Originally posted on December 6, 2019 @ 1:35 pm
2nd Thessalonians 2, v7, has been pecking at my mind for weeks. Peck-peck-peck… mystery of lawlessness… Paul…sent to the gentiles (non-Hebrews) Pharisee of pharisees… world-class Law teacher… hand-picked by Yahusha to teach the non-Hebrews… a Law scholar…
Lets try to get some context from the chapter…
2Th 2:3 Do not let anyone deceive you in any way, because that Day will not come unless first comes the falling away, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
2Th 2:4 the one opposing and exalting himself over everything being called God, or object of worship, so as for him “to sit in the temple of God” as God, setting forth himself, that he is God. Dan. 11:36; Eze. 28:2
2Th 2:5 Do you not remember that I told you these things, I yet being with you?
2Th 2:6 And now you know the thing holding back, for him to be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness already is working, only he is holding back now, until it comes out of the midst.
2Th 2:8 And then “the Lawless One” will be revealed, “whom” “the Lord” “will consume” “by the spirit of His mouth,” and will bring to nought by the brightness of His presence. Isa. 11:4
2Th 2:9 His coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and miraculous signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 and in all deceit of unrighteousness in those being lost, because they did not receive the love of the truth in order for them to be saved.
This is so interesting.
As I read v7 and v8, I perceive this: The “mystery of lawlessness” is the reality to Paul that these people which Yahuah recruited Paul to teach are not embracing Torah, at least many or most are not. How we know?
Easy. “Lawlessness” defines itself – disregard for the “Law”, or more accurately, “the Words”. The “Words” of who? Yahuah, that’s who. And what is sin? Lawlessness. That is why we cannot sin without the law, as Paul teaches. It is the Law that condemns, disobedience to the Law IS sin, and there is NO OTHER source of sin, no other definition. If the commands of Yahuah forbid, then to do is sin.
Concurrently, if Yahuah commands to do a thing, then to disregard that command is also to sin. Continually ignoring commands to do specific things is to subsequently live in sin. Sin becomes a way of life, a dogma, a religion in itself. Christianity teaches rebellion to the commands of Yahuah, whom Yahusha himself states is greater then he. We are to worship Yahuah, and only Yahuah. Worship is obedience. Disobedience is rebellion.
Paul was perhaps the best of the best among the Sanhedrin regarding the Law or “The Words”. He was a “Pharisee of Pharisees”, just as Yahusha is King of Kings. Paul was a teacher of the Law extraordinaire, a master of righteous rule. That is why Yahusha recruited Paul – to teach righteousness as he guided the non-Hebrews outside national Israel to faith in Yahusha and obedience to the Words, the “law”. This was called “The Way“, and is specifically WHY Paul was arrested and ultimately decapitated. Its in your Bible and you should find it yourself.
Acts 24:14 – “And this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the Elohim of my fathers, believing all that has been written in the Torah and in the Prophets,
And he taught salvation through Yahusha right along with Torah. See? Obedience to Torah is how Paul defines worship, and Yahusha commands us to worhip Yahuah. How do we worship Yahuah? Christianity denies worship (obedience is worship), thus it denies that Yahuah is their “God”.
The Way is the only path to heaven. Yahuah will sort out the faithful from the unfaithful. He will determine who is the wheat and who is the tare.
Youngs Literal Interpretation translates:
“2Th 2:7 for the secret of the lawlessness doth already work, only he who is keeping down now will hinder —till he may be out of the way,
2Th 2:8 and then shall be revealed the Lawless One, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the manifestation of his presence…”
The restrainer is a “he”, a masculine entity, as are all celestial entities except one. Do you know which one? I will give you a hint – she was with Yahuah in the beginning, according to His Word. Find it. Its in your Bible.
Pro 8:1 Does not wisdom call? And does not understanding speak?
Pro 8:2 She stands in the top of high places, by the wayside, in the houses of the paths,
Pro 8:3 beside the gates; at the mouth of the city, at the doors, she cries…Pro 8:22 Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of His way, from then, before His works.
Pro 8:23 I was set up from everlasting, from that which was before the earth.
Pro 8:24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no springs heavy with water.
Pro 8:25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth;
Pro 8:26 before He had made the earth and the fields, or the highest part of the dust of the world.
Pro 8:27 When He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a circle (not a globe – jd) on the face of the deep (not water, but emptiness-jd),
Pro 8:28 when He formed the clouds above (above the circle of the earth-jd), when He made the strong fountains of the deep,
Pro 8:29 when He gave to the sea (the sea is not the deep, then-jd) its limit (the outer edge of that circle-jd), that the waters should not pass beyond His command; when He decreed the foundations of the earth (which hold the earth in position-jd),
Pro 8:30 then I was at His side, like a master workman; and I was His delights day by day, rejoicing before Him at every time;
Pro 8:31 rejoicing in the world, His earth; and my delight was with the sons of men.
Moving along, this particular celestial entity, the “restrainer”, apparently is unknown by name. Many teach that this is the Holy Spirit of Yahuah, the Ruach Ha Kodesh of the Hebrews. It makes sense to me – the spirit of Yahuah restrains the expansion of lawlessness (sin), but does not STOP it. He lets it proceed at a pace determined by Yahuah, and only by Yahuah.
Eventually, Yahuah will allow the full expansion of lawlessness globally. This is when “the power of the holy people is finally broken“. Our power cannot be broken unless we are here for it to break. So, who are the “holy people”?
The obedient; the righteous. There is no other people valuable to Yahuah. And who are the righteous? Only the elect. Are the elect deceived by this lawless wonder?
Mat 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will rise up. And they will give great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Are the elect led astray? No, for if we were led astray then the Red Dragon, who comes to destroy a single group of people with two distinguishing attributes:
1. They have the testimony of Yahusha
2. They obey the commands of Yahuah
…would not come. It is the very presence of the Holy people, the righteous who follow the commands of Yahuah while proclaiming the salvation of Jesus, that Satan seeks to destroy.
That’s the only group that Satan wants dead – those who
A: follow Torah and
B: are saved through faith in Yahusha (aka Jesus, and yes, He knows He is called ‘Jesus’ and He is delighted to be called by that name by His brothers and sisters who love Him).
Many of us will be here when the Lawless One rises to dominion over the earth.
Which makes me wonder about Christianity and its false teaching that “we are not under the Law”. Paul was. He obeyed the commands of Yahuah and was obviously designated to teach the gentiles the Law along with salvation, hence The Way. The gentiles did not know the Law of Yahuah, and The Way was what Paul taught.
Satan only seeks those who are of The Way, which is us. Christians are not of The Way, they don’t even know it exists. Test them yourself. So is Christianity a deception? Do they endeavor to keep the commands of Yahuah, or do they denounce them as “for the jews” or “died with Jesus on the cross”?
I’d like to hear from some of you in the comments below. Those who “fall away” cannot fall unless they are first raised up. If they are raised up, then they have acknowledged Yahusha as Messiah and are then saved. But they do not stand, but lose their saltiness and are trampled underfoot. The false teaching “once saved always saved” deceives. Consider the possibility that “Christians” worship their religion rather than worship Yahuah, and as they worship their religion, they deny Yahuah by rebuking His commands and living in perpetual sin.
Lest we be puffed up with pride…
Romans 3:9 – “What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. 10As it is written: “There is no one who is righteous, no not one. 11There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.…
Think about this.
All sin, past present and future sins, we’re nailed to the cross with Jesus Christ, we are not saved by the law, but by grace thru faith lest anyone boast! It’s faith alone that saves ,our efforts are like filthy rags! You obey what Jesus says because we love Him and want to please Him, but we cannot stop sinning, not while we live in these sin filled meat suits! We repent and ask forgiveness every day so that we can keep the lines of communication open between ourselves and God and He here’s our prayers! Everything that needed to be done for our salvation was done on the cross. It’s finished, meaning it’s completed! Understand?
Linda, please tell me what the word “faith” means, what “sin” is, and what it means to “repent”, as you use these words strongly in your comment. I will wait for your definitions before I reply.