The Dangers of the Last Days

3 You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.

³ Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.

³ For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.

Warnings against False Teachers

4 Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. ² These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead.^[a]

³ They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth.

Warning about Antichrists

¹⁸ Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come.

³ Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness^[a] is revealed—the one who brings destruction.^{[b] 4} He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.

⁵ Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you? ⁶ And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes. ⁷ For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. ⁸ Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming.

⁹ This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. ¹⁰ He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. ¹¹ So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. ¹² Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.

A Call to Remain Faithful

¹⁷ But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted.

The Lord’s Future Reign

¹¹ “From the time the daily sacrifice is stopped and the sacrilegious object that causes desecration^[a] is set up to be worshiped, there will be 1,290 days.