"And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 NKJV
The question I hear most often now, and one that is repeated among non believers as well as those who believe, is just what in the world is going on? My reply is simply that Jesus not only told us to watch, but also told us we would see signs of His imminent return for the Church and the approach of the time of Jacobs trouble. A fact that many miss is that much needs to happen in this world to prepare for the seventieth week of Daniel and the events which will take place during those seven years. What we see happening in the world today is simply the preparation for that time which will shortly take place by those we could easily define as “Enemies of the State”.
A situation most of you have noticed is the resistance and outright opposition to the duly elected government by the liberal radical left. We can plainly see these events on the news every day with scenes of people protesting, blocking traffic, and sometimes even resorting to civil violence to try and bring about change. Then there is the weaponization of the judiciary as a means to stymie the goals of the government and hinder the implementation of executive decisions. Of course, we also can’t forget the role that the media plays in all of this with their biased negative reporting while ignoring all of the positive accomplishments of the administration. The most important point however, and the reason for today’s article, is that I’m not talking about the United States as you might have thought, but rather the nation of Israel. You see, if you compare what is happening in the US along with current events in Israel it would appear that the exact same circumstances are playing out in both countries.
Most believers who are familiar with what the Bible teaches about the tribulation period will recognize the passage above from Thessalonians as referring to the coming world leader, most often called the antichrist. Yet many miss the one word which helps to explain exactly what we are seeing in the world today, and the reason for the discontent, fear, and increasing resistance to authority which seems to be evolving into an almost daily occurrence. The word I am referring to is found in verse 9, and it is the word “after”. It is the Greek word “kata” which, while translated by the King James as “after”, also means “throughout” or “all along”. In other words, the coming antichrist appears “after the working of Satan” which has been going on all along.
As I talked with God about the “coincidence” of the growing animosity of the left towards both our government as well as Israel’s, He reminded me of the bigger picture by pointing out something I was forgetting to take into account, and that is the author of this current crisis. The struggle between good and evil has been going on since the Garden of Eden. The Word of God makes it plain that Satan has a plan to destroy God’s creation any way he can, and what we are witnessing now is simply another step in that direction. The only thing standing in his way is the Church, the body of Christ, in-dwelt by the power of the Holy Spirit acting to restrain the powers of darkness.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 NKJV
He tells us our struggle is not “against flesh and blood". You see, if it was, we would probably only need to be defended from our front where an attack by a person would probably come from. But we are facing a fight from two fronts; rulers, forces, and powers of darkness of this world, and spiritual forces of wickedness from the heavenly places. So there are at least two fronts to defend ourselves from, and these attacks can come from any direction. I can honestly say that I find it no coincidence that that both the US and Israel find themselves in the exact same situation as it could rightly be said that we are the two biggest threats to Satan’s master plan.
I think it is entirely possible that the events we are seeing not only in this country, but in Israel are a sign that we are in the “fourth quarter” where we see Satan trying anything and everything to try and win the “game”. Satan has a playbook and we are witnessing him using it against both countries. As disturbing as it is to watch the world devolve into what can only be described as outright hatred to such a degree that truly only could come from Satan, how reassuring it is for us to know that our strength comes from the Lord and our victory is already won. We can literally watch as God does our fighting for us and stand firm knowing that our deliverance, the rapture of the Church, is but moments away.
That said, it follows that believers will come under attack and suffer persecution because if we do our job, and allow the Holy Spirit to work through us, Satan’s evil plans will be stymied in some manner. The Church stands in the way of where Satan wants to take this world and it follows that he will try most anything to remove the obstacle which is the Church. The question we must ask ourselves, however, is if it’s possible he is succeeding by using current events to produce a side effect of persecution which renders the Church weaker and unable to restrain as effectively as it was intended to do?
Most scholars agree that the restrainer that Paul mentions is the Holy Spirit, sent to indwell believers on the first Pentecost after Jesus’ ascension. Without a doubt, if a poll were taken of believers concerning how hard the Spirit is having to work in these present times in order to restrain the plans of the evil one, most would probably say the Holy Spirit is working overtime. While we agree that it is the Spirit who restrains, many also fail to realize that it is the Church, those of us who have chosen to believe, that the Spirit uses to restrain evil in this world. That said, it falls upon us as believers to not only recognize what is occurring in these times we are living in, but to also share with the unbelieving world the gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope of His soon return.
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth for the sole purpose of sacrificing Himself so we can spend eternity with Him in Heaven. The signs of His imminent return for us are all around us as we witness the attacks by Satan increasing. If you have never taken the step of accepting this gift of eternal life, I urge you to do it right now. Simply pray a prayer like this one and confess to God your need for salvation, and accept the gift He provided for you by the death and resurrection of His own Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus I know I am a sinner. I have sinned against you, but I know you loved me enough to send your Son, Jesus Christ to die for my sins and then rise from the dead so that I may live forever with You. Lord forgive me of my sins and come into my life and help me to begin to live for You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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