Who Holds Back the Antichrist? The Restrainer Removed.

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. And again, it's good to see everybody back, and we'd like to have you in the studio audience be turning to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And again, we want to welcome our television audience, and for you as well, take your Bible and turn with us to these various references, because what I say doesn't mean a thing. You have to be able to see that it's what God's Word says. So we'd like you also to turn with us 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and we're going to begin with verse 1. Now, for just a little recap of our last program, I hope I didn't leave any questions unanswered, that the first resurrection of the just, of the believers of all ages, is really broken down into the three categories as indicated by Israel's harvest of grain. And that is that first there was the firstfruits, which of course was epitomized by Christ and those that came out of the graves in Matthew 27. We had the main harvest, which came from the church age and the great resurrection day at the rapture, or the trumpet sound when Christ shall leave heaven and meet us in the air. And then the Old Testament believers, as well as the tribulation believers who will have been martyred and died, seemingly are represented by the gleanings and the corners that were left in the Jewish harvest, and they will be resurrected shortly after the kingdom has begun. And then I hardly had time at the end to really explain, but you see, this is why we have that picture in the parables and also in the Old Testament that the Jewish believers will be the guests at the wedding feast. Now, I won't take time to look at it, but if you want to go back on your own, you can pick that up in Psalms, I think chapter 45. And it's also alluded to throughout the song of Solomon. A lot of people don't understand the song of Solomon as being so typical of Christ and His bride, the church. Now since on our timeline we're coming to that next event, the church age will have ended with the rapture, and then we know that the tribulation will be ushered in next, that seven years that is now not associated with the church. The church age has ended, it's gone, but instead we'll be coming back to God's dealing with the Jew once again as He was up here. I'll never forget a lady in one of my classes, all of a sudden, she just happened to see it and she explained, in other words, God's going to pick up with the Jew where He left off. And I said, you hit the nail on the head. Now He has taken this Old Testament program as we saw back in Psalms chapter 2, it's stopped, God's time clock stopped when He turned to the Gentiles with the gospel of grace. When that has ended, grace and law cannot mix, remember, and Israel is going to have the temple, she's going to go back under the law, and if ever I have any argument that we will not go into the tribulation, it's that one purpose right there. You cannot mix law and grace so that grace cannot go into the Jewish economy as it will pick up again in the seven -year tribulation. It has to be removed so that they cannot be mixed. Now then, in Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul is coming as close to prophecy, if you want to call it that, as he does in any portion of his writings, and he is introducing us to this seven-year period of time which Jesus in Matthew 24 called the time of tribulation and also in other portions of Scripture. Now in verse 1, Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers who, believe it or not, had gotten to the place that with all the persecution that they were under and all the pressure, they were afraid that the rapture had taken place and they missed it. And so Paul had to quickly come back with 2 Thessalonians and reassure them that they hadn't missed the rapture, that yes, things are going to get tough, but it wasn't their situation. So he says, "...now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him." Now, do you see how that little bunch of words sets that completely apart from the second coming? See, at the second coming, Christ won't be gathering people unto Himself. He's coming. But here Paul is referring to an act of Christ where he's going to gather his own to himself. And that's the rapture, see? All right, "...that you be not soon shaken in mind or troubled." In other words, Paul is setting their mind at ease that they haven't missed the rapture, and he's going to give them points to look for so that they'll know that they haven't missed it. "...that you be not soon shaken in mind or troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand." Now, maybe here is again time to stop and define. The day of Christ is referring to that outcalling of the church. That's the day of Christ, the rapture. The day of the Lord, the day of Jehovah, the day of God, that is this period of time including the tribulation and into the second coming and the setting up of the kingdom. That's all referred to then as the day of the Lord, the day of God, and so forth. But the day of Christ is that time when Christ will call the body of Christ unto Himself. Now verse 3, "...let no man deceive you by any means. For that day," that is the day of Christ, the calling out of the body, "...shall not come, except there come a falling away first." Now that word in the Greek is apostasia, from which we get the word apostasy. Now I'm afraid too many Christians, churchgoers, and members do not know what apostasy is. I can remember when I was young, I thought it had something to do with the apostles, believe it or not. But I wouldn't doubt that a lot of other people think the same thing because it is so close in its pronunciation. But apostasy is that turning away from the revealed truth of the Word of God. Now isn't that exactly where we are today? The churches for the most part have apostasized. They have turned their backs on the basic truths of Scripture. And this is why all the false teachings are having such a free run in so many of our mainline denominations. And this is why so many theologians and pastors and preachers are denying the virgin birth. They are denying the literal, physical, visible resurrection of Christ as just so much mythology. Why? They've apostasized. They have turned their backs on the revealed truth of the Word of God. We're in it. So now then, what does that tell you and I? We can be expecting the day of Christ at any time because the apostasy has now come about. All right? There shall come a falling away first or an apostasy. Now there's also a second definition of apostasia here in other places in our New Testament. It is actually translated departure. See? And a person departing from one place to go to another. So you might say that within verse 3 you not only have the apostasia of Christendom turning its back upon the truth of the Word of God, but also the departure of the Christian himself. We're going to be taken out. All right. And then, as soon as the apostasy has come on the scene, there shall be the revealing of who? That man of sin who will be revealed, the son of perdition. And who is that? The Antichrist. The Antichrist will be revealed, I think, immediately. Now not maybe within an hour or two, but a relatively short period of time between the rapture, the outcalling of the church, and this great world political leader who is going to come on the scene, a very charismatic type individual. The book of Daniel says he's going to come in with flatteries. He's going to come in promising peace and prosperity. He's going to come on the scene telling the world's population that he's got the answer to all their problems. And don't you know the world is looking for that kind of a person tonight? Oh, the world has got problems that they don't know which way to turn. But when this fellow comes on the scene, he's going to seemingly have all the answers, and the world will fall at his feet. I remember right after World War II, when Europe was in a shambles, and before the Marshall Plan had really started taking a hold, one of the European leaders, he was a general, a Belgian general. I just can't think of his name right now. It'll come to me after a bit. But I remember reading a quote by him in one of the news magazines, probably Time. And I've taken Time, and I've canceled Time, and I've taken others, but I've probably read Time more than most of them. But he was quoted as saying in 1945 that what the world needs is a strong leader. And he said, if such a man would come on the scene today, he said, by tomorrow night the world will be falling at his feet. Now, he said that in 1945. How much truer that is today. And I maintain, with all the turmoil that's going on in Eastern Europe and Russia and Europe itself, and America, and yes, even prosperous Japan, the world is suddenly realizing that we've got problems we don't have any idea of how to cope with. Our leaders don't really know which way to turn. And this man is going to come on the scene with such a charisma, he's going to seemingly have all the answers, and the world indeed will fall at his feet. And he'll have the world to rule and reign as the Bible says he would. All right, now verse 4. This man is going to be godless. Now, remember, he is the Antichrist, so he is the counterfeit Christ. He's going to receive his power from Satan. And remember, Satan can perform a lot of good. I'm afraid too many people got the idea that all Satan promotes is skid row. All Satan promotes is the gross immorality. Now that's the least of Satan's concern. Satan's main area of activity is in the upper levels of ecclesia, in the upper levels of our so-called religious leadership, the seminaries, our large denominations. Now that's where Satan works over time. He doesn't have to work on the poor guy down and out, he's already got him. But if he can get the ecclesiastical leaders in his camp, see, then that power just funnels on down to the average person in the pew, and he's got them all. And so we have to remember that Satan will promote good things. He'll promote beautiful things that the world is just in awe of in order to accomplish his own end. All right, now verse 4. Paul describes him as one who opposeth and exalteth himself. Now you see, that's what it takes to be a good political leader, doesn't it? An egotist. And this guy is going to be the greatest that ever was, so far as personal egotism is concerned. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God. See, he's going to set himself up as the God of this world, and he's going to sit in the temple of God. Now there's only one place on this earth where God has ever had a temple and will have again. Where is it? Jerusalem. The Jew is getting hungry for their temple back, and one of these days they're going to have it. I think it's going to almost come up overnight. I personally think it's prefabricated, and I think that the Israelites will, when they get the go-ahead, will raise that temple so fast the world won't hardly believe it's happened. And we're going to see now, in just a little bit, we'll go back to the book of Daniel and see where the Old Testament introduces to all this. But Paul is merely putting the capstone on it. Now verse 5, Paul writes to the Thessalonian believer, remember, Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? Now do you know how long he was with the Thessalonians? About two weeks. Saw them converted out of paganism, taught them the doctrines of grace, and even evidently took the time to teach them end-time things. I remember many years ago, only had one person who ever brought it up, but as soon as he said it, I thought of this verse. And he said, well, Les, he said, I'm not concerned about end-time because, he said, God will probably take care of it in his own way, and it doesn't make any difference if I know what's going to happen or how it's going to happen, so what? And I said, now wait a minute. If Paul took the time way back there in about 55 A.D., yeah, if Paul in 55 A.D. took the time with new converts out of paganism to teach them things concerning the end of our church age, then don't you think it's good that you and I know it when we are actually in it? Absolutely we have to know these things, and we have to know what the Scripture teaches so that we know what to look for. You remember what we read in Daniel last week? Oh, the wicked shall do wickedly, but the wise shall, what, understand. And I told you a program or two ago, a gentleman that we led to the Lord just a couple, three years ago, how all of a sudden, and I've had people tell me that down through the years, as soon as they got a true insight into the Word of God, and especially at end -time things, every headline, every news item is telling them, hey, this book is true. It's all coming as God said it would. All right, now then verse 6, and now you know that he withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. Now, let's look at that verse very carefully. Now you know, Paul says, what is in the King James, but actually I think it should be a personal pronoun, and now you know that he withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. Now, we've got to pick that verse apart. We've got two personalities involved here. We've got one personality that has to put the brakes on things so that the other personality won't come in and do his work before the appointed time. Do you see that? Now, he, read it again, he who withholdeth, or is holding back, that he, the other person, might be revealed in his time and not ahead of it, because, see, God is a stickler for his own timetable. Now, for the last 1900 and some years, I've always taught that God's time clock is what? It's stopped. But as soon as the church is taken out of the way, God's time clock kicks back in gear and it's going to be right on schedule, see? So what Paul is saying here, that as we come to the end and the church is taken out of the way, or just before the church is taken out of the way, there has to be a person that will hold back this man Antichrist from usurping the power that he's going to have for the next seven years. He has to hold it until the right time. Now I'll go with the next verse. Verse 7. Paul says, "...for the mystery," or the secret, "...of iniquity doth already work." Well, do you know when the mystery of iniquity began? Basically at the Tower of Babel. Oh, I know it goes back to the Garden of Eden, but at the Tower of Babel is when all the things that are now crescendoing right before our very eyes. The explosion in the Oriental religions, the explosion of the New Age movement. And what's the heart and soul of the New Age movement? That we can become our own God. Oh, this whole idea of positive thinking, it sounded so good a few years ago, didn't it? But you know, we can expose it now for what it really is. It's New Age-ism. And the whole concept is that you can become your own God. And if you can become your own God, then who do you not need? The real one. And that's what it's exploding. That's the only word I can use for it. It's just exploding all around us. It's coming into the churches, and people are blind to it. Here it is. See? It's the mystery of iniquity already at work. But, now watch it here, only he who now hindereth. Now I'm using the new language rather than the old. Only he who now hindereth will hinder until he, that hinderer, is taken out of the way. Now just think for a moment. What person has the power today to hold back like a dam on a river the forces of Satan so that things won't break loose and start bringing in the tribulation until the right time? Well, it's the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit here is the hinderer. Now where is the Holy Spirit dwelling today? In you and I. In the heart and life of every believer. So the only break that God has on the earth against the influx of all this evil work is the believer and the indwelling Holy Spirit. That's God's break on the system. And that's why we have to know our book, we have to know what we believe, and we have to stand on it. I was thinking the other night, how many of us, and I asked myself the same question, how many of us would endure the torture and the martyrdom of the believers back in the Reformation? How many of us could? I doubt if I could. I mean, their torture was unbelievable, laid out on the rack and cracked up until every bone in their body was broken, and yet they survived to walk like a cripple. How many of us could be peacefully tied to a stake and the brush piled around us and waiting for Him to light the torch? What happened all the time? But you see, this is where we're to stand. We're to be so rooted in the Word of God that none of those things would scare us. They do me, but it's like an old pastor of mine told me years ago when I was just a young believer. He said, Les, don't worry about it, because he said when the time comes, and if it does come, God will give grace. Well, I'm resting on that, because evidently He does, or those people back there would have never been able to survive and go through what they did. All right, so the Holy Spirit dwelling in the lives of the believers are like a dam in the river to hold back this flood of iniquity. And then, when He's taken out of the way, just like lifting that dam out of the river, verse 8, and then, see, and then shall that wicked, and for clarification, and maybe newer translations have got it, just add the word one. I don't think you'll do any violence to Scripture. And then shall that wicked one, the Antichrist, be revealed. Now, the comma skips you seven years to the end, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. In other words, that's when the Antichrist will meet his doom, but he's going to have seven years. Now then, I'm betwixt and between. I wanted to go back to Daniel, and I think I will. Go back to Daniel chapter 9, and if we have time, we'll finish those verses down through verse 12. But in order to validate this seven-year period of time as definitely in our future, not our future, we're going to be gone, but in the future of the planet, you have to go back to Daniel chapter 9. And again, we may run out of time. For those of you on television, we'll just wind it up, and we'll pick right up again for you next week. Like some of you have complained, it's a long time between programs, but that's just the way it is, and we can't help that. And maybe this is a good time to interject for any of you interested out in television, in our classes around the area. For the Tulsa people who are in the driving range of Tulsa, contact the number I've put on the board, 299-9955, and you'll be able to find out where we're meeting and what time and so forth. And for those of you in other areas of the state, if you'd like to be part of our classes, just call us on our 800 number. It's toll-free, and that number comes into our own home now, so we'll be answering the phone ourselves if you're interested. All right, Daniel chapter 9, verse 24, where Daniel writes concerning the nation of Israel that 70 weeks are determined upon thy people. Now the word weeks here is used as we would use dozen. If I would say so many dozen, what would you automatically do? Well, you would multiply it by 12. Now a week is always seven, and so 70 weeks of years, or, and a lot of the new translations have already calculated it for you, and what have they got, 490 years. 490 years are determined upon thy people, Daniel's people. And who are Daniel's people? The Jew, Israel. And upon thy holy city, Jerusalem, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity. Now that all took place when? When Christ died on the cross, see? And you remember several weeks ago, this was one of the verses that we split with a parenthesis and a dash, because the next part of this verse is still future. It didn't happen at Christ's first coming, and that is to bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. That hasn't happened yet. It will when He returns and sets up His kingdom, but it didn't at His first coming. And then you come down through these next verses, and we haven't got the time to break it down, but what you really figure out here, and take your time with a pencil and paper, that even though 490 years were in God's timetable back here for the nation of Israel, leading up to the rejection of the Messiah, would only total 483 years, which means that there's seven years left that were not fulfilled at Christ's first coming. Now, chronologists and archaeologists have teamed up, and they have actually found the decree that Daniel mentions here that gave the Jew permission to go back after their temple had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. They have found that decree. It was dated, and from that date, I think it was March 14th, 445 B.C., up until Palm Sunday was exactly 483 years. That was fulfilled. But the prophecy said 490 years, and so that's why Bible scholars have sometimes referred to the Tribulation as Daniel's 70th week. Sixty-nine of them were fulfilled at the cross, but the 70th week, or that final seven years, is still left unfulfilled. It's been pushed out into the future. Now, only got 30 seconds left, so if you'll come back to Daniel chapter 9 and drop down to verse 27, and then we're just going to have to continue next week. It says, "...and he," the Antichrist, "...shall confirm the covenant with many for seven years." One week. Now, there is the triggering mechanism for the Tribulation. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. A weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer -supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.