In studying the " mysteries" in scripture some things become clear and i have come to think that alot of traditional mens teachings come from not putting all the scriptures together to see the truth.
The truth of these two " mysteries" are they they are both the same as each other but the kingdoms are they represent are differnt. these two mysteries contain all people for all time and the end of days is the time for the final perfection of both of these " mysteries" to come forth and be accomplished, each for its own purpose.
1st ( and most important of course) is the Mystery of godliness, which is the same as the mystery as revealed through paul and the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
Col 1:26 [Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
1Cr 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Cr 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Cr 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality.
So the mystery of Godliness all together is that Through the sacrifice of Christ, He now lives IN believers and makes them ONE body jew and gentile alike. ONE NEW MAN, being CONFORMED INTO HIS IMAGE, moving from GLORY TO GLORY- ending with the final bringing together of the entire body of believers of all time and all being changed into INCORRUPTION AND IMMORTALITY.
Just as was true For Jesus when it says:
1Ti 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
So too Christ is being manifest in our flesh, He justifies us in the Spirit, this mystery is now seen of angels through the church, this gospel is preached through us unto all people and believed on and we shall all be recieved up into glory also.
We see in Eph 2 that we are the household of God built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles.He is dwelling in us and we ARE HIS BODY- WE ARE HIS TEMPLE, WE ARE LIVING STONES THAT BUILD UP A SPIRITUAL TEMPLE AND OFFER THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICES UNTO GOD, WE ARE THE BRIDE.JUST AS A HUSBAND IS A WOMANS HEAD AND HER HIS BODY, SO IT IS WITH THE LORD, HE IS OUR HEAD AND WE ARE HIS BODY.
We are told that we are being made without spot and blemish to be presented perfect before the Lord. and in Rev 10 we see that the " myster of God is finished" which means that the end of all the saved has come at that point and we have been brought into that image of Christ as a body.
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the mystery of iniquity is the same thing/ for the opposite kingdom
Just has how in Christ, we believers are indwelt by the Spirit of the Lord and we are made ONE with each other and Him and we make up His body with HIM as our Spiritual head and husband- so the mystery of iniquity is the unbelievers, indwelt by antichrist, made ONE with each other and satan making them his body and him their spiritual head and them being a harlot for fornicating with him spiritualy. This is the body of antichrist and the harlot.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9 [Even him], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
we see that the first person who was called the " son of perdition" is judas- and satan entered him, and he fell away, and was revealed just as these in this chapter will be, and in the mid trib it will be the same for these.
Hbr 10:39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, [which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [his] name Apollyon.
Now the name " apollyon" means destroyer. and clearly here he is the angel of the bottomless pit just like in rev 17:8 this beast will come out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition.
So what does " go into perdition mean"? It means go INTO the sons of perdition! Just as satan entered judas and he fell away and was revealed, so this angel of the bottomless pit comes and go into everyone who is of perdition. now we see his name is apollyon, and if we look at the word perdition in 2thess 2 the word for " perdition" is
apōleia (Strong's G684)1) destroying, utter destructiona) of vessels2) a perishing, ruin, destruction
a) of moneyb) the destruction which consists of eternal misery in hell
So just as we are indwelt by the Spirit of God,- these will become indwelt with apollyon and fall away revealing who they are. They as a whole make up the whole body of antichrist- the whole body of the beast. This is why mid trib, the image of the beast becommes very important along with the mark of the beast. Satan can only copy God, because nothing exists that God did not create, every lie satan tells can only be a twisting and turning of the truth.
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Just as how WE are being conformed into the IMAGE OF CHRIST which means that our old nature of flesh is being put to death so that Christ in us can conform us to be LIKE HIM ( in all things from deeds to thoughts)
So to the enemy will conform THEM into the IMAGE OF THE BEAST, raising up the nature of their flesh with all lusts so that they all will be LIKE THE ENEMY ( in all things from deeds to thoughts).
God will cause this so that there is clear division in all men before wrath comes to destroy the wicked. God wants to get all of them out of us and all of us out of them( ie saved out of the world) before He destroys. He leaves no lukewarm. Which is why we are told in 2 thess that God will send them a strong delusion because they did not love the truth.
ok i will continue this in the next post.