- Mar 5, 2024
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End-Time Prophecies, And Satan's Endless Attempts To Discredit Them
As covered in the last study, knowing that the Gnostics were the heretics Peter was specifically refuting in this letter is crucial to understanding what he was saying, and that goes for our next passage as well. There were two kinds of prophecy now going forth in the churches; one that taught the prophecies of the Old Testament were true and that the wrath of God was still coming, and another that said the literal interpretation was false, and that "the Day of the Lord" had already come. This was a lie concocted by the Devil, of course, but it was now being used by servants of Satan to dissuade believers from walking in the fear of God. But as Peter would now say, it was the leadership of the church who had the more sure word of prophecy, and all would do well trust in it "until the Daystar arose within their hearts" as well, and confirmed it through the witness of the Spirit within them.
19 And we have the more sure prophetic word, which you do well taking heed to, as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day should dawn, and the Daystar should arise within your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture was subject to private interpretation, 21 for prophecy was never borne by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were being moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19-21)
Peter's point was that only those with the Holy Spirit could accurately understand Biblical prophecy, for it was revealed by the Spirit alone. And as Jude stated, the Gnostics did not have the Holy Spirit (Jude 1:19). They were nevertheless "prophesying" in the churches and deceiving the faithful, as is evidenced from the Book of Revelations. The Lord rebuked Jezebel in the church at Thyatira for calling herself a prophetess, and yet "teaching My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols."
19 I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience... 20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great affliction unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. 24 Now I say to you and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, and who have not known "the deep things of Satan," as they say, I will put no other burden upon you. (Revelations 2:19-24).
Committing sexual immorality and eating meat sacrificed to idols were what the Gnostics were notorious for, which means she with virtual certainty was one. Yet some were apparently giving heed to her prophecies because the leadership in that church had not removed her. The Lord was now having to do it Himself. But if she was teaching "the deep things of Satan," it is safe to assume the things she was prophesying were coming from demonic spirts as well.
What, then, was she prophesying? We have evidence from Gnostic manuscripts what they taught and believed, and Gnostic prophecy ran 100% contrary to what the Spirit of God was teaching. They contended that the "Day of the Lord" had already come in a spiritual sense, and that prophecies about the fearful judgments of God coming upon the earth were not to be taken literally. But the apostle Paul warned that this teaching was false, and that the Gnostics were actually impersonating them by falsifying letters in the apostle's names in order to sell this lie, telling the Thessalonians in one place:
We implore you, brothers, by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him, not to become quickly disturbed in mind nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as if written by us, intimating that the Day of the Lord has come. No one should deceive you in any way if the apostasy has not yet come first and that man of lawlessness has been revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or is worshipped, so as for him to sit down in the temple of God, exhibiting himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was with you I was telling you these things? And you now know the prevailing expectation is for him to be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already on its way to realization, only he is holding back at present until he manifests out of the midst, and then shall that Lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus Christ will consume with the breath of His mouth, and depose with the brightness of His coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-8)
Paul was here referring to the fact that the Gnostics were sending out fake letters written in the name of the apostles but actually written by them, something confirmed by early church records and modern archeology. Numerous writings have been unearthed in the last century like the Gospel of Thomas, the Secret Book of James, the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles, the Secret Gospel of Mark, the Apocryphon of John and others which bear the apostle's names yet do not resemble their teachings. The content is clearly Gnostic in places, making it obvious they are forgeries. And early church writers attest this was a habit the Gnostics in particular were engaging in. Writing in the 2nd century, Ireneaus stated, "Besides the above misrepresentations, they adduce an unspeakable number of apocryphal and spurious writings, which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish men, and of such as are ignorant of the scriptures of truth." (Against Heresies, XX, 1). The word "apocryphal" here came from the Greek word ἀπόκρυφος, which meant “hidden” or "secret." It referred to works which were of dubious authenticity.
So why is all this important? History will repeat itself, and the Gnostics will again arise in the earth to practice witchcraft while "prophesying" lies. The false Christs prophesied to come will with virtual certainty come from this same school of heresy and resurrect these ancient lies again, seeking to depict them as true "Christianity." But such teachings will be no more credible than when the Devil first conjured them into existence during New Testament times.
The More Sure Word
Satan always attacks any teaching that instills the fear of God in men. Always. This goes for teachings on Hell as well, and it's because Satan knows that as long as men still fear God, they cannot simply disregard Him to pursue their own pleasures in life instead. So these "prophecies" of the Gnostics were specifically designed to lure the faithful away from the fear of God. Yet the apostle Peter himself declared on the day of Pentecost that prophecies concerning the Day of the Lord were true and still coming to pass, in confirming the Old Testament prophet Joel as the Spirit gave him utterance:
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them... “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days,' says God, 'that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh... and I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath; blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord. (Joel 2:14, 17-20)
Joel himself prophesied about the Day of the Lord, as did Isaiah before him, declaring:
Wail, for the Day of the Lord is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will be limp, every man’s heart will melt, and they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them. They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth... Behold, the Day of the Lord comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate. And He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger. (Isaiah 13:6-13)
Despite the Gnostic claims that Christ prophesied something entirely different, our Lord reiterated these prophecies Himself in the Book of Revelation, proclaiming them to be literal when He had John write:
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great Day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" (Revelation 6:12-17)
As covered in the last study, knowing that the Gnostics were the heretics Peter was specifically refuting in this letter is crucial to understanding what he was saying, and that goes for our next passage as well. There were two kinds of prophecy now going forth in the churches; one that taught the prophecies of the Old Testament were true and that the wrath of God was still coming, and another that said the literal interpretation was false, and that "the Day of the Lord" had already come. This was a lie concocted by the Devil, of course, but it was now being used by servants of Satan to dissuade believers from walking in the fear of God. But as Peter would now say, it was the leadership of the church who had the more sure word of prophecy, and all would do well trust in it "until the Daystar arose within their hearts" as well, and confirmed it through the witness of the Spirit within them.
19 And we have the more sure prophetic word, which you do well taking heed to, as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day should dawn, and the Daystar should arise within your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture was subject to private interpretation, 21 for prophecy was never borne by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were being moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19-21)
Peter's point was that only those with the Holy Spirit could accurately understand Biblical prophecy, for it was revealed by the Spirit alone. And as Jude stated, the Gnostics did not have the Holy Spirit (Jude 1:19). They were nevertheless "prophesying" in the churches and deceiving the faithful, as is evidenced from the Book of Revelations. The Lord rebuked Jezebel in the church at Thyatira for calling herself a prophetess, and yet "teaching My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols."
19 I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience... 20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great affliction unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. 24 Now I say to you and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, and who have not known "the deep things of Satan," as they say, I will put no other burden upon you. (Revelations 2:19-24).
Committing sexual immorality and eating meat sacrificed to idols were what the Gnostics were notorious for, which means she with virtual certainty was one. Yet some were apparently giving heed to her prophecies because the leadership in that church had not removed her. The Lord was now having to do it Himself. But if she was teaching "the deep things of Satan," it is safe to assume the things she was prophesying were coming from demonic spirts as well.
What, then, was she prophesying? We have evidence from Gnostic manuscripts what they taught and believed, and Gnostic prophecy ran 100% contrary to what the Spirit of God was teaching. They contended that the "Day of the Lord" had already come in a spiritual sense, and that prophecies about the fearful judgments of God coming upon the earth were not to be taken literally. But the apostle Paul warned that this teaching was false, and that the Gnostics were actually impersonating them by falsifying letters in the apostle's names in order to sell this lie, telling the Thessalonians in one place:
We implore you, brothers, by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him, not to become quickly disturbed in mind nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as if written by us, intimating that the Day of the Lord has come. No one should deceive you in any way if the apostasy has not yet come first and that man of lawlessness has been revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or is worshipped, so as for him to sit down in the temple of God, exhibiting himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was with you I was telling you these things? And you now know the prevailing expectation is for him to be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already on its way to realization, only he is holding back at present until he manifests out of the midst, and then shall that Lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus Christ will consume with the breath of His mouth, and depose with the brightness of His coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-8)
Paul was here referring to the fact that the Gnostics were sending out fake letters written in the name of the apostles but actually written by them, something confirmed by early church records and modern archeology. Numerous writings have been unearthed in the last century like the Gospel of Thomas, the Secret Book of James, the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles, the Secret Gospel of Mark, the Apocryphon of John and others which bear the apostle's names yet do not resemble their teachings. The content is clearly Gnostic in places, making it obvious they are forgeries. And early church writers attest this was a habit the Gnostics in particular were engaging in. Writing in the 2nd century, Ireneaus stated, "Besides the above misrepresentations, they adduce an unspeakable number of apocryphal and spurious writings, which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish men, and of such as are ignorant of the scriptures of truth." (Against Heresies, XX, 1). The word "apocryphal" here came from the Greek word ἀπόκρυφος, which meant “hidden” or "secret." It referred to works which were of dubious authenticity.
So why is all this important? History will repeat itself, and the Gnostics will again arise in the earth to practice witchcraft while "prophesying" lies. The false Christs prophesied to come will with virtual certainty come from this same school of heresy and resurrect these ancient lies again, seeking to depict them as true "Christianity." But such teachings will be no more credible than when the Devil first conjured them into existence during New Testament times.
The More Sure Word
Satan always attacks any teaching that instills the fear of God in men. Always. This goes for teachings on Hell as well, and it's because Satan knows that as long as men still fear God, they cannot simply disregard Him to pursue their own pleasures in life instead. So these "prophecies" of the Gnostics were specifically designed to lure the faithful away from the fear of God. Yet the apostle Peter himself declared on the day of Pentecost that prophecies concerning the Day of the Lord were true and still coming to pass, in confirming the Old Testament prophet Joel as the Spirit gave him utterance:
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them... “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days,' says God, 'that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh... and I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath; blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord. (Joel 2:14, 17-20)
Joel himself prophesied about the Day of the Lord, as did Isaiah before him, declaring:
Wail, for the Day of the Lord is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will be limp, every man’s heart will melt, and they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them. They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth... Behold, the Day of the Lord comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate. And He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger. (Isaiah 13:6-13)
Despite the Gnostic claims that Christ prophesied something entirely different, our Lord reiterated these prophecies Himself in the Book of Revelation, proclaiming them to be literal when He had John write:
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great Day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" (Revelation 6:12-17)
