Jesus Christ’s Return

We often hear these days that Jesus is coming soon. Indeed, He Himself says that He is coming soon; but our “soon” and His “soon” are two different things. There is something that must take place prior to Christ’s return—namely, the falling away.

The apostle says that we should not allow ourselves to be deceived or shaken in mind regarding Jesus’ return. In fact, it’s possible for people to drop everything, forget about arming themselves for battle against the hosts of wickedness, and just devote themselves to waiting for Jesus’ return. This lack of vigilance gives Satan the opportunity to carry out his schemes. At first glance, this appears to be quite alluring, but Paul calls it a deception.

We must not allow ourselves to be deceived, either by spirit, by word, or by letter. 2 Thessalonians 2. The falling away must come first, and then the man of sin will be revealed.

Some people say that the man of sin, who is also called the Antichrist, is the Pope. If that were true, we would have had many antichrists. Furthermore, the Pope does not deny that Christ has come in flesh as the Antichrist will do. The Antichrist will sit as God in the temple of God, proclaiming that he is God. The Pope, on the other hand, does not claim to be anything more than St. Peter’s successor.

The mysteries of unrighteousness were already very prominent in the days of the apostles—how much more in our days.

The day will come when the daily sacrifice (the Lamb of God) will be rejected. Dan. 12:11. However, if people reject Christ as the sacrifice, they reject and push away the Holy Spirit who speaks from heaven about this Lamb. People have taken this so far that they have banners that say, “Get rid of the Bible.” I wonder how long it will take before they say, “Get rid of Christ.”

This is the falling away that we know is coming. The mysteries of lawlessness are increasing daily, and the mysteries in this lawlessness are so great that even the enforcers of the law (the police) are unable to control behaviors and situations that are in direct opposition to the law.

God gives people over to a reprobate mind, so they receive revelations in their deception, and the one who is the most extreme is the most highly regarded and becomes a prophet to the masses.

More and more, people are behaving as they did in the days of Noah—giving in marriage and getting married, without giving it much thought. Some divorce and remarry with the approval of the authorities. But no one asks where the authorities get the right to do this. The government is beginning to turn a blind eye to unrighteousness, and ultimately, unrighteousness will become the established norm.

Priests dispute the divinity of Christ, and young socialists want to get rid of Christianity because it hinders their agenda. People who want to live according to their fleshly lusts vacillate between all the things that they see, hear, and read. For them, the most appealing thing is to get rid of as much of the law as possible.

All of this lawlessness paves the way for the Antichrist, just as John the Baptist, in the spirit and power of Elijah, paved the way for Christ. Satan’s greatest masterpiece will be to bring forth a “Christ”—but it will be a “Christ” who matches up with the way carnal people think he should be and want him to be.

When He who is now restraining is taken out of the way, the unrighteous one will be revealed. It is Christ who restrains, He who is the daily sacrifice. We see how terribly it went for the Jewish people after they rejected the sacrifice God sent them. Now the Gentiles are in the process of rejecting that sacrifice, and this is precisely what creates an environment where lawlessness can flourish. Even Christians are crying out for as much freedom as possible. They are usually so strongly affected by the spirit of the times that they hate the truth because it is so full of eternal laws.

We must take heed to these things and arm ourselves against them, because we know that the more Christ is rejected as a sacrifice, the sooner His return will be.

We see clearly that many people are already deceived when it comes to Christ’s return, because they do not want to hear about cleansing and sanctification. They only want to hear about His return. That is because they nourish a secret hope that they will be able to enter into glory as easily as possible, so that the passage from earthly glory to heavenly glory will not be disturbed by the hardships of sickness and death.

The foundation of the glory that we will have with Christ when He is revealed depends on our death in the body of Christ—not on something vague or uncertain, because everything must be built upon a foundation.