2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Today, Pastor Jack tells us that at the moment of the Rapture a clock starts ticking, not for the coming of Christ as the Messiah. But for the Day of the Lord when He comes to judge the nations.

God is saying to you today:
“Trust Me to make a way for you. Stand on My word. Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

We’re looking at this message series titled Signs of the coming antichrist.
And I’m not usually a big teacher or preacher or log on the study of future things in the area of the antichrist.
I’ve given a couple of messages over the course of the last 30 years because I just don’t focus on them because I don’t plan on meeting him ever.
And as, as being part of the church, we’ll never see him and there’s evidence in the Bible for that clearly.
But so you say, well, Jack, then why are we studying this? That’s the great question.
One of the reasons is because I’ve been a Christian for 46 years and the things that we’re seeing right now, I never thought I’d ever see there’s things going on right now that if you would have said you’ll be a Christian and you’ll see this stuff happening.
Then what listen, then my conclusion to you would have been either a Christ isn’t gonna come back at all or boy, is he close?
And that’s the answer, boy, is he close?
If we are seeing, not only the stage set up for the tribulation period, but as it were the stage hands are just moving.
Now, the set in like little inches, not feet.
Then how much closer is the imminent return of Christ Jesus for the church before those Jewish Hebrew focused seven year tribulation period begins signs of the coming antichrist.
We will use it to get ourselves ready. We will use it as a witnessing tool.
We will use it to tell every man woman, boy and girl about the love of God and the day and age in which we live in, that Christ is coming and that His promise to us is eternal life.
Well, as I mentioned in the introduction, somebody might say, why on earth are we studying this portion or this doctrine of what is referred to as eschatology.
Eschatology is the science of the study of the word of God regarding future events. 30% or so.
Some say 25 some say 33% of the Bible is what is known as scatological.
It means that this book, a quarter of this book or more is written regarding future events.
You will not find that by the way in any other writing of any other religious group throughout human history.
In fact, so important is this issue about the God of the Bible being a God that perfectly prophesies the future that he himself declares.
Behold. I am he, there is none like me.
I am the one who has spoken to you and I have told you the future before it comes to pass, that when it does come to pass, you will know that I am he.
And, uh, all of the religions in the world either a are smart enough to not even have prophecy in their strange belief systems.
Some are nuts enough to try to have their own prophecies. But over time have been proven wrong.
In fact, even in Islam, which came much later, of course, uh in the seventh century, whatever so called prophetic utterances are in the book of uh the Koran, those were simply lifted from the Bible that was already in existence.
You need to know that. But um we, we need to know what the Bible says about this.
Many people don’t want to know this.
Uh And I, I believe personally and I hope, you know by now that um we here at this church and I believe that we are to preach the message of truth and let the truth land wherever it lands and we are not to sugarcoat anything but we are to give the truth of God as it’s revealed in the Bible.
And so you’ll find nothing around here regarding church growth tactics.
A church growth tactic would be, don’t talk about prophetic issues. Why? Because it causes controversy.
Of course, it does. The question is why does it?
And we have been admonished in the scriptures to not be ignorant concerning prophetic teachings of the Bible.
Now, you do know. Right. I’m talking about Bible prophecy, prophetic teachings.
I’m not talking about somebody saying I’ve got a prophecy for you brother. I’m not talking about that stuff.
I’m talking about God’s ability to look into the future and to reveal to us in the Bible, what we need to know, why would he do that?
Because it is Bible prophecy that causes you to have an undeniable faith in the scriptures.
When you understand that the God that you worship is what is known as prescient, prescient is that He sees things in the future.
But here’s the beautiful part. You and I cannot, he does. But in reality, he’s above it all.
He doesn’t see what’s coming where he resides. This is tough. Well, it’s impossible.
It’s impossible for us to understand this, where, where he resides. He sees the creation of the spiritual realm.
All the angelic hosts before time was ever created before the earth and the universe was ever created.
And he sees the end of it all and eternity.
God, his nature is that he views all of it in the exact same moment.
You see how that’s how is that possible? It’s impossible for us to even fathom.
But look at it this way on one page as it were, that’s in front of you.
God sees it all. This is a really lame example.
But if you fly over the rose bowl parade in the Goodyear blimp and look down, you can see the end from the beginning all at once.
Now, that’s kind of goofy because God doesn’t need a blimp to see at all. It’s his nature.
He’s outside of time. It’s amazing. He says, so why do we study this, this one called the antichrist?
Well, because what’s going on in the world around us demands that we look into this and it should translate into this.
Wow, if this is what’s going on, how close are we to the coming of Christ for his church?
A little bit of background as we look into this Thessalonica, you can go there today, by the way, it’s one of the oldest cities in the world.
But uh Paul had written to them, he had visited them and then written to them.
First, Thessalonians, he wrote two books to them 1st and 2nd Thessalonians if you know taker and I hope all of you are.
First. Thessalonians deals predominantly with the things of the church and of the rapture.
And in fact, in all five chapters, there is a promise to deliver the church from the wrath of God by what is called the rapture in all five chapters of first Thessalonians.
Second Thessalonians starts out with a reminder chapters, one and a couple of verses in chapter two and then chap then the rest of the book is dedicated to the events of the second coming.
So it’s very easy to remember. One deals with the first and two deals with the second. Everybody got that.
It’s very, very simple and dumb. But he wrote to them. Why did he write to them?
Because there were those after he had left and leaves them first Thessalonians and it’s so full of comfort and joy and, and anticipation after Paul left, there were others who came behind and said, that’s not what Paul meant.
What he really meant to say was this and they, they so to speak.
Rep preached Paul’s messages and Paul’s name, but they completely twisted it. Are you hearing me?
This happens all the time in life?
Then there are those who said we’ve got this letter that was written from the apostles and we need to read it to you.
And uh Paul changed his mind about what he had wrote to you a couple of years ago.
And then there’s the warning that goes out that you know what we heard from the Lord and the Lord said this and all of it.
Listen, everybody should write this down because it’s important.
All of those attacks coming from three different angles were an attack to try to confuse the people to get them to believe that because suffering had increased in the Roman Empire.
They were in the tribulation period. Paul is a liar.
Now, you think that through for a moment, you are in the trip, sorry, suck it up.
It’s going to get worse. Paul made a big mistake and we’re telling you what he should have said.
That’s what countered what Paul wrote in his first letter. Are you with me?
He writes and respond the second letter. It’s a rebuttal to false doctrine or false teaching.
If you understand that it’s very important because they were concerned. They thought, wow.
I guess Christ isn’t coming for us. I guess we look for the antichrist instead.
I know a lot of good people who hold to that teaching that we don’t need to be looking for Jesus Christ.
Listen, everybody, I’m not gonna mention names.
There, there are too many to mention, but there’s famous names, famous TV, personalities that are Christians and famous books that have been written in the Christian community.
And they say waiting for Jesus Christ is a waste of time. You’re fanatical.
You need to be just getting ready and watch for the antichrist uh because that you’re gonna go through it all.
You’re gonna, you and here’s the reasons why and they have their arguments but to do that, you gotta twist the scriptures and look uh uh don’t hate me for what I’m about to say.
In fact, you should love me more for it.
And, and it’s this, it’s this when I got saved at Costa Mesa, I was a pre tribulation meaning that I was taught and I believed that Christ would come before the, before the tribulation period because I didn’t know any better.
I, I was listening to Pastor Chuck Smith in those days, uh, Chuck Missler was teaching there on campus.
Everybody taught that and I was reading it and study it and I thought that’s fantastic.
And then, um, I really studied more and, uh discovered that, um, that I’m uh quite a believer and, um, I don’t think, I believe in this pre tribulation thing anymore.
I think if you’re really going to be a man about your Christianity, you need to suck it up and go through the tribulation and take it like a man and suffer because Jesus suffered, then I’m going to suffer like him.
And I got on to that kick for about three years.
I was a very outspoken post tribulation and let me tell you, it’s a hard way to live because you’ve got to go about manipulating the scripture.
You’ve got to take the church and replace Israel with the church and you got to do all kinds of biblical rule breaking to pull it off and it doesn’t work.
And so when I came back as a pre tribulation, I came back with fire because I understand both camps and um like our old friend Dr Ed Henson says he’s so pre tribulation that he doesn’t even eat post toasties and he buys his bananas, yellow, not green because he doesn’t have the time for them to ripen.
I like that throughout the scripture. We are told to be ready.
So all the while as we go through this series.
I want you to be thinking I need to be ready to meet Jesus today.
And look, if we don’t hear a trumpet blast today, listen, you could hear a honk of a truck or you could hear a thump of your heart or something.
You better be ready to meet Jesus. You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs.
You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series. Just go to Jack Hibbs dot com.
That’s Jack Hibbs dot com. And for now let’s get back to our teaching.
Once again, here’s Pastor Jack background, a lot of background today to what we’re looking at and that is regarding this man called the antichrist and he is a man.
You need to make note of that. He’s an actual human being. He’s not a supernatural manifestation.
He’s not an alien that fell out of a spaceship. He’s not going to come walking out of Roswell.
He’s a real man. He’s a real person that Satan will select.
He didn’t come out of the womb with horns, little nubs on the top of his skull.
He didn’t come out with a little tail, but he’s a human and uh God knows from all time in eternity who he is.
Satan does not know who he is, which is a very interesting thing. Again, Satan will select him.
Are you again? Write this down, Satan doesn’t know the end time scheme.
It’s somehow blinded from his eyes and this is pretty fun. Every generation.
If you study it very closely, there are some real high shelf players in some mid level, in some low level players.
But in every generation since the book of Genesis Satan, who doesn’t know eschatology, he just doesn’t get it.
And I like that by the way, has had to have an anti Christ type always waiting in the wings because when things start happening, he’s got to grab his man and possess him.
He’s gonna move inside of them and he’s gonna use him for his deeds. Satan every generation.
So you could, you could look at people like uh Nimrod was the first prototype of the antichrist.
Nimrod was Satan’s probably first attempt to create a globalization of nations.
Nimrod, Nimrod Genesis 11 who built the tower of Babel and announced really when you look at it in the English, it seems to make no sense.
It says that Nimrod was a great hunter before the Lord Nimrod was a hunter before the Lord.
In the Hebrew. The Hebrew uh implies that Nimrod scaled the amount of Babel that they had built and that he was a great archer.
The Bible says, and that he was to shoot God down out of heaven.
He was a hunter of the souls of men is what ancient law has said about Nimrod. That’s key.
The satanic realm is in a hunt for the souls of men.
Satan knows or at least he’s heard that he’s been defeated.
He knows the cross at his thought first initially was a victory. Until Sunday morning. We studied that last week.
Did we not? And, um, the Bible tells us that when Christ rose again from the dead, Satan was defeated, say, what does it he give up then?
Because there’s one thing that he still has the opportunity to do while Christ in the Gospel goes to the ends of the earth and Lord willing to your heart that you might receive the love of God and the forgiveness of God, even though Satan is a defeated enemy, he’s going after you because it it’s not personal and listen from this moment on, you should never self or suffer self esteem after this lack of self esteem.
Know this God loves you so much that Satan hates your guts and he he wants to, he wants to steal your soul, drag you down into the pit of hell.
So God is hurt by that. That’s how valuable you are.
There’s only four portions in scripture where he’s actually referred to as the antichrist or the spirit of antichrist.
I’ll explain, write these down if you would. First John chapter two verse 18.
1st John 2 18 says little Children, by the way, 1st, 2nd and 3rd, John are written to believers not to nonbelievers, nonbelievers are not even recognized in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, John little Children.
It is the last hour and as you have heard, the anti Christ is coming.
That’s who we’re gonna be learning about these next few weeks.
Even now, many anti-christ have come by which we know that it is the last hour.
Not only does every generation have to have an anti-christ type in Satan’s holster, so to speak.
But those who denied the deity of Jesus Christ or denied the existence of God, they are those who fall under the category of being anti Christ, not the antichrist, but an antichrist, a belief system that denies God.
What is rightfully who he is? First John two verse 22.
1st John two verse 22 who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ.
He is anti-christ who denies the father and the son. First John four verse three. First John four verse three.
Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.
And this is the spirit of the anti-christ which you have heard was coming.
That’s the person and is now already in the world. That is the spirit of Him. Remarkable.
Second John chapter one verse seven, for many deceivers have gone out into the world who do, who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh or the incarnation.
See, what is that Christmas day God came into the world born from a virgin.
Exactly as the prophets foretold. If you deny that, then you are of the spirit of antichrist.
It’s not, it’s nothing personal. It’s just true.
If you today say, I don’t believe Jesus is God.
That’s because you’ve been duped by the spirit of antichrist. And your very position is anti-christ. Remarkable.
Is it, this is a deceiver and an antichrist.
So the signs of the coming anti Christ by way of introduction of who this person is, mark it down in your note taking, he is revealed in scripture as the beast mark that down revelation chapter 11 verse seven, when they that is the two witnesses, the two prophets that come from God during the tribulation period.
Mind you finish their testimony, their mission, their work, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them and overcome them and kill them.
The beast is the man, the anti Christ, but it is he Satan who empowers him from the inside out.
That’s why it says he ascends out of the pit. Revelation 13 verses one through four.
Then I that is John stood on the sand of the sea Bible. Students.
If you know eschatology see an old testament almost always revert refers to humanity.
John says that I stood on the shores as it were of humanity saw all time of humanity and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea.
This man is gonna come up out of humanity having seven heads. Don’t worry about that.
It’s explained in the Bible he doesn’t have seven heads. He has seven authorities.
He has seven rules seven uh call it degrees in our world.
He’s got seven titles behind his name and 10 horns.
The word horns is the old Testament word for kings horns.
Kings interchangeable and on his horns, 10 crowns and on his heads, a blasphemous name. Verse two.
Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear.
This is how God sees this man and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.
The dragon that Satan gave him his power, his throne and great authority.
And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed.
That’s interesting. You ought to mark that down. Why does it point that out in scripture?
What is that all about whoever the beast is that is to come. This one called the antichrist.
The Bible tells us that one of his heads will appear to be mortally wounded, but the deadly wound was healed.
Isn’t that a weird statement? You’ll see how important it is to know your old testament here in a second pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs here on real life radio with his special message called signs of the coming antichrist.
Part one, thanks for listening. And our prayer is that you’ve come to know Jesus personally and that you are eagerly awaiting the Lord’s return and we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
What can people on earth expect during the last days in all the chaos that the Bible predicts several events stand out as truly extraordinary.
Now, what are these events and what makes them so significant in Pastor Jack’s current resource called 15 Future Events that will shake the world by Ed Henson.
He gives us a clear overview of how certain events unfold and what they mean to us. Bible.
Prophecy is not meant to scare us.
It’s meant to prepare us God’s word, assures us that he is in control when all seems out of control here on earth.
What God has to say about the future reminds us to keep watching and to be ready for the Lord’s imminent return.
God’s Bible. The book that you probably have at home is able to tell you about the future.
That’s the God that we serve is a God who knows the future 15 future events that will shake the world by Ed Heinen.
It’s available for a gift of any amount at our website Jack Hibbs dot com. That’s Jack Hibbs dot com.
This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you.
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Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio.
Wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his word, we’ll see you next time here on real Life Radio.