to pronounce judgement after examination in a court of law. Why are they judged?
“…who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” They chose and determined to willingly prefer to take pleasure in and to be favourably inclined towards wickedness without compunction. That wickedness God calls a refusal to believe and to receive the love of the truth. Today then, the final apostasy is well under way and when the man of sin comes to power multitudes will fall away from the faith and betray each other to save their lives in this world. The tail of the dragon will sweep many stars out of heaven. This has already happened down through Church history but will come to its zenith when the man of sin takes up his seat in God’s temple. At this time the persecution of the saints will be “off the scale.” Those who are truly saved will be given God’s grace, His wisdom, His power and his words to stand their ground, to make a good confession of their faith and to persevere to the very end (Luke 21:12-19) (1Peter 4:12-19).
