When Lawlessness Abounds

Jesus warned His disciples that in the Last Days — meaning those days that occur just before His ultimate return to take charge of His Kingdom on earth — that lawlessness will abound (Matthew 24:12 NKJV). What, exactly, do you suppose He meant by that? To answer this, all we need to do is define the words “lawlessness” and “abound”. Lawlessness is the practice of being lawless. Lawless, by definition, can mean one of two things: 1) having no law in place, or 2) behaving as though no law is in place. That second definition means, essentially, ignoring whatever law is actually in force. If you have more confidence in Merriam-Webster’s definition of lawless, you can read it in their online dictionary.

The word “abound” is the root of the word “abundance”. So, having an abundance of anything is having more than enough of it. An abundance of lawlessness, then, means more than enough of it, which, in turn, means it’s basically everywhere you look. You can read Merriam-Webster’s definition of abound as well, if you like.

Truly, there has always been lawlessness among men since the fall of Adam — it evidently was the hallmark of the time which prompted God to send the Great Flood (Genesis 6:5-6) — but such an ethos of lawlessness has not existed globally on the earth since that time. Indeed, this sudden acceleration of lawlessness in our time appears to be one of the other key harbingers which Jesus has warned us to watch for: “. . . as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man . . .” (Luke 17:26 NKJV). By “the days of the Son of Man,” Jesus means the days of His return, His Second Coming.

In my humble opinion, the reason for this abundance of lawlessness is because Satan understands that he can accomplish so much more if he simply convinces his human minions to ignore all those laws — enacted by both God and men — that either hinder or outright bind him/them from accomplishing what they want to do, while simultaneously holding truly law-abiding humans to strict adherence to those same laws, even though their adversaries are obviously not obeying them. In the case of God’s laws, God wants our obedience to be voluntary, but He certainly wants us to understand the consequences of disobedience before we make our decision. I believe Satan was fully aware of this voluntary option for obedience or disobedience from the beginning, yet he chose disobedience. Furthermore, I believe it is because God created the angelic beings with near-unfettered access to His Presence and a full comprehension of His Divine Nature that He did not offer an opportunity for redemption to them as He has done for humanity. In fact, Jesus said this is precisely the reason that Hell was created (see Matthew 25:41).

The prophets Isaiah (14:3-27) and Ezekiel (28:1-19) both explain all about Satan’s rebellion and demise. Don’t be confused by the address of these biblical statements to the king of Babylon and the prince of Tyre. They all refer to one entity, the being we call Satan. The name/word “Satan” is actually the Hebrew word for adversary. When you read carefully the descriptions of these individuals by Isaiah and Ezekiel, you can easily see that they could not possibly refer to any mere human beings, because they possess super-human characteristics, including a wisdom that exceeds that of the great prophet Daniel. Ezekiel 28:3 states that “There is no secret that can be hidden from you.” Really? No secret? What mere mortal man possesses that ability? Ezekiel 28:13 states, “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. . . .” How was the prince of Tyre “perfect in beauty,” and when was he ever in the Garden of Eden? The Garden of Eden was most certainly destroyed from the earth at the time of the Great Flood, if not earlier, and the prince of Tyre lived a couple thousand years after that event. Furthermore, Ezekiel 28:14-15 makes the case complete when God says, “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.”

When was the human prince of Tyre ever an “anointed cherub who covers” anyone or anything? When we read what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12, however, it is easy to understand that the king of Babylon and the prince of Tyre are descriptions of one and the same entity — a spirit principality we call Satan.

Now, back to Jesus’ warning that in the Last Days lawlessness will abound. Have you looked around at the world lately, especially here in the USA? Have you noticed that what started as a seemingly isolated incident in government when Barack Obama directed his attorney general, Eric Holder, to flatly refuse to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has now become a full-blown, open defiance of any and every law that is intended to restrict governmental control and over-reach? Time and again throughout the late-summer and early-autumn of 2020 leading up to the November 3, 2020, national election we saw federal officials, state officials, and city officials all around the nation flatly ignore the election laws that were in place to prevent election fraud. Why? It was for the express purpose of flaunting those laws and stealing a Presidential election right in front of the world! If you don’t believe the 2020 U. S. Presidential election was stolen, go to LindellTV and/or FrankSpeech and watch the archived video evidence there. If you don’t watch any others there, be sure to watch Absolutely 9-0 and China Puts Biden in the White House. Using the cover of the so-called COVID19 pandemic, they illegally amended election laws and suspended long-established election day practices, such as extending voting hours beyond the usual time frames and accepting absentee and/or mail-in ballots after the posted deadline for counting them. In fact, many of these bogus ballots did not even contain a signature or other means of proper voter validation, yet they were still accepted. Interestingly, all of these bogus ballots were cast for Biden, not Trump. What are the odds of that happening without intention? In the wake of all this apparent election fraud, we hear an increasing clamor to enact stricter election laws. Folks, we don’t really need stricter election laws; we just need to enforce the election laws we already have enacted!

Government isn’t the only arena where we are seeing this increase in lawlessness. Throughout 2020, we saw repeatedly where rioters were permitted to loot and burn businesses in presumed protest over supposed racial injustice. That was merely a pretext to create chaos and mayhem, otherwise known as lawlessness. Those rioters weren’t required to follow the same pandemic rules set forth for every other citizen. They weren’t arrested for theft or arson, despite being caught in the act on video. They weren’t even fined for organizing a protest without a permit. Meanwhile, law-abiding citizens who wanted to protest were required to obtain a permit before they could hold a truly peaceful protest, and many times they were even denied those permits.

Unfortunately, the lawlessness doesn’t end with corrupt government officials or even with the hoodlums on the street. No, lawlessness is even rampant in the Church now. Pastors and lay leaders all around the globe have gone all-in for ignoring God’s Word not to “forsak[e] the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25 NKJV) and to “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29 NKJV) when it comes to a choice between submission/obedience to God and His Word or submission/obedience to governmental officials who couldn’t care less about God or obeying His Word. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when He said the kingdom of God “. . . is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened” (Luke 13:20-21 NKJV). Folks, leaven doesn’t represent righteousness; it represents unrighteousness! This is partly why God commanded the Israelites to remove all leaven from their homes prior to the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:15 NKJV).

I don’t know what you are thinking right now, but I am thinking we are at the threshold of Jesus’ rapture of the Church! I personally believe the rapture will occur on a future Yom Truim (or Day of Trumpets; read my blog post about this assertion a few years ago, where I cover it extensively). When is the next Day of Trumpets? It begins at sundown on September 6, 2021, and ends at sundown on September 7, 2021. However, with so much inaccuracy in calendars, including the Jewish calendar for observing their feast days, it’s entirely possible that the actual Day of Trumpets could be on another date which God knows but of which we have no idea! Perhaps this is just one more reason Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36 NKJV).

Are you ready for that day if it were to happen today? Do you know where you will spend eternity if you die in your sleep tonight or in some freak accident today or from some dreaded disease like cancer, heart failure or even COVID? You can be sure where you will spend eternity! You simply have to humble yourself so that you can confess and repent of (that means turn away from) your sins and call upon the name of Jesus Christ to be both your LORD and as well as your Savior. The Bible has promised in multiple places in both the Old and New Testaments that “. . . whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21, and Romans 10:13 NKJV). Making Jesus your LORD means you will submit to (that means obey to the best of your ability) His Word. The Apostle Paul — that same Apostle of Grace that everyone likes to quote from Ephesians 2:8-9, also wrote in Hebrews 12:14 that we are to “Pursue peace . . . and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord . . .” (NKJV). What is holiness? It is a sanctification, a distinction, a separateness, a differentiation between righteousness and unrighteousness. In other words, it is being set apart for eternal fellowship with the One True and Living God.

In order to receive this salvation, you must start by humbling yourself, because until you do that, there is simply no way you will ever acknowledge your sinfulness or personal need of divine forgiveness. Once you can kneel before God and confess your need of His mercy, you can then call upon Him for pardon and salvation. After you have accepted His mercy and grace, you should then rise to your feet with a fiery zeal to live a life that is pleasing unto Him — that is, a life of holiness, righteousness, love, kindness and gentleness.

Contrary to popular misbelief, this does not mean that you become a pacifist pansy who never fights back or defends yourself, your family or friends, or what is right and good. While a Christian will seek to avoid conflict with others insofar as it is possible (read Romans 12:18), he/she will not shrink from defending truth and righteousness according to the Word of God — the Bible.

If you’d like to read more about what this salvation is all about, why it is necessary and how you can obtain it and know you’ve obtained it, I invite you to read my book The Salvation of the LORD. It’s available here in the Parson Place News and Views Shop in both EPUB and Kindle eBook editions, or you may purchase the print edition from the publisher’s online store.

If you made a decision to call upon Jesus Christ for salvation after reading this article, would you please let me know? I would be absolutely elated to know that and will gladly offer you any mentoring or discipling you may request. Just send an email to at your convenience.