Part 4 of the Mark of the Beast Series
To truly understand the “man of sin”, we must go back, “wayyy back”. The “man of sin” is only referenced once in the Bible in 2 Thes 2:3. This just so happens to be a prophecy given by Paul.
Prophecy is an extremely important part of the Bible. The first Prophecy of the Bible came right after the fall of man. Right after God finished announcing the punishments to Adam and Eve, He promised that the “serpent” who “beguiled” Eve would be crushed.
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Genesis 3:15
Before we move on, I’d like to point out that the “woman” here is not Eve nor Mary, the mother of Jesus. This woman in this verse is symbolic of the true people of God. The Bible uses symbolic language many times in prophecy which is why we need a careful study of it. Let’s look at some references that show us that a woman is symbolic of the true people of God.
I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.
Jer 6:2
In the first reference, we see that the daughter of Zion is described as a comely and delicate woman. What remains is figuring out what the “daughter of Zion” is in the Bible.
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Zep 3:14
So we see that the daughter of Zion is actually the nation of Israel. In the Old Testament, Israel was considered God’s true people. That didn’t mean they were all “saved”, it just meant, as an institution, they were recognized by God as His true people.
However, in the New Testament, we know that God rejected the Israelites because they rejected Him. That doesn’t mean that He stopped referring to His people as a woman. In fact let’s look at some more scripture.
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
2 Co 11:2
You can also find an interesting comparison of marriage between believers and the marriage of the church to Christ in Ephesians 5:22-27.
Armed with the information we have thus far, we are able to decipher some of the symbolism in the book of Revelation that will further reveal the “enmity” between the serpent and the woman. Let’s look at a particular scene in Rev 12:1-5.
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: [2] And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. [3] And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. [4] And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. [5] And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Rev 12:1-5
In this particular scene, we see a woman and a dragon. A dragon is just a winged serpent so, off the back, we can say this dragon is the devil. However, never take man’s word for it, let’s ask the Bible.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Rev 12:9
*side note- the devil is on Earth, not “Hell”, as most people believe.
Ok, so what do we know so far? There is a woman, who happens to represent God’s people, and a serpent, who happens to represent the devil (in prophecy). In verse 4, she gives birth to a Child (or the seed in Gen 3:15) which is supposed to rule all nations and was called up to God and His throne. That sounds remarkably like Jesus (Luke 24:50-53).
Now that we have unlocked the “code”, so to speak, of the first prophecy in the Bible, let us reorient ourselves to what it is saying. Gen 3:15 says [I will put enmity (or hostility) between the devil and the true people of God and between the devil’s seed and Jesus; Jesus shall bruise his head and the devil shall bruise his heel.]
We see a great deal of this prophecy has already been fulfilled. The devil bruised the heel of Jesus through the crucifixion and there has long been hostility between God’s people and the devil throughout the ages (as described in Rev 12:1-6). The only thing that remains is the bruising of the head of the devil which can be interpreted as his destruction in the lake of fire. Rev 20:10
Seeing the immense energy it takes to understand one tiny prophecy may scare even the most intellectual from continuing on. However, hang in there, it’s just like learning to ride a bike, except the Holy Spirit will give you training wheels if you have a sincere desire to learn. Furthermore, my goal is to make this process as easy as I can using the Bible as the source AND the interpreter.
Before we continue let’s get some ground rules on prophecy.
1. God does not hide major events –
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
Amo 3:7
According to this verse, God doesn’t keep His movements to himself. He reveals them. But many people will say that God has stopped prophecy after the Bible. Well, let’s see what the Bible says about that.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,…
Act 2:17
Clearly, prophecy doesn’t stop after the Bible.
2. Prophecy is consistent and revealed at God’s timing, not ours.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
2Pe 1:21
Prophecy isn’t something that a man controls. No one can “conjure up” the future or a message from God at will. It is God’s prerogative to give future revelation or messages. Because the Holy Spirit inspires prophecy, not only does no one have a special ability to “conjure up” prophecy, no one man has the monopoly on interpreting prophecy. Prophecy is for the good of all people who desire to understand it. In fact, Revelation, a book of mostly prophecy, starts off with this statement.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 1:3
Anyone can read prophecy, not just a certain person, and receive the blessings contained therein from adhering to the instructions given.
Another thing we must establish is that, since prophecy is inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is consistent in its spiritual applications. If a woman means the true people of God in one instance then it will not mean a “nation” in another. Why? Because God is not the author of confusion. 1 Cor 14:33
Now the question remains. “Why is prophecy important?
I’ll start with an analogy. Say you were in a course…. let’s call it, “physics”. You are instructed that, at the end of the course, you will have to take a test which will determine your grade for the whole year. It doesn’t matter how well have done on previous exams. If you fail this final exam, you will fail the course. However, if you pass this final exam, it doesn’t matter what happened prior, you will receive a passing grade.
On one end it sounds horrible if you did all that hard work and didn’t succeed and, on the other end, it seems unfair to fail throughout the whole year and pass. Still, bear with me there’s a catch. It’s an open book test with a time limit. It just so happens to be physics so you’ll, more than likely, need a good understanding to be able to pass the test in the time allotted but there’s hope for everyone.
Now, let’s say your instructor gives you a textbook. You study that textbook all the way through but just happen to skip over the last chapter because you are pretty confident you have enough of the information.
As an outsider, that seems unwise right? Usually, the last chapter or chapters of textbooks bring it all together. All the information hitherto was just the foundation that upholds the most important themes. Without that last chapter, you may very well miss out on some key information that would otherwise help you pass with flying colors.
Well, that’s the importance of prophecy. The Bible is the textbook. The final test is almost here. The books of Daniel and Revelation are the key pieces of information for this period of time. God is the instructor.
Now some of you will say, “I have a relationship with Jesus, I don’t need to know all the details.” However, would that be fair if the instructor showed you favoritism considering you didn’t read the whole textbook while others did? Is it fair for Him to just give you the answers while you ignored the opportunity to study the final chapters?
Let’s see what the Bible says about this.
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.
Acts 10:34
My friends, God is a just God. If you have an opportunity to study the final chapter, God will not show you favoritism on the final test. He is a “just” God. This means, He is fair.
The final test is upon us. It is my goal to share with you a crash course on prophecy so that we can have an understanding of what God requires of us in these final days to pass the exam. For the next part, I will discuss one of the most important prophecies ever given and that will be in the book of Daniel, Chapter 2. This will help us decode the final messages God has left us and then we can really pinpoint the “man of sin” with extreme certainty.
If you don’t mind, read the book of Daniel, especially Daniel 7, and try and understand the major principles going on until the next article is posted. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and read with a humble and open heart. God bless you and I pray for your well being and joy until next time.