HE WHO NOW LETTETH

The second coming



So here are our verses:

2Th 2:1-8
(1)  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
(2)  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
(3)  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
(4)  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
(5)  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
(6)  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
(7)  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
(8)  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

And I am going to try to keep this, in a very simple way.

We will start with verse 1:

2Th 2:1-3
(1)  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
(2)  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
(3)  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Now verse 1 talks of Christ coming, and people gathering together unto him.

And this coming was mentioned in the previous chapter of Thessalonians.

2Th 1:8-10
(8)  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
(9)  Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
(10)  When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

This is talking about the second coming of the Lord, and in 2Thess. 2:2-3, it mentions that this coming day is referred to as one day.

And here are scriptures shown side by side, that match up to each other:



This is a no brainer.

2Th 2:1-2
(1) Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
(2) That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

So Paul here was exhorting the Thessalonians to not be shaken in mind, and so on, as that the day of Christ is at hand, because at this time, the day of Christ, was not at hand, there were things that had to first take place, and our next scripture answers what had to take place:


2Th 2:3
(3)  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

See the bible answers itself, we do not need to guess.

So the second coming of Christ, would only be at hand, once these 2 things take place, which was the falling away, and the revealing of the man of sin, the Antichrist.

There is nothing complicated about this.

And the right way to receive prophecy is not by being troubled by it, but to rejoice that the Lord is coming soon, Christians should not be troubled by it, which of course it will be troublesome for the world, and we want to see people saved.

God wants us to trust him, regardless to the events, but at the same time he wants us to believe that what he said will come to pass will come to pass, God is glorified when we trust him and believe him and of course lovingly obey him.

We know that if the falling away is here, then that is an indication that the second coming is near, and of course one more sign that the second coming is near, in this scripture, is the revealing of the Antichrist.

Sometimes we seek for some very complicated revelation, but it does not have to be complicated, just receive it as a child.

Verse 3


2Th 2:3
(3)  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;


So Paul was calling what they were saying, about the day of the Lord being at hand in their time, deception.

Very interesting remark, which we have to give heed to.

But Paul gives a correction, and says that that day will not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed.

So when these things happen, or are on the scene, you know that the day of the Lord is at hand, and soon to come to pass.

Here is the Greek definition for falling away:

(Strong's concordance)

(G646
ἀποστασία
apostasia
ap-os-tas-ee'-ah

Feminine of the same as G647; defection from truth (properly the state), (“apostasy”): - falling away, forsake.
Total KJV occurrences: 2)


So when this falling away happens, many will be defecting from truth, and in order to fall away from something, you first need to be in that something.

Here are verses side by side to each other:




Many times in the bible, their are sister verses that are in harmony with one the other, which we can see here.

So this specific falling away, takes place when?

It takes place at a time to were the second coming is near to taking place, so it could not of happened in the 1800's, 1500's, 1900's, 300's or in the apostles' day, otherwise the second coming would have occurred sometime in these times.

And when does the Antichrist get revealed?

2Th 2:6
(6)  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

He gets revealed in his time, and not any other time, and he gets revealed at a time to were the second coming of Christ, is near to come to pass.

And what has to happen first, is the following away, and sometime after this falling away is on the scene, he gets revealed in who he is.

We just have to follow what it says, nothing added or taken away, not over guessing what he says, but rather just believing what he says, and the more you believe it, the more he will give you understanding on it.

Many try to understand it, before believing it first.

I will get more into this falling away, in my next post, and also into the revealing of the Antichrist.

It should be eye opening.

Falling away

So we can see that, the falling away is referring to some type of departure of the faith, that is someone who was a Christian, who now has departed from the faith, and is giving heed to another gospel.

Now the verse of the falling away, of course, is this one:

2Th 2:3
(3)  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;


But another interesting scripture, which speaks of the same thing (falling away), is found in our next verses, but gives other details:

1Ti 4:1-3
(1)  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
(2)  Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
(3)  Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

So these people are mentioned here, as departing from the faith, because of them heeding to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.

And in order for them to "heed" to doctrines of devils, they first must hear doctrines of devils.

Now the ones speaking lies in hypocrisy, are deceitful men that are deceiving the hearers, and who have had their conscience seared with a hot iron.

And in verse 3, it shows some of what these liars were saying, such as the forbidding of marriage, and another one was the abstaining of meats.

No doubt they were saying all kinds of false doctrine, but in verse 3 it mentions just some of them.

Now Paul speaks here of, that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith.

He was not speaking of his time, but of another time, in fact it says latter times, in a plural form.

And I checked out verses in the bible that either say "latter times" (plural), "latter days", "last days", "latter time" (singular).

Here is what I found: concerning the words "latter times" (plural), those specific words together, are only found one time in the bible, which is in 1Timothy 4:1, now concerning the words "latter time" (singular), it is also only found one time in the bible, which his found in Daniel 8:23 , but concerning the rest (last days, latter days) those words together are found many times in the bible.

Now let us get back to our Thessalonians scripture:

2Th 2:3
(3)  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

There is no doubt that this specific falling away, mentioned in Thessalonians, is strictly referring to an apostasy, that takes place near the time of the second coming.

But what about the Timothy verse?

1Ti 4:1
(1)  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

It mentions the words, latter times, plural.

So could it be a double prophecy, of it referring to a time, that was not too far off from Paul's time, and also to a time leading towards the second coming?


1Ti 4:1-3
(1)  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
(2)  Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
(3)  Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.


Notice some of the doctrines mentioned, such as forbidding to marry, and abstaining of meats.

And two influential men in the early centuries, but not influential in a good way, were Constantine, and Augustine.

Now Constantine was born in 272 A.D. and died in 337 A.D., and Augustine was born in 354 A.D. and died in 430 A.D.


This is what is said of the time of Constantine:

(https://www.eaec.org/cults/romancatholic.htm)

(...The popes were not the only ones that struggled with sexual misconduct; the clergy were just as guilty. When the doctrine of celibacy began to be taught, many clergy were married men. An edict was established in 315 A.D. that forbade a priest to remarry if his wife were to die....)


(Encyclopedia Britannica, 1960, book13, page 923)

(...Lent...
...Of the Lenten fast, or Quadragesima, the first mention is in the fifth canon of the council of Nicea (325), and from this time it is frequently referred to...)


So there seems to have been some type of preaching of celibacy even in the time of Constantine, but it seems because of the reading I did, that it was not as strong back then, but still was there, but it gained ground through people like Augustine and so on.

Now in around the time of the 3rd century (200s) as I read, there were groups such as the Montanists who had some form of doctrine, that spoke against marriage and maybe such doctrines influenced some people of that time.

Here is a comment from John Gill, on 1 Timothy 4:3.

(John Gill)

(...1 Timothy 4:3
Forbidding to marry,.... Which points out not the Encratites, Montanists, and Manichees, who spoke against marriage; but the Papists, who forbid it to their priests under a pretence of purity and holiness, ...)


Now here is stuff said of Augustine:


(History of the churches, David W. Cloud)

(...Augustine...7. He accepted the doctrine of "celibacy" for "priests", supporting the decree of "Pope" Siricius of 387 that ordered that any priest that married or refused to separate from his wife should be disciplined....)


And of course concerning Lent, which has existed even in Old Testament times, there is a type of forbidding to eat certain meats on certain days.

Now it is said that Constantine was the founder of Roman Catholicism, which I bear witness with that, and what he did was merge so called Christianity with paganism, which formed Roman Catholicism.

And during this time, Constantine eventually gained favor among many Christians of the day, and caused many to apostatize, to his form of Roman Christianity, and he promised them peace, and they had peace for a little while, but eventually Constantine began to persecute many groups., including Christians that did not accept his ecumenical unity.

But for the most part, especially from the beginning of Constantine's persecutions, even unto the 1600s, there was furious persecutions against the Christians, and the method mainly used, during this time, was what is called the inquisition.

But the first major ecumenical council that was, was through Constantine, which deceived the people.

And throughout their history they may have had some certain ecumenical councils, but nothing like what has taken place in the 1900's and 2000s.

Especially since the Vatican 2 council, and these ecumenical councils, and these formations, more in our time, of evangelicals and Catholics together, as caused many to apostatize.

And now most have joined in to this all inclusive, ecumenical movement.

But is history about to repeat itself?

Like it did with Constantine?

See first Constantine appeared to be as one that is peaceful, wanting to unite under a false peace, well that is what the Catholic church is doing today, trying to unite people under a false peace, but will the Catholic church eventually turn on people and show it's true colors of persecution like Constantine did?

Well this is what is said of the False prophet:

Rev 13:14-15
(14)  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
(15)  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.


We know that the Antichrist will persecute the church, but here it is talking about the False prophet, and it says that he will cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

So the False prophet shall be in on the persecution.

And the word Vatican hill, in Latin means the hill of the soothsayer, which a soothsayer in the bible, is a false prophet.

Now I do not bear witness that the Antichrist shall be a pope, but I do bear witness, because of the symbolism, and other things, that this False prophet will be a pope, but which pope, I do not know.

So concerning people departing from the faith in the latter times, seems to me to have a double meaning, which points to the apostasy that happened near the time of the forming of the Roman Catholic church, and to what is currently happening via people departing from the faith through apostasy.

I guess I will comment more on the Antichrist, in one of my next posts.

God loves yas.

Read 2 posts down, on the post entitled falling away, I believe you guys will like it.

frienduff     John

Always remember Watchful that this restraining stuff restrains or withholds, unto the time that the Antichrist is on the scene and gets revealed, and the second coming is near to come to pass, so it was not referring to Paul at all.

Paul mentioned what was withholding, there is no guessing needed, and he said that a falling away had to first come, and that answer, which is plainly said in the bible, is good enough for me.

That which withholdeth, and he who now letteth


2Th 2:3-7
(3)  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
(4)  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
(5)  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
(6)  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
(7)  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.


A big subject here, is the revealing of the Antichrist.

And it says here that before the revealing of the Antichrist happens, there must be a falling away first, and all of this has to happen at some point, just before the second coming takes place.

We just have to follow the train of thought, nothing added or taken away.

In verse  6, Paul says, now ye know, and you cannot now know something, unless you were now told what this thing is.

What did Paul previously say? He said that there must come a falling away first.

The words withholdeth, and let, have a very similar meaning, and both use the exact same Greek word.

Here it is:

(Strong's concordance)

(G2722
κατέχω
katechō
kat-ekh'-o

From G2596 and G2192; to hold down (fast), in various applications (literally or figuratively): - have, hold (fast), keep (in memory), let, X make toward, possess, retain, seize on, stay, take, withhold.
Total KJV occurrences: 19)

Now here is the definition of the word stay:

(Webster's dictionary)

(STAY, v.t. pret. and pp. staid, for stayed.
1. To stop; to hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain.)


Now let us get back to our verse:

2Th 2:6
(6) And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.


What was holding, stopping from proceeding, the revealing of the Antichrist?

Well what was preventing the Antichrist's revealing from happening, was that the falling away had not taken place yet, that is, this specific end time falling away.

So during that time, the Antichrist could not be revealed in who he was, for this specific falling away had not yet taken place, so in essence, because this falling away did not exist, the Antichrist could not come on the scene in order to be revealed.

It was withholding in that sense, in that way.

And this thing that was withholding in verse 6, is not mentioned as an "he", and it is evident that a "falling away" itself, is not an he or she.

Yet the "he" who now letteth verse, is mentioned as an he.

2Th 2:7
(7)  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.


Now the mystery of iniquity, is no doubt referring to the spirit of antichrist, but who is this "he" who now letteth?

Was this he who was letting in Paul's day, letting in a similar manner as the falling away was withholding?

Was it stopping the proceeding of the revealing of the Antichrist, much in the same way the falling away was?

In the sense that it did not exist at that time yet?

Something to think about.

And who is this "he"?