The Antichrist

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. (2 Thessalonians 1:1-3, ESV). Barney is the Antichrist. At least that’s the newest gibberish circulating the rounds on purported prophetic web sites! Here’s the reasoning offered in support of this outlandish claim: 1. Start with the given: he is a CUTE PURPLE DINOSAUR 2. Change all the U’s to V’s (which is proper Latin anyway) CVTE PVRPLE DINOSAVR 3. Extract all the Roman Numerals: CVVLDIV 4. Convert these to Arabic values: 100, 5, 5, 50, 500, 1, and 5. 5. Add them up. Total = 666 Now before you go into a panic and throw away all your children’s Barney videos and ban him from your list of approved television programs, read this morning’s Scripture again. This is the beginning of a chapter in which Paul deals with a question about the timing of the Second Coming. He does go on to say that there will be a “Man of Sin” revealed in the last days, an antichrist. However, the impact of the verses is to encourage his readers to be encouraged and alert to the lies of false prophets. I do believe we are closer than ever to the Second Coming. That’s really an easy statement to support. After all, there have been nearly 2,000 years pass since Jesus said he was coming again! That’s definitely closer. Is it today? It certainly could be. He said that day would come suddenly and “like a thief in the night.” There wouldn’t be a lot of warning as to the specific time. There would be signs that would precede that day to warn those of the impending judgment, but no one would know the exact day or hour. Even the description that Paul uses for this day is not time specific. So, why even discuss it? I believe it was simply to encourage us to more warning than watching! Here’s what he writes at the end of this chapter: We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. (2 Thessalonians 1:3-7, ESV). Let me summarize a little this morning. First, it is next to impossible that Barney is the Antichrist. And, second, don’t fear the future. Rest in the comfort and assurance that God is in control of that day. Encourage others toward a stronger faith. Help those who do not believe to see the truth of Christ.