PART EIGHT– Day 888 to Victory
Man of Sin 2
February 25, 2000
Today I could do little more than sit, ponder, pray, and meditate. I then decided in mid-afternoon to go for a walk, expecting to hear. I heard.
In this Day of the Lord, in the judgment of His Church, which we are, He is “flushing out” (revealing – 2 Thessalonians 2) the man of sin in each of us. Our secret thoughts and motivations of the carnal nature are being exposed for all to see. The man of sin could settle for nothing less than being God and having His glory, honor, power, authority, praise, and preeminence above all things.
As Joseph was taken and rejected by his brothers, the chosen of God, while his father’s heart mourned and yearned for him, so I was rejected by my brothers. They will deny it until it’s revealed to them. It is kept from them until all is fulfilled.
“But we don’t hate you… we aren’t your enemies!” they say. Your man of sin does hate me, is my enemy, and he was the one who has had the say. I’ve been separated, excluded, and ignored, even to the extent that my wife has left me and chosen another. (All this to deal with MY man of sin).
Terrible have been our battles, horrible has been her bitterness toward me, accompanied numerous times with snarling, gnashing of teeth, hatred, argument, rebellion, and boasting in another life, another love, and interests excluding me. She has rejected me as husband and companion these nearly five years. And all these things have I had coming to me by the hand of God.
The one she has chosen has served to eliminate me and has taken away my goods, my honor, and my wife. He has declared that she is his wife in that he has said, “I talk to her as my wife in your absence; I talk to her as my wife in your presence.” And she loves to have it so. Does he pity? Does he care? He has had no mercy. Some trace of guilt pangs here and there but no mercy or decrease in ambition. He has hated me with perfect hatred.
Lois has joined them in evicting me, even in the beginning, with a mock gold retirement watch. She has joined with Marilyn to reject me for her pleasures and ambitions from the beginning. The “first Christian” serves himself.
You three (Marilyn, Lois, and Sean) have abandoned God’s Law and the testimonies of the Scriptures. (By God’s sovereign will, Joseph’s brothers did the same.) In the Name of the Lord, you’ve trashed all truth, saying, “The Lord does a new thing!” If your man of sin had not had his way, you would love me, seek me out, and include me in your lives. Therefore, the man of sin has had the preeminence, and you’ve hated me, though the spiritual man within you has known better, felt remorse, and has, in fact, loved me according to the degree of his strength in each of you, yet has known that this must be.
What of the others? Some are quite gone away altogether, most having partaken with you, some not. What of Trevor and Mark? They have also believed the prophecy, as have I from time to time in varying degrees, and to the extent that they did, they have partaken in its fulfilment as have the others. Trevor has recently joined the three. To the extent that you have partaken in its fulfilment, to that extent have you also fulfilled your part against me.
Even among Joseph’s brothers, there were varying degrees of expression against him. While most sought to kill him, Judah tried at least to spare his life and Reuben desired even to restore Joseph to his father.
You’ll know these things for yourselves when the work is done, especially in me, when the man of sin has been judged; when the Lord’s brightness shines; exposing the works of darkness; when you awake to shamefacedness and self-abhorrence; when you, as Joseph’s brothers in Egypt, will fear for what you have done.
But as with Joseph, so with me. Joseph had to be judged and I had to be judged. While his brothers in the man of sin meant it for evil, so my brothers in the man of sin meant it for evil, and in both, God meant it for good. There’s no condemnation because it had to be. As with Joseph, a whole nation was at stake, so with me, a whole nation is at stake.
This work of God has judged the earth (the man of sin in each of us) and Heaven (the spiritual man). Beyond that, all are judged in the earth even as all were judged when Christ was crucified, though the event itself was limited to the tiny nation of Israel, which nation, in all His lifetime, Jesus never left as prophet of God. Also, in Noah’s day, the whole earth was condemned by the building of the Ark, though many in the earth weren’t aware of it.
The man of sin has had the power on earth, having been given that dominion from the beginning. He has been inspired by the Red Dragon from Heaven and has thus been able to do all things in this realm as God, for the Red Dragon is the prince of this world.
Why red? He is the expression of the left hand of God, the hand of judgment. Why is red associated with the left? Where do political parties receive such categorization? The awkward left hand displays self-righteousness, a righteousness apart from God, a comfort and ability falling short of the right hand; the left presents a display of “good works,” social responsibility, equality, and dignity for all according to man’s wisdom.
It is the sacrifice of Cain, the works of the flesh, the works of Adam, the “red man,” the color of the earth from which he was created. Such is the thought and doctrine of socialism and communism, which must inevitably end in dismal failure, because it is the wisdom, power, righteousness, and works of man independent of God.
The man of sin has had the power to prophesy and to fulfill that prophecy, but only in this world. He has had the power to replicate the works of God, not because he copies, but because it is in his fallen nature to do the things he was originally created to do, yet his power is in this realm only and not over all things. He was given “dominion…over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Genesis 2:28). That dominion was never taken away, only corrupted by the Fall. That’s why man has still ruled, but has destroyed much of everything.
See that the action here has come with the prophecy; it has been contrary to the Law of God. That’s because it has been fulfilled by that lawless one, that wicked one, that son of iniquity. God never fulfills or performs anything contrary to His nature as expressed by His immutable law:
“To the Law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Please read Isaiah 8:20-9:7 – it’s all one.)
You ask, “What about God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac? Didn’t God go against His Law?” The answer is no. No consummation was permitted and there were no witnesses to unrighteously judge or be wrongly influenced by the temptation. And think of it: If Abraham had insisted upon fulfilling the command in spite of the Lord calling it off, the event would have been an abomination. Therefore it wasn’t in God’s heart to do the thing He had required of Abraham, which Abraham was willing to perform.
You ask, “What about Mary and the virgin birth?” Answer: God broke no laws and didn’t cause others to do so. God is free to overrule the laws of nature, and has done so many times. Yet He has never overruled the Spiritual Law, which Law is an expression of Himself. He cannot contradict His own nature.
Mary didn’t indulge in even an appearance of evil, and Abraham wasn’t permitted to indulge in that which he was commanded. But unlike these two, you people have indulged in order to fulfill. Does that mean what you’re doing wasn’t meant to be? No; however, the point is that this situation is not of the same nature as that of Abraham or Mary.
“The prophecy,” as we have come to know it, is from the man of sin. The man of sin has been given the rope to hang himself, and he has done and is doing it, under the left hand of God. To rid me and to rid you of him has God done these things, in not only these last days, but in this last day. This is the last day of the last days.
The Lord has done this to reconcile us to Himself. The man of sin is to be nothing less than a new person, slain by the truth of God, raised from the dead to be in harmony with God, serving instead of fighting Him, worshipping Him and calling on others to do the same, unlike Absalom, who, in all his beauty and having on his head a glorious earthly crown, usurped his father David’s throne.
The greatest love of the man of sin is adultery; his best hug is a stranglehold; his kisses are deceitful; his compassion murder. His benevolence is tyranny, his goodness evil; his sacrifice for himself; his commitment to and “faith in God” is for his own pleasure, comfort, and glory.
My sin was ever with me in this body of death. So was yours. Together has the Lord worked all these things to redeem us from that sin, that man, that body, that death, the final enemy. As Paul wrote: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counsellor? Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things; to Whom be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:33-36).
So, my friends, in whose house I received my wounds, the severest from the closest, where to? What is the purpose of all these things? I no longer want to gather for myself, whether it be things or people. I no longer want any control whatsoever upon any soul. To God alone belongs that right and glory.
What then do we do with what has been gathered? When the Lord is done, what is left will be given and shared with others the Lord will bring. “And they will come from far, and they will be many and of many different kinds.” And He will bring them – nations… diverse peoples – with their needs, their gifts, their substances, and their blessings.
And God will feed them. What will He feed them? It won’t be bread or fruit or vegetables or meat. He’ll feed them His own flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which flesh and blood WE are. They will feed on us, that body, that carcass where the eagles come to feed. None need ever again depart from our midst hungry, thirsty, naked, bound, or sick. They will be satisfied, and they will know that the Lord is with us and has loved us and has appointed our lives bread for them.
They will keep the Feast of Tabernacles in all sobriety, rejoicing with great joy and publishing how great the Lord is, what great things He has done for us, and that He reigns supreme over all. To God will be all the glory, honor, power, thanksgiving, and praise forever more.
Praise the Lord!
Victor
Man of Sin – Part 2
Part VIII – Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Part I ~ Part II ~ Part III ~ Part IV ~ Part V ~ Part VI ~ Part VII ~ Part VIII ~ Part IX ~ Part X ~ Part XI ~ Part XII