2 Peter 2

The Messiah and the Anti-Messiah

by C. Lee

2. The Anti-Messiah

The Origin of the Anti-Messiah

By the Holy Scriptures we learn that from the beginning of the world there

existed a higher creation of intelligent beings called Angels—beings, in form like

man, but of a higher order. The name Angel, both in the Hebrew and the Greek

languages, signifies a messenger; it denotes the office, and not the nature of the

agent. The angels are, therefore, presented as God's special messengers. Their

number is stated to be many thousands. (Ps. 68: 17.) They surround the throne

of the Almighty and carry out his orders. They differ in highness and are known

by their official names, such as Cherubs, Seraphs, etc.

For example, we read in Gen. 3: 24 that the Cherubim (Cherub: one, Cherubim:

more than one) guarded the way of life leading to the tree of life after man was

driven out from the garden of Eden—the original kingdom. The prophet Isaiah

(chap. 6.) describes them as standing about the throne of God and calls them

Seraphim. When we consider that the Almighty is a great king, and that he by his

life-power and his Word can create whatever he pleases, we can easily

comprehend that he, for his service and to his glory, has surrounded himself with

intelligent beings that serve him as messengers in the development of his plan:

that is to say, in the preparation and establishment of the Messianic kingdom.

The Anti-Messianic development originated from that high source: namely, from

the angelic position about the throne of God. Jude, the apostle, gives the

following testimony concerning it:

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he

hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the

great day." (Jude 6.)

The apostle Peter writes about the same occurrence, and says:

"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and

delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." (2. Pet.

2: 4.)

By these and similar testimonies, we understand that some special cause must

have influenced these high-stationed angels and acted upon their will-power.

This, having been declared as an obstacle to their principalities, caused them to

rebel .against it.

When we now compare this with the origin of the Messianic development, it is not

difficult to see why such an act of trial should come in contact with the principal

leaders of the angels. They, like man, were created beings; hence, they had to

develop so as to obtain a higher and more practical knowledge by experience—

knowledge derived from observation and trials. The truth was placed before them

as an obstacle in the way of their development so as to interfere with their official

standing.

The truth, enclosed in the life-power and the Word by which the world as well as

the angels were created, originated in the Messiah; hence he declared while on

his mission in the flesh, “1 am the truth and the life”. By him the truth, enclosed

in the plan of God—which comprises the kingdom, the power and the glory of God

—develops. The Messiah in the flesh was a stumbling stone to the builders of the

Jewish kingdom because he brought on changes that interfered with the official

position of the rulers. In the very same sense, he, in his original state, became a

stumbling stone to the angelic leaders. His official work will finally change the

very throne of heaven and move it down among the children of men. All powers

and principalities, whether they are placed in the heaven above or on earth, are

subject to it, as

Paul writes in Col. 1: 15, 16:

"Who (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,

visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or

powers: all things were created by him, and for him."

By the unfolding of the plan of God, which is carried out by the Messiah, even the

angels will finally realize that the development of the Messianic kingdom will raise

man—that is, the kings and priests of that kingdom—above the angels. The

following testimony makes this clear.

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering

of death, crowned with glory and honour. . . But to which of the angels said he

(God) at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy

footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who

shall be heirs of salvation?" (Heb. 2: 9; 1: 13, 14.)

The angels of heaven were, by the development of the Messiah, made servants to

the subjects of the coming kingdom—subjects who by experience know good and

evil, and who, by suffering, have developed an intelligence which supersedes

even ' that of inexperienced created angels. This brings the angels under the

Messianic rule; hence, their original high position is taken from them. By a close

study of the tabernacle of God as it will appear in the Messianic kingdom, it

appears very clearly that the children of men, who develop into the glorious

temple of God, will finally come in closer contact with God than the angels in

heaven now are. This leads us to the subject,

The Development of Faith

# 4 – 1899 move down to 6.

Out of , The Truth Revealer