Antichrist Summary. 2 Thessalonians 2
In 2 Thessalonians Paul is addressing a question that was raised as a result of what he taught in the first letter he wrote to the Thessalonians. He wrote these two letters at the end of his second missionary journey. One of the questions that came up in relation to the first letter was what happens to these Christians who die? He answers this in 1 Thessalonians chapter four, and then in chapter five he starts talking about the day of the Lord and that it comes as a thief in the night. To a world that has no knowledge of biblical prophecy it comes as a surprise. The term "the day of the Lord" is a special term used in Scripture as a time of divine judgment and is one that is used specifically of the end time judgment near the end of the Tribulation period, the judgments that culminate in the campaign of Armageddon and then the second coming of Jesus Christ. That caused some other questions because there were people who had become confused and had begun to teach that the day of the Lord had already come.
But the day of the Lord had not (and has not) come, it is a future event, and that what Paul is addressing in 2 Thessalonians chapter two. 2 Thessalonians 2:1 NASB "Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, [2] that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come." He is telling them don't get upset when you hear people teach that Jesus Christ has already come, that He came in judgment in the clouds, and don't get upset when you hear somebody saying that these prophecies were fulfilled and that we are already in the Tribulation or in the kingdom in some way. In some versions, e.g. NASB and NIV, "day of the Lord" is used in v. 2 instead of "day of Christ." The reason is that there are some manuscripts which read differently and there are two basic views that have developed over the last couple of hundred years. One view that has dominated scholarship over the last 150 years or so is one that has now come to be called "the eclectic view." Earlier it was articulated by two British Anglican scholars, B.F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort. Their view basically was, if it is older it is correct. That is an oversimplification but the problem is that an eighth century manuscript could be an exact faithful copy of a 2nd century manuscript that is older than a third century manuscript, and the manuscripts that are the oldest ones that we have were found in the desert in Egypt and in Sinai, an area where obviously because it is dry it would be preserved and last much longer. So one way to characterize their approach to these things is to say that if any two of these four MSS agree it has to be the original reading. The other view is that the majority of MSS is the correct view. That is sometimes referred to as the Majority Text or sometimes the Byzantine Text because there are hundreds if not thousands of these MSS and readings that were found, mostly in the area of Turkey and Greece, the area of the Byzantine empire. Where did Paul go on his journeys? He never went to Egypt, he was up in the area of Turkey and in Greece, so it would stand to reason it seems that there would be a better manuscript tradition in that area. Both views have problems but we tend to think that the Majority Text view, which is not the same as the manuscript tradition that lies behind the KJV, is better. It seems that the translation "day of Christ" is more than likely the better term, but it doesn't change any theology. Paul is saying don't be confused about this as if the day of Christ, the Tribulation, has already come and somehow you've not only missed the Rapture but you are living in the Millennial kingdom.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 NASB "Let no one in any way deceive you, for {it will not come} unless the apostasy [or, falling away] comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction." We learn some important things here about the Antichrist. First of all there is something about when he is known, when he is first revealed and people know him. The command is a Greek expression using an aorist active subjunctive to express a very strong prohibition: Don't any of you be deceived. The emphasis is really on knowledge: know the Scriptures; know doctrine; don't be caught up in this web of deceit because you are ignorant and haven't studied your Bible, haven't understood these things. The idea of deception runs through this chapter because the man of sin, the Antichrist, is going to be one who works in deception. 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10 "{that is,} the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
Second, that day will not come unless the falling away occurs. The term "the falling away" is the noun apostasia [a)postasia] which does mean rebellion, abandonment, a state of apostasy, defection, and it can also mean departure. The verb primarily means departure in the New Testament and that it is how it was used many times in secular literature. If the coming of Christ can be at any moment with nothing before it then to say that a great apostasy must first occur is to say something else has to happen before Jesus can come back—and which apostasy was it? The church, different groups, go through these cycles of departure from the truth. But if this means departure of the church in terms of the Rapture of the church when the Lord comes in the clouds to take his body of believers away, that is what this passage is describing. So the day, the judgments of the Tribulation will not come until the Rapture comes first and the man of sin is revealed. So we see this order there: first the Rapture, the revelation of the man of sin, the Antichrist, and then the day of the Lord.
The other term that is interesting here is "the son of perdition [destruction]." First he is called the man of sin because his very being is the personification of sin and arrogance, so this is one of the many titles for the Antichrist that are given in the Scriptures. The second term "son of perdition" is also a term for the Antichrist but that phrase was also used in John 17:12 by the Lord Jesus Christ in His high priestly prayer to refer to Judas Iscariot. "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled." He was one who never trusted in Christ, never believed Him, and so he was called the son of perdition. It is important to understand what this means. The phrase "son of" is a Hebraism. In English when we say so and so is a son of something then what we are talking about is their background, their derivation, their parentage. In Hebrew idiom the phrase "son of" indicates that you have the same characteristics as the noun at the end of the sentence. So if a person was a murderer he would be called the son of a murderer because he had the characteristics of a murderer. If they are a fool they are called the son of a fool. Son of perdition means that this is a person who is characterized by perdition. But what exactly does that word mean? It translates the Greek word apoleia [a)pwleia] which means perdition or destruction, and it is the noun form from the verb apollumi [a)pollumi], to perish. John 3:16 – "should not perish." This is the word in the verb form to describe the eternal punishment, eternal condemnation of the unbeliever. So a son of perdition is one who is characterized by this destruction as their destiny. It is used to describe Judas Iscariot in John 17:12, which clearly indicates that he could not have been a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord clearly calls him the son of perdition just as Paul describes the Antichrist. Why? Because they were both indwelt by Satan. Satan does not indwell too many people. In history we only know of Judas Iscariot and the Antichrist. In the process of Satanic or demonic indwelling this is when a spirit (or in some cases many spirits) is able to take up residence inside the body of a person and then to control them. It doesn't blot out the individual's personality but it does override it. How that occurs we don't know. So the Antichrist is Satan's man, Satan's answer to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and it is his attempt to bring about his plan and purpose, to establish his kingdom on the earth and to show that God cannot bring about His plans for the human race.
This man of sin is described further in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 NASB "who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God." So even though he is the political leader, the beast who rules over the end time kingdom, the revived Roman empire, he has a religious agenda; he is not a secular atheist. He believes he is God. The word translated "oppose" means to be an adversary, to oppose, to be in opposition to someone; the word for "exalt" refers to someone who is raising himself up to be worshipped, the idea of someone who is completely given over to arrogance and haughtiness. He is going to raise himself up above all that is called "god," not just the God of the Bible but as we saw in Daniel chapter eleven he is opposing the gods of his heritage, his background, and all other gods and goddesses.
2 Thessalonians 2:8 NASB "Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming." He is lawless because he has rejected the laws, the absolutes of God. During the Tribulation first a quarter of the earth's population will be killed by various plagues and the seal judgments, then in later judgments another one third are killed, and that would apply to Israel. (In the holocaust of WW2 one third of all Jews world wide were killed) Probably one half to two third of Jews during the Tribulation will be killed. [9] "{that is,} the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders." The term "false wonders" doesn't mean that some kind of miracle hasn't taken place. The issue isn't that these are counterfeit miracles, some sort of slight of hand, they will be true miracles but they don't come from God. They will claim to show that the man of sin is really God, and that is why they are false. Miracles will take place but they do not attest to the true God. That is why they are called false wonders.
Summary:
1. We are not to be deceived. Only truth applied can protect us from deception. 2 Thessalonians 2:10. We have to know the truth. It is only when we have the Word of God in our soul and we believe the Word of God that we can avoid deception.
2. The Tribulation will not come until after the departure, i.e. the Rapture. 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17.
3. The Holy Spirit is the one who restrains. 2 Thessalonians 2:6, 7.
4. The man of sin is revealed after the Rapture.
5. The son of perdition opposes and exalts himself over God and replaces God. He is to be worshipped as God.
6. The lawless one indicates that he rejects the law of God.
7. He is called the Antichrist, which means he is a substitute or a pseudo-messiah.
What we have seen on our recent study:
1. The origin of the Antichrist is out of the fourth empire, out of Rome. He is the little horn that comes up amidst the ten horns that represent an original ten-nation confederacy. He comes up and rips out three by the roots, indicating a physical and violent conquest, and he becomes the leader of the ten nation confederacy. Daniel 7:7-9, 19-25.
2. He does not arise out of the former area of the Greek division of Syria under the Seleucids. Daniel chapter eight isn't talking about the Antichrist, it refers to Antiochus Epiphanes.
3. The Antichrist does not arise until after the Rapture of the church.
4. The Antichrist may not be clearly identified until he signs the peace treaty with Israel.
5. He is going to have incredible military skill. He will crush his opponents through military power.
6. His path is the path of destruction. Daniel 7:19; 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Destruction is his destiny and he destroys all that is in his path.
7. He is empowered and indwelt by Satan; he doesn't do this by his own power. Daniel 8:24 (through typology); 11:39; 2 Thessalonians 2:4, 9.
8. He exalts himself above God and every other god. He places himself at the very center of worship. Daniel 8:10, 11 (typology) where Antiochus Epiphanes is used as a picture of certain characteristics of the Antichrist; 11:36-38; 2 Thessalonians 2:4.
9. He is arrogant, Daniel 7:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10.
10. He is the master of deception, 2 Thessalonians 2:9.
11. He sets himself up to be worshipped in the temple of God, Daniel 9:27; 2 Thessalonians 2:4. This is called the abomination of desolation and it occurs exactly half-way through the Tribulation period.
Illustrations