Shabbat Shalom. Today we are studying from the second epistle to the Thessalonians. The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. some 2,000 years ago at about year 52, 53 AD before the temple in Yerushalayim was destroyed he was writing to those young believers in Jesus the Messiah about some events that are going to happen in a future day and it is fascinating for me as I'm studying this book and as we all study this together it is really fascinating to see how much information the Lord gave to young believers who were maybe two or three years, four years in the faith. And how much information he gave them concerning events that are going to happen in the future day.

While most of us who are already believers for years, in many ways, do not even grasp it. It is fascinating, and yet it's precious because it is here for all of us to understand. So we have already covered, beloved brothers and sisters, at 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1 to 7. I would like to continue today from verses 8 to 17 and link it with the previous verses that we have already read. So I'm reading 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming or whose arriving is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this cause God sent them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the tradition which ye have been taught Whether by word or our epistle, now our Lord Jesus the Messiah, himself, and God, even our Father, which has loved us and has given us everlasting consolation and a good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

Well, brothers and sisters, for those who haven't been with us throughout the whole study of the letters of Thessalonians, I just want to mention that, please, bear with me. The Apostle Shaul Paul was a missionary to the uncircumcision, to the Gentile world. He was called by our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, to go to preach the message of the Gospel to all the nations of the world. He had a few missionary journeys, and his second missionary journey, at about 50 AD, he had arrived to the city of Tessalonica, Asia Minor, in a city that he called Saloniki. Many of us who have family who came from Saloniki, a large Jewish community in Saloniki.

My mother came from Saloniki, immigrated to Israel with her parents when she was a few years old. But many years ago there was a large Jewish community in Saloniki, in Thessalonica And the first thing Shaul Paul did, he went to the synagogue of our own Jewish people He shared the message concerning Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah He didn't have with him, as I mentioned many times, the New Testament, the Brit HaChadashah Because it was not just concluded, he was enacting the Brit HaChadashah, the New Testament But he preached to these people, Jewish people in the synagogue, that Yeshua is the Messiah. And that the prophets of Israel promised that the Messiah will come, that the Messiah will die, and that this Yeshua is that Messiah.

And so many of them have accepted Yeshua. Others from the goyim, from the Gentile world, have accepted Yeshua the Messiah. And together they formed the assembly, the congregation, the church, the ecclesia in the local city, in the city of Thessalonica. Well, they had a lot of problems, a lot of persecution. In fact, the Apostle Paul had himself to run out of Saloniki, Thessalonica, because he believed and he preached the word. So some of our own Jewish brethren went against him and they caused him to move out from Saloniki, from Thessalonica. He went, as you know, through Corinth, and he went to Athens, and he went ultimately into these areas from which he is writing these letters to the Thessalonians.

So he wrote the first letter. In the first letter, he taught them many, many things, and he encouraged them in the things of Yeshua, the Messiah. But he also taught them that the Messiah is coming to take the redeemed company to be with him in glory in heaven. We know it as the rapture of the church. And secondly, he taught them that there is a second coming of the Messiah to this earth to judge this world in righteousness, restore the people of Israel to himself and establish the Messianic kingdom. Well, it didn't take too long, beloved brothers and sisters, like everywhere, that these young believers, two, three years in the faith, have been experiencing persecution.

and because of persecution and tribulation they said why wait a minute Shaul Paul of course he was not there but you told us that we're going to be taken out of here before the day of the Lord and here we are experiencing problems in our life persecution rejection misunderstanding maybe we are already at the tribulation time maybe the day of the Lord have already have come and all what you told us did not come to fruition. Well, that was the first thing. But secondly, some people came and they told these believers, listen, wait a minute. Here's a letter from the Apostle Paul, and here he said that you are already during the tribulation period, you're already in the day of the Lord, in the day of trouble.

In fact, if you notice that, in the second chapter, in verse 1 and 2, Paul says, we now beset you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and our gathering together unto him that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us that the day of the Messiah is at hand. Brethren, he's saying to them in this second letter, why are you troubled? Don't be troubled, not by spirit, not by word, nor by letter as if it is from us. You see, brothers and sisters, can you imagine what happened in those early days 2,000 years ago?

Already some false teachers, false missionaries came by and they were sending letters claiming that Shaul Paul wrote this letter and they said, wait a minute, you don't have all what he told you. Here is a change. This is from the Apostle Paul. Well, immediately they got confused. I know very well if I'm going to hear one thing from one person and another thing from another person and a third thing from... We are bound also to begin to ask questions. And so the Apostle Paul always sought to establish the believers. To establish.

In fact, if you notice the last verse of this chapter which I read today, verse 17 comfort your heart and establish you in every good word and good work i want you to be established because a believer who is not established in a faith he's running to and fro he's like a tree moving by the wind and if the wind moving from east to west he's moving one way from west to east they're going to move in another way we are like that beloved brothers and sisters so the apostle Shaul Paul wanted people to be established and we all need to be established we all need to be established in the truth to know as

Paul said in second Timothy I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day believers need to be established so now he's writing the second letter to them because they were already confused because someone had told them something, they were already experiencing persecution, so they thought that they are already in the day of the Lord, in the tribulation time, and we mention that Yom Le-Yehovah or Yom Le-Adonai in Old Testament scripture always have a reference to the tribulation, tribulation, time of Jacob's trouble, a time that the world will experience a terrible time such as they have never seen before.

Yeshua said this in Matthew chapter 24, there will be a tribulation such as never happened before. And beloved brothers and sisters, we're living in a day that are heading towards these days. You can see what's going on. Tsunamis and earthquakes and terrible events and people are talking about nuclear bombs and people are heading in this direction. And there's no one who is able to control it, so people are looking for a great man that will fix their problem. And that's why the apostle now had to tell the brothers and sisters, listen, you are not in the day of the Lord yet. First of all, you are not going to be in the day of the Lord, in the tribulation, because the church is going to be taken out of here before the tribulation period.

1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 to 18. Secondly, he is telling them, you are not in the day of the tribulation because certain things have to happen before the day of the Lord will come to fruition. And so from verse 3 to verse 12, the Apostle Paul gives them a list of reasons why they are not there in that day of the Lord because there are certain things that have to happen before that day will come to fruition. So he gives them the list. And I have given to you some of these things in a previous message. The first thing in verses 3, 4, and 5, apostasy, have to occur. Apostasy? What is apostasy or apostasia?

It is an abandonment of a belief that one once professed to hold. In other words, you will see when that day is approaching, you will notice that there will be an apostasy. And I'm reading verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except that there shall come a falling away first. That expression, falling away, comes from the Greek word apostasia. And apostasia means defection, a departure. Those that once had claimed to believe in the Lord, but they really did not. It is an abandonment of a belief one once professed to hold. They were really not believers, but they professed that they were believers.

In other words, an evidence that showed that the day of the Lord is approaching, that there will be a defection, a departure from that which one once claimed to believe. Now, let me mention something here. Throughout the history, there was always apostasy. Individuals have been apostates. They departed from what they claimed to believe. But the approaching of the day of the Lord will involve much more than here one, and there one, and here one, and there one. It will be, you might say, a climax of defection from that which one's claimed to believe. In fact, we can see, I don't know, in these days in which we live in, you go to a church building or to a congregation and you ask certain things, do you believe in the deity of the Messiah?

Oh no, he was not divine. Do you believe in the inspiration of the scripture? Oh no, we are not sure. maybe some is right and some is wrong do you believe in the triunity of the Godhead oh no there is no triunity there is only one God but this one God does not have three persons in the Godhead in other words there is a denial of the ABC we call it in Hebrew the ABC of the Bible the teaching of the word of God and we don't have to go far today there are many who already today denied these ABC of the Word of God.

Yeshua is not divine. He was only a good man. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the triunity does not exist. A denial of the truth of the Word of God. I can name you some names of so-called groups of people in the present day in which we live in, but there is no need to do so. You know that yourself. And so, first of all, Paul is saying to the brothers and sisters in Tessalonica, there will be an apostasy. Then notice what he tells them, and I also mention that in our next verses, verse 3b and verse 4, he says, and that man of sin will be revealed, the son of perdition.

That expression, man of sin, has a reference to the person that will rise up, but we know him as the Mashiach Shekel, the false Messiah. The Apostle John called him the Antichrist. He's not only against the Mashiach, against Christ, but he looks like the true Mashiach. He gives the appearance as if he's, look at me, I am the true Messiah. Don't believe in Yeshua, the true Mashiach, But you believe in me, the Messiah that looks like him, but in reality he is the false Messiah. And I mentioned that in the Bible he is called the little horn in Daniel 7 and verse 8. He is called the prince that shall come in Daniel 9 and verse 26.

He is called the willful king in Daniel 11 and verse 36. He's called the other one who will come in John 5 and verse 43. He's called the beast in Revelation 13 and verse 1. He's called the man of sin, Ish-ha-chata'ah, here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And he's also called the son of perdition, Ben-ha-avadon. He was born here in order to cause harm here in this world and in order to cause chaos in this world to lead people away from the true and living God and to lead them to Satan, the prince of the power of the air. And let me mention that, it has always been throughout the ages, from Genesis 3 till today, and it will continue on, that Satan, has Satan, always sought to take the place of God.

In the garden of Eden, Gan Eden, he came to Eve and he said to her, hath God said? And instead of listening to her husband, she listened to the serpent who beguiled her, Satan. and because of this and we know it by repeating it many times Adam, the head himself disobeyed God and plunged the whole human race into sin, that's why we are called sinners Chotim because we were born, we are descendants of Adam and Eve and everyone that was born since that day inherited a sin nature because the Apostle Paul quoting what David HaMelech, the king of Israel, said, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

And so now, as the apostle continues here, you notice that he is now telling us in verses 4 what this man will do, this man of sin, this Mashiach Sheker, the false Messiah, it says in verse 4, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, all that is worship that he is God sitting in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Now you see brothers and sisters we learn a few things. First of all he's sitting in the temple. Well where is that temple? We spoke in our previous ministry that Shlomo's temple had been destroyed by the Babylonian. The first temple.

The second temple the Zerubabelic temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Today in Israel, in Jerusalem, they are preparing for the third temple which our own Jewish people want to have. We want a temple. We want a temple. And they will build a temple. But the temple, we know it to be as the tribulation temple. God will not sanction that because if they do not believe in the Mashiach Yeshua, no temple that man will build will ever be accepted by God. And so in that very temple, which will be, as far as we are concerned, the third temple, this man will be sitting in the future day, in the tribulation period, showing himself that he is God.

And imagine, beloved brothers and sisters, a man who is a wicked man will sit in the temple and say, I am God. And if you remember, it was in about 200 years before, 160 something years before Yeshua came. It was the Grecian Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphanes, who claimed to be God in the land of Israel. Who wanted our own Jewish people to worship him. And he himself set up an image in the temple, claiming to be God, sought to be God, and caused our own Jewish people to suffer great things in history. and so he is but a miniature picture of the one that was going to come in a future day the antichrist the false messiah the man of sin who will in the future day will sit in that temple that will be the third temple it is a temple that will have to be destroyed because eventually Yeshua will come and will build a messianic temple in the messianic kingdom for a thousand years when he's going to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And so he continued now in verse 5 and he told them, listen, don't you remember? You remember not? When I was with you, I have told you these things. In other words, the Lord, through the Apostle Paul, had to strengthen these believers. I have already told you certain things before. I have already told you. And he must have told them again from the Old Testament Scripture because he didn't have Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and all those passages that we have from Matthew all the way to Revelation. He didn't have, even the book of Revelation was written long time after, about 40 years later on. There was no existence of the book of Revelation.

So he was telling them, I told you, I told you, I told you, don't you remember? And they should have remembered. But when trouble coming, persecution, hatred, who think about those things? We're inclined to say, God, what is going on? I'm going through trouble. I have a persecution. Help me, God. I need your help, and you're inclined to forget what you have learned from the past. And they were young believers, two or three years in the faith. All of us here, each one of us, I believe, have been much more than two or three years in the faith, and yet those were young believers. And so in verses 6 and 7, the apostle Paul mentioned to the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica the coming of the man of sin had been restrained for a certain season.

Because Satan, as far as he is concerned, he would like to bring the man of sin to introduce this false messiah a long time ago. But somehow there is a restrainer that restraining the man of sin from acting or from doing what he wants to do. And notice I'm reading verses 6 and 7 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. It says, Now ye know what withholdeth, or what restraineth, that he might be revealed in his time. Notice, I'm just going to pause here for a moment. You see, there is something in this world that restraining the coming of the false Messiah until He will be revealed in His time. And we mentioned it before.

God knows exactly what's going on. According to Galatians 4.4, we read in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them which were under the law. Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, came exactly in the time which God had planned it in his program. And the Antichrist, the false messiah, will come exactly in the time that God will allow him to appear here on earth. So there is something that restraining the false messiah from coming. And now you notice in verse 6 he says, what restraining or what withholding, while in verse 7 he changes this from what to who is restraining.

There is a person. And so we learn in verse 7, for the mystery of iniquity does already work. And then verse 7b, only he who now restraining will hinder, will restrain until he be taken out of the way. So we came to the conclusion. And I think most Bible teachers understood this, that the he that restraineth has to do with the person of the Holy Spirit of God. Ruach HaKodesh, Ruach Elohim. He restrains the Antichrist from appearing and doing what he is planning to do until the time that he will be taken out of the way. In other words, he will allow him to do what he wants to do so he will ultimately judge this man of sin.

Now the reason that many times Bible teachers relate it to the church, to the assembly, is because we, believers in Yeshua HaMashiach today, are in a unique way indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God as a divine person came to this earth, United believers together in Acts chapter 2 in the city of Jerusalem. And he's not only that he united us together, but he's indwelling in every true believer inside. You remember what Yeshua said in John chapter 14? That the paraclete will come and he will dwell in you. He will be with you and he will dwell in you. In other words, the Holy Spirit of God is in a unique way indwelling every believer.

He never indwelt believers previously because the Messiah hasn't come as yet. But once the Messiah came, he died on a tree, was buried and he rose again and he ascended to heaven. He sent the person of Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit of God, to be here on earth. Now this is an amazing truth. We live today in a very unique day, beloved brothers and sisters. There is a man in heaven, namely Yeshua. And there is a divine person here on earth, namely the Holy Spirit of God. Now the Holy Spirit of God will allow at a certain point of time for the Antichrist, for the false messiah to continue on with what he is intending to do.

It says here in verse 7 at the end, he will be taken out of the way. That does not mean that the Spirit of God will not be active here on earth. He will always be active. He was in the past, and he will be in the future. But in a unique way, because he is indwelling the body of Messiah, the body of Christ, the believers today, he will be in a unique way while he will take them out of here, he will allow the beginning of the tribulation period, the seven years of the tribulation period to begin. And so once the true assembly, the true church will be taken out of here, at the rapture or the snatching away of the assembly, then hell on earth will break down here in this world.

And so we continue now, beloved brothers and sisters, and so in verses 8 and 9 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, we find out what will the Lord do to that false Messiah, to the Antichrist. What is the Lord going to do to him? If he's going to come and he's going to sit in the temple claiming to be God, which will happen in the middle of the tribulation, then we will find out what the Lord is going to do to him. Look what it says here. It says here, and then. That means towards the end of the tribulation, after he had committed all the evil that he committed, he committed the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet.

Then, verse 8, shall that wicked be revealed? And notice that he will be revealed because you see what he's going to do. He's going to say, I'm God. You have to worship me. Sitting in the temple, claiming to be God, wanted to be the Messiah, the true Messiah, but he's the false Messiah, asking for everyone to worship him in the world, including our own Jewish people. And then, at the end of those three and a half years, second part of the tribulation, then notice what it says, the Lord will consume him with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming.

My enormous brothers and sisters, this is speaking about the second coming of the Mashiach. It's not coming to meet the heavenly company in the air, in the cloud, but it's coming all the way down to this earth, as it was promised by the Hebrew prophet. He's going to come to this earth, and he will destroy, he will destroy, as it says here in verse 8, he will destroy him with the brightness of his coming. Now, turn with me to the book of Revelation, please. Revelation chapter 19. Notice what the apostle John, Yohanan, is saying in Revelation chapter 19. This is where we read about the Messiah's second coming at the end of the tribulation.

After chapter 6 to chapter 19, there will be 21 judgments that are going to fall upon the face of this earth, which will culminate in the second coming of the Messiah Jesus, of Yeshua. So it says in Revelation chapter 19, we read these words, and I'm reading verse 11. And I saw heaven open, and behold, he said, a white horse, and he that sat upon him is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness does he make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire. And on his head there were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but himself. And he was clothed with vesture, dipped in blood, and his name was called the Word of God.

It's fascinating, brothers and sisters, his name is called the Word of God. What will he do? He's going to come out of glory, out of heaven, And he's going to deal in righteousness with those that oppose God. Especially in the context here in the second Thessalonian passage, he will deal with the counterfeit Messiah, the one who claimed to be the Messiah. Now I'm going to read a little bit later in Revelation 19, verse 20. And the beast, this is the false Messiah. He was taken, and with him the false prophet that brought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image.

These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Imagine when the Messiah will come. the one who will sit claiming to be the Messiah, the false Messiah he will be, eventually the true Mashiach, Yeshua himself, going to come in his second coming, and he will judge this man and all those that follow after him. And ultimately, as it says here in Revelation 19, 20, he will be cast into the lake of fire. The judgment of God going to fall upon this wicked man. But you notice, as we read it in our chapter, in 2 Thessalonians, in chapter 2 and verse 8, it will be, as it says here, and then, it's only going to be then, at the time when the Messiah is going to come at his second coming.

He's called the wicked one. He will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the spirit of his mouth, and he will destroy him with the brightness of his coming. And you know, brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua is coming again. He is coming. He is coming again because he came once in accordance with the prophetic message of the word of God. The Hebrew prophet said the Messiah will come. The Messiah will come. He will become, he will make atonement for the sin of this world. And he came. The very same prophets of Israel also said that he will come a second time to rule in righteousness over this world.

and he will come. If God sent him for the first time into this world, as he promised, he must send him again for the second time to rule and to reign over this world. But at that time, it will be a destruction of Satan, the Antichrist, the false prophet, when Yeshua, the Messiah, is going to come at his second coming. Let me read you a verse that we read in our Bible class last night. Isaiah chapter 26 And look what God had said to Israel Just before Israel was getting to be taken by the Babylonian You notice what we read here in Isaiah chapter 26 It says in verse 20 Come my people enter thou into the chamber Shut the door about thee hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpassed.

There is an indignation that is coming. This has to do with the tribulation period. And so he is telling to the remnant of Israel in a future day you hide yourself preserve yourself for a while until the time of Jacob's trouble will end. And then he says in verse 21, for behold All the Lord cometh out of his place. Why he's coming? Here's the answer. To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain. In other words, what's going to happen at the end of the tribulation when the Messiah will come in judgment will be unimaginable.

The punishment of this world. And primarily the punishment of this man of sin. There are many other verses that we can read. Revelation chapter 1 says, Behold, he cometh to the cloud. And he says, and his saints and those that belong to him will follow him. He's coming. Yeshua, the Messiah, is coming in the future day. And I read Revelation 1 verse 7. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierce him, and all the kinders of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. And Yeshua is saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, which was and which is to come, the Almighty.

He's coming. He's coming. And the thing that is important for us today to understand, Men either accept him now, knowing him as the Lamb of God, or men will have to face him as the judge at the great white throne judgment. And it's such a blessing to know that we have invited him into our hearts today, during the days of grace. We have accepted him as our Mashiach, our Messiah and Lord and Savior. But those that will reject him, and we're going to see it in a moment, they're going to end up to bear the consequences of their rejection of the Messiah. And so I'm in now in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 9.

Notice that even him, this is now the man of sin, the Antichrist, whose arrival is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. You see, when the Antichrist will come, he will come and he will lie to humanity. He will tell them, listen, look at the miracles that I can do. He will come with signs and with wonders. But notice it's called lying wonders. He will deceive the nations of the world. Why he will be able to deceive him? Because he is being influenced and controlled by Satan himself. And Satan is a liar from the beginning. He's coming as an angel of light, 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

He's appearing as shining light and he's drawing men after him instead of allowing men to follow after the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And so what we read here in verse 9, that he will come after the working of Satan. The working of Satan. In Hebrew we call it pe'ulat ha-Satan. See, Satan has power that was given to him by God. He is called in Scripture the God of this world. He is called the prince of the power of the air. And he has powers that God will allow him. And so he will allow this man to have his powers that he will make all kind of miracles.

And people are going to say, wow. it must be divine it must be from God but according to here it will be a lying wonder and you remember brothers and sisters as Yeshua himself said many years ago when he was still on earth in Matthew chapter 7 he says many will come unto me in that day and they're going to say Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name we have cast up many demons and notice what the Lord will tell them He said, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. Their works was not from the Lord, was not from the living God, was from the influence of Satan.

Satan is a counterfeit. He's giving men and women and people the impression that they're following the true and living God, but in reality, he's a counterfeit. He's a liar from the beginning he was. He began in Genesis chapter 3 in the Garden of Eden. And he claimed to be something. He caused us men to doubt the living God. And men, Adam and Eve, eventually departed from the Lord. And they ended up plunging the human race into sin. So notice it's amazing. Verse 9, he's coming after the working of Satan with all. Number one, power. Number two, signs. Number three, wonders. It's amazing how, and I'm not knocking the ability of the Lord to do wonders, but we must be careful to validate, is this from the Lord or is this from the enemy of the Lord?

Is this really from God or is it not from God? And many times we play the fool when we don't watch and carefully discern when people tell us certain things that are clearly not found in the Word of God, giving the appearance. And why the Lord is saying this to us and Paul is saying it to the Thessalonians? Because he wants them to be careful, to watch it because they can be liable not to lose their salvation, but they are liable to be gullible. like I and you are liable to be gullible. We are human beings. We are failing people. And the Lord has to help us with this.

So this coming of the Antichrist will be after the working of Satan and he will enable him to come with power and sign and wonders. And by the way, according to Hebrews chapter 2, the miracles and signs were that which God had given to the apostles. in hebrews chapter 2 as we read in the earlier part of this passage he said therefore we ought to give a more earnest heed to those things that we have heard lest at any time we should let them sleep for the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?

And then verse four, he said, God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, with diverse miracles and gifts by the Holy Spirit according to his own will. So God gave the early apostles the gift of miracles and signs, but it was always to lead someone to the Lord. It was not for some sort of a show. If it is so, and there are those miracles running around all the time, well, where will we all be? I mean, because everybody has some kind of something to say. The Apostle Paul calls it the signs of the Apostles, as we read it elsewhere in the book of Corinthians.

A sign of the Apostles has been done in the midst of you, the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, these men of sin will be allowed to come under the power of Satan with power, signs, and wonders, and he will deceive many. And so Apostle Paul continues now in verses 10, 11, and 12 of 2 Thessalonians 2. He's now saying to the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica, What will happen to those people who were deceived by Satan and did not follow the person of the Lord Jesus? In other words, he distinguished between the saved and the unsaved, the believers and the unbelievers. And I'm reading now, notice those verses in verses 10, 11, and 12.

First of all, the Antichrist will deceive those who did not believe the gospel. And I'm reading verse 10, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. He will deceive them. People will be deceived. Instead of listening to the gospel message that speaks about the person of Yeshua, the Messiah, they will be deceived by that man of sin. And they will be deceived by all sorts, as it says here in verse 10, by deceivableness of unrighteousness. He will not lead them to righteousness, but you lead them to unrighteousness. Secondly, in verse 10b, why they will be deceived? Notice it says in verse 10b, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

You know, brothers and sisters, the truth in relationship to Yeshua the Messiah is a love relationship. It is not a head knowledge, it's a heart knowledge. And the question is this, we love him because he first loved us? It's not a religion. It's not some kind, I figure out a way to be some kind of a smart plan that I had. No, the truth of the gospel must be received by sinners because God loved us. He sent the Messiah for us and in response to him, we love him in return because he loved us first. But they didn't receive the love of the truth. John 3.19 says men love darkness rather than light.

It shows our whole nature. Men prefer darkness than light. And they didn't receive the love. Notice that again, verse 10b. They did not receive the love of the truth, as it says here, that they might be saved. Had they received the love of this truth, of the gospel, they would have been saved. They would have been saved, but they didn't receive it. It's very interesting, this verse. You know, there's a verse in 1 Corinthians 16. Just turn there with me. Paul, at the end of his writing to the Corinthians, he said to them, notice that, 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 22, If any man love not the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, let him be Anathama.

If any man love not the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, let him be Anathama. Maranatha, he says. It's a love relationship. Nobody have to force us to fall in love with Yeshua. You know very well that no one ever loved us like Him. No one was ever able to do anything for us like Him. He came from heaven. He was willing to die to pay for our sins. Rejecting the love of the truth is really saying to God, I don't want to have anything to do with you. And that will bring a person into condemnation. If any man love not the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, let him be accursed.

Anathema. Here it says, they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Well, you know, if a person is not saved, he or she are lost. You're either saved or you are lost. And the apostles continue now in the next verses. Notice what now God is going to do to those who rejected the Messiah in the tribulation period. Notice it says what God will do to them, what's going to happen to them. God will send them. Notice verse 11. This is amazing. It says, and for this cause, because they did not receive the love of the truth, it does say here that God will send them strong delusion, That they will believe a lie.

Notice that a strong delusion. God will send their way a strong delusion. That they will believe a lie rather than believe the truth. Now, this is also important to understand. You see, when Pharaoh was told by Moshe, let my people go, let my people go, let my people go, and he refused, Then God, in chapter 9 of the book of Exodus, he hardened his heart. Now that even if Pharaoh wanted to let the people of Israel go in a simple way, he will not be able. God have hardened his heart. And that's the way God is. He's in control. He's in authority. He is the Lord.

We are men. He's the creator. We are the creature. He gives us an opportunity to humanity. Turn to me. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, Yeshua said in Matthew chapter 11. Men refuse to accept the grace of God. According to this chapter, God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. In other words, brothers and sisters, there is in Scripture, there is a natural blindness. We all were born by nature in sin. There is a willful blindness. This is when we are willingly rejecting the truth of God. But there is also a judicial blindness.

That is what we find out here. All men have sinned and by nature man is a sinner and he is blind. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. But God has approached all humanity and he is inviting human race to come to him to receive salvation. And men willfully reject it. So God says, fine. There is a day come when I will send to you a strong delusion that you will no longer be able to believe the truth. You will believe a lie. And that will lead you unto damnation, unto condemnation. Amazing when you think about it. And by the way, Isaiah 6.

When Isaiah, our prophet of all, told to go to preach to our own people Israel, the message of the gospel, The message concerning God and his ways, what did they do? Israel, our own people, rejected the word of the Lord. And so the Lord is saying through Isaiah in chapter 6, verses 9 and 10, He said to them, go and tell these people, hear ye indeed, but you will understand not. See ye indeed, but you will perceive not. Make the heart of these people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted and be healed.

You know, God, at times, he must deal with humanity in such a way that eventually we'll have to harden the heart of mankind. So go now back to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. I just want to mention that in Romans 11, We read, blindness in part happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be coming and then all Israel shall be saved. We know very well among our own people, the Jewish community in general, there is a partial blindness among our own people. But it is for a season until the fullness of the Gentiles be coming and ultimately the future nation of Israel, the remnant of Israel, they will come to know the Messiah at the end of the tribulation so in verse 12 now notice what we read 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 12 that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness well when the man of sin is going to come and he will appear upon the face of this earth he will come with wonders and miracles and people will seek to follow after him and yet there will be the preaching of the gospel the gospel will be preached the gospel of the kingdom by the future 144,000 Hebrews who will preach the message of the gospel throughout the world.

Those that will accept the Messiah will come and enter into the Messianic kingdom. But those who will reject the message of these messengers will end up to ultimately receive a strong delusion by the Lord that they will believe a lie and ultimately they will be judged by God himself. Amazing when you really think about what the Lord is saying to us here. So finally, at the end of chapter 2, brothers and sisters, from verse 13 to verse 17, we have learned so far what will the Lord do unto the false Messiah, verses 8 and 9. We have learned so far what will the Lord do unto those that receive not the love of the truth, verses 10, 11 and 12.

And now thirdly and the Apostle Paul very wisely does here what God's people need to do in the midst of all the conflict that is existing today in this world how do we need to behave how do the Thessalonians need to conduct themselves well three things and I said this one after the other the first one is found in verse 13 and 14 the believers in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah must trust God's word and believe sincerely in the truth that is found in the word of God so Paul in verse 13 he said but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God has from the beginning have chosen you unto salvation through the sanctification of the Spirit and the belief in the truth.

Verse 14, wherefore he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory in our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. Brothers and sisters, Paul is saying to them in his second letter, he says, listen, As far as you are concerned, you are not in the tribulation period. The man of sin hasn't appeared. The Spirit of God is still restraining him. You have trials in your life and it's understanding, beloved brothers and sisters. But I want you to know, he is saying to them, we bound to give thanks always to God for you, he is saying to them. We thank God that he saved you, that he led you to himself.

But, beloved brothers and sisters, you have to understand that you are beloved of the Lord. The Lord loves you, he's saying to them. And then he continued, why, he said, because God has from the beginning have chosen you unto salvation. You have been chosen to be saved. But you know, again, I must say that many believers don't understand that the scripture does teach that we have been chosen in Christ, in the Mashiach, in the Messiah, from before the foundation of the world. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the Messiah Yeshua, according as He has chosen us in the Messiah, in Christ, before the foundation of the world.

Like it or not, God has chosen us. We deserve to be chosen? Not at all. Are we better than others? Not at all. But God has chosen us, notice what He said. God from the beginning has chosen you to salvation. I don't know why, I remember an older brother said years ago, he said, one thing I will never understand when I'll be in heaven. What am I doing here? How am I, a sinner, spending time in eternity with Yeshua, the Messiah? And brothers and sisters, you and I will never grasp it. We will rejoice in it. We'll realize that we are here on the basis of the work of the Messiah, not because we are anything special.

By grace are you saved through faith. The apostles said it. God has chosen you from the beginning. Peter also said, you are an elect people. You know, Israel, our own people, is a nation. Not a better nation than the nations of the world. But God said to Israel, when he gave Israel the law many years ago, 3,500 years ago, he said, you're a chosen generation. I have set my affection, my love upon you, not because you are more in number than any other nation. So Israel as a nation was chosen from all the other nations because of divine election. And believers in the body of Christ, the body of Messiah, are chosen in the Messiah before the foundation of the world because it is divine design.

You have been chosen unto salvation. But not only unto salvation, Because you notice what it says in verse 13b, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth. You have been chosen by God the Father, but God the Holy Spirit of God wants to set you apart. You see, he's saying through sanctification of the Holy Spirit. You notice that the Father is involved, God the Father, the Spirit is involved, God the Holy Spirit. And notice he continued in verse 14, Wherefore he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. All the three persons of the Godhead involved in the redemption of each and every one of us.

God the Father has chosen us before the foundation of the world. God the Holy Spirit has set us apart. And God the Son has died for us. Paid a price for our sins. He took the judgment that we deserve. The just one for the unjust in order to bring us to God. All the three persons of the Godhead were involved in the redemption of each and every one of us. Beloved brothers and sisters. Because Paul is saying to them, you are beloved. We are loved by God. The prophets of Israel, so though my mother and my father forsake me, the Lord will take me on.

God have loved us in such a way that he was willing to give the darling of his bosom the best he had, his very own son. And he came down to this world and he laid down his life. All the three persons of the Godhead have been involved in our redemption and therefore the Apostle Paul said, Believe in the truth. Hold on to this. Hold on to this. Don't let it go because this thing always will be a refreshment to your heart. When you go through trouble, remember that God chose you. When you go through difficulties, remember that the Spirit of God sets you apart.

When you have a hard time, remember that the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach, was willing to lay down His life for you. Love like that, you'll never find it anywhere. And I'm sometimes thinking of what a loss it is for our friends and our family who know, we tell them many times, God loves you, come to him. He is the Messiah. Turn your hearts to him, he will give you hope, he will give you eternal life. Don't miss out. But people reject it. Don't give me this religion, I don't want religion, I want to have my own way, I want to live my own life. by Satan, deceived by false teachers, deceived which ultimately will bring about the hardening of their hearts, which will bring the judgment of God.

And then it's too late, because once a person left this scene, he or she never have another opportunity beyond this life here on earth. Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. Moses said to Israel, and the people of Israel were told, and the church as well. Today, if we hear his voice, the church proclaimed to the world today, don't harden your heart, turn to the Savior. So, believers are to believe in the truth and get hold of it. Notice verse 15. Not only to believe in it, verse 15, stand fast in this truth. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the tradition which ye have been taught, whether by word or by an epistle.

In other words, stand fast. Don't let anybody cause you to divert from this truth. Stand fast, the Apostle Paul is saying to them. And he noticed he said, hold the tradition. You see, there are certain traditions which are bad. But there are certain traditions which are good. and healthy. You remember the movie Fiddler on the Oof, Kanar Halagang. And he would say, Tradition! There is tradition, and we have to make the world. There are certain traditions which are good. There are certain traditions that are bad. The Apostle Paul said, Hold the tradition, in Hebrew is the word kabalot, hold the tradition which we have been taught, whether by word or by our epistle.

And in other words, the Apostle Paul says, Listen, we have told you things. Hold on to them. You might not have seen it verse by verse in the word of God, but you have heard it by word of mouth. I told you this. Hold on to this. Or by a letter, by epistle. Hold on to that. And brothers and sisters, we are to hold on to good things. Traditions that are good, we are to hold on to them. Traditions that are bad or not found in Scripture, we don't have to hold on to them. We can eliminate them because they are not helping us spiritually.

And though we grew up, and those of us that are Jewish know very well, we grew up with many, many traditions. We knew traditions where we were born in our own Jewish homes in Israel until we grew up. We know so many traditions. That's the way we do it. So we adhere to that. But they are not always good traditions, and we are to hold on to the healthy and the good tradition. And finally, brothers and sisters, in verses 16 and 17, the Apostle Paul says, Be established in the truth. Believe the truth, verse 13 and 14. Stand fast in the truth, verse 15. But also be established in the truth.

Why do we come to a meeting, to a Bible study? We come so we can learn from the Word. And that establishes us. It speaks to us. The Spirit of God is working in our midst to speak to us. The Word of God is indeed divinely inspired. That's the Word of the Lord. Tanakh, Brit HaChadasha, Old Testament, New Covenant. This is the Word of the Lord. And when we feed on the Word of the Lord, we get established. When we keep company with believers that we can get help from them and we can help them, we get established. But if we don't, you know how quickly we are going to and fro.

So the apostle Paul said to them, listen, he said to them in these last two verses, he said, And now our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach Himself and God, even our Father, which has loved us and has given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Establish. And we do need an established believers. Oh, how we need it. How many times we see God bless those souls that pass through and then we don't ever see them anymore. They went to a church meeting or any congregational meeting for a little while and then they pass by.

They've never been established. They've never been rooted, growing spiritually. And oh, how we need it, brothers and sisters, we all have to ask ourselves, Lord, am I allowing you to speak to me, to establish me in the things of the Lord so I can grow, so I can be a vessel. We have so many needs today, beloved brothers and sisters, among the people of God. And unless you and I will take seriously the things of the Lord, we will never be able to help others if we are not established ourselves. And the apostle tells the brothers and sisters, established yourself. Now I want to close with reading one final verse in Hebrews chapter 13 and with this I am concluding the message for today.

In Hebrews chapter 13 in verses 8 and 9 he wrote to the early Hebrew brethren, the apostle who wrote, notice what he says in verse 8 and 9. He said Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah is the same yesterday today and forever he changes not he is the same then he said be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrine for it is good thing that the heart will be established with grace then he continued on he explained some of the fighting that they had going on among themselves there it is good for you to for the heart to be established with grace and with the things of the lord so that will help us as spiritually as we walk here in this world with our lord yeshua the messiah brothers and sisters the lord jesus the messiah is coming and he is going to judge this world in righteousness the man of sin the false messiah will be judged and sadly to say the unbelieving world will experience the wrath of God but we are so thankful that we are saved we are forgiven and so we can pray for our families our friends for the unbelieving world that they also will come to know Yeshua and be part of the family of God can we say amen to that