A Torah Verse By Verse Commentary Of Paul's Epistles by Re'tzon Ha'El - HTML preview

Chapter 2

V1-2 It is pretty clear that the mystery enshrouded in the circumstances and timing of the resurrection were a major talking point within the Thessalonian assembly, and this had fuelled speculation, rumours and misinformation. Paul, in his efforts to put to bed once and for all, this rather controversial matter, proceeded to divulge greater understanding and detail. Regarding Yeshua’s return, he commenced by exhorting the congregation to reject all spiritual deception through false prophecies and visions for instance; to dispel any false rumours spread by word of mouth; and lastly to not entertain any false epistles purporting to be penned by Paul, sent to them. 

Despite many commentators’ conclusions that Paul must have believed that Yeshua would return in his life-time, it seems quite evident from verse 2, and succeeding verses, that this was quite the contrary. Paul was under no illusion that Yeshua’s return was at hand, not least before specific events had occurred of which he adumbrated going forth. Date setters have plagued Christianity from the first century until our present time, due to twisting of scripture and a lack of understanding of the Feasts of Yehovah, and worse off a flagrant disregard of future events which are boldly outlined in black and white by numerous prophets within the holy writ cf Matt 24:4-6

V3-4 Several events shall precede the second coming of Messiah, and even He himself categorically stated that it shall not all happen at once, but over a protracted period of time cf Lk 21:8-9.

Initially there shall be an apostasia/apostasy, falling away which Paul further unfolds in 1 Tim 4:1-3; 2 Tim 3:1-8; 4:3-4. The falling away could not be more evident than in the churches of today. Homosexual bishops and women under demonic possession of the spirit of Jezebel have hijacked the pulpit, receiving rapturous applause from multitudes hypnotized by a multitude of foul spirits from Satan’s platoons. 

Next shall be revealed the man of sin. It is important at this juncture that we do a brief study of the son of perdition:

Son of Perdition

Multiple references are made of this individual, who has multiple appellations in scripture and it is imperative that we examine each mention of him, in order to have a holistic understanding of his traits and character, so as not to be fooled by him at his disclosure, of which even the very elect is susceptible.

a. Eze 28:1-10 anti-Messiah shall be the nagiyd/ruler of Tyrus which is in modern day Lebanon. It was a Phoenician city of immense power and wealth cf Josh 19:29. From here emanated Hiram, king of Tyre. Hiram Abiff, who is the most notable figure in freemasonry, to whom is ascribed the title chief architect of Solomon’s temple, is believed to be the same Hiram of 1 Kings chapter 5. Jezebel hailed from this region steeped in idolatry, worshipping Baal and Ashtoreth, exhibiting all forms of heathenism. Yeshua journeyed in these parts, which under Roman rule still had Canaanite inhabitants known as Syrophoenicians cf Matt 15:21-22; Mark 7:24-26. The anti-Messiah shall hail from this region as an ethnic Jew, most likely being half Jew, half Canaanite/Syrophoenician. He shall declare himself to be Elohim, shall be extremely wise, and be a rich trader. He definitely will be Jewish as he shall be killed by uncircumcised strangers. 

b. Dan 7:7-8 referred to as the little horn, who shall emanate from the10 divisions of the Roman empire, plucking up 3 divisions preceding him, and amalgamating them as one unit and shall speak with great dominance.

c. Dan 7:17-25 cf Dan 2:39-40 The fourth kingdom shall be Greco-Roman in nature (brass for Greece, iron for Rome) of which the Roman empire was, and its current remnants, which shall dominate the whole world as united nations. The anti-Messiah shall form one unit from three of the ten leading nations, of Roman origin, and dominate from there with even greater power than the other 7. So, from 10 horns, there shall eventually be 7 original and one new dominant one, the anti-Messiah. He shall blaspheme Yehovah, change the Feast days of Yehovah, and persecute the saints for three and a half years.

d. Dan 8:8-14,21-25; 11:21-35 The anti-Messiah is preceded in history by a Greek king, who resembles him in character and deed. I encourage you dear reader to read 1st and 2nd Maccabees which are canonized in the 1611 edition of the King James Version of the Bible, and pretty much all Bible versions during that time, yet removed from the time of Martin Luther. Satan by so doing, has managed to deny the avid Christian, knowledge of these all-important writings, which help us to identify the son of perdition. This passage of Daniel was fulfilled by Antiochus IV Epiphanes who ruled between 175-164BC. He was a Seleucid king reigning over the modern-day region of Syria. I also recommend reading of his conquests and intrigues in Josephus’ New Complete Works.

e. Dan 11:36-45 The son of perdition shall be an ethnic Jew, refusing to regard the Elohim of his fathers, a terminology reserved throughout scripture for the Hebrew Patriarchs. He shall be a homosexual, which explains the homosexual agenda of our day and age. With paedophilia on the rise and the impending legalisation of it through desensitizing of the masses, and also formation of organizations lobbying for legalising paedophilia, I personally believe that he shall be a homosexual paedophile, possibly forcibly married to a boy child, in order to blaspheme Yehovah to the maximum. The elohim of mawoz/strongholds, forces is undoubtedly Satan himself, whom the son of perdition will honour. The 3 countries which the little horn shall overthrow may be Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia mentioned in v43.

f. Jn 17:12; 2Thes 2:3 Son of apoleia/utter destruction, ruin. He shall have the same spirit of Satan directly dwelling within him as did Judas Iscariot. 

g. 2 Thes 2:4; Matt 24:15-16 He shall demand worship, and sit in a reconstructed temple in Jerusalem in the holy of holies, declaring himself to be Elohim.

h. Rev 13:1-8 The anti-Messiah is further exposed here. He shall be given power and authority directly from Satan. He shall as one of the horns on the seventh head have control of the beast system representative of all the previous kingdoms in their order that ruled the earth since the time of Nebuchadnezzar i.e. of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Dan 7:1-8. One head of the lion represents Babylon; the second head of the bear represents Medo-Persia; the third, fourth, fifth and sixth heads of the leopard represent the four kingdoms of Greece; the seventh head of the dreadful and terrible beast represents Rome. 

i. Rev 17:7-18 The sea from which this beast system emanates from is representative of all peoples, nations and tongues over which it shall have dominion. The head of Rome has ten horns, from which three are displaced and replaced by the anti-Messiah himself. However, the anti-Messiah is also synonymous with the eighth beast which, from Rev 13:1-8 is an amalgamation of all previous kingdoms since the Babylonian empire. The son of perdition who was and is not, means that he emanates from a previous kingdom, which was no longer present in the apostle John’s time. This means he is not directly from the Roman empire. Antiochus Epiphanes who was the prototype of the son of perdition, was Greek.

From Ezekiel 28 we discover that the half Jewish, anti-Messiah shall be from Tyre, which was a Greek region under the Seleucid empire, from which the Greek Syrophoenician woman of Mark 7:26 emerged. Hence, he indeed was, and is not (in John’s time in the first century) but will emerge as a whole eighth amalgamated beast system of the seven previous empires. Ten world leaders without kingdoms, shall give up all power to the anti-Messiah, and persecute all saints on the face of the earth. These ten world leaders shall initially destroy the apostate church that originally sat upon all regions of the world’s beast system, and polluted the world with its doctrine. This worldwide religious system is based specifically and unequivocally from a city of great religious dominance. At present, only the Roman Catholic church, headquartered in the Vatican, which has wielded its demonic stronghold over the nations for approximately 1700 years, fits this description with striking precision. 

V5 Those within the congregation who had fallen for the misinformation and lies spread regarding Yeshua’s return, had clearly forgotten these words of Paul, which he must have preached at some unspecified time during the few weeks that he had spent with them. Of note is the fact that Paul readily preached of prophecy and future events to even neophyte believers. This should encourage all preachers to not hold back on these important teachings which should never be deemed too profound to understand. If anything, they are of great significance, in that they elevate the faith and hope of a new believer of Yeshua’s removal of him, from this flawed world.

V6 -7 Paul unwittingly did us a great disservice by not mentioning who he was referring to regarding he who is katecho/holding back, withholding the appearance of anti-Messiah and the end of days. The most obvious guess would be the Holy Spirit. However, verse 8 would be nonsensical as the anti-Messiah, the anomos/ lawless one, wicked one, shall be revealed whilst Christians indwelt by the Holy Spirit are still on earth. After all the lawless one exclusively persecutes the Holy Spirit-filled saints. The Holy Spirit of Yeshua is not one to be answerable to anybody but Himself, hence it is improbable that some force superior to Him could possibly exist to take Him out of the way.

A clue is found in Dan 12:1-2. Michael the archangel protecting the body of Yeshua also referred to as Israel, composed of ethnic Israelites and grafted in Gentiles, shall amad/Heb for stand up, after which the anti-Messiah shall unleash the Great tribulation upon the end time saints on earth. It seems to make sense that with Michael out of the way, for whatever reason, the saints shall be at a great disadvantage against withstanding the terror of the son of perdition.

The mystery of iniquity is not future, as evident from verse 7. This mystery of anomia/lawlessness is the same that inebriates inhabitants of the earth with false doctrine leading to apostasy as described in Rev 17:1-6. This apostasy commenced soon after Yeshua ascended to heaven, and has been peddled across the world to a greater degree by the Roman catholic church and all the daughter churches that have been born out of her. This has been conducted in collaboration with false religions that reject Torah, and have replaced the Feasts days of Yehovah with those of pagan gods, coupled with acceptance of doctrines of devils.

V8-9 cf Isa 11:4; Rev 19:15. The Spirit of Yeshua’s mouth is synonymous with a sword sharper than any double-edged sword, as gleaned from these verses. We also find that it is the Word, which brought creation into being cf Heb 4:12. 

As already discussed in great detail, the son of perdition shall be the devil’s son, imbued with his miraculous supernatural powers, which shall hypnotize the world at large cf Rev 19:20.

V10 I cannot stress anymore how the wheat shall be separated from the chaff amongst true saints and the apostate ones in the last days through persecution, but more effectively through great delusion. As already exposed ad nauseum in every single commentary that I have penned of Paul’s epistles, unrighteousness is synonymous with lawlessness. ‘Adikia’ translated unrighteousness, means a deed violating the law, of which the only law in scripture is codified in the Torah. ‘Anomia’ translated iniquity, means lawlessness, which is self-explanatory. Those Christians who foolishly believe that Torah was nailed on the cross shall be readily deceived by the anti-Messiah.

V11-12 Yehovah Elohim shall personally send non-believing heathens and unbelieving Christians an energeia/superhumanly powerful delusion, further deepening their state of apostasy and alienating them from any hope of salvation, for having presented wicked hearts that revel in violation of Torah. This verse strongly alludes to a single event of delusion sent. In our study of the book of Revelation, I shall connect this verse with the supernatural resurrection of the anti-Messiah after he receives his fatal wound. Satan does not have the power to give life, only Yehovah the Father, Son and Holy Spirit do. I believe that this shall be the strong delusion sent by Elohim, when the man of sin shall be killed, but supernaturally rise from the bottomless pit/abyss as the son of perdition, the beast, the ant-Messiah, returning with the innate power of Satan his father cf Rev 13:3-4; Eze 28:7-8; Rev 9:1,2,11.

V13 We were chosen from creation to be saved. The Holy Spirit leads us to believe, and by so doing, may be made continuously holy in order to be saved cf 2 Tim 1:9; Eph 1:4-5. We are truly duty bound to give thanks for such grace, which we never deserved.

V14 The simple pure truth of the gospel is free for all to examine. By it the Holy Spirit calls mankind. Those who believe that it is the means to salvation believe it, and by this faith in the expiatory blood of Yeshua is one justified. This allows the Holy Spirit to work through us to follow the Torah according to the will of the Father, in order for us to live holy lives, and be deemed worthy of obtaining the glory of Yeshua at His coming. This ultimately culminates in Elohim the Father accepting us to be reconciled to Him for evermore.

V15 The word ‘paradosis’ translated traditions, means the substance of a teaching or instructions. Paul was essentially encouraging the persecuted body of Messiah in Thessalonica to persevere and endure to the end, keeping in mind all his words of exhortation in speech and in letter.

V16 -17 He additionally prayed for Yeshua and Elohim the Father to comfort these gallant saints. It is only through them that we find encouragement and strength. Prayers of protection are answered to those who practice good works, whose speech is pure.