The Preaching of Peter and Message (Acts 10:17-48) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

The Preaching of Peter and Message (Acts 10:17-48)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music

 

Scriptures reading (Acts 10:17-48)

  ¹⁷While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. ¹⁸They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. ¹⁹While Peter was still things about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. ²⁰ So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” ²¹Peter went down and said to the men, “I am the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?” ²²The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” ²³Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

The Preaching of Peter and message

     The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along. ²⁴The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. ²⁶But Peter made him get up. “Stand up”, he said, “I am only a man myself”.²⁷Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. ²⁸He said to them.” You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit hinm. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. ²⁹ So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” ³⁰Cornelius answered: “Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me ³¹and said, “Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.³²Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.” ³³So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

³⁴Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism³⁵But accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.³⁶You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. ³⁷You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached –³⁸How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.        

³⁹ We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by handing him on a tree, ⁴⁰but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen –by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.⁴²He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

            ⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.⁴⁵ The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.⁴⁶For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, ⁴⁷ “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” ⁴⁸So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

 

Verse 20 This indicates that Cornelius’s sending of the three men was the Spirit’s move and act through him even before his conversion.

Verse 23 In this strategic case Peter did not act individualistically but with some of the brothers, in the principle of the Body of Christ, that they might bear witness to the way in which God dealt with the Gentiles, that is, preaching the gospel to them through Peter’s breaking of the Jewish tradition and habit (11:12)

Verse 28 This indicates that eventually Peter understood the significance of the vision he had seen in the trance (vv.11,17,19), that is, that the animals in the great sheet represented men.

Verse 35 Those who fear God and work righteousness in every nation are still apart of fallen mankind. God accepts them in view of the redemption of Christ. Outside of Christ, no fallen man is justified by his works (Rom.3:20; Gal.2:16).

Verse 36 referring to men (1 Tim.2:4) not only Jews but also Gentiles.

Verse 37 Lit, the word which has taken place. The Greek word for word here denotes instant words.

Verse 42 At His coming back, before the millennium, the resurrected Christ will judge the living on His throne of glory (Matt.25:31-46). This is related to His second coming (2Tim.4:1). After the millennium He will judge the dead on the great white throne (Rev.20:11-15). That will be the final clearance of the defiled old creation.

Verse 43 This proves that even though Cornelius feared God and worked righteousness and his prayers and alms had been accepted by God, he still needed God’s forgiveness of his sins through his believing into Christ, the Redeemer.

Verse 44 Outwardly and economically. In the case of the house of Cornelius, the Holy Spirit’s entering into the believers essentially for life and falling upon them economically for power occurred simultaneously when they believed in the Lord. However, only His falling upon them economically is noted here, because it was outward and could be realized by others through their speaking in tongues and magnifying God (v.46). His entering into them occurred silently and invisibly. They received both aspects of the Holy Spirit directly from Christ the Head, without any mediatorial channel, before they were baptized in water by other members of the Body of Christ. This indicates emphatically that the kingdom of God to the Gentiles was of the Lord, and that the Head of the Body baptized the Gentile believers into His Body directly, without the laying on of hands of any member of His Body, in contrast to the cases of the Samaritan believers and Saul of Tarsus (8:17;9:17).

Verse 44 This included their believing into the Lord.

Verse 45 By God from all –inclusive, resurrected, and ascended Christ.

Verse 46 Speaking in tongues was not the unique issue of receiving the Holy Spirit economically, because in this case the magnifying, that is, the praising, of God was also one of its issues, as was prophesying in the case of the twelve believers in Ephesus (19:6). Hence, speaking in tongues is not the only evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit economically; Neither is it the necessary evidence, because there is at least one case of the receiving of the Holy Spirit economically, the case of the Samaritan believers (8:15-17), which does not mention speaking in tongues. In the case of Saul of Tarsus (9:17) concerning this matter, there again is no mention of speaking in tongues, although he told us later, in 1 Cor.14:18, that he spoke in tongues.

Verse 47 Like the early apostles and the Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost (2:4), the Gentile believers in the house of Cornelius received the Holy Spirit economically directly from the ascended Head. Only these two in considered the baptism in the Holy Spirit (1:5; 11:15-16). By these two steps the Head of the Body baptized all His believers, both Jewish and Gentile, once for all into His one Body (1 Cor.12:13). Hence, the baptism in the Spirit is an accomplished fact carried out by Christ in His ascension, on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius. None of the other cases –the Samaritan believers in ch.8 Saul of Tarsus in ch.9 and the twelve Ephesian believers in Ch.19 are considered the baptism in the Holy Spirit according to the revelation of the New Testament. These other cases were merely the believers’ experiences of the once for all accomplished baptism in the Holy Spirit.

In the book of Acts, concerning the believers’ receiving of the Holy Spirit’s falling upon them, only five cases are mentioned. Two of them are for the accomplishing of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. These are the instances that occurred on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius. The other three –the cases of the Samaritan believers, Saul of Tarsus, and the twelve believers in Ephesus are considered extraordinary, in that some members of the Body of Christ were needed to identify those believers with the Body by the laying on of hands. Besides these five cases, in many cases of conversion, such as the three thousand (2:41), the five thousand (4:4), the Ethiopian eunuch (8:36,38-39a), the many who believed in Antioch (11:20-21,24), the many instances in charters 13 and 14 under Paul’s preaching ministry, Lydia in Philippi (16:14-15), the jailer in Philippi (16:33), the believers in Thessalonica (17:4), the believers in Berea (17:10-12), the believers in Athens (17:34), the ruler of the synagogue and many other believers in Corinth (18:8), and the believers in Ephesus (19:18-19), these is no mention of the believers’ receiving of the Holy Spirit economically the Holy Spirit’s falling upon the believers –because in all these cases the believers were brought into the Body of Christ in a normal way through their believing and had no particular need for a member of the Body of Christ to bring them into identification with the Body by the laying on of hands. According to the principle of God’s New Testament economy, they all must have received the Holy Spriit essentially for life and economically for power in a normal way through their believing into Christ.

   Verse 48 The name denotes the person. To be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ is to be baptized into the person of Christ (Rom.6:3; Gal3:27), which is also to be baptized into the sphere of His person.

 

 

Bibliography,

King James, The Holy Bible (KJV), Cleveland, OH: The world publishing company

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

 Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.  

Happy Easter -The Empty Tomb Jesus Has Risen (John 20:1-31) by Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Happy Easter -The Empty Tomb, Jesus Has Risen (John 20:1-31)

Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce  

 Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts &Gospel music

 

The Empty Tomb (John 20:1-10)

 

 1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb, first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

 

 

The order of Christ’s appearances after His resurrection seems to be as follows: (1) to Mary Magdalene and the other women (Matt.28:8-10;John 20:11-18; Mark 16:9-10; (2) to Peter, probably in the afternoon (Luke 24:34);1Cor.15:5); (3) to the disciples on the Emmaus road toward evening (Luke 24:13-32:Mark 16:12); (4) to the disciples, except Thomas, in the upper room (Luke 24:36-43;John20:19-25);(5) to the disciples, including Thomas, on the next Sunday night (Mark 16:14; John 20:26-29); (6) to seven disciples beside the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-24); (7) to the apostles and more than five hundred brethren and James, the Lord’s half-brother (1Cor.15:6-7); (8) to those who witnessed the ascension (Matt.28:18-20; Mark 16:19;Luke 24:44-53;Acts1:3-12).

Verse 1, the first day of the week, or the day after the Sabbath, signifies a new beginning, a new age. In Lev.23:10-11, 15 a sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest was offered to the Lord as a wave offering on the day after the Sabbath. That sheaf of the first fruits was a type of Christ as the first fruits in resurrection (1Cor.15:20,23). Christ resurrection on precisely the day after the Sabbath. By His all-inclusive death He terminated the old creation, which had been completed in six days, after which was the Sabbath day. In His resurrection He germinated the new creation with the divine life. Hence, the day of His resurrection was the beginning of a new week – a new age. This day of His resurrection was appointed by God (ps.118:24), was prophesied as “today” in Ps.2:7, was predicted by Himself as the third day. (Matt.16:21; John2:19,22) and later was called by the early Christian “the Lord’s day” (Rev.1:10). On this day Christ was born in resurrection as the firstborn Son of God (Acts.13:33; Heb.1:5) and the Firstborn from the dead to be the Head of the Body, the church (Col.1:18)

The Lord’s resurrection had been accomplished, but the discovery of it required the disciples’ seeking in love toward the Lord. It was thus that Mary the Magdalene discovered it and obtained the fresh manifestation of the Lord and the revelation of the issue of His resurrection: that His Father is the Father of those who believe into Him, and that those who believe into Him are His brothers (v.17), Peter and John only knew of the discovery; but Mary obtained the experience. The brothers were satisfied with having faith in the fact of the Lord’s resurrection, but the sister went further and sought the resurrected Lord Himself, i.e., the personal experience of the Lord. The Lord was there all the time, but He was not manifested until verse 6.

Verse 5 all the things that were cast off from the Lord’s resurrected body and left in His tomb signify the old creation, which He wore into the tomb. He was crucified with the old creation and buried with it. But He rose from within it, leaving it in the tomb and becoming the first fruits of the new creation. All the things left in the tomb were a testimony to the Lord’s resurrection. If these things had not been left there in good order, it would have been difficult for Peter and John to believe (v.8) that the Lord had not been taken away by someone but had risen by Himself. These things had been offered to the Lord and wrapped around Him by His two disciples. Joseph and Nicodemus (19:38-42) what they had done toward the Lord in their love to Him became very useful in the Lord’s testimony.

Verse 6 the strips on linen lying there. If the body been stolen, the thieves would have carried body with linen, not unwrap it; but even if they did, wrappings would have been strewn around tomb, not lying in perfect order as they saw. The strips would have been tossed.

Verse 9 the Lord is not only life but also resurrection (11:25). Hence, death cannot bold Him (Acts 2:24). He went into death of His own accord to accomplish His work. When He finished His mission, He came out of death and rose up from it.

 

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18)

 

11Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). 17Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

 

Verse 17 on the day of His resurrection the Lord ascended to the Father. This was a secret ascension, the ultimate fulfillment of the going predicted in 16:7. It occurred forty days prior to His public ascension, which took place before the eyes of the disciples (Acts 1:9-11). On the day of resurrection, early in the morning He ascended to satisfy the Father, and late in the evening He returned to the disciples (v.19) the freshness of His resurrection must be first for the Father’s enjoyment, as in the type the first fruits of the harvest were brought first to God.

Previously, the most intimate term the Lord had used in reference to His disciples was “friends” (15:14-15). But after His resurrection He began to call them “brothers,” for through His resurrection His disciples were regenerated (1Pet.1:3) with the divine life, which had been released by His life-imparting death, as indicated in 12:24. He was the one grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died and grew up to bring forth many grains for the producing of the one bread, which is His Body (1Cor.10:17). He was the Father’s only Son, the Father’s individual expression. Through His death and resurrection, the Father’s only Begotten became the Firstborn among many brothers (Rom.8:29). His many brothers are the many sons of God and are the church (Heb.2:10-12), a corporate expression of God the Father in the Son. This is God’s ultimate intention. The many brothers are the propagation of the Father’s life and the multiplication of the Son in the divine life. Hence, in the Lord’s resurrection God’s eternal purpose s fulfilled. 

Through His life-imparting death and resurrection, the Lord made His disciples one with Him. Therefore, His Father is the Father of His disciples, and His God is the God of His disciples. In His resurrection they have the Father’s life and God’s divine nature, just as He has. In Marking them His brothers, He has imparted the Father’s life and God’s divine nature into them. By making His Father and His God theirs, He has brought them into His position-the position of the Son- before the Father and God. Thus, in life and nature inwardly and in position outwardly they are the same as the Lord, with whom they have been united.

 

Jesus Appears to His Disciples (John20:19-23)

 

19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

 

 

Jesus Appears to Thomas (John 20:24-29)

24Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Purpose of John’s Gospel (John20:30-31)

30Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

 

 

 Verse 19 The gathering of the disciples here may be considered the first meeting of the church before Pentecost. This meeting took place to fulfill Ps.22:22, according to Heb.2:10-12, so that the Son could declare the Father’s name to His brothers and praise the Father in the church, which is composed of His brothers. Though the doors were shut, the Lord came with His resurrected body (Luke24:37-40;1Cor.15:44) into the room where the disciples were. How could He have entered, having bones and flesh? Our limited mind cannot comprehend it, but it is a fact! We must receive it according to the divine revelation. This was a fulfillment of His promise in 16:16; 19:22.

Verse 20 this was a fulfillment of the Lord’s promise in 16:22 Now they rejoiced because they saw the newborn child (16:21), who was the resurrected Lord, born in His resurrection as the Son of God (Acts13:33). The Lord fulfilled His promise and came back five blessings 1) His presence, 2) His peace, 3) His sending, His commission (v.21), 4) the Holy Spirit (v.22) and 5) His authority with which they could represent Him (v.23).

Verse 21 The Lord sent His disciples with Himself as life and everything to them. This is why, immediately after He said, “I also send you” He breathed the Holy Spirit into them. By His breathing into them He entered as the Spirit into the disciples to abide in them forever (14:16-17). Hence, wherever His disciples were sent, H was always with them. He was one with them.

Verse 22 This was the Spirit expected in7:39 and promised in 14:16-17, 26; 15:26 and 16:7-8,13 Hence, the Lord’s breathing of the Holy Spirit into the disciples was the fulfillment of His promise of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. This fulfillment differs from the one in Acts 2:1-4, which was the fulfillment of the Father’s promise in Luke 24:49. In Acts 2 the Spirit as a rushing, violent wind came as power upon the disciples for their work (Acts.1:8). Here the Spirit as breath was breathed as life into the disciples for their life. By breathing the Spirit into the disciples, the Lord imparted Himself into them as life and everything. Thus, all that He had spoken in chs.14-16 could be fulfilled.

As falling into the ground to die and growing out of the ground transform the grain of wheat into another form, one that is new and living, so the death and resurrection of the Lord transfigured Him from the flesh into the Spirit. As the last Adam in the flesh, through the process of death and resurrection He became a life –giving Spirit (1Cor.15:45). As He is the embodiment of the Father, so the Spirit is the realization, the reality, of Him. It is as the Spirit that He was breathed into the disciples. It is as the Spirit that He is received into His believers and flows out of them as rivers of living water (7:38-39). It is as the Spirit that through His death and resurrection He came back to the disciples, entered into them as their Comforter, and began to abide in them (14:16-17). It is as the Spirit that He can send His disciples for His commission, with Himself s life and everything to them, in the same way that the Father sent Him (v.21) They are thus qualified to represent Him with His authority in the fellowship of His body (v.23) for the carrying out of His commission.

The Lord was the Word, and the Word is the eternal God (1:1). For the accomplishing of God’s eternal purpose, He took two steps.

First, He took the step of incarnation to become a man in the flesh (1:14), to be the Lamb of God to accomplish redemption for man (1:29), to declare God to man (1:18), and to manifest the Father to His believers (14:9-11).

Second, He took the step of death and resurrection to be transfigured into the Spirit that He might impart Himself into His believers as their life and their everything., and that He might bring for the many sons of God, His many brothers, for the building of His body, the church, the habitation of God, to express the Triune God for eternity. Hence, originally, He was the eternal Word; then, through His incarnation He became flesh to accomplish God’s redemption and through His death and resurrection He became the Sprit to be everything and do everything for the completion of God’s building.  

Verse 24 After His resurrection the Lord came to meet with His disciples, beginning from the evening of this first day. Thus, in the Lord’s resurrection the matter of meeting with the saints is crucial. Mary the Magdalene met the Lord personally in the morning and obtained the blessing (vv.16-18), but she still needed to be in the meeting with the saints in the evening to meet the Lord in a corporate way to obtain more and greater blessings (vv.19-23). Thomas missed the first meeting that the Lord held with His disciples after His resurrection, and he missed all the blessings as well. However, he compensated for it by attending the second meeting (vv.25-28).

Verse 26 This was on the second first day of the week, the second Lord’s Day after the Lord’s resurrection. The gathering of the disciples here may be considered the second meeting of the church held with the Lord’s presence before Pentecost.

After the Lord came in v.19, eight days before, there is no plain word or hint in John’s record that the Lord left the disciples. Actually, He stayed with them, though they were not conscious of His presence. Hence, His coming in v.26 was actually His manifestation, His appearing. Before His death the Lord was in the flesh, and His presence was visible. After His resurrection the Lord became the Spirit and His presence was invisible. His manifestations, or appearing, after His resurrection were to train the disciples to realize, to enjoy, and to practice His invisible presence, which is more available, prevailing, precious rich, and real than His visible presence. In His resurrection this dear presence of His was just the Spirit whom He had breathed into them and who would be with them all the time.

Verse 28 This Gospel proves strongly and purposely that the man Jesus if is the very God (1:1-2;5:17-18;10:30-33;14:9-11).

 Verse 31 The Christ is the title of the Lord according to His office, His mission. The Son of God is His title according to His person. His person is a matter of God’s life, and His mission is a matter of God’s work. He is the Son of God to be the Christ of God. He works for God by the life of God that man, by believing in Him, may have God’s life to become God’s many sons and work by God’s life to build the corporate Christ (1Cor.12:12), thus fulfilling God’s purpose concerning His eternal building.  

 

Bibliography,

 

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986. 

King Jesus’ second coming according to Micah & Apostle Paul (2Thessalonians 2:1-12; Micah 5:4-5) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

King Jesus’ second coming according to Micah & Apostle Paul (2Thessalonians 2:1-12; Micah 5:4-5)  By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce  

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music

Scriptures reading 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 ; Micah 5:4-15 

                No we ask you, brothers, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him. That you be not quickly shaken in mind nor alarmed, neither by a spirit nor by word nor by a letter as if by us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way, because it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition. Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or an object of worship, so that he sits in the temple of God, setting himself forth, saying that he is God.(2Thessalonians 2:1-4)

 And now you know that which restrains so that he might be revealed in his own time.  For it is the mystery of lawlessness that is now operating, but only until the one now restraining goes out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord Jesus will slay by the breath of His mouth and bring to nothing by the manifestation of His coming. (2Thessalonians 2:6-8)

 The coming of whom is according to Satan’s operation in all power and signs and wonders of a lie, and in all deceit of unrighteousness among those who are perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And because of this God sends to them an operation of error that they might believe the lie, so that all who have not believed the truth but have taken pleasure in unrighteousness might be judged. (2Thessalonians 2:9-12)

      

Paul urged the church of the Thessalonians not be deceived, not be shaken nor alarmed about misconception of the Day of the Lord’s coming. In the verse 3-4 the lawlessness man (Antichrist) who exalts himself above all that is called God…sits in the temple of God saying that he is God. Antichrist, as prophesied in Dan.7:20-21,24-26;9:27; 11:36-37;Rev.13:1-8,12-18;19:19-20. He will be the man of lawlessness and will change laws, destroy and corrupt many to an extraordinary degree, blaspheme God, and deceive men. Hence, the Lord will utterly destroy him, and he will become the son of perdition. This fulfills the prophecy concerning Antichrist in Dan, 11:36-37. This will take place in the second half of the last week, as prophesied in Dan. 9:27 Matt.24.  “The temple of God” is “the holy place (Math 24:15), indicating that the temple of God will be rebuilt before the Lord comes back.

Verse 6 this refers to some power that hinders the revelation of the man of lawlessness, Antichrist. The time appointed by God, which will be the last of the seventy weeks, as prophesied in Dan.9:27; 7:24-26; Rev.13:1-8). Verse 7 the lawlessness that will characterize Antichrist is already operating in this age mysteriously. It is the mystery of lawlessness working today among the nations and in human society. The restraining gone is taken out of the way.

Verse 8 this will be fulfilled in Rev.19:19-20. The breath is the same Greek word as for Spirit. Manifestation or shining forth this indicates that the Lord’s coming will be hidden before it is manifested openly (Matt.24:27). This indicates also the Lord’s coming will last a period of time. First it will be in secret and then it will be manifested to the public.  

Verse 9  The entire operation of Satan to deceive people (v.10) is in its totality a lie, just as he is a liar and the father of liars (John 8:44) .

Verse 11 because the perishing ones did not receive the love of the truth which God intended to give them that they might be saved (v.10) God send to them an operation of error, an active power of misleading, that they might believe the lie.

Verse 12 the believers have a good intention for goodness (1:11); the perishing ones (v.10), who reject the truth of God, take pleasure in unrighteousness. To sin is a delight to them.

King Jesus’ second coming according to prophet Micah (Micah5:4-15)

All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. (Micah 4:5). Rise and thresh O daughter of Zion, for I will give horns of iron, I will give you hoof of bronze and you will break to pieces many nations. You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth. (Micah 4: 13)

                        

1)          He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace. (Micah 5: 4-5)

2)      The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many people, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep…Your hand will be lifted up in triumph over your enemies, and all your foes will be destroyed (Micah5:8-9)

3)      In that day, declares the Lord…I will destroy your witchcraft and you will no longer cast spells. I will destroy your carved images and your sacred stones from among you; you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands. I will uproot from among you your Asherah poles and demolish your cities. I will take vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations that have not obeyed me.” (Micah 5:10-15)

                                                   

  Micah 4:11-13 this passage looks further ahead to the great campaign of Armageddon immediately preceding the second coming of Christ and the millennial kingdom. There the world will be lined up against Israel, but God will give Israel victory, using horns of iron and hoofs of bronze. In 5:4-15 Micah describes the glories of the messianic kingdom King Jesus, who is greater than Shepherd-King David, will shepherd His people (v.4). They will be safe from the Assyrian, used here as typical of all Israel’s enemies (Micah 5:5-6). Re-gathered Israel will be strong as a lion (vv.7-9) and purified from all idolatrous practices (vv.10-15).

 

Bibliography,

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.