The Second Coming—what Must Happen First?

I want to conclude this crucial teaching that I feel the Lord has placed on my heart to share with my church at this time concerning the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that even the proclamation of this doctrine has prophetic value and a prophetic role for us at this point in the life of our church. It is a key doctrine in the times in which we live, and we need to know it in all its breadth and complexity. So today I hope to wrap that up, finish it, and entrust this portion to the Lord.

Let us go to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 7. Originally, I was not going to address this subject here in this text, but was going to go to chapter 2, which is where this teaching about the Lord’s coming is centered. But there is also something important here that we want to see. Do you remember that last Sunday, among other things, we talked about some points made in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, where it spoke about how the day of the Lord would come? How does it say? “Like a thief in the night,” right?

Some key points of that doctrine of the Second Coming are that it will come suddenly and unexpectedly, when humanity least expects it—on the day of greatest prosperity and celebration, when people are most involved in the things of the world and of history, amid expectations of world peace, scientific progress, and advances of every kind. At that moment, it says, when they least expect it, the Lord will come. And that is why there is also a call to be what? To be sober and watchful: be sober and keep watch.

And we talked about that, didn’t we? Like the wise virgins, the people of God must keep one eye on the times and the signs of the times, even as we live productive, active, and dynamic lives here on Earth, doing the work of the Lord, working with our hands, being responsible, and being everything a normal human being should be. But with one eye we are also looking toward the future coming of the Lord, and we remain alert.

And this matter of being sober—do you remember that word we used? The child of God is distinguished by an attitude of sobriety. Being sober means looking carefully around us, not falling too deeply in love with the world and its cares, and not allowing ourselves to be captivated by people who say, “Ah! This is the new doctrine, this is the new teaching, this is the latest discovery, something that was hidden for centuries and has now been revealed to the church.” Our eyes are always weighing things; we are not easily moved from the position in which we stand.

That is the sobriety that befits us, right? We do not become overly involved with the world and its appetites and deceptions, but remain clear about what God has called us to do. We also said that we do not have to fear that day of the Second Coming because, unlike those who have rejected Him, for whom that day will be a day of terrible pain and regret over having wasted their time, for us it will be a time of redemption, a time of blessing, and the confirmation and consummation of everything for which we have been waiting. Thus, for us that day means hope, joy, and celebration.

We also talked about how the Word says that we must dwell in the light because that is a day of darkness. And Paul says, “Well, you have no reason to fear that day, because you dwell in the light.” And we talked about the many passages in Scripture which say that we are of the light, not of darkness. For example, there is another passage I did not cite there which says that our weapons are not weapons of darkness but of light. The weapons we use are love, truth, justice, mercy, and goodness—not the weapons of death, control over people, or manipulation. Instead, we are people of light.

And we said that being people of light means that we must reject everything resembling darkness: lies, concealment, falsehood, hypocrisy, deceit, gossip, manipulation, malice, scheming, speaking ill of others, being calculating, and using others for our own purposes. All those things are part of darkness; they are things that belong in the shadows. Christians have nothing to do with theft, taking what does not belong to them, harming people, or undermining the well-being of others. On the contrary, we are good people; we live to bless others. So that is another point.

And finally, we must encourage one another with words of hope. We must use these great teachings from the doctrine of the Second Coming to keep moving forward and encourage one another, because Christ is certainly coming soon.

Now, as I have told you, we are going through different texts that are key to this teaching. Look at 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verses 7 through 10, where there are a couple of little things I also want to point out. It says: “And to you who are troubled, God wants to give rest with us.” That is why the doctrine of the Second Coming is so good: even when we go through tribulations, struggles, difficulties, and persecutions, there is a day of rest for us.

That will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed to us. The word translated into Spanish as “revealed” is apocalupsei, from which we get what word? Apocalypse. It means to reveal something. The Second Coming of the Lord is often linked to certain expressions. There are two expressions: one of them is apocalupsei, and the other is epiphaneia, which also means to reveal or manifest. It is as though, throughout these centuries since ascending into heaven, the Lord has been behind the curtain, seated at the right hand of the Father and waiting for the day when the Father says, “This is the moment.”

And then, when Christ comes and is visible once again, it is as though He suddenly becomes manifest to the whole world. Until now, He has been there like an actor behind the curtain, waiting for the trumpet to sound and the curtain to be drawn back, and then He comes out once again to His place of prominence. That is why it speaks of that epiphany, meaning the manifestation, that apocalypse which is the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every eye will see Him; we will see Him face to face and understand who He is. There will be no more secrets or misunderstandings concerning God’s teaching, because everything will be made perfectly clear.

Then it says: “When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with the angels of His power in flaming fire.” Notice the spectacular nature of His Second Coming, right? He is a King coming in all His Majesty and all His Glory, with the angels of His power in flaming fire. And for what purpose? Among other things: “To repay those who did not know God.”

What does “repay” mean? Payment. To whom? To those who did not know God. Notice that this does not mean those who were ignorant of God; rather, the idea is those who insisted on not knowing Him—those who rejected Him, those who stubbornly said, “He is not who He says He is.” Those are the people who will suffer when the Lord Jesus Christ comes at the Second Coming.

“Nor do they obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There are two categories in relation to the Second Coming. For some, the Lord’s coming will be like it was for those five foolish virgins: surprise, regret, “Oh, if only we had been prepared!” For others it will be: “Glory to God! We are waiting for Him; we lived and died in Him,” and those people will be happy. But as for those people who stubbornly rejected Jesus Christ, it says: “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and will be excluded,” it says, “from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of His Power.”

Here you see that this doctrine of the Second Coming is also accompanied by the matter of condemnation and—what?—hell. If you want a neutral and clear description of what hell and eternal condemnation are, there you have it: it is the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the Presence of the Lord. There are many theories about what hell is: whether it is in the center of the Earth, down where volcanoes end; whether, if you could take a craft like they do in those science-fiction movies and bore down to the center of the Earth, hell would be there; whether it is like Star Wars—warp speed—you take off and it is in another region, and hell is there; whether it is on Earth or in the air; whether it is a different dimension; whether it is fire; or whether there are little devils there with pitchforks poking people in the back for all eternity. We do not know; there are so many visions and so many ideas.

I can tell you one thing with complete certainty, my brother, my sister: hell is where God will not be, where people will be excluded from the Presence of the Lord. And to me, it is that place where God has administratively separated people so that His Grace, which emanates from His Presence, will not touch or reach them. I have always said that what allows a human being to be recognizable as human, rather than as a grotesque demon who inspires terror when seen, is that somehow, no matter how far astray that person may be in his behavior, there is always something of the Grace of God touching him, because God in His mercy says that He makes the sun rise on the just and the unjust.

For some reason, the Grace of God still touches every human being on Earth. Look at what happened to the demons and to Satan when God excluded them from His Presence. What happened? They went from glorious beings to terribly grotesque beings, twisted in their thinking and intent on evil, suffering, hatred, and resentment. Although they know they are condemned, they continue doing evil because it is the only thing they can do. Why? Because, look: what gives beauty to a human being, what gives that touch of humanity, is the Grace of God that is still within them.

I compare it to the presence of the sun. What gives this Earth warmth and life? It is the sun, brothers and sisters. Scientists say that if the Earth moved away even just a tiny bit—if Earth’s orbit shifted by a minuscule amount from its exact position in relation to the sun—it would either freeze and there would be no life, or it would burn because it would be consumed by fire. Scientists and cosmologists say that the Earth’s orbit is set at exactly the precise distance needed to sustain life. If it moves a little closer to the sun or falls farther behind, it loses its ability to sustain life.

It is the same with people and the Presence of the Lord. We live, and we are real and beautiful, because God shines upon humanity. The day God decides to withdraw His Glory from something or someone, it turns into total chaos, total distortion, and total disorder. And that is why hell is where those people who will be excluded from the Presence of the Lord are going. It is a place where thoughts will have no—what is schizophrenia? What is one of the most terrible things a person suffers in mental illness? It is when their thoughts become disordered: they are thinking one thing over here and another thing over there. That is terrible. What gives human thought coherence is its capacity to connect and coordinate.

But I believe that the thoughts and emotions of those people excluded from the Presence of God will be in complete disorder, and that must be the most terrible suffering, brothers and sisters: a place where the Grace of God does not reach. That is a place of terrible loneliness, prisons of darkness, Scripture says, where the demons are; they dwell in a spiritual dimension. They can do things and intervene in human events, but they do so from a dimension of cold, from a spiritual dungeon. And that is where those people who stubbornly rejected Jesus Christ will be.

When the time comes to gather His chosen ones, there will be a place where those who did not take refuge in the Grace of Jesus Christ will be administratively set apart. In my opinion, that is hell: eternal destruction, with no further appeal. And the Bible says that the place to make the decision is here, now, in this world. Afterward, there are no second chances; there is no reincarnation, no karma, none of that. Listen to me: this is where you decide what you are going to do for all eternity. And if you have not decided, I urge you in the name of the Lord: stop playing around; make a decision right now, you know? Please do not waste any time.

So that is the Second Coming: there will then be the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the Presence of His Power: “When He comes on that day to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believed.” Glory to the Lord! How beautiful, right? That is important.

Now let us go to the second part, chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians. Here something interesting is added. It says: “Do not be hasty in believing that the Lord is coming immediately.” And to me this is one of the most complex aspects of the doctrine of the Second Coming because, if you look in Philippians 4, do you remember what it says? “The Lord is near.” Philippians 4, verse 4, says: “The Lord is near.” Yet chapter 2 says: “But concerning the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with Him, we urge you, brothers, not to be easily shaken from your way of thinking or troubled, either by spirit, by word, or by letter as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is near.”

What is he saying here? Do not allow yourselves to be deceived or rushed into believing that the Lord is coming immediately. Do you see the apparent contradiction? On the one hand, we are told: the Lord is near; be prepared, be sober, keep watch, because the Lord will come when you least expect Him. And here Paul says: yes, but be careful; do not let yourselves be deceived by people who will come along setting dates and saying that God is coming right now! Because there is a balance we must maintain between those two things: healthy expectation, being prepared, but on the other hand, living our lives peacefully as we await the Lord’s timing, because there are things that must happen, and that is what we are going to see; there are signs we can follow.

It is like spring. How many of you would already like to see those little flowers blooming on the trees now, right? Amen? The snow melting, with April somewhere around the corner, and you walk along and there are still little pieces of ice from the last snowfall, but you know that spring is already here. I would love that, but you know what? I know very well that, unless global warming hits us too hard, I still have to get through December, January, February, and March, and that even in April a little snowfall might still surprise me, isn’t that right?

So I want spring to come, but there are some things that have to happen. And I still cannot remember ever waking up one day to find the trees completely full of leaves and the garden full—no, there is a process, isn’t that right? Little things begin to appear there, little buds, and from the moment the first one comes out, I say: glory to God, hallelujah! And then they begin to grow more, and the plants begin to fill out; there is a process, the weather gets warmer, the days grow longer, and suddenly we are in summer, glory to the Lord.

That is how it is with the Coming of the Lord: there are signs; we must be alert and know the signs. So Paul says—it seems that the church in Thessalonica was very anxious about that. I think they were Pentecostals of the Gigi Ávila type. Amen, there is nothing wrong with that; glory to God, they are a blessing. But I believe that in Thessalonica there was a great deal of this kind of speculation about the Second Coming—that He was already on His way. There were people who were no longer working because, what for, if Christ was coming soon? Others were maxing out their credit cards because we will not have to pay them, since the Lord is coming.

It seems Paul had to work a lot with these people; that is why the First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians contain so much teaching about it. And Paul says: hey, there are people out there writing emails telling people that Christ is coming tomorrow and that they should hurry up and get ready, that they should have their suitcase packed; no. Even if the email says, “From Paul the apostle,” do not believe it, because there are things that have to happen.

So, brothers and sisters, we must walk in balance. On the one hand, He may come—who knows?—yes, before I finish this prayer, although there are signs here that we are going to examine. But we must also live peacefully and keep moving forward. Young people, do not stop studying, okay? Do not stop going to school on me; work hard! “Oh, but the Lord is coming.”

I remember the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I prayed because there were people in my family—and there still are—oh, yes, cousins of mine who are brilliant, tremendously gifted people, who stopped going to school and did not go to college because Christ was coming—when? In 1984, some strange thing like that. Listen: either I was asleep for 28 years, or they were wrong. They stopped doing all kinds of things. No: we must keep moving forward; we must invest; we must work; we must be a people blessed by God; we must strive in the Lord. We do not know clearly; there is a great deal of complexity regarding this, isn’t there?

So we should not rush into believing that the day of the Lord is near. This refers to those who set a date for the Second Coming or make serious decisions based on an overly enthusiastic expectation concerning the Lord’s imminent Coming. Again, notice the ambiguity here: on the one hand, the Lord is near; on the other hand, let us not be too quick to predict that He is already right around the corner, right?

So: “neither by word nor by letter nor by spirit,” because some say: “Oh no, because the Lord spoke to me, He gave me a prophecy, I had a dream, and it tells me that He is coming on such-and-such a day.” No, the Word is more important than your revelation. Sometimes it is simply all the cakes you ate the night before, okay? So there are people who say: “Oh, but God revealed it to me.” God is not going to reveal anything that contradicts His Word; the Word is the point of reference, okay?

So: “Neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as though it were from us, to the effect that God is near.” Look, it says: “Let no one deceive you in any way, because it will not come unless first”—that already tells me there is a sequence to His Coming—“unless first” something happens. That is what we have to understand: there are things—God has not told us the day, but the Lord says that one must look at the signs of the times, when the trees bloom, and so on. So there are things we can indeed say must happen first. God is not going to contradict His Word.

What things must happen first? We are going to look at that right now, okay? Look at what it says: “Unless first there comes”—number one, what?—“the apostasy.” So write down bullet number one there: the apostasy; bullet number two: “and the man of sin, the son of perdition, is revealed, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called god and is an object of worship.” Look at me here—listen, I have just realized something. I am speaking with the microphone, and the fact is that weeks ago I became so accustomed to it; it has been weeks since this device broke. I am free, glory to God, amen. The mind and habits are a terrible thing. Thank you, Bruno, I appreciate your efforts.

There are three things that are going to happen: number one, apostasy; second, the manifestation of the man of perdition and sin. There is a third thing that, if you are not careful, will fly right over your head at a hundred miles an hour. Look at what it says here: “Who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called god and is an object of worship, so that he sits”—where?—“in the temple of God.” It is easy to miss that third thing because it is inserted there almost in passing: “so that he sits in the temple of God as God, presenting himself as God.”

So Paul says: do not be too quick to believe that it is—as if, you know—as if it were tomorrow. Because there are three things; there are two that he states clearly and another that he mentions almost in passing: apostasy, the man of perdition and sin, and I am going to add my interpretation, which is the temple mentioned there.

Okay, let us look at the first one. It says here: the apostasy. I say here that first the apostasy must take place—in Greek, apostaseia, which is almost a transliteration of the word apostaseia. Apostaseia, in the original Greek, is a rare and seldom-used word; it means departing from or rebelling against something.

So it says that first there has to be—and he speaks first about the apostasy—and Paul adds nothing about what he means by that: departing from what, who will depart, how will they depart? Why? Because it seems that Paul, during a visit or in a previous letter he had written to them, however it may have been, had spoken to them extensively about this; he had preached quite a bit about the Second Coming. So he was refreshing and reemphasizing what he had taught them, and therefore he does not feel that he has to give all the details. And of course, I also believe that the Holy Spirit Himself wanted to leave that teaching with that degree of indefiniteness.

Now, apostasy—and departing from what? I see it as a departure from the truth of God, a great rebellion, because apostasy also carries that idea of rebelling against, of casting off restraints. A person is tied to something and says: “You know what? I am not going to remain tied down”; he breaks free and leaves. That is the idea of apostasy. When Paul says that the apostasy must come, it is a great departure from God and His Truth in the last days. We do not know whether this refers only to something that happens within the Church, among Christians, or generally throughout the whole world. Now, I believe it is both.

What it does refer to is a time in history that I believe we are living through and seeing with our own eyes right now, when humanity is frantically racing after lies and error and turning away from God. It says: “You know what? I want nothing to do with that teaching, that truth.” And if you observe—and that is why I observe the cultural, scientific, and philosophical movements of our time so closely—it all fascinates me; culture fascinates me, music fascinates me, what I see fascinates me, because these things give me, and should give you, insight into what is happening.

Brothers and sisters, it is a time in history unlike any before, in which humanity has been given such knowledge and such confidence in its own wisdom that today we are rejecting everything. And it would seem that this is a time when man can do anything, and those things that were considered absolute, unchangeable, and worthy of respect no matter what—we now say: “You know what? Perhaps that belongs to people of the past, but today, with the wisdom we possess, with scientific knowledge, with our knowledge of human psychology and biology, everything is flexible; everything can be changed.”

So that is why today, as never before in history, we see humanity experimenting, for example, with sexuality. Today we have homosexuals, lesbians, transvestites, transgender people, every variety in the world, every perversion, and we have governments and a science—psychiatry, for example—that say: “That is fine; there is no problem. Who says it is only a man and a woman?” That is not fixed by the laws of biology. Our discoveries tell us no, that one can play with it and make every possible combination.

Is it polygamy? Go ahead. Polyamory? No problem. Why does marriage have to be only between one man and one woman? So we are going to experiment with everything. And why does it have to be a conscious person of a certain age? Before long, we will also have pedophilia as something legal; work is already being done on that as well, because humanity is experimenting with everything. It is experimenting with ideas about men and women in terms of their relationships, authority, and marriage. Today marriage means nothing; marriage can be homosexual, it can involve several people together, it can be one man with several women, it can be anything at all today.

Look at biology. The human race is experimenting with the genetic code itself. Today humanity has the ability to manipulate it, to use organs from one place, take cells from those organs, create other organs from them, and then put them into people. Today we are experimenting with artificial electronic prostheses whereby a person who loses a leg can be fitted with an artificial bionic leg and can win an Olympic race, for example—tremendous advances are being made in that area.

Medicine, psychiatry, anthropology—all of that is telling humanity: look, nothing is fixed; everything can be changed. And why do we need God up there and this Word telling us what we have to do? Nothing is sacred: we are sacred. We invent the world. We create our own scientific, cultural, political, and historical reality. We are the masters of this creation, and that leads humanity to what? To move farther and farther away from God, because it has no mooring, no anchor, no eternal, absolute points of reference. Everything is up for grabs; everything is on the table.

So that is the apostasy. That leads man to believe that these fictions about God and all these things that religions throughout—I was at a meeting two weeks ago—am I boring you, brother, or may I continue? Please, I am standing here saying: two weeks ago I was at a meeting with leaders from Muslim, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Evangelical denominations; there were about fourteen people. And one sees that, despite how divided all these religions are on different matters, one thing is clear: they all know—all the great religions of the world believe in certain basic things—a God who created humanity with fixed laws that must be respected, a sexuality that must be respected, moral laws that must be respected.

Muslims and Christians may be shooting at one another over many things, but they all agree on reverence for a God who created humanity. The Jews as well. All these great religions that have existed on the face of the earth for thousands of years have a clear understanding of human reality and respect certain things. Modern secular man is moving in the opposite direction, departing from all those truths. And that is why it is called apostasy: departing from.

So when Paul says, “unless the great apostasy comes first”—and it is going to become even more pronounced. Humanity will become increasingly secularized and increasingly rationalistic. Science will lead it farther and farther away from the truths eternally given by a Creator, and man will feel increasingly free from the restraints that bind him to a God who determines the laws by which he must live. So that is departing, and we are seeing more and more of it.

So that is preparation. Now, does it happen only throughout the world, or in the Church as well? I believe there is also an apostasy. The Bible says that “some will depart from the faith.” So apostasy occurs in the world, but also—and I am seeing this with my own eyes; I am watching it happen and living through it, while many do not even realize it.

The fact is that today, for example, here in the United States—which has been the bastion of Christianity throughout the world, because Europe and all the Western industrialized countries are already much farther away than the United States—the Church in the United States, for better or worse, has held firm. Nevertheless, we are seeing how little by little this Church too is saying: Oh, you know what? Doctrine? Oh! What matters is that people come to church and receive Christ.

Which Christ? That is what they do not define, because Christ is His Word, Christ is His commandment, Christ is His Truth; He is not some fictitious man who lived two thousand years ago. If you accept Christ, you have to accept Him with the whole framework of His faith, His Truth, His teaching. But then many churches today are saying: You know what? No, just let people come; let us not bother or offend them with strange and highly specific doctrines. What we want is for people to love the Church, for us to be likable, to be pleasant to people, so that they do not think we are a bunch of grumpy ogres, but rather good, likable, open-minded people.

And more and more each day, brothers, I see churches right here in Boston that used to be solid evangelical churches and that, in just a few years, have gradually evolved until they have begun preaching doctrines that are terribly far removed from the Truth of God.

So, number one: apostasy. That is already underway, and I can say that it is advancing on a very large scale. So a great apostasy will come. In the second place, it says: “And the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.” This man of sin, this being who is coming—what is he called? The Antichrist, right? The Antichrist. He is a being whom I am going to describe a little more, but this being must be fully manifested and active, and he has a series of things that he must carry out, promote, and bring about before things are ripe for the Lord Jesus Christ to come in all His fullness.

You and I must be alert to what the Bible says. It is not some prophet out there saying it; no, it is the Bible that says it. This man of sin is called the son of perdition because he is a being who embodies evil; he is a being demonically possessed, energized, and revitalized by the devil himself. Just as Christ was the embodiment of the Power and life of God Himself in Him, this Antichrist is an embodiment of the devil himself. Satan always tries to duplicate God’s miracles. Just as there was an incarnation in Christ Jesus, in the same way there will be an incarnation of the demonic spirit in this being who is the Antichrist, and there is a specific work that he performs.

That is why he is a son of sin; sin and perdition emanate from him. He is a totally corrupt being. “Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god or is an object of worship.” This being is possessed by the spirit of Satan himself and has an antipathy and opposition toward everything divine, everything that calls humanity to submit to the higher law of a Creator God; he hates everything divine. That is his modus operandi; it is the force that drives him: opposition to everything that is an object of worship. I would also say that he hates any religion that worships something other than humanity or himself.

So he opposes everything, and it says: “To such a degree that he sits in the temple of God as God.” Let me move on for a moment; I am going to go back, okay? The man of sin, again—I will summarize here—is a mysterious figure who strongly opposes God. A powerful demonic figure, supernaturally endowed with a diabolical spirit of worldwide proportions and reach. This powerful being will have worldwide influence and control.

This is a world ruler. Because of his charisma, his supernatural demonic endowment, and his ability to perform miracles, the nations of the world will follow him. And Daniel says that he will “speak wonders,” saying things so convincingly and speaking in such a captivating way that, unless people have been inoculated with the blessing of Christ and His protection, they will fall prey to his trickery and be hypnotized by his charisma and his ability to deceive.

So he will rule over nations that will throw themselves at his feet. This man will manage great global alliances; he will establish a world government. What has not been achieved up to now—the establishment of a world government—this man will achieve, because he has power, and in those last days God will give the devil freedom so that this being may complete his work, because ultimately he will be governed by God. God will allow him to do certain things; He will give him free rein to accelerate the process of Christ’s Second Coming, but in the end the Lord is behind all of that, isn’t He?

So he is a being who is terribly endowed demonically. Now, his opposition to God and to everything that is an object of worship, to everything sacred, is such that he sits in the temple of God as God. Now, that is why I tell you that the third thing is so easy to miss, because it is quickly slipped in there and is not elaborated upon: he sits where? In the temple. Now, which temple? The Hebrew-Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Paul is writing about the temple.

The dates when Paul wrote his letters indicate that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed, because if it had been destroyed, Scripture would have recorded it—the destruction of Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Hebrew people were such terrible events. Nothing is said about them. Those things evidently happened after the letters Paul wrote.

Perhaps the only—what is the latest letter in the New Testament, do you know? They were written sometime in the year ninety-something, ninety-something; all the other letters were written in the first century. Do you know which ones? John—First, Second, and Third John. John’s epistles were possibly written after the destruction of the temple, but everything else was written in the sixties, the seventies, or thereabouts. So Paul is talking about the temple in Jerusalem.

Now, is there a temple in Israel right now? Is there a temple like the one David built, the temple Herod rebuilt? That temple was destroyed in the year 70, when the Jews staged a great rebellion after Christ was crucified—and the Lord spoke about that—and rebelled against Rome and its power. For several years the city of Jerusalem was under siege. Finally, they broke through Jerusalem’s walls, killed a great many people, crucified hundreds and hundreds of people, and drove all the Jews out of Jerusalem and out of Israel. That is where the Dispersion came from. Have you heard the word “Dispersion”? The Jewish people were cast out of Israel and began centuries and centuries of wandering throughout the world.

They went to Europe, they went to Turkey and the countries of the Middle East, and they were persecuted wherever they went—to Russia, to all these countries. That was the Dispersion. Israel ceased to be a nation in the year 70 after Jesus Christ. And when did Israel become a nation again? In 1948, almost two thousand years after the Roman Empire destroyed that nation and dispersed all the members of that nation. And one of the things they did was destroy the temple. Incidentally, it is interesting: the Roman emperor did not want the temple to be destroyed, and he ordered his troops not to touch the temple when they entered Jerusalem.

And the Romans were following that order because it was one of the great architectural wonders of history. And yet, it is said that, mysteriously, during the Romans’ entry, a fire broke out that destroyed the temple anyway. And the Lord had said, “Not one stone will be left upon another” of these things. God’s Word had to be fulfilled, you know? And that is why the Lord said: Oh, how I would have liked to protect you as a hen covers her chicks, but you were unwilling. That is why Israel was destroyed; Jerusalem was destroyed.

So notice something interesting: for almost two thousand years, the Jewish people wandered throughout the world without being a nation. There were Jews in every nation on Earth, and there still are. Nevertheless, scholars of prophecy, as they studied the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Haggai, Hosea, and Joel, said: But here it says that at some point God would gather His people; it says that He would scatter them, but that they would return to the Land and become a nation again. And it says here that in the last days there will be a nation to receive Jesus at His Second Coming, and that this nation will be attacked by a mysterious being, and that Jerusalem will be attacked—but at that time Jerusalem did not exist.

The scholars of prophecy said: But how can this be? In the entire history of humanity, there has never been a nation that ceased to be a nation for two thousand years and then became a nation again. In 1948, the United Nations voted and declared Israel a nation once again. Incidentally, I believe it was Guatemala that cast the confirming vote for Israel, you know? Did you know that? That is interesting. Guatemalans have a great blessing because they were the last nation to cast their vote, and with that Israel was confirmed as a nation. Interesting.

The point is that in 1948, suddenly, that prophecy that Israel would become a nation again—and from 1948 until now, sixty-four years, if I am not mistaken, the Jews have been returning from every part of the Earth. There are five million of them right now, or three—three-point-something million in Israel. The first part was fulfilled: there would once again be a people called Israel.

And after that, even though Israel had control of the land, Jerusalem was still in Arab hands—all of Jerusalem. And in 1967, the great Six-Day War took place, and Jerusalem passed into Hebrew hands, and so that part also became a reality again. Now something very interesting is still missing, and that is the temple.

Many prophecies, like the one we are reading here, and many others in clearer ways, say that when the Son of Man comes at His Second Coming, there will be an established temple. Because it says that the Antichrist will sit there. There is a great deal to discuss there, and I do not have time, but if you look—look in your own time at Daniel, chapters 7 through 11 and 12, where it speaks extensively about the Antichrist and all the things he will be doing in the temple and all these things.

In the second century before Christ, Antiochus Epiphanes—look him up on Wikipedia if you want, Antiochus Epiphanes. Do not ask me how to spell it because I do not have time right now. Antiochus Epiphanes. Tell Siri, “Siri, Antiochus Epiphanes.” It may send you somewhere else, but... The point is that Antiochus Epiphanes was a Greek tyrant who invaded Israel in ancient times and hated the Jewish people. There was terrible persecution, tremendous massacres.

He invaded Israel, persecuted the Jews, and desecrated the holy place. He set up a statue of Jupiter, and some say that he even brought an unclean pig into the holy place. It was an opposing spirit. And it is as though Antiochus Epiphanes was a foreshadowing of the coming Antichrist. This is one of those cases in which Daniel seems to have been possessed by the spirit of prophecy, and there are prophecies that are fulfilled twice: they are fulfilled once at the time when they were uttered and again in the time of the last days.

So this Antichrist will be present, and just as Antiochus Epiphanes sat down and desecrated the holy place and the temple, so too this demonic spirit of the Antichrist will do the same; and for that to happen, there first has to be a temple. That temple has not yet been built. Every day, thousands of Jews go to that temple site. Those who have been to Israel know the place of wailing, called the Western Wall, which is the base, the foundation, of the ancient temple that stood on a high promontory. There they besiege the Lord and knock on His door, saying: We want our temple.

Israel will not have completed its historical process of restoration until that temple, which is the very symbol of the Jewish nation, is established. Let me tell you that the Jews—at least the devout Jews, because there are so many Jews who do not even believe in electric light—Israel is a secular people, but there are many Jews who cry out and weep for their temple. And, brothers, they have already designed the priests’ garments, all the utensils for the new temple, and all the rituals. They even know who the people are who legally and genetically descend from Aaron’s priests. They know their names because those people preserve all their names from generation to generation.

They have everything ready. On the day God permits it, those people will be prepared to build that temple in the blink of an eye and have all their rites and everything else there. That has not happened yet, but it will. You see that mosque there with the golden dome? That is where the sanctuary, the temple, is supposed to be built—right where the Davidic temple, the Solomonic temple, and the temple renovated by Herod in the first century once stood.

There the demonic spirit moved Islam to plant one of the holiest mosques in the entire Muslim world, right on top of it. Down there, beneath that place, is where the Jews are saying their prayers at the Wailing Wall, saying: Lord, grant us. Not even the mayor of Jerusalem can go up to that place because it would start a war; that place is controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Right in the heart of Jerusalem, huh? That place is still under their control, and the Muslims say that the day that structure is torn down, there will be a world war; they will strike out everywhere to attack Israel.

That is to say, the only way that temple can be built is through a miraculous intervention by God. I do not know whether things will get so bad that the Jews will say, “You know what? I do not care; let us build our temple,” or whether lightning will strike and split the whole thing apart, or there will be an atomic explosion, or the earth will swallow them up—I do not know. Something is going to happen, but it will have to be something tremendous for that temple to be built.

Now, the day the temple is built, pack your bags, okay? Actually, not quite yet, because then a whole series of things will be unleashed. The Antichrist has to come, there has to be a war against Jerusalem, this Antichrist will forge some tremendous alliances, and it is said that at the very, very end, an alliance of nations will mass together to attack Israel. One of the ancient prophets says: “They will come upon a city that is at peace.”

It says that it will be a time when it will finally be acknowledged that the Jews have a right to exist, and the Jews will be breathing very easily. It says: a city without walls, dwelling in peace. And at that moment this alliance of demonic powers and nations will come together to attack Jerusalem, and it will be the most horrible and terrible time in all of Israel’s history. They will come close to driving the Jews all the way to the sea itself, and at that moment, it says, the Lord will descend.

It says that His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, and the Mount of Olives will split in two, making a path for Him to enter Jerusalem. And it also says here that the Lord will destroy that accursed being with the brightness of His Coming.

That is to say, the Second Coming of the Lord coincides with all these things, and we have to be alert to them. There is talk, for example, of a world government, and I tell you this because there are many brothers and sisters who, with good intentions, live in a kind of world of indecision. On the one hand, they say that no, Christ is coming any moment now, and so on and so forth, that this is already happening and all the rest, and they talk about being faithful to the Word, but they do not look at all these things that have to happen. I think there is still a little while to go, brothers and sisters; do not max out your credit card just yet—there is still time. You are already tired of that joke; I am going to have to find a more original one (laughter). There is still time.

Now, we should be working, because yes, I believe we are already there; the clock is speeding up—that much is true, I understand that. I also believe that a great harvest of souls is going to come; precious things are going to happen. Prepare yourselves for the best times in the history of the Church.

But there are a series of elements, right? A literal temple, a Jerusalem that will be attacked, a world government. What exists in the world right now is not a world government; what exists is constellations of nations, but it is not a world government. There is, for example, the European Common Market. That is a group of nations which, if they are not still wavering, remains something regional. There are the United Nations, which are a constellation of nations, and rather than being a place of peace and world government, the United Nations are a place of continual quarreling and fighting; that constantly spills out into the open. Russia, the United States, China, the countries of the Middle East and the Third World fighting one another—more of a hotbed of infection than a source of world unity.

So there are many things: NATO, the League of Nations. But there is no world government. That can only be accomplished by a being supernaturally endowed with charisma and power, and with an ability to compel the nations to say, “Yes, truly, this man.” And he will have an ability to persuade and hypnotize the nations. It is like what it says: a spirit of deception will fall upon humanity, just as it is now falling little by little. But it is a process that takes time.

It will take time for a world government capable of uniting humanity to be established. God operates supernaturally through nature. So the historical, political and supernatural processes—the machinery is moving, but it is such vast machinery that it moves slowly. Yet it will all happen, and what we have to do is remain alert. All of that is gradually brewing, and that is why you should read, study and understand these things, because yes, it is there, but it will unfold in a very organic way and at a gradual pace.

Then it says: Do you not remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you and speak to you about this? “And now you know what restrains it”—that demonic spirit. There is something actively holding it, keeping it from manifesting itself, and that is God. Now, because God is in control of everything, nothing catches Him by surprise. Everything that happens does so because God says, “Okay, now let this happen,” and afterward, “Now let the other thing happen.” God is a strategist, but He is in control of this entire process. It says: “Now there is something restraining it.” What is restraining it?

Some have said: well, it is the Holy Spirit, and so the Holy Spirit will be taken away, and there will no longer be a Holy Spirit in the world; then the devil will be free to act. Or it is the Church, through its prayers or interventions; when the Church is raptured, there will be no Church on Earth, and then the Antichrist will come. No one knows.

It says: what restrains it—grammatically neuter. We do not know what it is, but there is something active that God identifies by saying: this is the retaining wall. When God removes that wall, the devil will be given power to enter another level of might, intensity and manifestation.

“So that in due time,” when God sees fit, “he may be revealed. For the mystery of iniquity is already at work.” Certainly the devil is at work. Sin, iniquity and wickedness are at work; it is just that there is presently one who completely restrains it. Evil is already in play, but there is something restraining its full manifestation, “until he in turn is taken out of the way.” Here it says “he”—who knows? We do not understand. In one place it uses the neuter, “what,” and here it says “the one,” the one who in turn has been revealed as the one restraining it and who is to be taken out of the way. There is something restraining this until now.

It says: “And then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord”—it says—“with the Spirit of His mouth.” That is also referring to a prophecy from the Old Testament, “and will destroy”—with what?—“with the brightness of His Coming.” That is to say, with His Glory; it is like an atomic explosion, and the brilliance and manifestation of power will destroy him. When? When he is at the gates of Jerusalem; at that moment, the Lord will do so with His Coming.

That is to say, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ also coincides with the destruction of the Antichrist and the construction of the New Temple, in an era called the day of the Lord or the time of the Great Tribulation, however you want to call it. It is an era in which all these events will take place one after another, followed by the Second Coming and the destruction.

It says here: “The lawless one, whose coming is through the working of Satan, with great power and lying signs and wonders.” This being will have a spirit of wickedness and deception, and the devil will give him power to deceive and subjugate the nations, to mesmerize them, because he will also perform great signs and wonders.

So, brothers and sisters, one last little button I want to attach here: look at what it says, and this is something I want to engrave upon your hearts, because in the last days that spirit of apostasy will also be due to a spirit of deception that will fall upon humanity. God is going to release upon humanity a spirit of lies, falsehood and a troubled mind, which is what we are seeing right now. The Bible says in another passage, in Romans, that because they did not know God and did not give Him the glory He deserved, and exchanged His Glory for the glory of four-footed animals and reptiles and strange images, it says that God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do things that are not fitting.

So God Himself will release a spirit of deception upon the Earth in the last days, and that spirit of deception will affect many people. It says here: “With all the deception of iniquity”—verse 10—“for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the Truth so as to be saved. For this reason God sends them”—God Himself, actively, by His own decision, sends a deceptive power. That power is a demonic spiritual power, a spiritual power, something spiritually deceptive—“so that they may believe the lie, in order that all those who did not believe the Truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness may be condemned.”

I want to point that out; we have to remain alert. I have clearly sensed this from the Lord during this time, and that is why you hear me speak about these things. I believe that our church, Lion of Judah—at least we—will have to become more clearly defined every day concerning what we believe and teach, because the world out there is becoming increasingly false and deceptive.

And one of the things that can protect the people of God from that spirit of deception that will take control of humanity is good teaching, sound doctrine: the Word of God. Not only are we not going to abandon the sound teaching of doctrine, but we are going to strengthen it. Brothers and sisters, anyone who wants to be a member of this Congregation will have to get used to the idea that this is a Church that will preach the Truth of God, okay?

Listen to me: we are not going to become more liberal, more agreeable or more generic in our preaching. On the contrary, we are going to become more specific and clearer. That does not mean that we are going to become more legalistic—no. What it means is that the teaching of the Word of God will cut whomever it cuts—whether it cuts me, cuts you, cuts the most developed, most theologically cultured, most highly educated person, or cuts the simplest, poorest person—the Word of God will be preached no matter what.

In order to withstand what is coming, congregations need to be equipped with the teaching of the Word of God, and that is why we will have to continue—with love, grace, mercy, generosity and warmth, but with the Word of the Lord. Where it says hell, we will say hell. Where it says sin, we will say sin. Where it says injustice, we will say injustice. Where it says blessing, we will say blessing. Where it says right, we will say: we have a right. Where it says responsibility, we will say: responsibility. Where it says hope, we will say hope. Where it says discipline, we will say: discipline. We have to bind ourselves to the Truth of the Word of the Lord. Why?

I leave you with two verses—First Timothy, chapter 4. Why is it necessary today, more than ever, for congregations to be taught correctly and equipped with the Truth? Pastors and teachers must arm themselves with courage and boldness to preach the Word. Because there is a world out there that will say with increasing force each day: you are doctrinaire, Pharisaical, narrow-minded people who are not keeping up with the new discoveries and new teachings. Look at what is happening in the other churches; they are moving forward, and you are still way back there in the Middle Ages.

The people of God will have to be clear-minded, sober and watchful, no matter what anyone says. You decide whom you will serve, but we will serve Jehovah and His Word. That conviction is necessary; receive this spirit of Truth. What will keep the people who are able to withstand what is coming sound and clear is a love for the Truth of God, a commitment unto death to what God has declared, to sound doctrine, to the truth once delivered to the saints and never changed.

Verse 1 of First Timothy, chapter 4, says: “But the Spirit clearly says that in the latter times some will depart”—apostasy—“from the faith, listening to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” Do you see there that deceptive power that is released upon humanity? “Through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared,” and they will preach all kinds of strange, highly particular and exotic doctrines of various kinds. We do not have time—latter times, deceiving spirits and false doctrines will come.

Second Timothy, chapter 4, verse 1 as well: Paul writes to Timothy, the pastor of a congregation, and tells him: Timothy, do not weaken on me; carry out your work as a pastor and preacher of the Word to which you have been called. And look at the solemn terms with which Paul speaks to Timothy. He tells him: “I solemnly charge you, Timothy, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Solemn, solemn, solemn—you are standing right now before God and Jesus Christ, Timothy—“who will judge the living and the dead” at His what? “Ephiphaneia,” at His apocalypse, His manifestation, His Second Coming, and in His Kingdom: “I urge you, I solemnly charge you, I command you to preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season.”

Here is a series of terms that many people do not like—people who want to present a pleasant, appealing Gospel that does not offend anyone. It says: “Convict, rebuke, exhort with all patience” and what else? “And doctrine,” that is, specific teaching, “for the time will come”—the time in which we are living now—“when they will not endure”; they will not tolerate it, they will not have the patience to listen to or wrestle with sound doctrine, “but having itching ears,” because people today have an incredible appetite for religion, for mystery, for sacred things.

They run here and there; they turn to Buddhism, Hinduism, spiritual channeling, and consult all kinds of garbage and other things. Nowadays, spirituality is a dime a dozen, as we say, everywhere you look. Angels—Oprah preaches about angels, so-and-so preaches about the mysteries of Hare Krishna, twenty thousand different things. People have a tremendous hunger, and there are many Christians who are hungry, but when they are told something they do not like, they take off and go to another church nearby that is a little more in line with what they want to believe.

If it is not hot enough, they go to one that is hotter. If it is too hot, they go to one that is a little colder, and they go shopping around and ask, “Okay, how much does it cost me? No, that is too expensive. How much? No, that is too cheap.” They are constantly going from church to church and from doctrine to doctrine. Do not be like that; be sober-minded, be watchful, be mature, be steadfast.

“They will not endure sound doctrine; they will have itching ears,” and they will heap up teachers according to what they want to believe, according to their own lusts. Whoever wants to run wild in whatever it may be will find a teacher who teaches that it is all right. “And they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” It says: “But you, be sober-minded in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” That is what every church must do.

We will keep doing that, brothers and sisters. Let the world go whichever way it wants to go; we will continue following the Lord’s instructions. We will preach the Word, we will carry out the work of teaching, we will set people free, we will worship the Lord. We do not have to keep up with the latest religious fad, do we?

And how beautiful—let me read verse 6 to you: “For I, Paul, am already about to be offered as a sacrifice; the time of my departure is near.” Paul knew that he was going to die before long and that he would die as a martyr. “I have fought my good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” We must keep the faith; we must preserve sound doctrine. “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day”—the day of His Second Coming—“and not only to me, but also to all who love His Coming.” Glory to the Lord.

People of God, let us calmly continue doing the Lord’s work without any fear. When Christ comes, we will be ready. If He finds us, may He find us evangelizing, preaching the Gospel, working with our hands, living honest lives, imitating Jesus in our walk, doing the Lord’s work, and not worrying about those who are going to be slaughtered by the spirit of lies and deception that will be in the world. Keep your hands on the plow.

If God gave you a furrow in His great vineyard to tend, keep tilling that little patch of ground. Continue faithfully; do not worry about what you see around you, and the Lord, in His time, will give you and bless you with the reward you deserve.

Glory to the Lord. Let us stand and speak to the Father. Lord, we want to be that people. Raise your hands to the Lord right now; brother, sister, receive this call from God. I believe this is a clear Word from the Lord for His people. These are times pregnant with meaning, and we do not even realize everything that lies ahead. We must live the Christian life more seriously and with greater commitment than ever; we must fight the good fight. We must commit ourselves to God’s Truth; we must bind ourselves to the only thing that can hold us fast in the midst of the storm and keep us from falling into the sea: the simple, pure teaching of the Word of the Lord.

And Father, this afternoon, as a church, we make a covenant with Your Truth. We will not change it; we will not go chasing after shiny bits of glass. We want the gold of Your Word; we want Your solid, true teaching. Father, allow this church to fulfill its calling to the utmost. Guard us from the spirit of error, and give us a balance between love for Your doctrine and a heart that is also generous, kind, and compassionate toward those who are lost. May we not place artificial or unnecessary obstacles before those who desire to know You, but neither, Lord, may we deceive ourselves with an overly easy Gospel that is not what You have called us to preach.

Give us the proper balance; help us live at that level; give us more so that we may give You more, Father. Bless this people, seal them with Your Spirit, and help us to do Your Will, Lord, in these last days. Thank You, Father. We place Your people in Your hands and say: glory to Your name; come, Lord Jesus, come soon. Praised be You; in Jesus’ name we pray. And the people of God say: amen. We bless you, brothers and sisters. May the grace of the Lord be with you. Amen.