Signs of the Season-Part One

The Apostle Paul understood the times and seasons. In 2 Thess. 2:1-8 he gives us clear signs about the times we are living in, which include the “falling away.”
 
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 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, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?  And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 
 
There’s a lot here, so let’s make sure we see the key points.

• Christ’s coming is linked to our gathering (rapture) and the Day of the Lord (Christ).
• Besides the falling away, we will see the lawless one/the man of sin/the son of perdition (the Antichrist) come onto the world scene.
• He will enter a rebuilt Temple and declare he is God (a future event known as the Transgression of Abomination).
• The “mystery of lawlessness” (humanistic rebellion) is already at work, even though the Antichrist has not yet been revealed.
• He has not been revealed because it is not yet the appointed time; God’s Spirit is restraining events until that set time (chronos).
• We need not fear him because the Lord will consume and destroy Him with the light of His coming.

 
Until this appointed time, we need to be lights, exhibiting the power and love of God that draws hopeless, hurting people to the saving power of Christ Jesus. When we gather next, we will look at other signs that mark this age.