THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST - From Commencement to Completion (video series)- Chapter 5, Clarifying Three Major Missconceptions Part 4
by Brett Jacobsen
The focus of this teaching is to promote the biblical truth that Christ’s Kingdom is active and increasing right now on this earth, in this age. Erroneous eschatology has detracted from this truth in many circles of the Christian faith.
All of the major eschatological (study of how things end) passages are covered but the end of the world is not the important issue and true eschatology is merely a means to an end- Christ Himself as King of kings. Though we will look at the glorious end of earthly history from time to time, we will more so continually use the scriptures to interpret the scriptures and arrive at the present victorious Kingdom of Christ.
For most Christians this teaching will challenge you deeply in your understanding of the New Covenant and Christ’s Kingdom as well as liberate you greatly in the truth of His Word.
The son of Perdition
Below are the scriptures in this teaching so you can read along:
2 Thess shortly thereafter
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming [parousia- Matt 24:3, 27] of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering [episunagoge- a complete collection] together [episunagoge] [1] to him, 2 That YOU 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 [enistemi- impend, instant, present] hand [enistemi] [2].
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come [erchomai], except there come [erchomai] a falling [apostasia- defection from truth] away [apostasia] first [3], and that man of sin [hamartia- offence] be revealed [apokalupto], the son [huios] of perdition [apoleia- ruin, loss, destruction] [4];
4 Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called [lego- speak] God, or that is worshipped [sebasma- something adored, i.e. an object of worship (god, altar, etc.)]; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God [Caligula's intention to sit in “the temple of God” in Jerusalem [5]].
5 Remember you not, that, when I was yet with you, I told YOU these things? 6 And now you know what withholds [Claudius Caesar] that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity [anomia- violation of law] does already work: only he who now lets [katecho- withhold] [Claudius] will let [withhold], until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed [Caesar in full perdition- as Nero], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming [Nero died violently in June 8, A.D. 68]: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders [?], 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thess 2:1-12)
(1) Obvious parallels with Matthew 24 and Revelation 13 tie it into their era of accomplishment: the late A.D. 60s up to A.D. 70 (Matt. 24:34; Rev. 1:1, 3; 22:6, 10).
(2) The reference to the Temple as still standing (2:4).
(3) The present restraining of the Man of Lawlessness (2:6).
(4) The knowledge of the Thessalonians regarding the restrainer (2:6).
(5) The contemporary operation of the Man of Lawlessness in mystery form during Paul’s day (2:7).
(6) The overall relevant correspondence of the features with the contemporary situation in which the Thessalonicans found themselves.
[1] For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming [parousia] of the Son of man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming [erchomai- appear] in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels [aggelos- messenger] with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather [episunago- to collect upon the same place] together [episunago] his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matt 24:27-31)
And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in your sickle, and reap: for the time is come for you to reap; for the harvest of the earth [ge] is ripe. 16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. (Rev 14:14-16)
[2] -Dean Henry Alford (1868)
“The day of the Lord is present (not is at hand). enestemi occurs six times besides in the New Testament, and always in the sense of being present. Besides which, St. Paul could not have so written, nor could the Spirit have so spoken by him.” (vol. iii. p.274)
“These Thessalonians imagined it to be already come, and, accordingly, were deserting their pursuits in life, and falling into other irregularities, as if the day of grace were closed.” (Greek Testament, in loco.)
-John Albert Bengel (1742)
“Extreme proximity is signified by this word; for enistemi is present.”
-Dr. Thomas Manton (1620-1677)
“There is some difference in the words, for eggizo signifies it draweth near, enistemi, it is begun already.” (Works, vol. 3. p.15)
-William Whiston (1737)
“enistemi is here, and in many other places of Josephus, immediately at hand; and is to be so expounded 2 Thess. ii. 2, where some falsely pretended that St. Paul had said, either by word of mouth or by an epistle, or by both, “that the day of Christ was immediately at hand;” for still St. Paul did then plainly think that day not many years future.” (Whiston’s Josephus, Ant. bk. xviii. c. ix. sec. 2)
[3] Between 52 and 66 AD … to Judaism and Gnosticism etc… Jude (one of the last NT books) spoke of the heretics- (Jude1:17-19)
[4] Nero Caesar 666 (but also just Caesar and Roman/worldly allegiance).
http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pt550.htm Gentry’s article
[5] As for opposing God- the severe and cruel persecution of the saints-
“Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man’s cruelty, that they were being destroyed.”(Tacitus, Annals 15:44)
As for exalting himself-
Tiberius (Augustus) sent Pilate- “Pilate being sent to Judea as procurator by Tiberius, secretly carried veiled images of the emperor, called ensigns, to Jerusalem by night. The following day this caused the greatest disturbance among the Jews. For those who were near were confounded at the sight, beholding their laws, as it were, trampled under foot. For they allow no image to be set up in their city.” (Eusebius- The History of the Church p 80)
Caius/Caligula- “The latter he so bitterly hated that he appropriated to himself their places of worship in the other cities, and beginning with Alexandria he filled them with images and statues of himself (for in permitting others to erect them he really erected them himself). The temple in the holy city, which had hitherto been left untouched, and had been regarded as an inviolable asylum, he altered and transformed into a temple of his own, that it might be called the temple of the visible Jupiter, the younger Caius.” (Eusebius- The History of the Church p 79)
Nero-
Titus- eventually finished the idolatrous exaltation of Rome in the Jewish temple-
On Caligula’s intention to sit in “the temple of God” in Jerusalem. Eusebius p 78,79.
“The phrase “so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” is interesting. When hoste (”so that”) is followed by an infinitive (kathisai, “to sit”), it indicates a purpose intended, not necessarily a purpose accomplished.[1][27] It was Caligula’s intention to sit in “the temple of God” in Jerusalem; it was the emperor’s desire to “show himself that he is God.” In fact Philo tells us that “so great was the caprice of Caius [Caligula] in his conduct toward all, and especially toward the nation of the Jews. The latter he so bitterly hated that he appropriated to himself their places of worship in the other cities, and beginning with Alexandria he filled them with images and statues of himself.”[2][28]
This was for all intents and purposes accomplished by future emperor Titus, who concluded the devastation of Jerusalem set in motion by Nero. Titus actually invaded the Temple in A.D. 70: “And now the Romans . . . brought their ensigns[3][29] to the temple, and set them over against its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus imperator, with the greatest acclamations of joy” (Josephus, Wars 6:6:1). By September, A.D. 70, the very Temple of which Paul spoke in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 was forever gone. This fact also supports the preterist understanding of the passage.[4][30] In fact, it parallels Matthew 24:15 and functions as Paul’s abomination of desolation, which was to occur in “this generation” (Matt. 24:34).” (Kenneth Gentry - http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pt550.htm)
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