Book of Common Prayer

The lawless one

2 Now concerning the royal presence of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, and our gathering together around him, this is our request, my dear family. ² Please don’t be suddenly blown off course in your thinking, or be unsettled, either through spiritual influence, or through a word, or through a letter supposedly from us, telling you that the day of the Lord has already arrived. ³ Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. You see, it can’t happen unless the rebellion takes place first, and the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, is revealed. ⁴ He is the one who sets himself against every so-called god or cult object, and usurps their role, so that he installs himself in God’s temple, and makes himself out to be a god.

⁵ Don’t you remember that I told you this while I was with you? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining him so that he will be revealed at his proper time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the restrainer is in place—until he is taken away; ⁸ and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth, and will wipe him out by unveiling his presence.

⁹ The presence of the lawless one will be accompanied by satanic activity, with full power, with signs, and spurious wonders, ¹⁰ with every kind of wicked deceit over those on the way to ruin, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. ¹¹ For that reason God sends upon them a strong delusion, leading them to believe the lie, ¹² so that judgment may come upon all who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.

The Last Supper

22 The time came for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, known as Passover. ² The chief priests and the scribes looked for a way to assassinate Jesus, a difficult task because of the crowds.

³ The satan entered into Judas, whose surname was Iscariot, who was one of the company of the Twelve. ⁴ He went and held a meeting with the chief priests and officers, to discuss how he might hand Jesus over. ⁵ They were delighted, and promised to pay him. ⁶ He agreed, and started to look for an opportunity to hand him over to them when the crowds weren’t around.

⁷ The day of Unleavened Bread arrived, the day when people had to kill the Passover lamb. ⁸ Jesus dispatched Peter and John.

“Off you go,” he said, “and get the Passover ready for us to eat.”

⁹ “Where d’you want us to prepare it?” they asked him.

¹⁰ “Listen carefully,” said Jesus. “As you go into the city a man will meet you carrying a jar of water. Follow him, and when he goes into a house, go after him. ¹¹ Then say to the householder there, ‘The teacher says, “Where is the living-room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’ ¹² And he will show you a large upstairs room, laid out and ready. Make the preparations there.”

¹³ So they went and found it as he had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.