And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
1 Timothy 3:16KJV
The incarnation of Jesus Christ was the ultimate display of perfection seen by the world.
The Word that existed with God and as God from eternity past took on flesh and dwelled among men (John 1:1-2, 14). In Christ the fullness of God dwelled in bodily form (Colossians 1:15, 2:9).
The apostle Paul writes that Jesus emptied Himself, took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death by crucifixion. As a result, Jesus was highly exalted, given the name above every name (Philippians 2:6-11).
What a mystery. God coming to earth clothed in flesh, living a sinless life, perfect in every way. Facing the things that we face, tempted as we are tempted except for the fact that He never fell, never sinned (Hebrews 4:15 1 Peter 2:22).
Jesus came and modeled self sacrificial love openly in front of a wicked world. He was the just, righteous one dying for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18). While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). This is the highest possible act of love that the world has been shown (John 15:13). Jesus, God in the flesh, sinless and undefiled, was betrayed, arrested, faced an unjust trial and put to death in one of the most horrendous ways to die ever invented by cruel men. He went through this for you, for me, because of love (John 3:16).
Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
Romans 1:3-4 KJV
By His resurrection from the dead, Jesus has been vindicated. Everything He said, everything He claimed is true. He has been exalted to the highest. At His name every knee will one day bow. The gospel has gone out into the world, and millions have surrendered their lives to His service down through the centuries. One day He will return to reign, and judge the wicked. This is where the next mystery will come into focus.
The world has yet to see evil reach it's fullness. While history has recorded horrendous events of man's cruelty to man, what will someday unfold will be something unlike anything we have experienced up to now. This is the mystery of iniquity, Satan taking full possession of a man.
I would like to begin this next section by quoting from Paul's second epistle to the Thessalonian Church. They apparently were concerned that they had missed the second coming of Christ.
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by 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 Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the Son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
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 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 received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2 Thess 2:1-10 KJV
Paul, in encouraging these believers assured them that two things must happen before the day of Christ, that is, the day of His return and gathering of His saints. A great falling away, and the revealing of the Antichrist must occur before this day comes.
Jesus mentions this in His olivet discourse, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Matt 24:12)
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Let him which is on the houstop not come down to take anything out of his house:
Neither let him which in in the field return back to take his clothes.
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."
Matt 24:15-22 KJV
This event that Jesus refers to as "the abomination of desolation" is the event Paul has in mind in the passage written to the Church in Thessalonica. Jesus refers us back to Daniel the prophet. Daniel has much to say about the coming of the Antichrist, and it makes good sense to study what is prophecied there.
Daniel refers to this individual as the "little horn." We read in Daniel chapter seven of three beasts (empires) that arise upon the earth. Then a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, quite different from the three beasts that preceeded it. It had ten horns (Daniel 7:1-7).
Daniel continues,
I Considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Daniel 7:8 KJV
I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body was given to the burning flame.
Daniel 7:11 KJV
Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which stamped the residue with his feet.
And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgement was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Daniel 7:19-22 KJV
What Daniel sees in this vision is the end times beast empire. A conglomerate of the first three beasts mentioned in this chapter, more fierce and dreadful than the previous three (see Rev 13:1-2).
This empire is ruled by the "little horn" who we can also refer to as the "man of lawlessness", or Antichrist. Ten kings give their allegiance to him, three apparently by force (see Rev 17:12-13).
This man of lawlessness speaks arrogant, boastful words against God Himself, and makes war against the saints for forty two months (3 1/2 years).
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and the tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Revelation 13:5-7 KJV
Daniel, and the book of Revelation are in agreement. A beast empire led by an individual who has an absolute hatred of God and anything holy. He will unleash a persecution unlike anything the world has ever seen. According to what Jesus states in Matthew 24:15, an event known as the abomination of desolation is what signals the start of this time of unequaled tribulation that lasts for 3 1/2 years.
Back to Daniel we read further,
And out of one of them came a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practiced, and prospered.
Daniel 8:9-12 KJV
Daniel chapter 8 records another vision that Daniel was given. In it a ram (Medo -Persia) is defeated by a shaggy goat (Greece, the actual word is Yavan, an ancient country including what is known today as Turkey).
This conflict results in the breaking up of an empire into four nations. Out of one of these, a little horn appears. This horn grows strong and eventually conquers the "beautiful land" (Israel). He causes the daily sacrifice to end and somehow defiles the temple. Daniel 7:13 calls it the transgression of desolation.
Many commentators place the fulfillment of this vision in the past. They apply is to the conquest of the Persian empire by Alexander the great, the subsequent breaking up of the Greek empire into four sections, leading up to the arrival of Antiochus Epiphanes an individual who is no doubt a type of Antichrist. They claim that the little horn of chapter seven is a different little horn from chapter eight.
I disagree with this interpretation for several reasons. First, the visions in the book of Daniel build upon each other. Chapter 7 builds upon Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter two, chapter eight builds upon chapter seven, and chapters nine through twelve build upon that. All of them terminating in this same little horn as the end times Antichrist. To introduce the little horn in chapter seven, and then in the very next chapter introduce a little horn again, but expecting your audience to know they are two different individuals is a stretch in my opinion.
The most compelling reason to look at this as being fulfilled at the very end however, is because the text actually says that.
So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell on my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.
Daniel 8:17 KJV
Again, this is repeated in Daniel 8:19, referencing the end times as the time of the indignation. So, however you look at this chapter, it must terminate in the desecration of the temple, by the Antichrist, in the very last days before Christ returns.
And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and destroy the mighty and the holy people.
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.
Daniel 8:23-26 KJV
Compare to 2 Thessalonians 2:9. He comes by the working of Satan. And in Revelation 13:2 we read that the dragon (Satan) gives him his power, seat, and great authority. This man reaches the culmination of evil as Satan's puppet. In fact, as I will labor to show, he is possessed by Satan himself.
There are a few more mentions of the abomination of desolation found in Daniel 9:27, where we see this man confirm a covenant for seven years. This covenant quite possibly paves the way for a temple to be built in Jerusalem, and the sacrificial system to resume. However, three and one half years into this covenant, he puts and end to the sacrifices and places the abomination of desolation that Jesus refers to in the Olivet discourse.
Daniel 11:31 mentions the desecration of the temple, the end of the daily sacrifice, and the placing of the abomination that makes desolate by the king of the North, who has to be the Antichrist because Daniel 11:40 places these events at the time of the end. And again, in Daniel 12:11 we see this event mentioned one last time. Again, it is placed at the end of time, somewhere in the middle of the final seven years of this present age.
This has been a long post, and I have a lot more to say. Many people avoid this subject for a variety of reasons. However, the Bible gives us great details about these coming events. It is up to us to learn and understand so that we are aware of what is happening when these days come.
I will continue this post, where I will explore the idea of the "incarnation" of Satan, the mystery of iniquity.
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