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As He Is So Are We

Hi D____,

You are right on target. God's elect are the "man of sin, the son of perdition and the seven headed, ten crowned beast" before they are aware of being such. That is what Paul is telling the Thessalonians in the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians: What restrains Christ's coming in us is the fact that the "man of sin" has not yet been revealed to us as being within us. Only after he is revealed can Christ come and destroy that man of sin within us "with the brightness of His coming."

2 Thess 2:5  Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2 Thess 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2 Thess 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way.
2 Thess 2:8  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:
"Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" What had Paul told them? He had told them that they were the temple of God and that the spirit of God was within them:
1 Cor 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
Paul had not changed his definition of what is the temple. When Paul spoke of the temple of God, he meant the same thing in the epistle to the Thessalonians that he meant by the phrase "the temple of God" when writing to the Corinthians.

The only little detail I will add to your summation of what the scriptures really teach is that while we are all these negative parts of God's Word, we do not become elect at a certain stage of our walk. God's elect are His elect "from before the world."
2 Tim 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
I also hope that you are aware that it is through us that these same parts of God's Word are made applicable to Christ:
Rom 4:25  Who was delivered for [Greek -dia - through] our offences, and was raised again for [Greek - dia - through] our justification.
It is only "through our offences" that God Himself could apply this verse to Christ:
Deu 21:22  And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
Deu 21:23  His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged [is] accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.
That is right; according to Paul it is through our offences that this verse and many others are applied to  Christ.
Gal 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Christ was not "made a curse" by being nailed to the cross, Christ was nailed to the cross because he had taken upon himself the "curse of the law" when He came into this world "made of a woman made under the law."
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Being "under the law" is the condition of flesh. All flesh is "under the curse of the law:"
1 Cor 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Those words are just as true of Christ's "flesh and blood" as they are of ours:
Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Yes, Christ was born of His heavenly Father from His mother's womb, but His mother was a daughter of Adam. That is why Christ refers to Himself as the "Son of Man" many times more than He refers to Himself as the "Son of God."

But I am pleased to see you say this:


"Everything that happens in the bible basically has to happen to us spiritually in this age."
I don't know if you are aware of just how close these words of yours are to these words of our Lord:
Matt 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
It is given to but very few to see this truth, but it is the Truth. And these are words of life. These are words which introduce us to the real Christ:
John 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

1 John 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
God bless you as you come to "know God and Jesus Christ, who He has sent...made of a woman, made under the law."

Mike