with him "the mystery of iniquity" will be revealed, or "unveiled" as the word literally means. Sin will then have standing in court. It will come forth into the open. It will tear off the tapestries, unbolt the doors and walk forth into the garish day, the hideous, shameless thing that it always has been. Hiding no longer in dens and resorts it will parade the streets in brazen, spectacular effrontery, unhindered and unmolested. For all that dwell in the world "whose names are not written in the Book of Life" will be worshipping the prince of sin who has come to reign over it (Rev. 13:8). When the AntiChrist is unveiled then will sin be unveiled and the world will be given over to a riot of bold, unblushing, shameless sin on the street corner, and in the market place, and then God's time will have come. Then God will strike. Then when sin has come forth into seeming triumph over the things of light, purity and holiness; flaunting itself in the glare of day; has unmasked its harlot face and is huckstering its unholy wares in the open, then will come The Judgment of Sin. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power" (2 Thess. I:7-9). sume. A revealed Christ from heaven; mighty angels; flaming fire; swift vengeance; everlasting destruction from His glorious presence such is the vivid picture of God's judgment upon sin. It is at the coming of Christ that this judgment here pictured takes place. His "mighty angels" are the ministers of it. "Wheresoever the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together” (Matt. 24:28). Wherever the corrupt carrion is, there the keen-eyed vultures descend and conSo wherever the corruption of sin is, there the swift angelic messengers of Christ will execute judgment upon it. Then will take place separations that shall be swift, irreparable and everlasting. The righteous and the unrighteous shall be divided in an instant by the flash of judgment's stroke. "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken and the other left." In the midst of ordinary occupations like the lightning flash from heaven shall come that judgment which for all the unsaved shall be "as a thief in the night." The judgment which has been flouted, scorned, pushed off into the future, and scouted as an impossible dream will fall with unerring discrimination and irresistible power and there shall come not annihilation, mark you, but that banishing from the "presence of the Lord," which is destruction indeed in its most fearful form. The World and Its King The end of the age then, which for the church brings glorification, and for the Jew restoration, will, for the unbelieving world, bring judgment. The kings of the world; the kingdoms of the world; and the unbelieving, gospel-rejecting men of the world will all find the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ to be for them a coming in judgment. Let us note first the World-King and his judgment, for: There shall arise in this world, in a future seemingly not far distant, a Man of Sin; a Man of supernatural, Satanic origin; who will be the opposer of God and His Christ; acknowledged by the world as its king, and worshipped by that same world as its God, he shall after a brief reign over the whole earth of unexampled tyranny, power and severity, be suddenly hurled from his high estate of earthly power and glory, to the lowest hell of judgment and punishment by the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ whose place and authority he has usurped. Such a man is the Anti-Christ. His Portrait. Christ is a faithful painter. He gives a striking portraiture of this Anti-Christ, through His servants Paul (2 Thess. 2) and John (Rev. 13) He who would intelligently know the future will do well to study carefully this canvass of prophecy some day to be hung in the picture gallery of history. We reproduce some of its divine brush-strokes: (Rev. 13.) And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death: and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast saying. Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall 9. If any man have an ear, let him hear. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred three score and six. He is a Man. "That Man of Sin be revealed" (2 Thess. 2:3). John speaks of the "spirit of Anti-Christ." For this reason many think he shall be only a principle of evil; a kind of evil spirit at work in secret in the world. But John also says that the AntiChrist shall come, referring to him as a person (1 John 2:18). And Paul's description of him is too clear and explicit to mean aught else than a definite, individual personality yet to come into this world. "That Man of Sin..............the son of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped: |