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In part four of this series, we learned how Paul described the "Son of Perdition" as one "whose coming is after the working of Satan". In short, as I noted there, my personal belief is that the "Son of Perdition" was the son of the Devil in the flesh. As such, he was the "son of destruction" and the "son of the destroyer". The proof lies in the fact that he led all of his deceived followers to a fiery death at the hands of the Roman soldiers. In equal manner, Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was likewise manifested in the flesh. However, the big difference is that Jesus has brought life and hope to a desperate, dying and lost world. While the Devil in the flesh sacrificed the lives of all of those people in the Temple, the Son of God in the flesh sacrificed His own life for us in love, by surrendering His earthly temple -- meaning His body -- to the wrath of unbelieving Jews. Thus He said:

". . . Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said."


If you find these thoughts interesting, consider the fact that there exists only one other place in the New Testament where we find the phrase "son of perdition" being used. As we learned in part four, in that case too, that wicked man -- Judas Iscariot -- met with destruction in the end, after he allowed Satan to possess him, in order to destroy Jesus' physical body. Followed are some verses relating to that event:

"Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop SATAN ENTERED INTO HIM. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly."


"While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the SON OF PERDITION; that the scripture might be fulfilled."


"Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me."


"Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take."


To reiterate, once Satan entered into Judas, Judas' primary obsession was to destroy Jesus, because that is the Devil's whole game plan and purpose; that is, to destroy the Work of God, just as I explain in a number of other articles such as "Satan: King of Tyrus, King of Empires". Once that traitor had "destroyed" Jesus -- or at least so he thought -- then the Devil condemned Judas, and made him feel remorse and regret, so that Judas went out and destroyed himself as well by committing suicide. Such is the bad fruit of that foul fiend.

Within the pages of the Old Testament, we find additional examples of how Satan -- the Destroyer and Angel of Death -- has worked throughout the long course of human history to fulfill God's purposes. For example, the night of the Passover in Egypt, we know that he was there, as we can determine by this verse:

"For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer THE DESTROYER to come in unto your houses to smite you."


When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon swept down and chastised Israel in the sixth century B.C., he was acting as a vehicle of the Destroyer, who in turn was acting as the Prosecutor and Executioner of God's Will, as we see here:

"The lion is come up from his thicket, and THE DESTROYER of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant."


In the previous two examples, the word "destroyer" finds its origin in the Hebrew word "shachath," which means destroyer, corrupter, waster, and spoiler. These words "destroyer" and "spoiler" are found throughout the Old Testament. In most cases, they are referring to Satan the Destroyer who worked through the invading pagan kings as I have shown above. I discuss this topic in more detail in "Satan: King of Tyrus, King of Empires!", as well as in "The Seven Heads" series. Another Hebrew word which is sometimes used in Old Testament verses is "shadad". It means spoiler, destroyer and robber. This word is used as "spoiler" quite heavily in the Book of Jeremiah. Following are two more examples which show how Satan the Destroyer continued to perform his destructive deeds right up to the events of the late First Century:

"And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall DESTROY WONDERFULLY, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall DESTROY THE MIGHTY AND THE HOLY PEOPLE. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall DESTROY MANY: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand."


"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall DESTROY THE CITY AND THE SANCTUARY; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."


From the destruction of Jesus Christ's human body in about 30 A.D. -- which God raised from the dead -- to the total destruction of Jerusalem in about 70 A.D., Satan was indeed very busy. As I said, his whole game plan was to destroy, to destroy, to destroy. It is for these reasons that I believe that "son of destruction", or "son of the Destroyer", or "son of Satan" would have been a slightly better translation in the second chapter of Thessalonians. In one Bible I have seen, "son of perdition" is translated as "son of hell"; but that doesn't emphasize the physical and spiritual destruction which was met by the followers of the Jewish false messiah. Of course, he was a Jew, and Jesus did call them the children of Hell, so I suppose that in that regard, it can be viewed as a fitting translation.

Returning to the Apostle Paul's warning to the brethren at Thessalonika, let us take another look at some of the verses we discussed earlier regarding the one who holds back the revelation of the Son of Perdition until his appointed time:

"And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way."


In the previous verses, we find the words "withholdeth", "letteth" and "let". All three of these words are derived from the same Greek word "katecho", which means to hold back, detain, retain, restrain or hinder. Being as Satan is a spiritual entity, it should be obvious that Paul is talking about two spiritual entities here and not just a physical person or group of people. I have already shown that it is Satan who is working behind the wicked Son of Perdition. Therefore, there must have been another entity -- likewise spiritual in nature -- who was restraining him until his appointed time. Our task is to figure out who was hindering or preventing Satan from revealing himself through this Jewish false messiah.

While I have heard a variety of opinions over the years, there is only one answer which I have personally found to be Scripturally verifiable. From comparing Scripture with Scripture, I currently believe that Michael the Archangel -- or perhaps some other unidentified spiritual warrior -- is the strongest possible candidate for performing this important task. Furthermore, I believe that I have some rather convincing Scriptural evidence to support this view.

To begin with, you may recall that when the unidentified Angelic Messenger arrived to give Daniel the prophecies of Daniel chapters eleven and twelve, he was actually hindered from arriving for twenty-one days by the spiritual demon prince of Persia. Let us drop in on their conversation:

"Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia."


Here we plainly see that it wasn't until Michael lent a hand by restraining or holding back the evil Persian demon, that the other Angelic Being was able to fulfill his mission and speak with Daniel. What an amazing insight into the battle which occurred between these two mighty spiritual warriors. Until Michael arrived, this demonic prince was successfully preventing the other Angel from delivering the prophecies to Daniel. However, then Michael stands in the way of, or withstands, that foul Demon of Darkness, so that he can no longer hinder the Angel who is attempting to reach Daniel.

In the previous verses, the word "withstood" is derived from the Hebrew word "amad". This word has a variety of meanings, including to take one's stand, to endure, persist, to hold one's ground, or to be steadfast. Thus we see that first the demon prince of Persia withstands the Angelic Messenger who is trying to get to Daniel, and then Michael arrives and withstands the demon while the message is delivered by the other Angel to the Prophet.

In my view, the above spiritual battle sounds very similar to the situation in Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians, where an Angelic Being is holding back Satan so that he is unable to empower the Son of Perdition until the proper time for his revelation has arrived. Now, if my understanding is correct, then were it not for the faithful steadfastness of this Angelic Warrior, the Son of Perdition -- that is, the Jewish Antichrist -- would have come to power sooner than he actually did. The meanings of the Greek word "katecho" and the Hebrew word "amad" are just too similar to dismiss as being a mere coincidence.

Returning to Daniel chapter ten, at the end of the chapter, after a bit of Angelic conversation with Daniel, it is again confirmed that Michael is helping to strengthen his fellow Angel, by resisting the evil demon prince, as we see by the following verse:

"But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince."


In this case, the word "holdeth" is derived from the Hebrew word "chazaq", which means to hold, strengthen, prevail upon, be resolute, hold strongly with, and to be firm. Thus, Michael is again lending his support to this other Angel by firmly and resolutely holding back or hindering this demon prince.

By this time, it should be becoming clear to you that Michael is indeed a powerful Archangel who fights the Lord's battles against the legions of darkness who oppose God's Will. But if you still have any lingering doubts regarding this being one of his primary tasks for the Lord, consider this final verse we find in the Book of Daniel where we once again see Michael rising up and defending the descendants of Daniel's people:

"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."


It shouldn't surprise you to learn that in both cases, the phrase "standeth up" and the second word "standeth" likewise are derived from that very same Hebrew word that we examined a minute ago; that is "amad". Michael is doing what he has always done. He is being a warrior for God and holding back the tide of evil at the end of Daniel's 490-year Prophetic Age. You can learn more about this age in articles such as "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?".

Leaving these Old Testament examples behind, let us move up to the New Testament Book of Jude where we yet again find the Archangel Michael performing a task quite similar to what we find in 2 Thessalonians 2, and in the Book of Daniel. When Satan tried to steal the body of Moses, Jude informs us that it was again Michael the Archangel who prevented that foul creature from performing his devilish deed, as we see by the following verse:

"Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee."


At this point, we have now seen six clear cut examples in which an Angelic Being is resisting, hindering, withstanding or preventing a demonic being from accomplishing something. To refresh your memory, allow me to list them for you below:

• In Daniel chapter ten, we are TWICE told that Michael is assisting another Angelic Messenger in delivering a very important prophecy to Daniel.

• At the opening of Daniel chapter twelve, we are again told that Michael rises up to defend the descendants of Daniel's people at the end of that Prophetic Age.

• In the Epistle of Jude we are told that Michael withstood the Devil in regard to the body of Moses.

• In Revelation chapter twelve, we discover that Michael is a key participant in ousting Satan from Heaven.

• In 2 Thessalonians 2, we read about an unidentified entity who is withstanding and restraining Satan from manifesting himself in the body of the Jewish false messiah.

In five of those cases, there is absolutely no doubt that it is definitely Michael the Archangel who is performing these tasks. In the last case, we have someone who the Apostle Paul simply refers to as a "he". However, based on these Biblical precedents, I remain convinced that Michael the Archangel is still the best candidate for being the mysterious "hinderer" who held back the Son of Perdition from being revealed until the late First Century. As we have seen, once he was allowed to reveal himself, it was just more terrible death and total destruction, because he is the Destroyer.

Before moving on, allow me to share with you another group of verses which are found in the Old Testament, This may possibly be yet another appearance by the Archangel Michael. It concerns Joshua and the fall of Jericho:

"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so."


In all of the examples we have looked at in this series, it certainly seems like Michael is in charge of the Lord's Host; that is, His Celestial Army. So perhaps this was him at the Battle of Jericho as well. Following is another clear example of how God's Heavenly Forces do battle on the Earth, unseen by human eyes:

"And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."


If there's one thing that should be clear to you by now from reading everything I have shared with you in this series, it is that for reasons of His own, God gave Satan considerable freedom to do as he pleases on the Earth. From the Garden of Eden, to influencing and controlling world rulers, Satan was given free rein. You may recall that in the Book of Job, the Devil even tells God that he is busy "going to and fro in the Earth", as we see by these two verses:

"And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."


"And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."


But there was one thing that Satan was being prohibited or hindered from doing in Paul's second Epistle to the brethren at Thessalonika. He was being prevented from incarnating in a human body just as Jesus had done when He became the physical Son of God. In other words, it seems to me that up until that point, all of the Devil's dirty deeds were achieved through outside oppression, or by influencing people's thoughts, or in the case of the traitorous Judas Iscariot, even through temporary possession. After all, we are clearly told that Satan entered into Judas, remember?:

"And after the sop Satan entered into him . . ."


I don't get the impression that Satan was ever permitted to fully incarnate as a flesh and blood human being before that time. And to be honest, I still don't fully understand how he would have accomplished such a task. We know that Jesus had to literally be born as a human baby in order to achieve that goal. But whatever the method was, it does appear that Satan was there in physical form, sitting in the Temple, performing his "signs and lying wonders" as we discussed earlier in this series. Just as Jesus was given the Spirit without measure by His Father, and just as all power was given unto Him, let me remind you again that Paul writes that the Son of Perdition also had "all power"; except his power was from the Devil. Allow me to share these verses with you side-by-side for your personal consideration:

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME in heaven and in earth."


"For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth NOT THE SPIRIT BY MEASURE unto him."


"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with ALL POWER and signs and lying wonders."


So this was like the match of the century, and in fact the match of the age. Two spiritual beings were on the Earth at the very same time, both in human form, and both fighting for the very fate of humanity. Thank God we know who won.

Those unbelieving Jews -- the Zealots, Sicarii and whoever else was in the Temple compound at that time -- must have literally seen and worshipped the Son of Perdition. They literally saw his amazing feats, and that is why they were so deceived. As we discussed previously, they rejected the truth in Jesus Christ, and they embraced the lies of their false messiah. As I stated earlier, the Jewish Antichrist may have possibly even been one of them. Another reason why I lean towards the belief that the Devil actually took on a physical human form at that time, is because of a verse I shared with you before from this very same chapter. Consider it again:

"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:"


In my view, this verse must be talking about the destruction of a human body which served as the vehicle for Satan. After all, the Devil is a spiritual entity. Furthermore, we know that he could not have been destroyed by Jesus at that point in time, because as you may recall from earlier in this same series, the Book of Revelation later informs us that Satan is imprisoned for a thousand years, and he is ultimately cast into the Lake of Fire, as we learn from the following verses:

"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years . . . And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."


Considering how successful Satan had already been when it came to wreaking havoc, death and destruction on the Earth over the previous four thousand years, even though he was only in his spiritual form, we must ask ourselves why it was that he was so desperately trying to inhabit human form in the First Century. Let me suggest that maybes it was because that fiend wanted to force God's hand. This is a subject I likewise discuss in the series "Satan: King of Tyrus, King of Empires!". This requires a bit of thought to understand, but it really is not that difficult. We have already seen that Satan is the Destroyer. He is the author of confusion, chaos and destruction. He is Abaddon and Apollyon. He is in fact everything which God is not. He is in total opposition to the Plan and Work of God. The Lord clearly defined what the nature of that work is in the following verses that are found in the Gospel of John:

". . . This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent . . . And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."


Thus, as I explained earlier, since the start, Satan's goal was to frustrate God's overall Plan of Salvation, and to set up himself as "God", with humanity as the subjugated slaves of his Kingdom of Darkness. However, as the Scriptures make very clear, we are free moral agents, and there is always a choice to be made. God leaves it up to us to choose our own fate, as He has done for literally thousands of years:

"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:"


"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."


"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word."


"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."


"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"


"Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils."


"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."


"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."


So again, this has been Satan's whole plan since the day he instigated the Fall in Eden. Once the Fall had occurred, and God's Plan of Salvation was put into effect, the Devil's next objective was obviously to prevent Divine Restitution from ever being implemented. After all, this was no doubt a great threat to his own Kingdom of Darkness. Thus, that snake did everything within his power to frustrate, hinder and prevent the birth of the Savior through the righteous line of Seth. It would have been through Abel, had it not been for the fact that Satan achieved a victory in that particular battle when he enticed Cain to rise up and slay his righteous brother.

As I explain in the series "Nephilim: The Giants of Genesis", one of Satan's most serious early attacks on God's Plan was the Angelic Invasion in Genesis chapter six where he and his fellow rebellious Angels attempted to corrupt the righteous seed through having sexual relations with humankind. As we all know, it was for this reason that the Lord had to stop the spread of evil by destroying humanity through the Flood in the days of the Patriarch Noah, as we see here:

"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God [the Fallen Angels] saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants [Nephilim] in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them."


Please go to part six for the conclusion of this series.

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