Hi djc56,
But, are we not still beasts until the ressurrection?
You got me to thinking about the beast within, so I looked in the article 14 "The Beast Within.' Here are a couple excerpts.
http://bible-truths.com/lake14.html ---------------
Long before Jesus can have a COMPANY of manifest SONS and DAUGHTERS of God, there has to be individual begettals by the Holy Spirit of God in chosen individuals in every generation leading up to the coming of the Lord at the end of this age.
"For the mystery [secret, hidden truth] of iniquity [lawlessness] does already work [‘is inwardly working’ The Emphasized New Testament: A New Translation (J. B. Rotherham)]: only he who now lets will let [‘only he who restrains will do so’], until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that Wicked [Lawless One] be revealed IN [IN YOU] and TO YOU, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit [breath] of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming;
Even him [not original], whose coming [the man of sin called son of perdition IN YOU] is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders" (II Thes. 2:1-9).
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Let’s read on—I will repeat verses 8-9:
"And then shall that Wicked [Lawless One], whom the Lord shall CONSUME, with the spirit of His mouth, and shall DESTROY with the brightness of HIS COMING [Christ’s coming/Christ’s presence]: "Even him [not in original] whose [the ‘man of sin’] coming [or presence] is after [in accordance with] the working of Satan…"
Make no mistake about it: SATAN is completely involved in the coming, presence, manifestation, and even EXISTENCE of this man of sin. Satan knows all about sin, seeing that:
"He that commits sin [as in ‘the man of sin’] is OF THE DEVIL; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works [or ‘WORKINGS’] of the devil" (I John 3:08).
I am now going to make an observation that I believe is inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. One can easily see that if we removed the words "…whom the Lord shall consume, with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming…" and connected the remaining words (leaving out the two words ‘Even him,’ which are NOT in the original Greek), the sentence makes perfect sense:
"And then shall that Wicked [Lawless One], be revealed, whose coming is after the working of Satan…"
We can immediately see that the extra words (added by the King James Version) are quite unnecessary. It became obvious to me that not only could "…whom the Lord shall consume, with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming…" be set off by parentheses, but that it is mandatory that this clause be set off by parentheses. I then, after seeing this consulted the Concordant Version to see how they handled this verse, and I was pleasantly surprised to read the following:
"…[and] then will be unveiled [or revealed] the lawless one (WHOM THE LORD JESUS WILL DISPATCH WITH THE SPIRIT OF HIS MOUTH AND WILL DISCARD BY THE ADVENT OF HIS PRESENCE), whose presence is in accord with the operation of Satan…"
(whom the Lord shall consume, with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming) is a PARENTHETICAL STATEMENT regarding HOW this man of sin, will be taken care of and rendered harmless, IN THE BELIEVER ONLY (the Emphatic Diaglott also puts this clause in parentheses).
So why do I say that it is mandatory that this clause be a parenthetical statement rather than a necessary part of the sentence, which contains this clause?
Answer: Because of what follows next. Verses 10 through 12 prove conclusively that this man [singular] of sin, son [singular] of perdition, he [singular] as God, and showing himself [singular] is NOT JUST ONE SINGULAR PERSON revealed ONCE at the end of the age ONLY. Let’s read it:
"And then shall that Wicked [Lawless One] be revealed [opening parenthetical statement], (whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming) [closing parenthetical statement]; whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in THEM [plural] that perish; because THEY [plural] received NOT the love of the truth [as believers do receive ‘the love of the Truth’], that THEY [plural] might be saved [as are believers in the first resurrection are saved]. And for this cause God shall send THEM [plural] strong delusion, that THEY [plural] should believe a lie: That THEY [plural] ALL [plural] might be damned [condemned] who believe NOT the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness"
The man of sin/son of perdition is UNIVERSAL and found in ALL MANKIND. THAT is how Satan deceives THE WHOLE WORLD (Rev. 12:9).
Men are looking for the BEAST (the man of sin/son of perdition) OUT THERE somewhere, when all the while he has been present INSIDE OF US ALL!
THE PARENTHETICAL STATEMENT IS FOR BELIEVERS ONLY
(whom [the beastly man of sin/son of perdition] the LORD shall consume with the spirit of His mouth [IN US—WE, believers and lovers of the Truth], and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming [IN US, making His presence known IN US, destroying the beastly man of sin/son of perdition IN US, making the ‘Day of the Lord to be at hand’ FOR US, and IN US] )! Let’s read it:
"But WE [Paul and believers. NOT ‘them’ and ‘they,’ but ‘WE’—‘Lovers of the Truth’] are bound to give thanks always to God for YOU, brethren beloved in the Lord, because God has from the beginning CHOSEN you [called AND CHOSEN you] to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth: Whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the OBTAINING of the GLORY [‘That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be GLORIFIED IN YOU’ Chapter 1:12] of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Now our lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which has loved us, and has given us everlasting [eonian] consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work" (Verses 13-17).
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mercy, peace and love
Kat