The Son of Perdition

The Son of Perdition

October 21, 2008

 

When Paul was at the Church at Thessalonica, he touched on a subject that some or some one wished to know a more detailed account.  He responded with: "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?"

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 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." 

2 Thessalonians 2:1

Yea, seeing the Apostle said; "that the day of Christ is at hand."  He indicated that time was of the essence, and by that the responsibility fell on man.   Furthermore, from  what he said as he continued made me believe that he taught of the Salvation of the soul as did David where he said:  "Today if ye will hear his voice, [8] Harden not your heart, as in the provocation:” Psalm 95:7-8

I suppose when PAUL was with them he told them that before their children could be saved, they must first become accountable for sin.  He said: "That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition."  

I believe the phrase, "a falling away" is in alliance with the fall of Adam.  Paul gave us an account on his own personal falling away.  In doing so he reveals what is typical for the rest of us.  In our day we tend to say, in truth, that a child has to be lost before he can be saved.  Therefore, I believe that to be the essence of what Paul has written in his response to the Thessalonians.

He wrote: "We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him. 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.”  2 Thessalonians 2:3

(That man of sin is the Devil)

I realize that some assume that Paul was referring to church members forsaking to assemble themselves as some had.  But nay, when the Lord saved us He gathered us unto Himself into what Paul, and others, calls the Body of Christ.

In the following Paul described his situation after the Word of God had entered his heart.  He wrote: "Now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way."

Then he described the struggling that takes place in the heart of a sinner while he is being badgered by the Devil.  He wrote: "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."

Ah, but those that do not receive the Truth.  "For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”   2 Thessalonians 2:11-12  

Then he said that after the Devil takes over a sinner’s life, through manipulation, that he "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." 

2 Thessalonians 2:4 

Don’t you see the Devil in control of those out there in the world?  Our body is the temple of God and when we were lost the Devil was enthroned on the throne of God’s temple, which is to say our body.   As children of God, Paul warns us: "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 

1 Corinthians 3:17

When the Lord bound the Devil, and cast him out of our heart into our flesh, Jesus took up his abode in our heart, and at that very second we begin our reign with Christ.  Amen!  

Only Jesus can overthrow that man of sin, whom He called the strong man, and himself the stronger of the two.  Here’s what He said: "No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house."  Mark 3:27

For those who would like more proof that the devil is the man of sin, Paul wrote: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Romans 6:6 and Ephesians 4:22 then Colossians 3:9 

JESUS challenge some of the Jews that would not many days hence would Crucify Him with: “Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. [33] Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Matthew 23:32-33

(By JESUS saying that His reference was that they were the seed of the serpent that should bruise His heel.  

In closing, Judas was called both “the son of perdition and a devil.”   Jesus said to His Apostles: “Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil?"    John 6:70

In his prayer to the Father, JESUS reminded Him: “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.” John 17:12

May the LORD be blessed forever, Amen!