God’s salvation work, displayed before the universe, is centered in and proceeds from the sanctuary in Heaven.    Purchase the DVDs and study notes at www.SecretsUnsealed.org

God’s salvation work, displayed before the universe, is centered in and proceeds from the sanctuary in Heaven. Purchase the DVDs and study notes at www.SecretsUnsealed.org

Secrets Unsealed

His Way is in the Sanctuary

Stephen Bohr

1. His Way is in the Sanctuary

2. The Sanctuary’s Angels

3. Death and Life in the Sanctuary

4. The Incarnation’s Seven Secrets

5. The Lamb of God Slain

6. Reaping the Sanctuary’s Benefits

7. A People Close to His Heart

8. The Triangle of Sanctification

9. The Sanctuary’s Two Covenants

10. The Bible’s Foundational Prophecy

11. The Chronology of the Judgment

12. The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed (Part 1)

13. The Sanctuary Shall Be Cleansed (Part 2)

14. Three Stages of Israel’s History

15. The Prophecy of the 70 Weeks (Part 1)

16. The Prophecy of the 70 Weeks (Part 2)

17. Found! The Ark of the Covenant

18. The Manna Test

19. Disappointment in the Sanctuary

20. As a Thief in the Night

21. God On Trial

22. The Judgment’s Three Stages

23. The Scapegoat and Revelation’s Millennium

24. A Monumental Conversion Experience

25. In Antichrist’s Temple (Part 1)

26. In Antichrist’s Temple (Part 2)

27. The Sanctuary’s Financial Secrets

28. The Holy and the Profane

29. The Two Temples

30. The Sanctuary and the Prophetic Gift

31. Three Inseparable Doctrines

32. Home At Last

Our Father and our God, once again we approach your throne because we need your help.

This is a very, very important subject on the Antichrist sitting in the temple of God.

And we need divine wisdom, we need understanding from on high.

And so we ask for your presence through the ministration of the Holy Spirit.

I ask Lord that you will give us tender hearts and open minds to receive the truth as it is in Jesus.

And we thank you for hearing our prayer for we ask it in Jesus name.

In our last study we analyzed what the Bible has to say about the Antichrist, and we were studying the passage of the Apostle Paul that is found in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2.

And basically we notice that in the Christian world there are 2 ideas concerning the identity of the Antichrist.

The first idea is that the Antichrist was a nasty individual that arose in Old Testament times called Antiochus Epiphanes who lived between 171 and 164 BC.

Other Christians, mainly conservative Christians, believe that the Antichrist is a future nasty individual who's going to arise and sit in a rebuilt Jewish temple after the rapture of the church.

In other words for most Christians in the world the Antichrist either already came in the distant past or the Antichrist has not yet come.

But in our last study we noticed that the first stage of the Antichrist has already taken place in Christian history because scripture tells us that the Antichrist was going to sit in the temple of God and the temple of God represents the church.

And so it is a system that claims allegiance to Jesus Christ but actually betrays Jesus Christ even though it professes to serve Him and to preach Him.

Now we want to begin today where we left off in our last lecture, 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 5.

2nd Thessalonians 2 verse 5 tells us that the Apostle Paul had already told these things to the Thessalonians, they already knew everything that he had said that we studied last time.

Notice 2nd Thessalonians 2 and verse 5, here the Apostle Paul says.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

In other words this shouldn't be new to you, I've already talked to you about the Antichrist.

And then the apostle Paul goes on to speak about the mysterious restrainer.

This is something that was holding back the Antichrist from manifesting himself from actually revealing himself for what he was.

Let's read that verse 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 6.

And now you know, see they even knew this, they knew who the restrainer was.

And now you know what is restraining, that he, that is the Antichrist, may be revealed in his time.

Now as we noticed in our last study, many Christians say, well you see the personal pronoun he here indicates that this is an individual, this is a person, because the personal pronoun he is used.

But we noticed 4 reasons last time why just because the personal pronoun he is used it doesn't mean that it's speaking about an individual but rather about a succession of individuals, in other words a system.

Now there's an interesting detail here and it is that the Apostle Paul does not actually identify the restrainer by name.

Now some Christians believe that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit, that when the Holy Spirit would be removed then the Antichrist would be manifested, but I don't believe that the restrainer here that kept the Antichrist from revealing himself actually was the Holy Spirit, because if it had been the Holy Spirit the Apostle Paul would have had no problem identifying him.

But the Apostle Paul here is using ambiguous language because he's saying you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.

In other words there's some reason why the Apostle Paul does not identify the restrainer specifically by name.

Now I want you to notice the comment that was made by the noted Bible commentary Albert Barnes, a very famous Bible commentator, he had this to say about the meaning of the restrainer who was keeping the man of sin from manifesting himself.

The belief among the primitive Christians was that what hindered, another word for restraint, what hindered the rise of the man of sin was the Roman empire, and therefore they prayed for its peace and welfare, as knowing that when the Roman Empire should be dissolved and broken in pieces, don't forget that expression, and broken in pieces the empire of the man of sin would be raised on its ruins.

In other words, the restrainer was the Roman Empire.

When the Roman Empire was broken or divided in many pieces, then a new empire would arise, which is the empire of the Antichrist.

Now in order to understand what the restrainer is we must go back to the Old Testament prophecy that is being spoken of by the Apostle Paul.

Do you remember that in our study last time we talked a little bit about the little horn, the little horn who thought that it could change the law of God that ruled for 1260 years.

Well the fact is that Daniel chapter 7 shows us very clearly that the Roman Empire would be broken in pieces, and then when it was broken in pieces the little horn or the Antichrist would arise.

In fact let's read Daniel chapter 7 and verses 23 and 24.

Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth.

What does that fourth beast represent in Daniel 7?

Remember Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome very well.

So it says, then he said the fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, shall trample it, and break it in pieces.

And now notice what was going to happen to that empire.

The 10 horns are 10 kings who shall what?

So was the kingdom of Rome going to be divided?

And then who was going to arise when the empire was divided into pieces?

Notice it continues saying, and another shall rise after them.

He shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue 3 kings.

When the restrainer is taken out of the way, the Antichrist manifests himself.

And we notice that the early Christians believed that when the Roman Empire was broken in pieces the empire of the Antichrist would rise.

Incidentally in Revelation Chapter 13, if you go with me there, Revelation Chapter 13 and verse 2, we notice the same sequence of the Roman Empire giving its throne and its power to the beast, which is the same as the little horn.

Let's read that, Revelation 13 and verse 2.

Now the beast, which is the same as the little horn, which I saw, the beast that ruled for 42 months or 1260 years, was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, His mouth was like the mouth of a lion, and now notice the dragon which is the fourth beast which represents the Roman Empire, gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority.

So where did the Antichrist get his power from?

He got it from the fourth beast, he got it from the dragon beast.

So Antichrist rises after the dragon beast has its fall, after the dragon beast is divided into 10 kingdoms, is that point clear?

So the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation 13 clearly show the sequence.

The sequence is the Roman Empire would rule, the Roman Empire would be divided into 10 kingdoms or broken up into 10 kingdoms, and then the Antichrist would arise.

So the question is what was it that was restraining the Antichrist from manifesting himself.

In other words it's the previous power while the previous power is ruling a new power cannot rule.

The previous power has to be taken out of the way, and then the Antichrist could manifest himself.

Was this Antichrist, at least the spirit of this Antichrist wanting to manifest itself even in the days of the Apostle Paul absolutely because he says there is something that is what that is restraining it in the days of the Roman Empire.

Now you can't have something restraining this power unless the power is there, and so basically what you have here is that you have this Antichrist spirit that is wanting to manifest itself and it's already there in the days of the Apostle Paul just waiting to manifest itself.

Is this then speaking about a future Antichrist that's going to arise after the rapture of the church?

This Antichrist power was always already wanting to manifest itself when In the days of the Apostle Paul, he was already wanting to manifest his power.

Now, allow me to give you a little bit of history.

I'm going to read lots of quotations from historians in this presentation.

That's why I've given you a copy of the lecture so that you can follow along.

Now, I want to just go a little bit through the history.

The Roman Empire around the 4th century started to be invaded by the barbarian tribes from the northern sector of the empire and they began to carve up what had been the Roman Empire.

In fact by the year 476 the Roman Empire had been carved into 10 pieces.

In that year 476 the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire fell.

Now shortly before this Constantine had transferred the capital of his kingdom to Constantinople or Istanbul in the Eastern Roman Empire.

And when he went to the Eastern Roman Empire the Western Empire was left to the mercy of the barbarian tribes.

There was no emperor, there was no law, there was no order.

Allow me to read you a few statements here from historians about this period.

Notice from Alexander Clarence Flick in his book The Rise of the Medieval Church, pages 168 and 169, he says this, the removal of the capital of the Empire from Rome to Constantinople in 330 left the Western Church practically what?

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Series

His Way is in the Sanctuary

26. In Antichrist’s Temple (Part 2)

Transcript

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Parent Series

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Recorded

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Prophecy Made Simple

7. Christ and AntiChrist

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The Love of the Truth in the Age of Deceit

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6. Antichrist Evidence- Part 1

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8. The Books Don’t Lie

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A Man After Gods Own Heart: King David

11 When Seeing is not Believing

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