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1JOHN 2:18 & AC NAMES!--Review, The Last Days, Time No More & A Second Chance for Christians! ET# 59 DO 2206 6/85
AC NAMES--REVIEW!
1. I FORGOT TO ASSIGN YOU HOMEWORK, BUT DID YOU FIND ANY MORE SCRIPTURES ABOUT THE ANTICHRIST & HIS KINGDOM? We've been going through the New Testament passage by passage, the passages that are most specifically about the Antichrist & his reign. Do you remember the last one we dealt with? (Fam: 2nd Thessalonians.) Does anybody know where the next mention of the Antichrist is?--In fact, in nearly all of these he's not mentioned by that name, but he's come to be commonly known by that name, as a specific name for him.
2. IN THE FIRST MENTION OF THE ANTICHRIST IN DANIEL HE'S CALLED A LITTLE HORN.--In fact, in a couple of mentions in Daniel he's called that. And then what's he called in the next mention of the Antichrist in Daniel? This is a little review. (Fam: King of the North.)--Right! He's most commonly called the little horn that got to be a big horn. He wasn't always a little horn, he got to be bigger & stouter than his fellows, remember? You could call him pretty much the big horn, but then you might get him confused with another horn, Alexander the Great in Daniel 8.
3. HOW MANY NAMES IS HE CALLED IN 2ND THESSALONIANS 2? Now why don't you just look at me instead of your Bibles & see if you can remember. (Fam: Man of Sin, Son of Perdition, the Wicked One.) Paul calls him by a lot of names in that passage. That sure pretty distinctly describes him. Anything else there? You can look at your Bible now. I like open Bible tests. After all, if you're witnessing you usually use an open Bible, don't you? (Davida: Satan?)--No. It says, "him whose coming is after the working of Satan," but he's not called Satan. (Davida: The Beast?)--Not here in 2nd Thessalonians 2. He's called the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition & the Wicked One. And where do we find the Antichrist next in the New Testament? (Fam: 1Jn.2:18) And here for the first time in the Bible he is called "that Antichrist."
THE LAST DAYS!
4. "LITTLE CHILDREN, IT IS THE LAST TIME." Several times in the Bible the days of the Early Church were called the "last days." John here calls it the "last time," Paul calls it the "last days."--How come? It's been 2,000 years since then, how could they be the last days? (Fam: Because the last days started when Jesus died?) They started actually during Jesus' ministry. He said, "The Kingdom of God is at hand!" (Mark 1:15) He started preaching that the Kingdom of God is here!--That is, in the hearts of men, it hadn't taken over the World & government yet.
5. SO THE LAST DAYS EXTEND FROM WHEN TO WHEN? (Fam: From Jesus' ministry to the end of Man's World?) You could even call it from His birth, because Paul says that "in these last days God has sent us His Son." (Heb.1:2) Of course, that wasn't apparent until He began to minister, so it really extends from His First Coming to when? (David: His Second Coming.) Very good, Son, that's the way it's usually described. We've brought out, of course, that there is a short period after the Rapture that winds things up, the Wrath of God & Battle of Armageddon, which are also included in the last days. But broadly speaking, in you might say round numbers, an easy way to remember it is the Last Days are from His First to His Second Coming & a few days thereafter.
TIME NO MORE!
6. "LITTLE CHILDREN, IT IS THE LAST TIME."--The last time, notice. "Time shall be no more," this is the last time. You say, "Then how come we talk about a thousand-year Millennium if when Jesus comes time shall be no more?"--It'll be no more for us, but it'll still be a thousand years for them. They will still be ruled by time.
7. IT IS NOT UNTIL AFTER THE SECOND RESURRECTION & WE LAND PERMANENTLY IN THE HOLY CITY & ON THE NEW EARTH & NEW JERUSALEM THAT THERE WILL BE NO MORE TIME FOR ANYBODY! You say, "But Dad, I don't quite understand that! The World will still be revolving & the sun rising & setting & the moon & stars, how come there's no time?" Well, as far as you're concerned, time makes no difference any more, because you are going to be forever! So time won't bother you, Eternity won't bother you! You are there forever, & for you time is gone & Eternity is here. That's what it means. Do you understand?--I guess not! You probably don't understand the Einstein Theory either.
8. WELL, YOU DON'T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING, IT TAKES TIME TO LEARN SOME THINGS. Good night, I've had 66 years to learn all the things I've learned! Wow! I'm really getting old. I sometimes feel like the Dutchman who said, "Iss too soon olt und too late shmart!" What did I say? (David: We're too soon old & too late smart.)--In other words, we don't learn fast enough. He was regretting that he hadn't learned more in his life & gotten smarter sooner. Boy, I wish I had known about women when I was a young fellow what I know now! I might have been a lot happier & made them a lot happier too! I had plenty of opportunities. But maybe the Lord knew that I would have had some entangling alliances that might not have worked out for His glory.--Amen? Besides, it was against my religion in those days.
SECOND CHANCE FOR CHRISTIANS!
9. "YOU'VE HEARD THAT ANTICHRIST SHALL COME, EVEN NOW ARE THERE MANY ANTICHRISTS, WHEREBY WE KNOW THAT IT IS THE LAST TIME." I don't doubt that dear John thought he was about to arise any minute right then. But he also said, "There are even now many antichrists"--why did he say that? (Fam: Because there were a lot of unbelievers?) There are a lot of people against Christ, but just being an unbeliever doesn't always mean they're against Christ.
10. I READ A WONDERFUL VERSE TODAY, ANOTHER PROOF ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO ARE NEITHER FOR NOR AGAINST CHRIST, because they never even heard of Him! If they never heard of Him, how could they be against Him? How could they be anti-Christs unless they know about Him? Why did the Scribes & the Pharisees [DELETED] hate Jesus?--They knew Him personally! Not the way we know Him, but they knew Him & they saw Him & they should have received Him & loved Him. But because they were anti-Christs they were against Christ.
11. NOW I REALISE YOU'RE GOING TO THINK OF THE SCRIPTURE, "HE THAT IS NOT FOR ME IS AGAINST ME." (Mat.12:30) He was talking there about people who had heard about Him, about the people right then in His day which they were discussing. But in another case--& I'm glad He said that--He said, "He that is not against Me is for Me!" (Mark 9:40)
12. SO THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO ARE NEITHER FOR NOR AGAINST CHRIST BECAUSE THEY NEVER EVEN HEARD OF HIM, they don't know anything about Him, maybe billions of them in this World. They've never been shown Jesus by you or me or anybody, they've never been shown the Love of God, they've never been told the Gospel, how easy it is to get saved, they don't know anything about receiving Jesus, they don't know what you're talking about!
13. THEY MAY HAVE HEARD OF JESUS, THAT HE'S SOME KIND OF A CHRISTIAN GOD, some kind of a Man that lived way back yonder, some kind of historical Character, but they haven't really heard about Who Jesus really is & what He can really do & what He's really like, so that they would want to have Jesus. There are billions in China who have maybe only heard the Name of Jesus, that He's some kind of a Christian God or something. The fact is, they estimate there are at least two million Christians in China. They claim there are also about two million Christians in India. Of course, when you've got nearly a billion people, that's not very many!
14. AND ALL THE REST OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT CHRISTIANS, maybe the Christians that are there never really showed the spirit of Love & the spirit of Christ to them, they never really saw Jesus in them, never really felt the Love of God in them, never were told the Gospel, the Good News of how easy it is to get saved by just taking Jesus.
15. SO THEY'RE NOT REALLY TO BLAME, IT'S THE CHRISTIANS THAT ARE TO BLAME! It's the church that's to blame! It's people who are supposed to have told them & shown them love & how to get saved, they're the ones to blame! God said, "If you don't deliver your soul of the Message you have & cleanse your hands of their blood by warning them & telling them, I'm going to require their blood at your hands!" (Eze.3:18) Whew! You say, "How could that be? We're Christians, surely the Lord is not going to do something to me for failing to witness when I should have, failing to win souls when I should have."--Oh yeah?
16. WHAT DOES HE MEAN HE'S GOING TO REQUIRE THEIR BLOOD AT YOUR HANDS?--HE'S GOING TO HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM NOT GETTING SAVED! But thank God, maybe He's going to give you a second chance, He's going to give the church a second chance, He's going to give the Christians a second chance to get out there & do what they failed to do before, either in the Millennium or the New Earth.
17. IT'S NOT A SECOND CHANCE FOR THE SINNER, THAT'S NOT WHAT WE PREACH! If he's had a first chance that's all he deserves, & if he rejected on his first chance, he's had it! But we preach a second chance for the Christians.--A second chance to learn to do what they failed to do in this first chance.
HOMEWORK!
18. FOR YOUR HOMEWORK, SEE IF YOU CAN FIND THE NEXT PLACE IN THE BIBLE WHERE THE ANTICHRIST IS MENTIONED--not that actual word, but when it talks about the Antichrist--& that'll be your Chapter to study & your lesson to learn for next Class. We already got as far as 1st John, so look from there on. We're going over all the Verses & passages that talk about the Antichrist & his reign.
19. I'M NOT TALKING SO MUCH ABOUT THE TRIBULATION--that's a part of his reign, that's true, & that's mentioned many times & talked about lots of times--but let's just find the passages that speak specifically about the Tribulator, the Antichrist himself, personally, & his personal reign.
20. WHY ARE WE STRESSING THIS & EMPHASISING THIS NOW? Come on, that wasn't a rhetorical question! (Fam: So we can recognise him.)--Exactly, because it's about to happen! I want to make sure we're going to see when it starts & recognise him, & recognise his work even if we don't see him!
DAD'S JOB--TO TELL THE TRUTH!
21. BOY, I SURE RECOGNISE A LOT OF HIS WORK ALREADY & THEY'D PROBABLY LIKE TO KILL ME FOR IT BECAUSE I'M REVEALING THEIR SECRETS--the Lord is, that is--their plots, their shennanigans! The Devil tempts me not to do that sometimes & says, "Ah, you're signing your own death warrant, you're telling their secrets, you're exposing them, they're going to kill you for that!" But that's my job! That's my job to reveal the Truth, tell the Truth, expose them, reveal their secrets so you will know, so our whole Family will know, so the World will know what they're up to!
22. THAT'S MY JOB, TO TELL THE TRUTH! I'VE GOT TO WARN THEM, EVEN IF IT COSTS ME MY LIFE! Well, by the time it costs me my life, if it does, praise God, my job will be over! Sometimes I've felt like the sooner the better! But every time I say that, you look so sad it makes me feel like staying a little while longer. Paul said, "It would be better for me if I go, but for you, I guess I have to stay a little while longer." (Phil.1:23,24) I have a lot to teach you yet that you don't know yet that you need to learn!--Not very much though, I think most of it is done, thank the Lord!
Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family
