PART EIGHT– Day 888 to Victory
Man of Sin 1
On this day, Feb. 10, 2000, the Lord gave me more understanding of what is happening in our midst. I believe He is also explaining in part to me something of each individual involved. The relevant Scriptures are 2 Thessalonians 2; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 11; 1 Peter 4:17-19; Luke 17:20-37; 21:5-36, and Matthew 24:1-44.
Peter declares that the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God. The Lord once said that He was dividing us as wood and casting us into the fire. At the time I heard this, it didn’t seem negative in spirit, though the letter certainly could be foreboding. Now, as the fires have been burning, I realize that it’s certainly a good and necessary process, if there is to be any hope of salvation. Each of us must go through the fires in order to have his own oil. Thus, He divides and casts us into the fire. Each is tried and delivered from himself, every man in his order.
This IS the Coming of the Lord. Paul outlines the events leading to, and contained in, His coming.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-16:
“Now we beseech you, my brothers, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him…” (2 Thessalonians 2:1 MKJV)
Paul introduces our gathering together to Him. A man not with us had a dream which showed the saints gathered at a river, waiting for the Lord’s arrival at any minute. The people were greatly anticipating the event. Hasn’t that been the case with us? There has also been the fire.
“…that you should not be soon shaken in mind or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word or letter, as through us, as if the Day of Christ is at hand” (2 Thessalonians 2:2 MKJV).
Is the Day of the Lord at hand? Why all this tribulation? Paul explains that troubles must first come. These troubles are a sure token of His coming rather than an indication that He isn’t coming, even as clouds appear and the wind rises when a storm is approaching. It’s at such a time that the Lord exhorts us to “look up, and lift up our heads; for our redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). Therefore, Paul exhorts us not to be soon shaken in faith when this trouble comes, as though the Lord wasn’t coming.
“Let not anyone deceive you by any means. For that Day shall not come unless there first comes a falling away, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition…” (2 Thessalonians 2:3 MKJV)
A falling away comes first, the love of many waxing cold, and many offended.
Matthew 24:10-12 MKJV
(10) And then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another.
(11) And many false prophets will rise and deceive many.
(12) And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will become cold.
We begin to show our true colors; the “first Christian” is exposed, having been hiding, masquerading, pretending, and imitating or genuinely expressing righteousness as he knows it – preaching (speaking as a lamb), prophesying, and performing in the Name of God.
The new creature in Christ has also been there expressing himself. But all along it has been the first Adam and not the Last having the upper hand – the son of perdition, the one who ate from the Tree of Knowledge and died. He is the Tree of Knowledge, having partaken of it. But it is the Tree of Life we need for salvation.
How to get there? By returning through the flaming sword, the fire, through death:
“And He drove out the man. And He placed cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the Tree of Life” (Genesis 3:24 MKJV).
The way to life is through denying self, the inner man who insists he has power and right, when in fact he forfeited everything by disobeying God. This isn’t to say that we’re able to accomplish the work needed; clearly we aren’t; we’re overcomers solely by God’s grace through the personal reality of the cross of Christ.
“…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself forth, that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4 MKJV).
The carnal man has insisted on his own righteousness. Being made in the image of God, this is understandable. Having vestiges of that nature from before The Fall, he has walked presumptuously, determining his course by his own wisdom, contrary to God.
By “contrary,” I don’t mean directly opposed, but rather by substitution, an imitation growing not out of conscious purpose to imitate but out of a natural inclination to do so. However this may be, the carnal man is in opposition to God. He sits in the temple of God (Christ’s Body – God’s saints), that is, within us. This is that abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel and the Lord:
“Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand)” (Matthew 24:15 MKJV).
“And now you know what holds back, for him to be revealed in his own time” (2 Thessalonians 2:6 MKJV).
Lois’ prophecy – God withholding revelation and His presence until the time.
“For the mystery of lawlessness is already working, only He is now holding back until it comes out of the midst” (2 Thessalonians 2:7 MKJV).
Why this ungodly, anti-Christ creature in us, why all this time, why being exposed now, why the battle? It is God’s mystery of iniquity, to be made known in due time. Thankfully, we come to know it involves the gracious redemption of the Adamic race and the glorification of God.
“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming…” (2 Thessalonians 2:8 MKJV)
It’s time for “Mr. Christian,” “Mr. Right,” “Mr. Goodness,” “His Holiness,” the counterfeit of Jesus Christ, to meet his Maker; it’s time for his exposure and demise.
“…whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders…” (2 Thessalonians 2:9 MKJV)
This boy has been good, very good… convincing, appealing, inspiring, able to copy God, not with intentional deceit necessarily, but again by virtue of the vestiges of his original state before The Fall (deceivableness). Indeed, he has had a piece of the “all power,” performing signs and lying wonders so as to deceive, if possible, the very elect of God.
Consider: After restoration, an old rusted-out wreck of a car in the bush for 50 years will be able to demonstrate renewed usefulness in appearance and transportation. What kind of power and reality will be displayed when man is totally restored to newness and the usefulness for which he was originally intended? While the former is merely a reconditioning performed by men and subject to another round of degradation, the latter is resurrection by the power of God into in imperishable new nature.
“…and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10 MKJV).
This applies to every one of us in the carnal nature. In the Adamic nature remaining with the believer, we perish and don’t receive the love of the truth – we hate it with perfect passion. Why? Because if we loved it, we would be saved! Well, what’s wrong with that? Doesn’t everyone want to be saved? No, not Adam, not Lucifer. Not one bit. The reason why Adam first partook of the Tree of Knowledge was so that he could be like God independently of Him, knowing both good and evil.
Adam sowed that seed of independence and instead of regretting it when the fruits came, the seed had grown into a spirit of complete commitment to independence of God. From then on, the Adamic race sought to come up with their own solutions by their knowledge of good and evil. “Leave God out of it… I can do every bit as good as He can, and better.” Man is committed to independence, all bridges burned behind him.
“For you have said in your heart, I will go up to the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will go up above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14 MKJV).
So we have the kingdoms and desolations of man without number, spread all over the earth.
And all according to God’s sovereign and perfect planning and execution!
“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie…” (2 Thessalonians 2:11 MKJV)
But God gives the antidotes… lies for liars, deception for the deceived, rebellion for rebels, independence for the independent, a taste of one’s own medicine, fire against fire – an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. He sends strong delusion, that they should believe… a lie.
God has determined to come in this day of our history to relieve us of the carnal nature, to end once and for all that battle within ourselves. To do so, He has sent strong delusion that we should believe a lie… not lies in general, but a lie. The lie comes not from God, for God cannot lie. The lie must come from the deceiver, that son of perdition. God gives him rope, and plenty of it. He hides Himself, Who is the Truth, and gives us over to a delusion wherein we become subject to our self, the man of sin in all his power. The time is ripe.
Marilyn’s prophecy is not from God, but from the man of sin who poses as God with his vestiges of God… power, revelation, and timing, yet all is in God’s hands. The delusion comes when we believe it is of God and, not only that, but going to the utmost of delusion, we are told that it is God.
Delusion – a straying from orthodoxy or piety (Strong’s G4106).
– wandering, error (Young’s).
– a fixed, dominating, or persistent false mental conception resistant to reason with regard to actual things or matters of fact (Random House).
“…so that all those who do not believe the truth, but delight in unrighteousness, might be condemned” (2 Thessalonians 2:12 MKJV).
Why does God send delusion? That our carnal man might be condemned or judged – corrected – changed – redeemed (KJV uses the word “damned” from the Greek, “krino” – see Strong’s G2919). The one judged believes he could be independent of God – the essence of unrighteousness in which we have all taken pleasure, thinking we know better.
“But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brothers beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13 MKJV).
BUT, Paul declares, this is something to be giving thanks for because God has, from the beginning, chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, dividing us within, separating soul from spirit, and setting them in proper order, making them one:
Ephesians 2:13-16 MKJV
(13) But now in Christ Jesus you who were once afar off are made near by the blood of Christ.
(14) For He is our peace, He making us both one, and He has broken down the middle wall of partition between us,
(15) having abolished in His flesh the enmity (the Law of commandments contained in ordinances) so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, making peace between them;
(16) and so that He might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity in Himself.
Understand, Paul was speaking to the Ephesians about the reconciling of Jews and Gentiles, Jews representing the spirit and Gentiles the soul. Throughout man’s history, the soul has had the ascendancy, but it should be the spirit that bears rule, with the soul in submission to the spirit.
Spirit and soul also represent man and woman, that is, husband and wife. While wives have ruled as the soul has ruled (read The Vashti-Esther Transmutation), now wives must turn and submit to the husband as the soul must submit to the spirit. This makes everything right side up; it is the restoration of order.
This restoration comes by the third dimension, the experience of the sanctification (setting apart), the fulfilment of the last Feast, Tabernacles. Now at last will be the belief of the truth, the worshipping of the Father in spirit and in truth. This is not a matter of accumulation of knowledge, but of entering a realm of knowing.
“…to which He called you by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my brothers, stand fast and hold the teachings which you have been taught, whether by word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, Who has loved us and has given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace” (2 Thessalonians 2:14-16 MKJV).
Stand fast – Jesus Christ our Savior is performing the work, within and without.
This is the coming of the Kingdom of God and the entrance into it of those called, chosen, and faithful. As the Feast of Pentecost was both historical and manifest in certain chosen individuals, so it is now. I believe this time is the antitype of the Feast of Tabernacles upon us, the entrance into the Rest, the Sabbath, the Seventh and Final Day, the Overcoming, the Great and Final Harvest, the Manifestation of the Sons of God (Romans 8:18-23), the manifestation in us of THE Son of God. This is the Great and Final Day of the Lord, the Establishing of the Kingdom of God. It is the finishing of the dominion of flesh (carnal man’s kingdoms) and of the mystery of God (Daniel 2; Revelation 10:6-7).
As the voices said at the sound of the last trump (the seventh and final angel sounding – Revelation 11:15), “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.”
“And the nations were full of wrath, and Your wrath came, and the time of the judging of the dead, and to give the reward to Your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to the ones fearing Your Name, to the small and to the great, and to destroy those destroying the earth. And the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His covenant, and there occurred lightnings and voices, and thunders and an earthquake, and a great hail” (Revelation 11:18-19 MKJV).
Now is the Judgment Day; now is the time for the Lord to judge those who destroy the earth, which destruction has vexed Him and His saints; now is the judgment (correction) of the dead (unbelievers). It is also the day in which the Lord brings His rewards with Him for the prophets and saints and all those who fear His Name.
The Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in His Temple the ark of His testament. This is none other than the Holy of Holies, which into the earthly type the high priest alone was permitted to enter, and that but one day each year on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, preceding the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 16; Hebrews 9:7).
And did the high priest see anything in the Holy of Holies? If so, it was supernaturally because there was no light in that room. But now are we granted to enter into that third and final Feast, that third and innermost sanctuary of the Temple of God where God Himself dwells, not on earth only, but in Heaven, where is the reality. We are permitted to SEE the ark of His testament.
Chapter 11 in Revelation speaks of the two witnesses. I believe that the two persons set apart in the crowd of Bob Gregson’s dream are the two natures within one person. There is a record of the two witnesses in Zechariah 4:11-14:
Zechariah 4:11-14 MKJV
(11) And I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?”
(12) And I answered again and said to him, “What are the two olive clusters beside the two golden pipes, emptying the golden oil from themselves?”
(13) And he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”
(14) And he said, “These are the two sons of fresh oil who stand by the LORD of the whole earth.”
Upon the slaying and resurrection of the two witnesses, there is a great earthquake in the city in which they were slain. This earthquake is a spiritual event affecting “the earth.” Physical earthquakes do not turn surviving people to give glory to God – never did, never will. But a tenth of the population (7,000 slain) turning to the Lord would or could cause the rest to turn.
As it is written, concerning spiritual conversion: “For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many” (Isaiah 66:16). The population of the city at the time of the event is 70,000, coincidentally about the size of Lethbridge at this time in its and our history here after 18 years. What are the chances of that?
What is this city John speaks of? It is known as THE great city, spiritual Sodom and Egypt, where the Lord was slain (11:8). John isn’t speaking of the Jerusalem of this world where our Lord was crucified. He’s talking about a spiritual city, Babylon, the bride of the man of sin, composing his carnal body, and it is at her hand that the Lord and the two witnesses are slain.
Another coincidence: How is it that in this same city of Lethbridge, “Canada’s first 24-hour Christian Television Station,” known as CJIL (“Christ Jesus Is Lord”), should also appear in these days? Why not any other? Surely, most national television stations are found in larger cities.
And how is it that this year should be none other than the year 2000, the Hebrew year 5760 (144 x 40), which is 144 generations of 40 years each over the span of humanity’s (Adam’s) entire history? How is it that this history is known as 6 days of 24 hours to equal 144 hours and that we are about to enter the seventh day, the Sabbath, which is the long-awaited day of rest? On the Gentile calendar, to the year 2000 A. D. can be added 4000 years B. C. for a total of 6000 years, again 6 days, (each day being as 1000 years to the Lord – 2 Peter 3:8)
Perhaps nothing will be dramatically manifest in Lethbridge, the work of God often being silent and invisible to the carnal eye (without observation, He coming as a thief), but in the heavens I have to believe this to be a momentous occasion in the history of man, “…the Day for which the saints do pray, the whole world will be blessed” (song). Yet how can it not be manifest outwardly, given the facts? There is an impact on Heaven and earth in all that the Lord does, and this impact will be seen by those to whom it’s given.
Has not the Lord said to me in Bernalillo in 1984 that in Lethbridge He would begin the work He had called me to? I also find much hype coming from the harlot church about what is happening spiritually in Canada, in Alberta, and in Lethbridge, according to the founders of CJIL.
I see this as the evil counterfeit battling the good forces of Heaven for the dominion of the earth. They claim to have the air power and that those who have the air power have the victory, but little do they know that their air power is carnal and that it is the true “air power” of God that prevails.
The serpent, the dragon Satan, will not prevail against Michael, and when the serpent is cast out of Heaven and into the earth, woe to those who have trusted in their “air power” thinking they are doing God service. Indeed, these ARE inspired by the dragon and it is their defeat and their casting down of which we speak. It is the time of their destruction; these have been destroying the earth and mankind, for it is written, “And in HER [Babylon] was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of ALL that were slain upon the earth” (Revelation 18:24).
Are not the battle grounds determined? Is this the preparation of the second Battle of Armageddon, the first being in us, the second being in the outward, yet both being one and the same? Are all these things mere coincidences or are they signs of the time? Judge for yourselves.
And how is it we have suffered the peculiar things we have recently suffered – delusion, silly imaginations, apparent heresy and false doctrine, lawlessness, confusion, trial of soul and spirit, reason screaming in our ears for attention and respect? How is it that my name is known in this city as a false prophet, spoken, preached, and written against?
How is it that those of the synagogue of Satan (the Mills, Knorrs, Ogdens, and Knelsen) have come, relentlessly, in spite of the words spoken to them, which words have been harsher than those spoken to many others who have almost instantly fallen away? How is it that after nearly two years, these adversaries still come with their convictions, words, strategies, doctrines, wiles, and temptations to divide and conquer? Is there not something of great import at stake here? Would we be remiss if we didn’t take note and consider?
Who killed the two witnesses? They were slain by the beast – that carnal nature, Satan’s bride, his body, that resides within.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:
“But I would not have you ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, that you be not grieved, even as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13 MKJV).
We have sorrowed because of, as well as for, that dead man within, that carnal nature. He has also sorely grieved us and we have so desired relief from him. He is dead to God and to the things of God, being so opposed to our inner spiritual man.
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him all those who have fallen asleep through Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14 MKJV).
But we needn’t sorrow as though there is no hope because, in fact, they (our first Adam) will come with the Lord in His coming. They will be redeemed, no longer to withstand us. There will be no more war within, no more sorrow, no more tears. That enemy within will be transformed and made one with us (of twain one new man). Why? Because Jesus died and rose again precisely for that purpose, to save Adam!
“For we say this to you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not go before those who are asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:15 MKJV).
We will not come before (KJV – prevent) the carnal nature. Do you remember that earlier in the first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul said the same thing in different words, that there must be the falling away first and the man of sin must be destroyed (redeemed) before the Lord comes? We won’t come before the nature that is asleep to and in the Lord but we will be together.
“For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16 MKJV).
The Lord will descend from Heaven (manifest Himself to this earthly realm from the hidden spiritual realm – both within) with a shout (that is, we will know it), consuming that son of perdition, the one who sleeps, the man of sin and death, with the Spirit of His Mouth and destroy (redeem) him with the Brightness of His Coming. This is at the sound of the last trump Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:52 wherein he says that the dead (those asleep in corruption – the men of sin, the Adamic race) shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 MKJV).
“In the clouds… in the air” – in the Heavenlies, flesh transformed, the carnal man resurrected, soul and spirit united in harmony. I ask you, “Does that inner spiritual man need changing?” No, but our carnal man surely does! And for this end Christ died. That will be the end of the very last enemy, death (verses 14-16). What happens? Paul said:
Ephesians 2:13-19 KJV
(13) But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
(14) For He is our peace, Who has made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us [that division within of soul and spirit];
(15) Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace[oh, that elusive phantom state we often thought, hoped, wished, imagined we had];
(16) And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
(17) And came and preached peace to you which were afar off [the carnal man], and to them that were nigh [the spiritual man].
(18) For through Him we both[including the carnal man] have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
(19) Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints [with the spiritual man], and of the household of God.
Luke 17:20-37:
“And being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, He answered and said, ‘The Kingdom of God does not come with observation’” (Luke 17:20 MKJV).
The Kingdom of God is not perceived or observed with the carnal eye, yet it will reign in this world and impact it so that its effect ultimately will be very visible. Even so, the carnal man will not be able to determine the cause for the effects he observes. (I think of the farmers and multitudes in my original dream of the Lord’s coming, seeing, yet not seeing). The Pharisees and the Jews in general, expect, as also do we, a worldly, sensual expression of the Kingdom, one we can handle ourselves and appreciate in the flesh, but that’s not the way it is.
“Nor shall they say, ‘Lo here!’ or, ‘Behold, there!’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:21 MKJV).
It is all within, Babylon, the man of sin, the beast, the battle, the crucifixion, the New Jerusalem, the Kingdom, the issues of life, the worship of God, everything, even God Himself – “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27)!
“The hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem [not anywhere without], worship the Father… but within, in spirit and in truth… for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:21-23).
“And He said to the disciples, ‘The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you shall not see it’” (Luke 17:22 MKJV).
The disciples for a while enjoyed an outward fellowship with the Lord and sensed something, their “hearts burning within,” as with us all in the beginning. We have feelings as babes. But soon, the Presence of God seems to lift and we begin to experience what the Lord expresses in the following verse to His disciples. We are no longer “seeing” His days and, in vain, we long for such perception again. This is part of the process and our trial.
“And they shall say to you, ‘Lo, here!’ or, ‘Behold, there!’ Do not go away, nor follow” (Luke 17:23 MKJV).
At such times we’re sorely tempted to join a group, “go to church,” and partake in works in the Name of God. Our flesh craves something tangible, a sign, proof. And those who partake and continue in those things think it strange that we “run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of us” (I Peter 4:4) saying, “They’ve strayed away from God and are fallen prey to the Devil, forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. They are a cult, deluded, false prophets… poor fools… just like the Lord said it would be in the last days.” They would even seek to kill us, whether in thought, word, or deed, it doesn’t matter; it’s all the same in spirit. And the Lord says, “Don’t go with them.”
“For as the lightning which lights up, flashing from the one part under heaven, and shines to the other part under heaven, so also shall the Son of Man be in His day” (Luke 17:24 MKJV).
He says, “Believe Me, you’ll know it when it happens. The revelation and experience of My coming will be undeniable.”
“But first He must suffer many things and be rejected of this generation” (Luke 17:25 MKJV).
What is the sign of the coming of the Son of man? There’s only one, that being the laying down of the life. As Jonah didn’t willingly lay down his life, though his experience was engineered as an allegory to signify the Lord’s death, so it is not we who lay down our lives but Christ in us Who does so. The illustration is constantly repeated. To Him goes all the glory.
What are the primary elements of His laying down of the life? The very things He mentions… suffering (not euphoria) and rejection (not reception). The one in whom Christ performs these things will be as He was on earth, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, those about him hiding their faces from him, hating him, hardened against him though he suffer for their sakes.
Luke 17:26-29 MKJV
(26) And as it was in the days of Noah, so it also shall be in the days of the Son of Man.
(27) They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and the flood came and destroyed them all.
(28) So also as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
(29) but the day Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from the heaven and destroyed them all.
All will seem normal up to the time when destruction and judgment come suddenly.
“Even so it shall be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:30 MKJV).
The difference in this day to the days of Noah and Lot is that in this day the Son of Man is revealed. It is not that He comes, for He is here all the time, but that He is revealed, His presence made known; He is manifest here, now, yet only to certain given to see, to the children of light. What a difference!
And we thought the flood was historic and sensational! But that event, compared to the coming of the Lordmanifestation of the sons of God, will be as water baptism compared to the fullness of the spiritual life promised by that baptism. The flood, with all its destruction, was nothing less than a glorious promise!
“In that day he who shall be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, he who is in the field, let him not return to the things behind. Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:31-32 MKJV).
We shall not be occupied in heart with the things of this world, the scaffolding of our spiritual lives. The factory, as great and as necessary as it is, is not for itself but for the product – the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls. We shall not look back (nostalgia, regret, longing, or bitterness) or allow anything to compete in our hearts for what the Lord wills.
Luke 17:33-36 MKJV
(33) Whoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
(34) I tell you, in that night there shall be two in one bed, the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
(35) Two shall be grinding together, one will be taken, and the other left.
(36) Two shall be in the field, one will be taken, and the other left.
The carnal man shall not have his way, his world, his life. One is taken, one is left; there is no room for two opposing dispositions. There must be complete removal or reconciliation. One must be transformed, redeemed to be in harmony with the other. The dream given us on November 10th of 1997 through Bob Gregson illustrated these two to be made one in Christ.
“And they answered and said to Him, ‘Where, Lord?’ And He said to them, ‘Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together’” (Luke 17:37 MKJV).
The body or the carcass? Luke says “body,” but Matthew says “carcass.” They’re both right. It all depends on perspective. When a life is laid down, it is a savour of death to the dead but of life to the living. This sign of the Son of Man is a death, but life can only come from that carcass, and if it then has life, it is not a dead carcass but a living body.
Where the laying down of the life is, there is the coming of the Son of Man and the Kingdom of God.
Luke 21:7-36:
“And they asked Him, saying, ‘Teacher, but when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign when these things are about to take place?” (Luke 21:7 MKJV)
The disciples ask about the completion of things, about the day of destruction of the old and victory of the new. They didn’t recognize, as we don’t in the carnal (they had yet to receive the Spirit), that it was more a matter of destruction of the outer and victory of the inner.
“And He said, ‘Take heed that you are not deceived, for many shall come in My Name, saying, “I AM!” Also, “The time has come!” Do not go after them’” (Luke 21:8 MKJV).
Men will seek to draw others to themselves and their kingdoms, churches, works. This is the first step of the final days, our separation from the works of men, particularly from our own works within.
Luke 21:9-11 MKJV
(9) “But when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified, for all these things must first occur, but the end is not at once.”
(10) And He said to them, “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
(11) And great earthquakes shall be in different places, and famines and plagues. And there shall be terrors and great signs from Heaven.”
Another step is trouble, tribulation, anguish of soul, as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3 – within and without.
“But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for My Name’s sake. And it shall return to you for a testimony” (Luke 21:12-13 MKJV).
Persecution as by God’s design, and our ability and opportunity for a testimony.
“Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand what you shall answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist” (Luke 21:14-15 MKJV).
God over all, Provider of every need in time of trouble.
“And you shall be betrayed also by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends. And they will cause some of you to be put to death” (Luke 21:16 MKJV).
A time of great trouble with separation, betrayal, and hatred from those closest, to the point of putting one to death; a falling away, the love of many waxing cold (see Matthew 24:10-12).
“And you shall be hated by all for My Name’s sake” (Luke 21:17 MKJV).
All means all… the carnal man of sin. Are these things without or within? They are within but also without – all is affected.
“But there shall not a hair of your head perish” (Luke 21:18 MKJV).
Yet there shall not be so much as a hair of our true man lost. Therefore, there is nothing to fear. Why are we told so? Because it will appear quite otherwise, so great a trouble as never was or ever will be again.
“In your patience [confidence in God – waiting on Him] possess ye your souls” (Luke 21:19 KJV).
“Possess ye your souls” doesn’t only mean “having” but also “doing.” In patience and faith, take possession of that carnal man, that first Adam; now is the time where he no longer possesses. That spirit man of faith that endures unto the end, the same shall be saved.
“And when you see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that its destruction has come” (Luke 21:20 MKJV).
The battle has come to conclude all things. It is the end of the outward, the release of the inner.
There’s debate as to whether the words of the Lord pertain to the end of Israel and Jerusalem nearly 2000 years ago or to the end of the world. It is both, but not of this physical world; it is the end of the inner world, the carnality. Israel and the city of Jerusalem represented the old man, the first Adam, with “the Law of Commandments contained in ordinances” (Ephesians 2:15), the “first Christian,” the first of two Testaments and two circumcisions.
If this is so, we can see that the carnal man was ordained of God, justified in existence, failing in himself, yet destined to be saved. As it is written, “…all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26) – by the Deliverer coming out of Zion to turn ungodliness away from Jacob.
Was Jacob ungodly? Yes. Are you ungodly? Yes. Am I ungodly? Yes. What kind of ungodliness are we talking? The kind that presumes to be godly in its own right and power. This speaks of the “first Christian,” that man of sin, the old man, the dead carnal man, the son of perdition (ungodliness leads to perdition). At that time in Israel’s history, the veil of the Holy of Holies was torn “from Heaven to earth,” top to bottom (by the hand of God).
“And let those in Judea flee to the mountains. And those in its midst, let them go out. And those in the open spaces, let them not go into her” (Luke 21:21 MKJV).
As in Luke 17:31-33 (see above).
“For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22 MKJV).
The days of vengeance? Yes. the Lord restores the glory to Himself that was lost by the one made in His image going his independent way. How does the Lord accomplish this? By redeeming the independent one by mercy, by grace, by laying down His life, that all things written might be fulfilled.
“But woe to those who are with child, and to those suckling in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land and wrath on this people” (Luke 21:23 MKJV).
The destruction of the man of sin by the Son of Man. Let the carnal man entertain no hope of future posterity. Such will bring great disappointment… woe.
“And they shall fall by the sword’s edge. And shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations until the times of the nations is fulfilled” (Luke 21:24 MKJV).
The spirit at the mercy of the flesh at its height of tyranny, for a time.
“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars. And on the earth will be anxiety of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men fainting from fear, and expecting those things which have come on the earth. For the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26 MKJV).
Seemingly no end to tribulation, great distress, desperation, hopelessness. Even Heaven seems to have abandoned that distressed one, and those in Heaven, even saints and prophets and priests, are rendered powerless to help.
“And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27 MKJV).
The sign of the Son of Man. It is finished. The Redeemer is here.
“And when these things begin to happen, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28 MKJV).
As said, these most troubled times are reason to hope rather than to despair. Blessed are those who weep now, for they shall be comforted.
Luke 21:29-31 MKJV
(29) And He spoke a parable to them: “Behold the fig tree and all the trees.
(30) Now when they sprout leaves, seeing it you will know that summer is now near.
(31) So also, when you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near.”
Again, all these troubles are evidence for, not against, the fact that the Kingdom of God is near at hand.
“Truly I say to you, This generation shall not pass away until all these things are fulfilled” (Luke 21:32 MKJV).
It may appear that this generation wouldn’t make it to the end, the trial being too great to bear, but with patience and faith in the will of God, it does.
“The Heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away” (Luke 21:33 MKJV).
You can bet on it. It’s money in the bank. Better than. Banks fail; God never.
Luke 21:34-36 MKJV
(34) And take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts are weighed down with headaches and drinking and anxieties of this life; and that day should suddenly come on you;
(35) for it shall come as a snare on all those sitting on the face of the whole earth.
(36) Watch therefore, praying in every season that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things which shall occur, and to stand before the Son of Man.
A warning, not for unbelievers, but for believers. Don’t put your trust in yourself, the first Adam, no matter how glorious or impressive or powerful; no matter if it be physical food and wine or spiritual; steak or doctrine, champagne or eloquent sermons. To be drunk on knowledge is no less a hindrance from the Kingdom than whiskey in excess.
Matthew 24:
The discourse here is much the same as that of the passages in Luke. The reader will often be referred to the commentary of those passages to avoid repetition. (Please don’t read the verses in the Bible only but the commentary given for them up above.)
Verses 1-8: Same as Luke 21:5-11.
Verses 9-13: Same as Luke 21:12-19.
“And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end shall come” (Matthew 24:14 MKJV).
The carnal man will not be without the whole truth. All questions of God’s righteousness, authority, and justice will be settled.
“Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand)” (Matthew 24:15 MKJV).
The wicked one – that son of perdition, the man of sin, the child of iniquity and presumption, Lucifer, revealed.
Verses 16-19: Same as Luke 21:20-24.
“But pray that your flight is not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath day; for then shall be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:20-21 MKJV).
It won’t matter what your circumstances are; it will be difficult, and nothing will help or spare, not even in quiet times of rest.
“And unless those days should be shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:22 MKJV).
That’s how hard it is or will be for any who come to that appointed time.
Matthew 24:23-25 MKJV
(23) “Then if any man shall say to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ!’ Or, ‘There!’ Do not believe it.
(24) For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders; so much so that, if it were possible, they would deceive even the elect.
(25) Behold, I have told you beforehand.
Not “then” in the sense of “following what has been described,” but “during those days.” The man of sin will pull out all stops to preserve and serve himself, and he will be believed for a time by those who desire to fulfill the flesh and preserve and take pleasure in a kingdom on earth. The Lord said it would be so. He knows.
Verses 26-28: See Luke 17:23-24, 37.
“And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matthew 24:29 MKJV).
Heaven will freeze in silence and appearance (see Luke 21:25-26).
“And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30 MKJV).
Luke doesn’t mention the sign of the Son of Man but Matthew does. Neither does Luke mention that “all the tribes of the earth” would “mourn.” This same mourning and the cause for it is recorded in Zechariah 12:10-14, saying that every family apart shall mourn. Surely! This event exposes the unrighteousness, the spirit of iniquity that has worked mysteriously within every person, family, clan, and tribe, each responsible, and not another, for its own doings in the Name of the Lord.
This is the Day of the Glory of the Lord, the Day of His redemption, the Day of His Manifestation. There will be great shamefacedness of the carnal man who is first revealed, then found in iniquity, and finally, is forgiven and redeemed by God’s power and grace. Yes, every tribe will mourn – Revelation 1:7: “…every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.”
Is it any wonder that Jesus said on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”? He said it because He full well knew that the “first Christian” didn’t knowledgably crucify Him or commit any offense against Him. Therefore He didn’t impute their sin to them. Stephen likewise understood and loved men so (Acts 7:59-60).
Paul said he was forgiven because he had persecuted the Church in ignorance. He said that his Israelite brothers had a zeal for God, but in ignorance rather than according to knowledge. He also said that if the princes (rulers) of this world had known the hidden wisdom of God, they would not have crucified the Lord (I Corinthians 2:6-8). Again, these things were done in ignorance and God chose to forgive, and not only chose, but had foreordained it to be so.
Didn’t Peter say to the Jews that they had killed the Prince of Life through ignorance, and in saying so, was he not giving them consideration for good (Acts 3:14-18)?
Acts 3:14-18 MKJV
(14) But you denied the Holy and Just One and desired a murderer to be given to you.
(15) And you killed the Prince of Life, whom God has raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
(16) And His Name, through faith in His Name, has made this man strong, this one whom you see and know, His Name made firm. And the faith which came through Him has given him this perfect soundness before you.
(17) And now, brothers, I know that you did it through ignorance, as also your rulers did.
(18) But those things which God before had shown by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He fulfilled in this manner.
In our trials and tribulations, we must see beyond one another’s wrongs against each other. Joseph was delivered to death by his own brothers for their sakes by the will of God, whereby in the fullness of time, Joseph was able to say to them, “Don’t be afraid; I won’t harm you; you meant it for evil but God meant it for good.”
So Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, taken, and by wicked hands, crucified and slain for the salvation of all (Acts 2:23). We suffer evil by the will of God for the good of all and for His glory, Who works all things according to the counsel of His own will.
We are called to lay down our lives in the spirit of Stephen, saying, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”
Easy to preach; impossible to do, but with God, all things are possible and, truly, these are His works from the beginning.
“And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the Heavens to the other” (Matthew 24:31 MKJV).
This is that last trump, announcing not the scattering, but the gathering, of the elect of God. We shall be saved. No man can pluck us out of the Father’s hand.
Verses 32-35: Same as Luke 21:29-33.
Verses 36-39: The timing is utterly hidden from all but the Father (see verses 42-44). See also Luke 17:26-30; 21:34-35.
Verses 40-41: Same as Luke 17:34-36.
Matthew 24:45-51 MKJV
(45) “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord has made ruler over His household, to give them food in due season?
(46) Blessed is that servant whom his Lord shall find him doing so when He comes.
(47) Truly I say to you that He shall make him ruler over all His goods.
(48) But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, ‘My Lord delays His coming,’
(49) and shall begin to strike his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken,
(50) the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he does not look for Him, and in an hour which he does not know.
(51) And He shall cut him apart and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The Lord came in a day when I did not look for Him, my not being watchful and prayerful, preoccupied with the things of this world, and I have been one to be cut asunder, my portion appointed with the hypocrites, and have had weeping and gnashing of teeth. I’ve been in the fires of redemption and, as the Saturday night TV program, Twice In A Lifetime, describes in its own way, I believe I have been given “another opportunity” to correct my life, to make amends, perhaps and likely by suffering those things I imposed on others, or to pay the price for others rather than to exact it from them as did the evil servant in Matthew 24:48, which person I have been. This has been the judgment of “my” man of sin – me, as ordained of God for every man, each in his own time and order and way. All these things have had to be.
God is merciful; God is faithful; God is Ruler over all.
I see the essence of what is written here everywhere in the Scriptures, as in Zechariah 12, for example. Here we see what will be happening with us and Lethbridge, we saints being Jerusalem, even as I related the passage in Revelation 11 concerning the city of 70,000 to be pertaining to us and Lethbridge.
When Dr. Janice Noji rejected us, I had a vision of famine-stricken, emaciated, weak persons dressed in sackcloth or clothes of poverty, with hoods drawn over their heads as ancient lepers and paupers would have, picking up stones to throw at this high, great stone wall hundreds of yards away, but unable to throw those stones more than several feet, so weak and powerless they were. The wall sheltered the city of Jerusalem, which city we are.
I see Zechariah 13 as pertaining to us, not in chronological order to chapter 12. I see the purging of the man of sin with his spiritual powers in verses 2 to 5, the Lord using the spiritual man to deliver the carnal man in each of us in verse 6. Each of us has been or will be hurt by those of our own household, for so it must be. The sword has come against the shepherd and the pruning has taken away the majority number of us (verse 9). All these things happen as living occurrences and repetitions of the same Christ and the same realities in history. He’s the One Who does it all.
In chapter 14, we read of the coming of the Day of the Lord, our spoils divided and Jerusalem cut in half. In half? Yes, the carnal man goes off into captivity and the spiritual man is not cut off from the city.
It speaks of the coming of the Lord, the establishing of His authority, the city finally safely inhabited, the tumult that has been and is with us (verse 13), the FEAST OF TABERNACLES (verse 16), no more the Canaanite (merchandiser, corrupter, focuser on earthly things, adversary) in us. It will all be done; it will all be good.
What about Joel? In chapter 1, he speaks of the Day of the Lord, a day of trouble and desolation. Has not Joel 1:16 been our lot, along with other verses? And while our antagonists may be right in what they see, they are wrong in where they’re coming from, just as Job’s friends spoke right words but misapplied, to God’s disapproval.
Look at Joel 2. A trumpet announcing the Day of the Lord! The last trump? Has it not been a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness? Surely. And has it not been a day of fire? “…for the Day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?”
Hasn’t the Lord called to us saying, “Turn even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repents Him of the evil” (Joel 2:12-13)?
Haven’t I warned you of the wrath of God ready to be poured out on all of us because of our sins? And hasn’t He shown mercy (verses 18-20)?
And while we full know that Peter repeated Joel’s words as pertaining to the day of Pentecost, yet I see these things also pertaining to us and to this historical day.
What about Joel 3? The Lord brought our captivity once but had to do so again and is doing so. Joel speaks of the day of peace, the heathen awakening (the carnal man within who has tormented us), the time of harvest, the descriptions given by Jesus in Matthew 24 and Luke 17 and 21 of the great and terrible day. The Lord says, “For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwells in Zion,” Judah dwelling forever and Jerusalem from generation to generation (3:20-21).
But what of each of us? Why are these things working as they do? They aren’t only specifically designed to meet every individual need, but coordinated and complex so as to affect every other person perfectly. Still, we only “see as through a glass darkly,” until the day dawns and the Daystar arises in our hearts.”
As the members of the Lord’s body have gifts in particular, varying with one another to complement the whole, so the members of the man of sin also have their peculiar and individual features that were originally purposed and good, but were perverted in the fall. These must be restored to the original and so the Lord has perfectly tailored these circumstances to do so. It is the restoration, the restitution, the reconciliation, and the resurrection in particular. These are the rewards the Lord brings with Him in His coming (appearing) according as our work is (Revelation 22:12).
Victor
Man of Sin – Part 1