4. What does it mean for the second beast to exercise all the authority of the first?

The first beast blasphemed God and persecuted His people. The second beast does the same, and he does it in the presence of the first beast. That is, the first beast's deadly wound is healed; the first beast exists again. But the second beast is, in this time period, his agent. These two beasts are working in tandem. Both are given space to exercise the coercive intent that is at the core of what they are. That is why we spent some serious time in the previous presentation looking not so much at the future but the history of the second beast. We have had this vision very positive picture of America and what it stands for that was imprinted on us from kindergarten on up. But while America was remarkable in its beginnings and fitly represented as lamblike, if you were here last week you will understand that today things are very different. Today, already several different versions of America have come and gone. By my count, we are in America 8.0 right now. The trend is toward the dragon.

But when we left off we were just coming to one of the most interesting parts: the lamb/dragon beast causing fire to come down out of heaven. Let's work on that question right now.

Our study today is the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians. There are three sections for this chapter. The first five verses tell us about a Second Coming deception then current in the Thessalonian church, and also meaningful to us. Next, verses 6-12, deal with the restraining of the man of sin and with what we love. Finally, verses 13-17 urge to hold fast to the traditions that have been delivered to the Thessalonian believers by their church leaders. We will find helps and lessons and warning in all three sections.

Remember, both Thessalonian epistles especially have to do with issues surrounding the Second Coming of Jesus--issues false teachers were creating pushing their own ideas in contrast to what God's representatives had taught. The letter is sent to correct the strange fire. Let's look at the first part of this section.