The Son of Perdition
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I speak:
Thank God that I am given this opportunity to share the words of God with our brothers and sisters. For today, I am going to share with you a particular concept. In the Bible, it talks about the children of salvation. The Bible also tells us about the son of perdition.
(2 Thessalonians 2:3)
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
Paul is talking about the coming of a person who would cause a lot of trouble to the church. This person can also be a representation of a group of people who have chosen to not follow God's way. The word "perdition" also means "destruction" it can also be translated as "devastation." The word "perdition" is the extreme opposite to salvation. In the Chinese language, it means "cannot be saved" when a person is condemned. Salvation is a state of existence in which we are with Jesus forever. When we talk about "perdition," it means that a person is in a state of being separated from God eternally, the person is condemned.
The phrase "Son of Perdition" only appears two times in the New Testament scriptures. The word "perdition" has two very basic and fundamental meanings: to lose and to destroy.
(Hebrews 12: 15)
looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
The writer here is warning the church to be careful to not fall short to the grace of God. To fall short means not being able to meet the standard of God. Just like the world, it has fallen short of the glory of God, it is heading towards a path of destruction, a way which is not in line with the principle of God. For us who have already received the grace of God, we have to be very careful to ensure that we will not fall short of the grace of God. What will happen to a person if he happens to fall short to the glory of God? In verse 15, it says that this root of bitterness will begin to spring up. The end result is that many will be defiled.
When we look at the word "perdition" or "son of perdition," it means that someone has lost the grace of God and from then on, the work that the person does is to destroy. We can see this quite clearly in the church for the past many years: how a person can lose the grace of God and then end up trying to destroy the church and the establishment of the church for some reason.
The other point that I want to bring to your attention is: when such a person is at work, we need to understand that the force behind him is not the power of God, rather it is the power of the evil one, he is driven by the wicked one to accomplish not the will of God, but the will of Satan. We can see how dangerous it can be if we cannot hold on to the grace of God. Let's look at a number of passages in the scriptures to make sure that we will not become one of these people.
(1 Timothy 6: 9)
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
When these people have fallen into temptation because of this greed for wealth, they would be drawn into destruction and perdition (condemnation).
(Verse 10)
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
The point is this: when we talk about the desire to be rich or the greed for wealth, just like what is stated in verse 10, "the love of money," this desire of wanting more wealth can draw a person away from God. When we allow this desire to develop, it can take control over our entire person, our mind will be taken captive by this desire. Being greedy does not necessarily mean that a person only greed for wealth, this person can also have this desire for power or the desire for position, this is a kind of lust that can stain and defile a person. When this happens, the person will be draw away from God.
