NOTE.—This series of lessons is entitled, “Studies on the Gospel Message.” For Introduction and excellent suggestions as to their study, we refer the student to the Lesson Quarterly.
In the Gospel of the kingdom as first preached (Gen. 3:15), and again proclaimed to Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3, 7), the promised Seed was the center of hope. This promised Seed was the coming Messiah, the Christ (Gal. 3:16), the revelation of the Father to the world (Matt. 11:27), “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). This union of divinity with humanity is the foundation of Christianity. It is the heart and soul of all religious experience. Gal. 2:20. This manifestation of God in the flesh in the person of His Son is the revelation of the secret of the ages (Rom. 16:25, 26), and is “the mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16).
In the development of the Gospel, every further revelation of divine truth has been met by Satan with a counterfeit of the truth. And so “the mystery of iniquity” was Satan’s answer to “the mystery of godliness;” but the Scripture unmasks the deception. In the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians such a manifestation of sin is described as might, in an accommodated sense, be called the incarnation of Satan. This is “the falling away” (verse 3, R.V.), and the revelation of the “man of sin.” The self-exaltation and the opposition to God set forth in the following verse correspond exactly to Daniel’s prophecy of the work of the “little horn,” which had “eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” Dan. 7:8. The whole chapter gives a view of the final stage of the controversy between the “little horn” (the man of sin) and the Son of Man. In saying that “the man of sin” “opposeth” (or acts the part of an adversary), he is identified as the direct representative of Satan. See Zech. 3:1 and margin. And this again identifies “the man of sin” with the first beast of Revelation 13, to whom the dragon (Satan, Rev. 12:9) gave his own power. It thus appears that the controversy now is between the same persons and over the same issues as at the beginning—the controversy between Christ and Satan for the supremacy—when “there was war in heaven.” Then it was a face-to-face combat in heaven. Now the warfare has been transferred to the earth (Rev. 12:9), and Christ in the flesh is to meet and vanquish Satan in the flesh. And so “the mystery of godliness” is the only real answer to “the mystery of iniquity.” This, then, must be the principal theme of the message against the beast and his image.
QUESTIONS.
In what promise was the Gospel first preached?
To whom and in what language was this promise renewed?
What was the center of hope in both instances?
In whom were these promises fulfilled?
What name indicated his relationship to God and man?
What union was thus effected? How important is this experience to the Christian?
What secret was thus revealed?
What is it defined to be?
What developed “the mystery of iniquity”?
In what prophecy is the incarnation of wickedness described?
How are the “man of sin” of this prophecy and the “little horn” of Daniel’s prophecy identified?
How is the “man of sin” identified with the first beast of the thirteenth chapter of Revelation?
What conclusion follows from these facts?
To what place has the original controversy been transferred? Under what new condition is it being carried forward?
In presenting the Gospel of the kingdom to meet the present conditions, what must be the principal theme of the message?
