2 Thessalonians 2: 3--8 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it (the end) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed. 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 that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.
In the name of the One Who will slay the lawless one with the breath of His mouth, amen.
This is a fascinating passage of Scripture. Already in the days of the apostles the mystery of lawlessness was present. He materialized a short time after the days of the apostles. He was restrained until the Roman government fell, and then he stood in its place. He still exists to this day, and will continue to exist within the visible church (what we can point to and say is church) until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This passage clearly shows us that there is a difference between what we can see as church and what God sees as Church. God knows who really believes in Him. We are not able to see into the heart. This passage goes on to say that the people who follow the man of lawlessness do so because they didn't love the truth. As we look at other people, perhaps especially leaders in the church throughout the world, we need to judge them according to God's word, and ignore our feelings about them. Those feelings include both likes and dislikes.
There are those who are members of the true Church whom we do not personally like, but if they are members of the true Church they are our brothers and sisters. There are others who are not members of the true Church whom we might like and wish were members. They are the hypocrites. They often say and do the right things, but do not believe. Worse yet, they mix their outward show of doing the right things, with subtle ways of drawing people away from the true faith. We must love the truth. We must love the truth so that we can judge people's teaching and practice according to Holy Scripture.
While the difference between the true Church and what we see as church can be difficult to distinguish, our Savior points out the danger so that we are prepared. He gave us His word in order to measure the visible churches. We measure them according to what they teach, and how they practice their faith. In this way we are able to associate ourselves with churches that will help us to remain in the true faith. And, if we find that we have been deceived, our Savior paid for our sins of not loving the truth. He is eager to have us back in the true Church. May the Holy Spirit guide us into all truth and keep us in the true Church! Amen.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us Your Holy Word to measure teaching and practice. Help us to look beyond our personal likes and dislikes, and judge according to Your Word. When we find that we have let ourselves be deceived, forgive us for not loving the truth like we should. Help us to love the truth so that we are not deceived by the man of lawlessness or anyone like him. Help us, so that we may glorify Your holy name forever, amen.