The secret or mystery which was revealed unto Daniel (Dan. 2: 19) in a night vision was fully revealed as a fact to all the world when “the Word became flesh.” This was the mystery of godliness (1 Tim. 3: 16), the essence of Christianity. During the life-time of those who proclaimed this pure Gospel to the world, the prophecies of the seventh and eighth chapters of Daniel began to be fulfilled. In writing to the church at Thessalonica concerning this matter the apostle Paul also throws additional light upon these previous prophecies. 2 Thess. 2: 3-12. Compare “the falling away” of verse 3 with the “transgression” of Dan. 8: 12, R.V. Compare the “man of sin” of verse 3 with the horn in which were eyes and mouth. Dan. 7: 8. Compare the “self-exaltation” of verse 4 with that of Dan. 7: 25 and 8: 10, 11, R.V. This “man of sin” is evidently the very one who is the leading subject of the prophecies of the seventh and eighth chapters of Daniel. And of this man of sin it is distinctly stated that he substitutes himself for God in the sanctuary service. 2 Thess. 2: 4. And the work which culminated in this self-exaltation, which had already begun in Paul’s time, is called “the mystery of iniquity.” 2 Thess. 2: 7. It thus appears that the work of the Papacy in corrupting the true temple service by taking away the continual is accomplished by putting man in the place of God, thus substituting the mystery of iniquity for the mystery of godliness. This means substituting tradition for the Bible, the authority of the church for the command of God, the civil power for the power of the Spirit, justification by works for justification by faith, and the outward and the visible in worship for that which is spiritual. The result is a mere human organization instead of the church of Jesus Christ.
The tabernacle in the wilderness, and later the temple, was a copy of things in heaven. Ex. 26: 30. By the rending of the veil of the temple at the time of the offering of the true sacrifice (Mark 15: 38), it was intended to mark the close of the earthly priesthood and ministry. Type had now met antitype. “By virtue of His death and resurrection He [Christ] became the minister of the ‘true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.’” Under the enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost the apostle Peter beheld Jesus as our high priest. Compare Acts 2: 32, 33 with Heb. 8: 1, 2. By taking the flesh and offering Himself for man, Jesus took away the typical continual service (Dan. 9: 27), which had degenerated into mere ceremonialism, and revealed the eternal reality in its place. This was the mystery of godliness. In its work of corrupting Christianity, the Papacy has taken away the continual, the real presence, and has put an earthly service in the place of the heavenly. “Popery has a god of its own,—him, even, whom the canon law calls the ‘Lord our God.’ It has a saviour of its own,—the church, to wit. It has a sacrifice of its own—the mass. It has a mediator of its own—the priesthood. It has a sanctifier of its own—the sacrament. It has a justification of its own—that even of infused righteousness. It has a pardon of its own—the pardon of the confessional; and it has in the heavens an infallible, all-prevailing advocate, unknown to the Gospel,—the ‘mother of God.’ It thus presents to the world a spiritual and saving apparatus for the salvation of men, and yet it neither sanctifies nor saves any one. It looks like a church; it professes to have all that a church ought to have; and yet it is not a church. It is a grand deception—‘the all deceivableness of unrighteousness.’” This is the mystery of iniquity.
QUESTIONS.
How has the mystery revealed to Daniel been made manifest to all?
What is the inspired definition of this essence of Christianity?
What prophecy is especially valuable in the understanding of the seventh and eighth chapters of Daniel?
What specific points of comparison make it evident that the theme of this prophecy is the same as in Daniel’s prophecies?
What does the man of sin do to destroy the value of the temple service?
What expression is used to define this effort to shut God out of His own temple?
What light does this prophecy throw upon the method by which the Papacy takes away the “continual”?
In what particulars does it appear that the Papacy has put man in the place of God?
What is the result of these changes?
Of what was the tabernacle a copy?
What was the significance of rending the veil of the temple?
By virtue of what experiences did Christ become the minister of the true tabernacle?
What shows that the apostles recognized this ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary?
What did Jesus take away by the offering of Himself on the cross? What did He establish in its place?
How has the Papacy attempted to make of none effect this work of Jesus and His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary?
What has popery substituted for the Gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord?
What does the apostle Paul call this perversion of the Gospel?
