Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Thessalonians 2:4

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 4. Who opposeth and exalteth — He stands against and exalts himself above all Divine authority, and above every object of adoration, and every institution relative to Divine worship, σεβασμα, himself being the source, whence must originate all the doctrines of religion, and all its rites and ceremonies; so that sitting in the temple of God-having the highest place and authority in the Christian Church, he acts as Godtaking upon himself God's titles and attributes, and arrogating to himself the authority that belongs to the Most High.

The words ως θεον, as God, are wanting in ABD, many others, Erpen's Arabic, the Coptic, Sahidic, AEthiopic, Armenian, the Vulgate, some copies of the Itala, and the chief of the Greek fathers. Griesbach has left them out of the text, and Professor White says, Certissime delenda; "They should most certainly be erased." There is indeed no evidence of their being authentic, and the text reads much better with out them: So that he sitteth in the temple of God, &c.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

The day of the Lord (2:1-12)

Some of the Thessalonians thought that the final day of the Lord had already come. Paul states firmly that they did not get such an idea from any prophecy, preaching or letter of his (2:1-2). That day will not come until there is open and widespread rebellion against God, led by one known as the man of lawlessness (RSV; NIV) or the wicked one (GNB). This person will recognize no authority, Christian or otherwise, apart from his own, and will put himself in the place of God as the sole controller of human society (3-4).

The Thessalonians knew what Paul was talking about, because he had given teaching on these things while among them (5). They also knew what we do not, namely, what or who it is that prevents these things from happening now. One suggestion is that this restraining power is the system of law and government that to some extent can control evil in human society (cf. Romans 13:3-4). Evil is always at work in the world, but when the restraining power is removed, evil will reign unhindered till it reaches its fulness in the man of lawlessness. Then Christ will return and with terrible ease destroy him (6-8).

During his rise to power the man of lawlessness will be empowered by Satan to perform miracles. In this way he will deceive people who, having deliberately rejected God and chosen evil, give him their support and so fall under God’s judgment. God will use the unrestrained work of Satan as a means of punishing a rebellious world (9-12).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God.

This verse is understood as revealing the character of the final lawless one who shall be the culmination of that evil progression, or as marking the true spiritual import of those innovations and corruptions which have been exhibited by the "man of sin" (in a collective sense) as already historically revealed. A strong case may be made out for either view.

All that is called God … A persecutor of the church exalts himself against God in the person of his followers; a perverter of the word of God exalts himself against God in his word.

Or that is worshipped … This indicates the total atheism and unbounded egotism of the ultimate man of sin.

Sitteth in the temple of God … There can be no way that this is a reference to the Jewish temple. Paul, who wrote the Corinthians that "Ye are the temple of God," would never have made that den of thieves and robbers in Jerusalem the "temple of God" historically. First, it means the church of Jesus Christ; but in context it means the apostate church of Jesus Christ, a deduction that is mandatory from the fact of the apostasy being Paul's subject in this paragraph. Therefore, whenever and wherever the "man of sin" appears it will be in the church apostate!

Sitteth … This is a most peculiar verb to be used in such a context; and this writer, who has seen the Pope borne into the Basilica of St. Peter, hoisted above the people and elevated above the high altar upon the shoulders of those who carry him (literally "sitting") into the sanctuary cannot escape the deep. impression that a prophecy of that very spectacle is imbedded in this remarkable verb. Who else, ever, in the history of humanity, always entered the church house "sitting," and even taking the Lord's Supper "sitting"? Luther was outraged by this, and said, "Let the Pope stand up to take the Lord's Supper, like any other stinking sinner."

Setting himself forth as God … The papacy fulfills this in the blasphemous titles of the supreme pontiff, but there may be a more drastic fulfillment of it in the revelation of the terminal "man of sin."

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Who opposeth - That is, he is distinguished as an opposer of the great system which God has revealed for human salvation, and of those who would serve God in purity in the gospel of his Son. No Protestant will doubt that this has been the character of the papacy. The opposition of the general system to the gospel; the persecution of Wycliffe, of John Huss, of Jerome of Prague, of the Waldenses and the Reformers; the Inquisition, the cruelties in the reign of Mary (Queen of Scots), and the massacre of Bartholomew in France, are obvious illustrations of this.

And exalteth himself above all that is called God - That is, whether among the pagans or the Jews; above a false God, or the true God. This could be true only of one who set aside the divine laws; who undertook to legislate where God only has a right to legislate, and whose legislation was contrary to that of God. Any claim of a dominion over conscience; or any arrangement to set aside the divine laws, and to render them nugatory, would correspond with what is implied in this description. It cannot be supposed that any one would openly claim to be superior to God, but the sense must be, that the enactments and ordinances of the “man of sin” would pertain to the province in which God only can legislate, and that the ordinances made by him would be such as to render nugatory the divine laws, by appointing others in their place. No one can reasonably doubt that all that is here affirmed may be found in the claims of the Pope of Rome. The assumptions of the papacy have related to the following things:

(1) To authority above all the inferior orders of the priesthood - above all pastors, bishops, and primates.

(2) Authority above all kings and emperors, “deposing some, and advancing others, obliging them to prostrate themselves before him, to kiss his toe, to hold his stirrup, to wait barefooted at his gate, treading even upon the neck, and kicking off the imperial crown with his foot” - Newton. Thus, Gregory VII made Henry IV wait barefooted at his gate. Thus, Alexander III trod upon the neck of Alexander I. Thus, Celestin kicked off the imperial crown of Henry VI. Thus, the right was claimed, and asserted, of laying nations under interdict, of deposing kings, and of absolving their subjects from their oaths of allegiance. And thus the Pope claimed the right over all unknown lands that might be discovered by Columbus, and apportioned the New World as he pleased - in all these things claiming prerogatives which can pertain only to God.

(3) To authority over the conscience, in matters which can pertain only to God himself, and where he only can legislate. Thus, it has been, and is, one of the claims set up for the Pope that he is infallible. Thus, he “forbids what God has commanded,” as the marriage of the clergy, communion in both kinds, the use of the Scriptures for the common people. Thus, he has set aside the second commandment by the appointment of image-worship; and thus he claims the power of the forgiveness of sins. Multitudes of things which Christ allows his people are forbidden by the papacy, and many things are enjoined, or allowed, directly contrary to the divine legislation.

Or that is worshipped - σέβασμα sebasma. This word means “an object of worship;” see Acts 17:3, where it is rendered devotions. It may be applied to the worship of a pagan divinity, or of the true God. “It may refer to a person, an idol, or a place. Probably Paul refers here to the heroes and other subordinate divinities of the heathen mythology” - Oldshausen. No one can doubt that the Pope has claimed higher honors, as the vicegerent of Christ, than was ever rendered in the ancient “hero worship.”

So that he, as God - That is, claiming the honors due to God. This expression would not imply that he actually claimed to be the true God, but only that he sits in the temple, and manifests himself as if he were God. He claims such honors and such reverence as the true God would if he should appear in human form. It should be observed here, however, that there is much reason to doubt the genuineness of this phrase - “as God” - ὡς Θεον hōs Theon. Mill supposes that it was inserted from the context. It is marked with an asterisk in the Vulgate, the Coptic, and the Syriac, and is omitted by many of the fathers; see Mill and Wetstein. It is rejected by Griesbach and Lachmann, and marked as doubtful by Hahn. It is defended, however, by Matthaei, Koppe, Knapp, and Schott. The sense is not materially affected whether it be regarded as genuine or not.

Sitteth in the temple of God - That is, in the Christian church. It is by no means necessary to understand this of the temple at Jerusalem, which was standing at the time this Epistle was written, because:

(1) The phrase “the temple of God” is several times used with reference to the Christian church, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 3:17; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21; Revelation 3:12; and,

(2) The temple was the proper symbol of the church, and an apostle trained amidst the Hebrew institutions would naturally speak of the church as the temple of God. The temple at Jerusalem was regarded as the peculiar dwelling-place of God on earth. When the Christian church was founded, it was spoken of as the peculiar dwelling-place of God; see the passages referred to above. He dwelt among His people. He was with them, and walked with them, and manifested himself among them - as he had done in the ancient temple. The usage in the New Testament would not lead us to restrict this language to an edifice, or a “church,” as the word is now commonly used, but rather to suppose that it denotes the church as a society, and the idea is, that the Antichrist here referred to would present himself in the midst of that church as claiming the honors due to God alone. In the temple at Jerusalem, God himself presided. There he gave laws to his people; there he manifested himself as God; and there he was worshipped. The reign of the “man of sin” would be as if he should sit there. In the Christian church he would usurp the place which God had occupied in the temple. He would claim divine attributes and homage. He would give laws and responses as God did there. He would be regarded as the head of all ecclesiastical power; the source from which all authority emanated; the same in the Christian church which God himself was in the temple. This does not then refer primarily to the Pope as sitting in any particular church on any particular occasion, but to his claiming in the Church of Christ the authority and homage which God had in the temple at Jerusalem. In whatever place, whether in a cathedral or elsewhere, this authority should be exercised, all that the language here conveys would be fulfilled. No one can fail to see that the authority claimed by the Pope of Rome, meets the full force of the language used here by the apostle.

Showing himself that he is God - This does not necessarily mean that he actually, in so many words, claimed to be God; but that he usurped the place of God, and claimed the prerogatives of God. If the names of God are given to him, or are claimed by him; if he receives the honors due to God; if he asserts a dominion like that of God, then all that the language fairly implies will be fulfilled. The following expressions, applied to the Pope of Rome by Catholic writers, without any rebuke from the papacy, will show how entirely applicable this is to the pretended Head of the Church. He has been styled “Our Lord God the Pope; another God upon earth; king of kings and lord of lords. The same is the dominion of God and the Pope. To believe that our Lord God the Pope might not decree as he decreed is heresy. The power of the Pope is greater than all created power, and extends itself to things celestial, terrestrial, and infernal. The Pope doeth whatsoever he listeth, even things unlawful, and is more than God;” see the authority for these extraordinary declarations in Dr. Newton book on the Prophecies, Dissertations xxii. How can it be doubted that the reference here is to the papacy? Language could not be plainer, and it is not possible to conceive that anything can ever occur which would furnish a more manifest fulfillment of this prophecy. Indeed, interpreted by the claims of the papacy, it stands among the very clearest of all the predictions in the Sacred Scriptures.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

4An adversary, and that exalteth himself. The two epithets — man of sin, and son of perdition — intimate, in the first place, how dreadful the confusion would be, that the unseemliness of it might not discourage weak minds; and farther, they tend to stir up the pious to a feeling of detestation, lest they should degenerate along with others. Paul, however, now draws, as if in a picture, a striking likeness of Antichrist; for it may be easily gathered from these words what is the nature of his kingdom, and in what things it consists. For, when he calls him an adversary, when he says that he will claim for himself those things which belong to God, so that he is worshipped in the temple as God, he places his kingdom in direct opposition to the kingdom of Christ. Hence, as the kingdom of Christ is spiritual, so this tyranny must be upon souls, that it may rival the kingdom of Christ. We shall also find him afterwards assigning to him the power of deceiving, by means of wicked doctrines and pretended miracles. If, accordingly, you would know Antichrist, you must view him as diametrically opposed to Christ.⁽⁶⁴²⁾

Where I have rendered — everything that is called God, the reading more generally received among the Greeks is, every one that is called. It may, however, be conjectured, both from the old translation ⁽⁶⁴³⁾ and from some Greek commentaries, that Paul’s words have been corrupted. The mistake, too, of a single letter was readily fallen into, especially when the shape of the letter was much similar; for, where there was written πᾶν τὸ, (everything,) some transcriber, or too daring reader, turned it into πάντα, (every one.) This difference, however, is not of so much importance as to the sense, for Paul undoubtedly means that Antichrist would take to himself those things that belonged to God alone, so that he would exalt himself above every divine claim, that all religion and all worship of God might lie under his feet. This expression then, everything that is reckoned to be God, is equivalent to everything that is reckoned as Divinity, and σέβασμα, that is, in which the veneration due to God consists.

Here, however, the subject treated of is not the name of God himself, but his majesty and worship, and, in general, everything that he claims for himself. “True religion is that by which the true God alone is worshipped; that, the son of perdition will transfer to himself.” Now, every one that has learned from Scripture what are the things that more especially belong to God, and will, on the other hand, observe what the Pope claims for himself — though he were but a boy of ten years of age — will have no great difficulty in recognizing Antichrist. Scripture declares that God is the alone Lawgiver (James 4:12) who is able to save and to destroy; the alone King, whose office it is to govern souls by his word. It represents him as the author of all sacred rites; ⁽⁶⁴⁴⁾ it teaches that righteousness and salvation are to be sought from Christ alone; and it assigns, at the same time, the manner and means. There is not one of these things that the Pope does not affirm to be under his authority. He boasts that it is his to bind consciences with such laws as seem good to him, and subject them to everlasting punishment. As to sacraments, he either institutes new ones, according to his own inclination, ⁽⁶⁴⁵⁾ or he corrupts and deforms those which had been instituted by Christ — nay, sets them aside altogether, that he may substitute in their place the sacrileges ⁽⁶⁴⁶⁾ which he has invented. He contrives means of attaining salvation that are altogether at variance with the doctrine of the Gospel; and, in fine, he does not hesitate to change the whole of religion at his own pleasure. What is it, I pray you, for one to lift up himself above everything that is reckoned God, if the Pope does not do so? When he thus robs God of his honor, he leaves him nothing remaining but an empty title of Deity, ⁽⁶⁴⁷⁾ while he transfers to himself the whole of his power. And this is what Paul adds shortly afterwards, that the son of perdition would shew himself as God. For, as has been said, he does not insist upon the simple term God, but intimates, that the pride ⁽⁶⁴⁸⁾ of Antichrist would be such, that, raising himself above the number and rank of servants, and mounting the judgment-seat of God, ⁽⁶⁴⁹⁾ would reign, not with a human, but with a divine authority. For we know that whatever is raised up into the place of God is an idol, though it should not bear the name of God.

In the temple of God. By this one term there is a sufficient refutation of the error, nay more, the stupidity of those who reckon the Pope to be Vicar of Christ, on the ground that he has his seat in the Church, in whatever manner he may conduct himself; for Paul places Antichrist nowhere else than in the very sanctuary of God. For this is not a foreign, but a domestic enemy, who opposes Christ under the very name of Christ. But it is asked, how the Church is represented as the den of so many superstitions, while it was destined to be the pillar of the truth? (1 Timothy 3:15.) I answer, that it is thus represented, not on the ground of its retaining all the qualities of the Church, but because it has something of it remaining. I accordingly acknowledge, that that is the temple of God in which the Pope bears rule, but at the same time profaned by innumerable sacrileges.

(642) “The name of the Man of Sin is not Antitheos, but ἀντίχριστος — not one that directly invadeth the properties of the supreme God, but of God incarnate, or Christ as Mediator. [...] he usurpeth the authority due to Christ.” — Dr. Manton’s Sermons on 2 Thessalonians. — Ed

(643) The rendering of the Vulgate is as follows,— “Supra omne quod dicitur Deus aut quod colitur;” — “Above everything that is called God, or that is worshipped.” Wyclif (1380) renders thus: “Ouer alle thing that is seid God, or that is worschipid.” — Ed.

(644) “Que c’est a luy seul d’establir seruice diuin, et ceremonies qui en dependent;” — “That it belongs to him alone to establish divine worship, and the rites that are connected with it.”

(645) “Selon son plaisir et fantasie;” — “According to his own pleasure and fancy.”

(646) “Sacrileges abominables;” — “Abominable sacrileges.”

(647) “Le titre de Dieu par imagination;” — “The title of God by imagination.”

(648) “L’orgueil et arrogance;” — “The pride and arrogance.”

(649) “Auec vne fierete intolerable;” — “With an intolerable presumption.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 2

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, [in virtue of this, because of this] and are gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is already present ( 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 )

Now there were some there who said this persecution that we are going through is the Great Tribulation; this is the day of God's vengeance. It is already here. And they even produced letters, supposedly written by Paul, saying yes, these fellows are right; this is the day of vengeance. This is the Great Tribulation. And so Paul is writing to correct this. Don't believe any supposed letters from me.

At the end of this epistle Paul makes the note that, "I have signed this in my own hand which I do with all of my epistles". These false epistles that they had been receiving weren't signed by Paul's own hand, and so he makes reference to the fact that he personally signs those epistles that he writes. It is a mark of Paul's. Though he dictated and someone else wrote them, he would sign his name to the end that they might have the authority and know that it was indeed from Paul.

So don't be troubled in your spirits, by someone's word, or by a letter that was supposedly from us, in believing that the day of the Lord is already present, or is now present.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ( 2 Thessalonians 2:3 );

So two things must precede the day of the Lord's vengeance and wrath that is coming upon the earth. Number one, a great apostasy. Now this word "apostasy" has been argued by some as meaning departure. And there are some that try to relate it to the rapture of the church, referring to the departure. There are problems with that. And rather than trying to take a position on that, we only mention it as definitely a possibility. However, we do know that Jesus in speaking of His coming again said, "When the Son of man shall come again, will he find faith on the earth?" ( Luke 18:8 ) He questioned. And then again He said, "And because the iniquity of the earth will abound, the love of many will wax cold" ( Matthew 24:12 ). So Jesus seemed to indicate an apostasy.

I personally believe that that apostasy is upon us. As I look at the general condition of the church of Jesus Christ, there is great apostasy. When I see these churches ordaining avowed homosexuals, we -- I see the homosexual church, the Metropolitan church and all. When I read the statements of some of these ministers who join the fight against anything that is good and decent, there is a tremendous apostasy.

Churches such as ours are the exception, not the rule. There is a great apostasy today, but then there is the second thing that must happen before the Great Tribulation, and that is that the man of sin, the son of perdition must be revealed. This man of sin, son of perdition is commonly called the anti-christ.

This title son of perdition is an interesting title because it is really son of Satan. And even as Jesus was God incarnate, in flesh, so the anti-christ will be Satan incarnate. Satan will take on a body or take over a body, probably more literally. And even as demons are able to possess bodies, so Satan himself will take residence in a body. And thus he is titled the son of perdition.

Now there is one other person we know where Satan took over his body and that was Judas Iscariot. The Bible says, "And Satan entered into him." And it is interesting that Jesus called Judas Iscariot the son of perdition, now again Satan taking over a body. And in Revelation thirteen, he tells us that he gives to Satan, gives to this anti-christ, all of his power, all of his authority, all of his throne. Now he gives the world over to him, because the world belongs to Satan.

You remember Jesus came to redeem the world to God. And Satan took Jesus up to a high mountain and he said "Look at all of the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. I am going to give them to you, if you will just bow down and worship me. For they are mine". Satan was bragging. And he said I can give them to whomever I will. Jesus did not dispute that, but Jesus refused it. He came to redeem the world, but not by bowing down to Satan, but by paying the price of redemption upon the cross.

But Satan is going to give to this man of sin, the son of perdition, his throne, his authority, his power. And he is going to rule over the world. And the first three and a half years of his reign are going to be very prosperous times upon the earth. They are going to be singing, "Happy days are here again." This man is a miracle worker. This man has brought marvelous solutions to troubling world situations. This man has brought an end to the economic difficulties and the economic malaise that the world is in. This man has brought an end to all of these horrible wars, and he has brought peace and prosperity and everyone has jobs and things are going great. And the world is going to hail this man as its savior.

One of his exploits will be to bring a peaceful solution to the problem of the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. Now many devote orthodox Jews desire fervently to rebuild the temple. Many other Jews really don't care. But those Orthodox Jews are really determined to rebuild the temple. A major problem exists, mainly that the Temple Mount is under Moslem control. And there almost, in the middle of the Temple Mount, stands the Dome of the Rock, a sacred site to the Moslems, for they felt that it was from this rock that Mohammed ascended into heaven after his overnight ride from Adena.

Recently there were Jews who were apprehended as they were trying to slip onto the Temple Mount site with explosives to blow up the Dome of the Rock. And there are many who are crying for a return to Israel of the Temple Mount. This has the leaders in Israel deeply concerned, for they have enough problems already and don't wish to compound them with religious problems. And they know if any overt action is taken against the Moslem control of the Temple Mount, that it will precipitate a holy war by the Moslems against the Jews. And though the Jews have been able to hold their own in their battles against Egypt and Jordan and Syria in the past, they don't want to deal with the fanaticism of the religious Moslems coming with religious fanaticism to destroy the nation of Israel. They just don't want to face that. That is a problem they believe they can live very well without. And so the official government view is to let things be. Don't create any waves. But there is that fanatic element that are determined to create waves. So, it remains a very sensitive issue.

But this man of sin, the son of perdition, when Satan turns over to him the control of the world, one of things that he is going to have is a tremendous solution for the problem, for he is going to offer a covenant to Israel. And he will say, now look, there is plenty of room here on the north side of the Temple Mount. And you can rebuild your temple here on the north side of the Temple Mount. All we have to do is put a wall right across the center of the Temple Mount leaving the Dome of the Rock, and Aloxi Mosque on the south side. And you can have this whole ten to fifteen acres out here on the north side and you can build your temple here.

The Moslems will be satisfied because they have retained the title to their holy sites. The Jews also will be satisfied because now they have a place to build their temple on the Temple Mount. And I do believe that it is going to be shown and proven soon that Solomon's Temple actually is north of the Dome of the Rock, some three hundred and twenty-two feet, so that they will be very satisfied because they will be able to rebuild their temple right over the site of Solomon's temple.

Now there is a couple of interesting scriptures that sort of verify this whole theory. When Ezekiel was taken by the spirit through time and saw the temple that is to be rebuilt, that has not been built yet, Ezekiel gave him the measurements. The Lord gave him a ruler and says now measure this temple and the wall and the courts and so forth. And so as he was measuring the temple, he said, "and I measured the wall that was around the temple four hundred and fifty meters" and he said, "This wall was to separate the holy place from the profane place". And interesting enough, the Dome of the Rock has profanity written in Arabic around the top -- profanities against Jesus Christ. "God is not begotten, neither does He beget", a definite profanity against Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.

There is another scripture in Revelation eleven, which is quite interesting, because John also was taken by the spirit unto the day of the Lord where he to saw the new temple which was to be rebuilt. And like Ezekiel was told to measure it. He was given a rod and said now measure the temple and the courts, but then he was instructed. "Don't measure the outer court because it has been given to the heathen". And the Dome of the Rock would stand in the outer court of the rebuilt temple.

So the anti-christ when he arises is going to make a covenant with the nation of Israel. And the covenant, no doubt, will include their privilege to rebuild their temple by building this wall and satisfying both parties and everybody in the world is going to say, "Isn't that brilliant. The man is a mastermind. Who could have thought of that solution". And they are going to worship that man as the savior.

But after three and a half years, he is going to come to that temple that is going to be rebuilt, and Paul tells us about it in just a moment here, verse four:

Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God ( 2 Thessalonians 2:4 ),

That is this man of sin, the son of perdition. He opposes himself. He exalts himself above all that is called God.

or that is worshiped ( 2 Thessalonians 2:4 );

Now you remember in Isaiah fourteen, as he speaks of the fall of Satan, "O Lucifer, son of the morning, how art though fallen from heaven, O Lucifer son of the morning, for though didst seek [really] to exalt your position. You said, I will exalt myself above the angels of heaven. I will sit in the congregation in the sides of the north. I will be like the most high. And yet God said you will be brought down to hell".

But here is the anti-christ doing the same thing, exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he as God will sit in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. In other words, after three and a half years, after the temple has been rebuilt, he will return to Jerusalem, he will sit in the Holy of Holies of the rebuilt temple and declare, "I am God," and will demand to be worshiped as God.

This is called in the book of Daniel, "the abomination of desolation", Or the final abomination which will bring the desolation of the earth as God, at this point, will pour out his judgment and wrath. The cup of his indignation at this point will overflow. This is the final straw. This will perpetrate the judgment of God coming upon the earth in this three and a half-year period known in the Bible as the Great Tribulation.

So Paul said don't think that this is the tribulation, that the tribulation is now present. Don't be troubled in your spirit. Yes, it is tough. Yes, you are really going through a lot of persecution and all. But, the Great Tribulation cannot come, the day of God's judgment cannot come until first of all there be this spiritual apostasy and the man of sin, the son of perdition is revealed. And then he tells us a little bit about what this son of perdition is going to do. And so the Great Tribulation cannot happen until these things take place.

Paul said,

Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? [Now I have already instructed you in these things.] And now you know what witholdeth that he might be revealed in his time ( 2 Thessalonians 2:5-6 ).

In other words, there is a force that is holding him back, holding back the power of darkness from taking over the world completely.

For the mystery of iniquity is already at work: only he who is now hindering will hinder, until he be taken out of the way ( 2 Thessalonians 2:7 ).

So the powers and the forces of darkness are working in the world, but there is a hindering force that is keeping them from taking over complete control. The question; what is the hindering force? People say the Holy Spirit. That is probably correct. So where is the Holy Spirit dwelling? In the church. Now if you say the Holy Spirit is to be withdrawn from the world and the church remain, then God help us all. We are in horrible trouble. I can hardly make it with the power of the Holy Spirit and the help of the Holy Spirit. If He were withdrawn, I would be totally destitute, bereft.

I believe that the restraining power that is keeping back evil from taking over the world today is the Light that is still here, the church of Jesus Christ. That is the thing that is keeping darkness from just totally engulfing the world. "Ye are the light of the world". But when Jesus takes His church out of this earth, then there will be no longer any restraining power or force and the anti-christ will at that point take over. "But he cannot as long as he which is hindering continues to hinder until it is taken out of the way". So I really believe that the Lord is taking the church out of the way, is the next major event that must take place before the final sequences of events can happen.

In the book of Revelation, chapter one, verse nineteen, the book is divided into three sections. "Write the things which you have seen, the things which are and things which will be after these things." And so John recorded in chapter one the things that he saw: the vision of Jesus Christ walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, holding the seven stars in His right hand.

In chapters two and three, the second section of the book of Revelation, John wrote the messages to the seven churches as they were dictated to him by Jesus Christ, covering the seven periods of church history. In chapter four, it begins with the Greek word, "meta tauta", after these things. After what things? Logically after the things of chapters two and three, which are the church things. "I saw a door open in heaven: and the first voice was as of a trumpet saying unto me; Come up hither, and I will show you things which must be after these things" ( Revelation 4:1 ). After the church things.

And so John is representative of the church, as he is caught up by the spirit into heaven, at the trump of God. Now the trumpets were sounded in those days among the troops to give messages, even as was done in our army and all for so many years, the bugle call. And each bugle call had its separate message that is declared; one said go to sleep, another said come and eat, another said charge, another said mail call, and still another said, get up. But each one was a distinct bugle sound that conveyed a message. When the trump of God sounds it is going to convey a message. The message is come on up, "Come up hither. The trump of God, come up hither."

And so from chapter four, John is now viewing the things that are happening on the earth from the heavenly viewpoint. He looks down as the seals are open in heaven. He looks down and sees the corresponding judgments upon the earth. But before this scroll is open, he first of all introduces the scroll in Chapter five, with writing both inside and outside, sealed with seven seals. And he hears the angel proclaiming with a strong voice, "Who is worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals" ( Revelation 5:9 ). The scroll being the title deed to the earth, which Jesus died to redeem back to God.

But no one is found worthy in heaven and earth to open the scroll or loose the seals. So John begins to sob, until the elder says, "Don't weep John, behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed and he is going to take the scroll and loose the seals" ( Revelation 5:5 ). And John turned and saw Jesus as a lamb that has been slaughtered. And He stepped forth and he took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who was sitting upon the throne. And immediately the twenty-four elders came forth with little golden bowls that were filled with incense, odors, which are the prayers of the saints.

How many times have you prayed "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven"? It is about to happen. The prayers are about to be answered. And they offer these prayers before the throne of God and then they sang a new song saying, "Thou are worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals. For you were slain and you have redeemed us by your blood out of every nation and tribe and tongue and people and you have made us unto our God kings and priests, and we are going to reign with you upon the earth"( Revelation 5:9-10 ). Who can sing that song? The church of Jesus Christ. Where is the church? Standing before the Son of Man in glory.

The tribulation hasn't begun yet and it won't begin until He opens the seals of the scroll, which he proceeds to do in chapter six. And the first seal that is broken brings forth the entrance of the anti-christ upon the earth coming forth conquering and to conquer riding his white horse; the coming of the anti-christ. And then it is followed by the wars, the ensuing wars, the red horse. And then the black horse of famine, and the pale horse of death. So the sequence remains the same. The anti-christ first of all being revealed and then the great day of God's wrath and vengeance coming forth upon the earth.

You have the same sequence in Revelation. For the anti-christ comes forth and then there follows the wars, the famines, the plagues. Six seals of cataclysmic events of the heavens are casting forth the meteorite showers, like a fig tree casts it untimely figs in the wind, and all of this great cataclysmic judgment that begins to fall upon those upon the earth.

So Paul said, don't be fretting in your spirit, or thinking, hey this is the day of God's judgment, the day of the Lord has come. It is now present. He said no, there are things that have to happen before that can happen, namely the great apostasy and the unveiling of this man of sin, which cannot take place until that which hinders is taken out of the way, is removed. That which hinders shall hinder until it is removed, taken out of the way.

And then shall that Wicked one be [unveiled] revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming ( 2 Thessalonians 2:8 ):

So this man of sin who will have his day, and have his time will be destroyed when Jesus returns with His church to establish God's kingdom upon the earth. And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory. "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints to execute His judgment upon the earth."

And the first thing the Lord does as He returns to the earth is gather together the survivors for judgment to determine which ones of those that survived will be allowed to go into the kingdom age. And then He will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, chapter twenty-five. And to those on his right side he will say, "Come, ye blessed of the Lord, enter the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundations of the earth: for I was hungry, and you fed me: thirsty, and you gave me to drink: naked, and you clothed me: sick, and in prison and you visited me". ( Matthew 25:32-36 ) But to those on his left he will say, "Depart form me you cursed into the everlasting fire that was prepared for Satan and his angels. For I was hungry and you did not feed me: thirsty, and you did not give me to drink: naked, and you did not cloth me. Lord when did we see you like this? In as much as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren you've done it unto me".

If you give a cup of water to a prophet in the name of the Lord, you receive a prophet's reward. And so the anti-christ, when Jesus comes with His church will be destroyed

with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose coming [the anti-christ who will be coming] after the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders ( 2 Thessalonians 2:9 ),

There is a dangerous curiosity in man to be attracted and drawn after signs and wonders, but the fact that something is done that is scientifically or physically unexplainable, it does not necessarily follow that God's power is behind the miracle. When the anti-christ comes, he will be working miracles. He will come with signs and powers and wonders. People will wonder at the things that are being accomplished, wondering how can he do that, supernatural manifestations. And so be careful of following after miraculous phenomena just for miraculous phenomena sake. You really could be deceived if you develop a credibility in anything unexplainable, well it must be of God, because look at the miracle. I can't explain it.

Paul warns Timothy that Satan is able to transform himself into an angel of light in order to deceive, and such will be the case with the anti-christ for the first three and a half years. He will come

With all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish ( 2 Thessalonians 2:10 );

In other words, who is to be deceived? Those who are going to perish.

Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they might all be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness ( 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 ).

Now Paul tells us in Romans one that it was when man did not want to retain God in his mind, God gave him over to a mind that was empty of God. Because they didn't want the truth of God, then God allowed them to believe a lie. Here the same thing is declared. They don't want to believe the truth, so what does God do. He says, oh, you don't want to believe the truth, then go ahead and believe a lie, and He allows them to be deceived into believing a lie.

Now as a child of God, God won't let you believe a lie. God's spirit will warn you. I'm thrilled when some of these new babes in Christ come to me and they say, "Chuck I was watching someone on TV today and it just didn't seem right to me." All right. He won't let them believe the deception and the lies that these guys are coming off with. And I think oh, great, but you know there are some people that seem to fall for every gimmick that comes down the road. They have a penchant towards false doctrine. They have a desire almost to just gobble up anything that comes along, any new weird tangent or doctrine that comes by. Oh, there they go traipsing after it. They just seem to have a total lack of discernment. That is hurtful. As a pastor that is probably one of the most hurtful things to see your little sheep following after a lie, after a deceiver, after a fraud. But one of the most rewarding things for a pastor is for someone to come up and say, "I was just watching this fellow and it just -- something is wrong there Chuck. I can't tell you what. Something is wrong." Yes.

Paul said,

We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brothers beloved of the Lord, because God from the beginning has chosen you to salvation ( 2 Thessalonians 2:13 )

Hey, this is interesting. From the beginning God has chosen you, He said, for salvation. Here again this interesting doctrine that Paul taught in his book to the Ephesians is taught here again where he said, "You were chosen in Him from the foundations of the world." Isn't it exciting that of all the people God chose you to be His child? That is so thrilling to me.

Last night for a little while Kay and I were watching a documentary on channel 28. I think it was of some of the Indian tribes down in the Amazon area of Brazil, and some of their practices, the various rituals that they have for the various gods that they worship. And we were quite fascinated from a cultural, sociological kind of a standpoint of watching these people in the various religious rituals that they went through. Naked all of them. Superstitious. And Kay said, "For the grace of God we could have been born in that tribe." I thought oh, my. I guess you're right, Oh thank you, Lord.

For God chose you from the beginning,

Unto this sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth ( 2 Thessalonians 2:14 ):

The word "sanctification" is to be set apart. God has chosen you to be set apart from the world. To be set apart is an instrument through which the spirit of God might work. From the beginning God chose you; that thrills me. And because He chose you, then He called you by our gospel by our declaring to you the good news actually, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So whom He did foreknow, He did also predestinate, and those that He predestinated, He also called. And those He called, He also justified, and those He justified, He also glorified.

Paul follows the same progression of thought in the eighth chapter of Romans. First of all chosen in Him, and because you were chosen, God called you. A spirit of God reached out and touched your heart, made it open to the things of God, made it receptive to the things of God. How thrilling that God should choose us. And then having made this receptive, then called us so we could hear the call and respond, that we might be the children of God set apart by the spirit. "Here you are my children".

You know I don't appreciate it so much, until I talk to people who seem to have absolutely zilch, as far as spiritual comprehension or understanding or even interest. They are not interested. What a shame. What a tragedy. Their voice is totally closed to the gospel, or their ear is totally closed to the gospel. No interest, no concern. How was it that I'm so interested? How is it that I'm so concerned? Because God chose me and God called me, and so I rejoice in that I've been chosen.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast ( 2 Thessalonians 2:15 ),

You're going to go through persecution. You're having tribulation but stand fast,

And hold the traditions which you have a point of, whether by our words or our epistles ( 2 Thessalonians 2:15 ).

Those things that I have talked to, those truths that I have taught you, hold on to them.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which has loved us, and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work ( 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 ).

So Paul's little benedictory-type of prayer for them at this point that God would comfort them and establish them in the word and in the work. "

Contending for the Faith

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God: MacKnight says:

In short, the meaning of the verse is, that the wicked teacher of whom the apostle speaks, will first oppose Christ, by corrupting the doctrine of the gospel concerning him, and after that, they will make void the government of God and of Christ in the Christian church, and the government of the civil magistrate in the state, by arrogating to themselves the whole spiritual authority which belongs to Christ, and all the temporal authority belonging to princes and magistrates (429).

This word "opposeth" is translated "adversary" (1 Timothy 5:14), "contrary" (Galatians 5:17), and "opposeth" (2 Thessalonians 2:4). The phrase "exalteth himself" (huperairomail) means "to lift or raise up over some thing; middle voice to lift one’s self up, be exalted, be haughty." Thayer further says "to carry one’s self haughtily to, behave insolently towards one" (Thayer 640-1-5229). The word "God" (Theos) is "a general appellation of deities or divinities" (Thayer 287-2-2316). It is used 1343 times in the New Testament.

In verse 4, the characteristics of the antichrist work themselves out, in the form of sin, in four different ways. The first sin of the antichrist is found in one who "opposeth" (antikeimai) God. "Opposeth" (antikimai) means "to be hostile to" God (Kittel, Vol. IV 655) or "to be adverse to, withstand" (Thayer 50-1-480), therefore, an adversary.

The second sin of the antichrist is found in a person who "exalteth himself above all that is called God." This person presents himself as though he is as great as God. As the greatness of the Apostle Paul’s ability to preach the gospel and the honors God entrusted to him increased, it seems he was made so humble that he would not look upon himself a some great man. He says, "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure" (2 Corinthians 12:7). Paul realizes the dangers of exalting himself above others, and he now speaks of it to the Thessalonians concerning the antichrist.

or that is worshipped: The third sin of the antichrist is found in a person who desires to be "worshipped." The phrase "that is worshipped" comes from sebasma, meaning "whatever is religiously honored, an object of worship" (Thayer 572-2-4574). This word is used of temples, altars, statues, and idolatrous images.

In Acts 17:16-34, while Paul is at Athens, "his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry" (verse 16). He says,

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you (verse 23). This man of sin, son of perdition, Antichrist lifts himself above God Almighty and above all the idols that many in the world serve.

so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God: Most Greek manuscripts do not include this phrase. It is obvious no one can truly display himself as being God, even though the Pope lifts himself up so high he is recognized as "Lord God the Pope" in some religious circles.

"Archaeological material from Egypt, the Near East and the Greek Hellenistic world shows that sitting is a distinctive sign of deity" (Kittel, Vol III 441). Jesus also describes God as sitting upon a throne when He says, "But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King...And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon" (Matthew 5:34-35; Matthew 23:22). Also consider John’s vision of heaven:

And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold (Revelation 4:2-4).

The antichrist looks upon himself as being so sacred he not only lifts himself above God but also becomes as god sitting while others are to stand in his presence, which is a sign of authority over others.

showing himself that he is God: The fourth sin of the antichrist is that he portrays himself as a god. This son of perdition "showing himself that he is God" (apodiknumi) means he "declares" that he is God. No man can truly show himself to be God; however, throughout history, many have claimed to be God. Even though there is no proof for such a claim, by disguise and deceit they attempt to convince others of this falsehood.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

A. The beginning of the day of the Lord 2:1-5

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

III. CORRECTION OF PRESENT ERROR 2:1-12

Paul next dealt with a doctrinal error that had come into the Thessalonian church to correct this error and to stabilize the church.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 contain truth about the end times revealed nowhere else in Scripture. This section is key to understanding future events, and it is central to the argument of this epistle.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Paul explained that three events had to take place before the judgments of the day of the Lord began (i.e., the judgments of the Tribulation). These were the apostasy (2 Thessalonians 2:3), the unveiling of the man of lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8), and the removal of the restraint of lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7). The apostle presented these in logical rather than chronological order in this passage. The word "first" refers to the fact that the apostasy will occur at the very beginning of the day of the Lord, and before the revelation of the man of sin. [Note: Thomas, pp. 320-21; idem, Evangelical Hermeneutics, pp. 72-75.]

One major event is the "apostasy" (2 Thessalonians 2:3, lit. the falling away). The English word "apostasy" is a transliteration of the Greek word apostasia. By definition an apostasy is a departure, an abandoning of a position formerly held (cf. Joshua 22:22 LXX; Acts 21:21).

"In classical Greek the word apostasia denoted a political or military rebellion; but in the Greek Old Testament we find it used of rebellion against God (e.g. Jos. xxii. 22), and this becomes the accepted Biblical usage. Paul’s thought is that in the last times there will be an outstanding manifestation of the powers of evil arrayed against God." [Note: Morris, The Epistles . . ., p. 126.]

It seems that Paul referred here to the departure from the Christian faith of professing (not genuine) Christians soon after the Rapture, at the beginning of the day of the Lord. This was not the same apostasy he and other apostles spoke of elsewhere when they warned of departure from the faith before the Rapture (1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; James 5:1-8; 2 Peter 2; 2 Peter 3:3-6; Jude).

"It is not so much forsaking one’s first love and drifting into apathy that is meant, as setting oneself in opposition to God." [Note: Idem, The First . . ., p. 219.]

". . . it seems likely that the apostasy Paul had in mind expanded on Jewish apocalyptic expectations and envisioned a dramatic and climactic falling away from the worship of the true God (by both Jews and some portion of the Christian church) as a part of the complex of events at the end of the age." [Note: Martin, p. 234.]

The portion of the Christian church in Paul’s view would be the non-genuine Christians who compose Christendom. "Christendom" refers to all professing Christians, genuine and non-genuine. Such a departure had begun in Paul’s day (1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; James 5:1-8; 2 Peter 2; 2 Peter 3:3-6; Jude). However it had not yet reached the proportions predicted to characterize "the apostasy" about which Paul had instructed his readers when he was with them (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:5). When the Rapture takes place and all true Christians leave the earth, this apostasy will overwhelm the human race.

"This worldwide anti-God movement will be so universal as to earn for itself a special designation: ’the apostasy’-i.e., the climax of the increasing apostate tendencies evident before the rapture of the church." [Note: Thomas, "2 Thessalonians," p. 322.]

"It appears more probable from the context that a general abandonment of the basis of civil order is envisaged. This is not only rebellion against the law of Moses; it is a large-scale revolt against public order, and since public order is maintained by the ’governing authorities’ who ’have been instituted by God,’ any assault on it is an assault on a divine ordinance (Romans 13:1-2). It is, in fact, the whole concept of divine authority over the world that is set at defiance in ’the rebellion’ par excellence." [Note: Bruce, p. 167. Cf. David A. Hubbard, The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 1363.]

Some pretribulationists take a different view. They believe this "apostasy" is a reference to the Rapture, and some of them find support for their view in Paul’s reference to the Rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:1). [Note: E.g., E. Schuyler English, Re-Thinking the Rapture, pp. 67-71; John R. Rice, The Coming Kingdom of Christ, p. 188-91; and Kenneth S. Wuest, Prophetic Light in the Present Darkness, pp. 38-41.]

"Nowhere else does the Scripture speak of the rapture as ’the departure.’ A departure denotes an act on the part of the individual or company departing. But the rapture is not an act of departure on the part of the saints. In the rapture the church is passive, not active. At the rapture the church is ’caught up’ or ’snatched away,’ an event wherein the Lord acts to transport believers from earth into His presence (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Everything that takes place with the believers at the rapture is initiated by the Lord and done by Him. Paul has just referred to the rapture as ’our gathering together unto him’ (2 Thessalonians 2:1); why then should he now use this unlikely term to mean the same thing?" [Note: Hiebert, p. 306.]

Another major event, in addition to "the apostasy," is the unveiling of "the man of lawlessness" (2 Thessalonians 2:3). This is a person yet to appear who will be completely lawless and whom God will doom to everlasting destruction. The prophet Daniel spoke of such a person. He will make a covenant with the Jews but then break it after three and a half years (Daniel 9:27). The breaking of that covenant seems to be the event that unmasks this individual for who he is, the opponent of Christ. He will eventually seek to make everyone worship himself and will claim to be God (cf. Revelation 13:5-8). The reference to him taking his seat in the temple of God (2 Thessalonians 2:4) may be figurative representing him as taking the highest position possible. More likely it is literal in which case the material temple of God that will stand in Jerusalem during the second half, at least, of the Tribulation is in view (cf. Daniel 11:36). [Note: See John F. Walvoord, "Will Israel Build a Temple in Jerusalem?" Bibliotheca Sacra 125:498 (April-June 1968):99-106; Thomas S. McCall, "How Soon the Tribulation Temple?" Bibliotheca Sacra 128:512 (October-December 1971):341-51; idem, "Problems in Rebuilding the Tribulation Temple," Bibliotheca Sacra 139:513 (January-March 1972):75-80; and Bruce, p. 169.] Amillennialists, who do not believe in a future reign of Christ on the present earth, take this temple as the one that stood in Jerusalem when Paul wrote this epistle. [Note: E.g., Wanamaker, p. 246.] This person, the Antichrist, had not yet appeared when Paul wrote, nor has he appeared yet (cf. 1 John 2:18). [Note: See the excursus on Antichrist in ibid., pp. 179-88.]

"In A.D. 40, only a few years before Paul wrote this letter, Gaius Caesar (Caligula), who had declared his own divinity, attempted to have his image set up in the holy of holies in Jerusalem." [Note: Martin, p. 237.]

"All attempts to equate the Man of Lawlessness with historical personages break down on the fact that Paul was speaking of someone who would appear only at the end of the age." [Note: Morris, The First . . ., p. 221.]

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 2

THE LAWLESS ONE ( 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 )

2:1-12 Brothers, in regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and in regard to our being gathered to him, we ask you not to be readily shaken in your mind and not to get into a state of nervous excitement because of any statement purporting to come from us either in the Spirit or by word of mouth or by a letter and alleging that the Day of the Lord is here. Let no one deceive you in any way. The Day of the Lord will not come unless there comes first The Rebellion against God, and unless there be revealed The Man of Sin, The Son of Perdition, the one who opposes himself to and exalts himself against everyone who is called God or made an object of worship so that he attempts to take his seat in the very temple of God and proclaims that he himself is God. Don't you remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? As for the present, you know the power which restrains him so that he may be revealed in his own time. For the secret of lawlessness is even now in operation. But The Man of Sin will appear only when the one who restrains him is removed from the scene. And then The Lawless One will be revealed and the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will render him ineffective by his appearance and his coming. The coming of The Lawless One is for those who are doomed. He will come according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and wonders which issue from falsehood, and with all wicked deceit. They are doomed because they did not receive the love of truth that they might be saved. For this cause God sends them a deceiving energy in order that they might believe in a lie so that all who have not believed but have consented to that principle of unrighteousness may be judged.

This is undoubtedly one of the most difficult passages in the whole New Testament; and it is so because it is using terms and thinking in pictures which were perfectly familiar to those to whom Paul was speaking but which are utterly strange to us.

The general picture is this. Paul was telling the Thessalonians that they must give up their nervous, hysterical waiting for the Second Coming. He denied that he had ever said that the Day of the Lord had come. That was a misinterpretation of his words which must not be attributed to him; and he told them that before the Day of the Lord could come much had still to happen.

First there would come an age of rebellion against God; into this world there had already come a secret evil power which was working in the world and on men to bring this time of rebellion. Somewhere there was being kept one who was as much the incarnation of evil as Jesus was the incarnation of God. He was The Man of Sin, The Son of Perdition, The Lawless One. In time the power which was restraining him would be removed from the scene; and then this devil incarnate would come. When he came, he would gather his own people to him just as Jesus Christ had gathered his. Those who had refused to accept Christ were waiting to accept him. Then would come a last battle in which Christ would utterly destroy The Lawless One; Christ's people would be gathered to him and the wicked men who had accepted The Lawless One as their master would be destroyed.

We have to remember one thing. Almost all the Eastern faiths believed in a power of evil as they believed in a power of good; and believed, too, in a kind of battle between God and this power of evil. For instance, the Babylonians had a story that Tiamat, the dragon, had rebelled against Marduk, the creator, and had in the final battle been destroyed. Paul was dealing in a set of ideas which were common property. The Jews, too, had that idea. They called the Satanic power Belial or, more correctly, Beliar. When the Jews wished to describe a man as utterly bad they called him a son of Beliar ( Deuteronomy 13:13; 1 Kings 21:10; 1 Kings 21:13; 2 Samuel 22:5). In 2 Corinthians 6:15 Paul uses this term as the opposite of God. This evil incarnate was the antithesis of God. The Christians took this over, later than Paul, under the title Antichrist ( 1 John 2:18; 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:3). Obviously such a power cannot go on existing for ever in the universe; and there was widespread belief in a final battle in which God would triumph and this force of anti-God would be finally destroyed. That is the picture with which Paul is working.

What was the restraining force which was still keeping The Lawless One under control? No one can answer that question with certainty. Most likely Paul meant the Roman Empire. Time and again he himself was to be saved from the fury of the mob by the justice of the Roman magistrate. Rome was the restraining power which kept the world from insane anarchy. But the day would come when that power would be removed--and then would be chaos.

So then Paul pictures a growing rebellion against God, the emergence of one who was the devil incarnate as Christ had been God incarnate, a final struggle and the ultimate triumph of God.

When this incarnate evil came into the world there would be some who would accept him as master, those who had refused Christ; and they along with their evil master would find final defeat and terrible judgment.

However remote these pictures may be from us they nevertheless have certain permanent truth in them.

(i) There is a force of evil in the world. Even if he could not logically prove that there was a devil many a man would say, "I know there is because I have met him." We hide our heads in the sand if we deny that there is an evil power at work amongst men.

(ii) God is in control. Things may seem to be crashing to chaos but in some strange way even the chaos is in God's control.

(iii) The ultimate triumph of God is sure. In the end nothing can stand against him. The Lawless One may have his day but there comes a time when God says, "Thus far and no farther." And so the great question is, "On what side are you? In the struggle at the heart of the universe are you for God--or Satan?"

GOD'S DEMAND AND OUR EFFORT ( 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 )

2:13-17 We ought always to give thanks for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the consecration of the Holy Spirit and by faith in the truth. For this he called you by the good news which we brought that you might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand fast and hold on to the traditions which you were taught either by word of mouth or through our letter.

In this passage there is a kind of synopsis of the Christian life.

(i) It begins with God's call. We could never even begin to seek God unless he had already found us. The whole initiative is with him; the ground and the moving cause of the whole matter is his seeking love.

(ii) It develops in our effort. The Christian is not called to dream, but to fight; not to stand still, but to climb. He is called not only to the greatest privilege but also to the greatest task in the world.

(iii) This effort is helped continually by two things. (a) It is helped by the teaching, guidance and example of godly men. God speaks to us through those to whom he has already spoken. "A saint," as someone has said, "is a person who makes it easier for others to believe in God." And there are some who help us, not by anything they say or write, but simply by being what they are, men whom to meet is to meet God. (b) It is helped by God himself We are never left to fight and toil alone. He who gives us the task also gives us the strength to do it; more, he actually does it with us. We are not thrown into the battle to meet it with the puny resources we can bring to it. At the back of us and beside us there is God. When Paul was up against it in Corinth, he had a vision by night in which the Lord said to him, "Do not be afraid...for I am with You" ( Acts 18:9-10). They that are for us are always more than they that are against us.

(iv) This call and this effort are designed to produce two things. (a) They are designed to produce consecration on earth. Literally in Greek a thing which is consecrated is set apart for God. They are meant to set us apart in such a way that God can use us for his service. The result is that a man's life no longer belongs to him to do with it as he likes; it belongs to God for him to use as he likes. (b) They are designed to produce salvation in heaven. The Christian life does not end with time; its goal is eternity. The Christian can regard his present affliction as a light thing in comparison with the glory that shall be. As Christina Rosetti wrote:

"'Does the road wind uphill all the way?'

'Yes, to the very end.'

'Will the day's journey take the whole tong day?'

'From morn to night, my friend.'

'But is there for the night a resting-place?'

'A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.'

'May not the darkness hide it from my face?'

'You cannot miss that inn.'

'Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?'

'Those who have gone before.'

'Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?'

'They will not keep you waiting at that door.'

'Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?'

'Of labour you shall find the sum.'

'Will there be beds for me and all who seek?'

'Yes, beds for all who come.'"

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

2 Thessalonians 2:4

Opposes -- exalts -- The NIV incorrectly adds two "wills" in this verse which would tend to make this future, while the Greek is in the present tense. An attitude of utter arrogance and presumptuousness.

How is the "man of sin" described here:

1) Opposes God (puts himself in opposition to the True and Living God)

2) Exalts himself above God / Divinity / that is worshipped.

3) As God he sits in the temple of God

4) Shows himself as God.

Above --

Three events to take place before the Day of Christ.

    1) Apostasy (Rebellion)

    2) Man of sin revealed

    3) Removal of the restraint upon the man of sin

Daniel 11:36, Daniel 11:27; Luke 21:8, Mark 13:21-22

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Who opposeth,.... Or is an opposer, an adversary of Christ, the antichrist; who opposes him in his kingly office, styling himself the head and spouse of the church, assuming to himself all power in heaven and in earth, taking upon him to dispense with the laws of Christ, and to make new ones; who opposes him in his priestly office, by pretending to offer him up again in the sacrifice of the mass, and by making angels and saints departed, intercessors and advocates; and also in his prophetic office, by teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, and setting up unwritten traditions before the word of God, requiring the worshipping of images, angels, and saints, when Christ requires that the Lord God only should be worshipped and served; and by introducing the doctrine of works and of merit instead of grace, and with a multitude of other things, in which he most manifestly appears to be diametrically opposite and contrary to Christ:

and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. The Syriac version renders the last clause,

ודחלא, "and religion"; and the Greek word does signify religion, worship, or devotion, as it is translated, in Acts 17:23 but here the act of worship is put for the object, and is rightly rendered, "or that which is worshipped"; as it is in the Vulgate Latin version, and in the Arabic version, "or that which is to be worshipped"; and it was usual with the Jews to call God the object of worship, by the name of worship itself, and by which they used to swear: it is said c of R. Benjamin the just, that he was appointed over the alms chest; one time a woman came to him and said, Rabbi, relieve me; he replied to her, העבודה, "by the worship" (that is, by God who is worshipped) there is nothing in the alms chest: and elsewhere d it is said by one, concerning two that were fatherless, for whom the collectors of alms gathered, העבודה, "by the worship", they go before my daughter: and a little after, העבודה, "by the worship", these things are holy to thee; where the gloss says, it is an oath: and so here the word is to be understood of Deity itself; and the meaning is, that antichrist would exalt himself above all the gods of the Gentiles, who are only nominally, and not by nature, gods; to these were ascribed, some one thing, to some another; one had the government of heaven, another of hell, another of the seas, and an other of the winds, c. but this haughty creature antichrist assumes to himself all power, both in heaven, earth, and hell. Angels are sometimes called gods, Psalms 8:4 because they are sent of God, and sometimes represent him the popes of Rome have exalted themselves above these; Pope Clement VI. proclaimed a jubilee, and promised forgiveness of sins to all that should come to Rome; and in his bull for it says, that

"if any that was confessed should die by the way, he should be free from all his sins; "and we do command the angels", that they take such a soul out of purgatory entirely absolved, and introduce it into the glory of paradise:''

and in a manuscript in the library at Helmsted are these words,

"we command the angels that they carry such a soul into Abraham's bosom, as soon as it has left the body:''

kings and civil magistrates are called gods, Psalms 82:6 and this monster of iniquity and firstborn of Satan, the popes of Rome, have exalted themselves above these; they have not only took upon them to excommunicate emperors and kings, but to depose them, and take away their crowns from them, and give their kingdoms to others, and absolve their subjects from allegiance and fidelity to them; an emperor has held a pope's stirrup while he alighted from his horse, and was severely reprimanded for holding the left instead of the right stirrup; and the same emperor held another pope's stirrup while he got on his horse, and who set his foot upon his neck when he absolved him, being before excommunicated by him, using these words in Psalms 91:13 "thou shall tread upon the lion", c. An emperor and an empress waited at a pope's gates three days barefoot another emperor and empress were crowned by the Pope with his feet; he took the crown with his feet, and, they bowing down, put it upon their heads, and then kicked it off; and one of our own kings resigned his crown and the ensigns of his royalty to the Pope's legate, who kept them five days; and when he offered a sum of money to the legate as an earnest of his subjection, to show his master's grandeur, he spurned at it; a king was thrown under a pope's table to lick the bones like a dog, while he was eating: so truly has this passage had its accomplishment in that impious and insolent set of men. Rome is by the Jewish e writers called "Magdiel", which signifies "magnifying itself"; the reason is, שיתגדל, "because it magnifies itself" above all these f; that is, above all kingdoms and states: but what is worse, and most dreadfully blasphemous, follows,

so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God; not in the temple of Jerusalem, which was to be destroyed and never to be rebuilt more, and was destroyed before this man of sin was revealed; but in the church of God, so called, 1 Corinthians 3:16 the Ethiopic version renders it, "in the house of God"; for antichrist rose up out of, and in the midst of the church; and it was a true church in which he first appeared, and over which he usurped power and authority; though it has been so corrupted by him, as now to be only nominally so; here he sits, and has homage done him by his creatures, as if he was a god, and is not only styled Christ's vicar, but a god on earth, and our Lord God the Pope; so in the triumphal arch at the entry of Pope Sixtus IV, these lines were put, "oraculo vocis, mundi moderaris habenas, et merito in terris crederis esse Dens"; the sense is, that he governed the world by his word, and was deservedly believed to be God on earth; and their canon law g says,

"it is clearly enough shown, that the Pope cannot be loosed or bound by any secular power; since it is evident that he is called God by that pious prince, Constantine, and it is manifest that God cannot be judged by men:''

and Pope John XXII is expressly called h "our Lord God the Pope": the Ethiopic version reads, "he shall say to all, I am the Lord God"; see Ezekiel 28:2, the Alexandrian copy, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin version, leave out the phrase, "as God", but the Syriac retains it: however, the same blasphemy is expressed in the next clause,

shewing himself that he is God; by usurping a power over the consciences and souls of men; by dispensing with the laws of God and man; by assuming to himself all power in heaven and in earth; by taking upon him to open and shut the gates of heaven at pleasure; and by pardoning sin, which none but God can do; this is the mouth speaking blasphemies, Revelation 13:5.

c T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 11. 1. d T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 24. 1. e Jarchi in Gen. xxxvi. 43. f Abarbinel in Dan. fol. 42. 3. g Gratian. Decret. dist. 96. can. "satis". h Extrarag. "cum inter".

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      3 --For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;   4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.   5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?   6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.   7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.   8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:   9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,   10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.   11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:   12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

      In these words the apostle confutes the error against which he had cautioned them, and gives the reasons why they should not expect the coming of Christ as just at hand. There were several events previous to the second coming of Christ; in particular, he tells them there would be,

      I. A general apostasy, there would come a falling away first,2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:3. By this apostasy we are not to understand a defection in the state, or from civil government, but in spiritual or religious matters, from sound doctrine, instituted worship and church government, and a holy life. The apostle speaks of some very great apostasy, not only of some converted Jews or Gentiles, but such as should be very general, though gradual, and should give occasion to the revelation of rise of antichrist, that man of sin. This, he says (2 Thessalonians 2:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:5), he had told them of when he was with them, with design, no doubt, that they should not take offence nor be stumbled at it. And let us observe that no sooner was Christianity planted and rooted in the world than there began to be a defection in the Christian church. It was so in the Old-Testament church; presently after any considerable advance made in religion there followed a defection: soon after the promise there was revolting; for example, soon after men began to call upon the name of the Lord all flesh corrupted their way,--soon after the covenant with Noah the Babel-builders bade defiance to heaven,--soon after the covenant with Abraham his seed degenerated in Egypt,--soon after the Israelites were planted in Canaan, when the first generation was worn off, they forsook God and served Baal,--soon after God's covenant with David his seed revolted, and served other gods,--soon after the return out of captivity there was a general decay of piety, as appears by the story of Ezra and Nehemiah; and therefore it was no strange thing that after the planting of Christianity there should come a falling away.

      II. A revelation of that man of sin, that is (2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:3), antichrist would take his rise from this general apostasy. The apostle afterwards speaks of the revelation of that wicked one (2 Thessalonians 2:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:8), intimating the discovery which should be made of his wickedness, in order to his ruin: here he seems to speak of his rise, which should be occasioned by the general apostasy he had mentioned, and to intimate that all sorts of false doctrines and corruptions should centre in him. Great disputes have been as to who or what is intended by this man of sin and son of perdition: and, if it be not certain that the papal power and tyranny are principally or only intended, yet this is plain, What is here said does very exactly agree thereto. For observe,

      1. The names of this person, or rather the state and power here spoken of. He is called the man of sin, to denote his egregious wickedness; not only is he addicted to, and practises, wickedness himself, but he also promotes, countenances, and commands sin and wickedness in others; and he is the son of perdition, because he himself is devoted to certain destruction, and is the instrument of destroying many others both in soul and body. These names may properly be applied, for these reasons, to the papal state; and thereto agree also,

      2. The characters here given, 2 Thessalonians 2:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:4. (1.) That he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped; and thus have the bishops of Rome not only opposed God's authority, and that of the civil magistrates, who are called gods, but have exalted themselves above God and earthly governors, in demanding greater regard to their commands than to the commands of God or the magistrate. (2.) As God, he sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. As God was in the temple of old, and worshipped there, and is in and with his church now, so the antichrist here mentioned is some usurper of God's authority in the Christian church, who claims divine honours; and to whom can this better apply than to the bishops of Rome, to whom the most blasphemous titles have been given, as Dominus Deus noster papa--Our Lord God the pope; Deus alter in terrâ--Another God on earth; Idem est dominium Dei et papæ--The dominion of God and the pope is the same?

      3. His rise is mentioned, 2 Thessalonians 2:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:7. Concerning this we are to observe two things:-- (1.) There was something that hindered or withheld, or let, until it was taken away. This is supposed to be the power of the Roman empire, which the apostle did not think fit to mention more plainly at that time; and it is notorious that, while this power continued, it prevented the advances of the bishops of Rome to that height of tyranny to which soon afterwards they arrived. (2.) This mystery of iniquity was gradually to arrive at its height; and so it was in effect that the universal corruption of doctrine and worship in the Romish church came in by degrees, and the usurpation of the bishops of Rome was gradual, not all at once; and thus the mystery of iniquity did the more easily, and almost insensibly, prevail. The apostle justly calls it a mystery of iniquity, because wicked designs and actions were concealed under false shows and pretences, at least they were concealed from the common view and observation. By pretended devotion, superstition and idolatry were advanced; and, by a pretended zeal for God and his glory, bigotry and persecution were promoted. And he tells us that this mystery of iniquity did even then begin, or did already work. While the apostles were yet living, the enemy came, and sowed tares; there were then the deeds of the Nicolaitans, persons who pretended zeal for Christ, but really opposed him. Pride, ambition, and worldly interest of church-pastors and church-rulers, as in Diotrephes and others, were the early working of the mystery of iniquity, which, by degrees, came to that prodigious height which has been visible in the church of Rome.

      4. The fall or ruin of the antichristian state is declared, 2 Thessalonians 2:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:8. The head of this antichristian kingdom is called that wicked one, or that lawless person who sets up a human power in competition with, and contradiction to, the divine dominion and power of the Lord Jesus Christ; but, as he would thus manifest himself to be the man of sin, so the revelation or discovery of this to the world would be the sure presage and the means of his ruin. The apostle assures the Thessalonians that the Lord would consume and destroy him; the consuming of him precedes his final destruction, and that is by the Spirit of his mouth, by his word of command; the pure word of God, accompanied with the Spirit of God, will discover this mystery of iniquity, and make the power of antichrist to consume and waste away; and in due time it will be totally and finally destroyed, and this will be by the brightness of Christ's coming. Note, The coming of Christ to destroy the wicked will be with peculiar glory and eminent lustre and brightness.

      5. The apostle further describes the reign and rule of this man of sin. Here we are to observe, (1.) The manner of his coming, or ruling, and working: in general, that it is after the example of Satan, the grand enemy of souls, the great adversary of God and man. He is the great patron of error and lies, the sworn enemy of the truth as it is in Jesus and all the faithful followers of Jesus. More particularly, it is with Satanical power and deceit. A divine power is pretended for the support of this kingdom, but it is only after the working of Satan. Signs and wonders, visions and miracles, are pretended; by these the papal kingdom was first set up, and has all along been kept up, but they have false signs to support false doctrines; and lying wonders, or only pretended miracles that have served their cause, things false in fact, or fraudulently managed, to impose upon the people: and the diabolical deceits with which the antichristian state has been supported are notorious. The apostle calls it all deceivableness of unrighteousness,2 Thessalonians 2:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:10. Others may call them pious frauds, but the apostle called them unrighteous and wicked frauds; and, indeed, all fraud (which is contrary to truth) is an impious thing. Many are the subtle artifices the man of sin has used, and various are the plausible pretences by which he had beguiled unwary and unstable souls to embrace false doctrines, and submit to his usurped dominion. (2.) The persons are described who are his willing subjects, or most likely to become such, 2 Thessalonians 2:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:10. They are such as love not the truth that they may be saved. They heard the truth (it may be), but they did not love it; they could not bear sound doctrine, and therefore easily imbibed false doctrines; they had some notional knowledge of what was true, but they indulged some powerful prejudices, and so became a prey to seducers. Had they loved the truth, they would have persevered in it, and been preserved by it; but no wonder if they easily parted with what they never had any love to. And of these persons it is said that they perish or are lost; they are in a lost condition, and in danger to be lost for ever. For,

      6. We have the sin and ruin of the subjects of antichrist's kingdom declared, 2 Thessalonians 2:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:12. (1.) Their sin is this: They believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness: they did not love the truth, and therefore they did not believe it; and, because they did not believe the truth, therefore they had pleasure in unrighteousness, or in wicked actions, and were pleased with false notions. Note, An erroneous mind and vicious life often go together and help forward one another. (2.) Their ruin is thus expressed: God shall send them strong delusions, to believe a lie. Thus he will punish men for their unbelief, and for their dislike of the truth and love to sin and wickedness; not that God is the author of sin, but in righteousness he sometimes withdraws his grace from such sinners as are here mentioned; he gives them over to Satan, or leaves them to be deluded by his instruments; he gives them up to their own hearts' lusts, and leaves them to themselves, and then sin will follow of course, yea, the worst of wickedness, that shall end at last in eternal damnation. God is just when he inflicts spiritual judgments here, and eternal punishments hereafter, upon those who have no love to the truths of the gospel, who will not believe them, nor live suitably to them, but indulge false doctrines in their minds, and wicked practices in their lives and conversations.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

The second epistle takes up another difficulty. It was written in view of another abuse of the truth of the Lord's coming a danger that threatened the saints. As the first epistle was intended to guard the saints from an error about the dead, the second epistle was more particularly meant to correct them about the living. They were distressed at finding that some of their brethren died before the Lord came. So filled were they with the constant expectation of Christ from heaven, that it never occurred to them that a single Christian might depart from the world before His return, How they must have realized, in their habitual waiting, the nearness of that blessed hope! They now learnt that they need not sorrow on such a score; for the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we, the living at His coming, shall be caught up with them to join the Lord together. But the second epistle grew out of another and more serious error. We have seen that they were greatly alarmed and agitated. The apostle was really uneasy about them lest the tempter should tempt them, and his labour come to nought lest, moved by their sore affliction, they should fall into fear about the awful day of the Lord, which the enemy knows well how to use.

Everybody who has read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the lesser prophets knows what they tell us of the horrors for men when the day of Jehovah comes upon the earth, that it will be. a day of dismay and darkness, when all earthly things are utterly confused, and the people of God seem about to be swallowed up by their enemies. False doctrine ever sets one truth against another; and it was not wanting among the Thessalonians at this time. For some sought to persuade them that the day of the Lord was even then arrived. They probably argued that their troubles were part of the circumstances of that day. Certainly they sought to shake them by pretending that the day of the Lord was actually there. There was such fearful persecution and trouble among them, that this might be plausibly enough mixed up as supporting the idea that the day of the Lord was begun. For this false rumour seems to imply that they must have given some sort of figurative colour to "that day" (as it was certainly so used in Old Testament prophecy). At any rate, they must have supposed that "the day of the Lord" did not necessarily require the presence of the Lord Himself. In other words, they might think, is many Christians since have imagined, that a dreadful time of trouble must befall the world before the Lord comes to receive His own to himself above.

This second epistle was written to disabuse the minds of the Thessalonian saints; and indeed it directly tends to set all Christians free from any anxiety of the kind, though, of course, there may be persecution again, as there was then, and repeatedly afterwards, especially from Pagan and from Papal Rome. But this is wholly different from the dread which the enemy sought to infuse among the Thessalonians. The apostle accordingly sets himself to this task. First of all he comforts them.

"Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory in you." It may be noticed that he leaves out "the patience of hope." How comes this? It was exactly the hope that was no longer bright in their hearts. So far the enemy had succeeded. They had been comforted, but they had lost somewhat of the light and joy of the hope. They were moved more or less by their tribulation; not perhaps so much by the outward pressure as by the insinuation of Satan through false teaching, which is a far more dangerous thing for the child of God. It is plain that the apostle merely mentions their faith growing, and their love He no longer praises nor names their patience of hope, but rather prays for them in2 Thessalonians 3:1-18; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-18 in such a way as to show there was a lack in this respect. That is, he takes up two of the qualities mentioned in the first epistle, and not the third. This, which was bound up with the whole structure of the first epistle, is left out of the second. There was too good reason for it. For the time they had let it slip, as I have just explained. It is true that the apostle tells them, "we glory in you in the churches of God for your patience, and faith" (he does not speak of their "patience of hope") "in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure." They were holding on, and not giving up Christ but their souls had not the former spring through Christ their hope. We shall have the evidence of this more fully soon.

There was "a manifest token," says he, "of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer." So far it was well. "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Observe the reason why he brings in "that day." It was a false doctrine about the day, which draws out an explanation of its nature and its relation to the coming of the Lord. When that day comes, it will not fall with its troubles on the children of God. In truth the Lord will then execute judgment on their enemies I do not mean on the dead till the close, but on the quick or living. It will be no more in some figurative and preparatory sense of exceeding affliction, or of natural overthrow; but its description here is the Lord Jesus revealed from heaven in flaming fire. There will be no doubt about its nature or effects. Every eye shall see Him.

That is, even2 Thessalonians 1:1-12; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 plainly prepares us for the complete discomfiture of the illusory and alarming dreams which these false teachers had been foisting in under false colours among the Thessalonian saints. But he pursues the matter farther. He will take vengeance on two classes on those that know not God, and those that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These seem the Gentiles and the Jews respectively; but why do not we find here some allusion to the third class His relation to the church of God? Because those who compose the church are no longer here.

Thus it is shown that the Lord will deal with all on earth, not merged in one, but discriminated; for He executes judgment, and hence does not confound those who differ in a common class. There is thus a definite distinction drawn; but this so much the more precisely leaves out the Christian. Its force is more understood the more it is weighed. The apostle does not declare all at once, but prepares the way with much circumspection. When he says "them that know not God," he means the idolatrous Gentiles. Then he adds with another article, "and those that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (not, as we have it in English here, "and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus;" as if all were one and the same class). There are two classes, and therefore accuracy would seem to call on us to make the sense more definite "and on them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." At all events, whatever mode of rendering may be preferred, I have no hesitation in saying that such is the sense of the Greek, and nothing else. They are the Gentiles, who knew not God, (or, as Bengel has it, "qui in ethnica ignorantia de Deo versantur,") and the Jews, who might know God after a sort and to a certain point beyond Gentiles, but who did not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. ("Judaeis maxime, quibus evangelium de Christo praedicatum fuerat.") For unbelief is always convicted by the test that God employs; and the day of the Lord will deal with every form. The Gentiles that know not God will be punished, and the Jews that abuse the forms of Old Testament revelation to disobey the gospel will not escape, still less nominal and apostate Christendom.

The reason why no notice is taken of Christians as then on earth we shall see assigned a little lower down: I merely now remark that he could not put himself in either of those two classes. It is evident that on whomsoever that day is to fall it has no bearing on such. If therefore the Christians were troubled now, it was in no way the same character of trouble as that which shall be in the day of the Lord. The teaching of those who had spread this impression was utterly false; and if they claimed the highest sanction for it, they were worse than mistaken they were the guilty tools of Satan. But as to both the classes we have seen described by the apostle, they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction," both "from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believed:" for this is the full force of it.

In the new age people will be blessed abundantly, but the blessing of the millennium does not exactly take the shape of belief. They shall behold the glory of the Lord. Such is their form as assigned by scripture. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge not with the faith, but with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. It will be in countless cases the fruit of true divine teaching; but knowledge describes it better than faith; and we may easily understand the difference. They will behold the glory, they will look upon the Lord, no longer hidden but displayed. The blessed spoken of in our chapter are clearly those that have already believed. So indeed the apostle states: "Wherefore we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of the calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Next (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17) he comes to the special error in question. "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . . that ye be not soon shaken in mind nor troubled, neither in spirit nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is present." It is well known that "of the Lord" (not of Christ) is unquestionably required by the best manuscripts, and other ancient witnesses.

Ἐνέστηκε does not mean "at hand," but actually come. I do not enter into any long proof of this just now, having already done so elsewhere. Suffice it to say, that the word occurs in half a dozen places in the New Testament, and nowhere can bear any sense but the one alleged. Nor does it ever convey any such meaning as "at hand" in any correct Greek author. It has been so thought; but it is a mistake. It always means present, in contrast with future ever so imminent. So in two instances of the New Testament it stands over against future things; as when it is expressly said (in Romans 8:1-39 and 1 Corinthians 3:1-23), "things present and things to come." The latter might be "at hand," but not the former. The things to come are in pointed opposition to those actually arrived. Again, we have (Galatians 1:4) "this present evil world." This is now only. The age to come is not evil but good. It is in contrast with the present. And so as to "for the time then present," (Hebrews 9:1-28) and "for the present necessity." (1 Corinthians 7:1-40) It is not a question of the future, but solely of the present; a necessity now, and at no other time. In short, it is the regular word for "present." If a Greek meant to say "present" in contrast with the future, there was no more emphatic word to use. What, then, can be conceived more calculated to destroy the right understanding of this epistle than the common mistranslation? Such is the true sense of the word, I am bold to say.

But clearly this gives an immense help to the understanding of the passage. The apostle appeals to the saints. It is not a question of teaching in this verse, but the apostle beseeches them by a certain powerful motive, which was still in their souls. He does not mean, "We beseech you concerning," as some conceive, but as our English version says, "by." It is a legitimate meaning of the preposition with words of entreaty. He uses the hope of being gathered to Christ at His coming as a motive why they should not listen to those misleading the saints. Now mark the character of this false teaching. It was not the excitement of hope, but of terror produced on the spirit. It caused them to shake, hindering them from a settled, holy, hearty waiting for Christ. The error occupied them with the terrors of some intervening trouble. The pretence was that all the afflictions they had been enduring were parts or signs of the well-known day of trouble, the day of the Lord. Not at all, says the apostle: the trouble of that day will befall the enemies, not the friends, of the Lord. As they knew that every believer loved His name, the notion propagated was wholly astray. It was morally false, as ignoring in the first place His unfailing and perfect love for them.

Therefore he could say, "We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as by us, as that the day of the Lord is present." Do you not know that Christ is coming for you, and that the first aim and effect of His coming will be your gathering together to meet Him in the air? Why, therefore, be uneasy at such a rumour about His day, with all its awful associations? You have been taught that from God; why be disturbed by this effort of the enemy, who falsely pretends to the Spirit and word, and an alleged letter of mine? That day will fall on the world. Indeed, the apostle had implied in the opening of this epistle, as well as in the latter part of his first, that the day of the Lord does not concern the saints, who were sons of light and of day. They would come accordingly with that day, instead of its overtaking them as a thief by night, because so it comes on whom it may. It comes from the Lord in His execution of judgment on a guilty world; and the very fact of their being sons of light ought to have proved that it cannot surprise such, because they belonged to the region whence it comes.

With striking pithiness he briefly points to the ways of deceit and darkness which accompanied the notion, and betrayed its real source. Truth refuses an admixture of falsehood; and the pretence that any had a spiritual intimation to themselves, or a word for others, that the day of the Lord was really come, was manifestly of the serpent, not of God. Such and so rapid are the steps of evil, one wrong leading to another. But the allegation that they had the apostle's own authority for the delusion gave him a direct opportunity to contradict the error. "Let no man deceive you by any means: for lit shall not come] unless there shall come the apostasy first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." These are two different things. The apostle affirms that the day cannot be before both. Christendom will have abandoned the faith, and the man of sin must be revealed. What a prospect! Do the children of God believe it? We know the world has wholly opposite expectations. Those who allow themselves with so little seriousness to bear the excellent name of the Lord will openly fall away from the confession of the gospel; and then a suited leader into the gulf of perdition will soon appear for the apostates.

I am perfectly persuaded that some of the most important parts of Satan's means of bringing about the apostasy are now actively at work. God has been graciously filling many hearts with joy and comfort of the truth. He has given not a few to believe these words, the moral signs of which are becoming daily more and more manifest. The apostasy again must come, and, in contrast with the man of righteousness, the man of sin be revealed, even the final Judas, "the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above every one called God, or an object of veneration; so that he sitteth down in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." How sharply in contrast with the Lord Jesus, who, though really God, in love became man, in order to accomplish the glorious counsels of God and man's salvation by grace! This one is the son of perdition to the ruin of those who trust him. Although he be but a man, and the man of sin, he takes the place of being the true God here on earth, and this too, not in the world, but in the temple of God of that time. Thus he not merely takes the place of God here below, but actually as such enters His temple. I do not doubt that the temple will then be in Jerusalem; so that as Christendom began at Jerusalem, the holy city will be its last scene of sinful pride and of divine judgment, though not its only place of judgment. Jerusalem! Rome! they are two names of most solemn import as to the subject to which I am briefly alluding. "Remember ye not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time." It is no absolute restraint, but provision only; for he must be revealed in his own season.

The reference to previous teaching left the matter in comparative obscurity, and has given rise to a great deal of discussion. I think the true answer neither difficult nor uncertain. It is evident that what withholds or restrains must be a power superior to man or Satan, and of a nature totally opposite to the man of sin. As this is the embodiment, or rather head, of evil, so that which restrains his revelation would naturally be the power of good which suppresses as long as God pleases the full manifestation of the lawless one. There seems to be a good reason why the matter is put in this general, if not vague, manner. What withholds is presented as a principle or power in an abstract way, and not as a person only. It might, I suppose, assume a different shape at different times.

Thus we find ourselves within narrow limits in order to fix the restraint and the. restrainer. The Thessalonians, who were but young in truth, already knew what restrains, "that he might be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of iniquity" [or "lawlessness," which is the true force of the word] "doth already work: only there is one who restraineth now until he be taken away; and then shall the lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy with the appearing of his coming" or presence. Evidently, then, we find here a power that hinders the manifestation of the lawless one a power which is also a person. Where do we find one that effectually checks the plans of Satan, a person no less than a power? We need not consider long, but answer, without hesitation, the Spirit of God.

Undeniably He is both a power and a person; and save in Him it will be far from easy, if possible, to find an answer that combines these two distinct intimations, as well as both the character and the extent of the power involved. It can hardly be said to be the Spirit of God dwelling in the church, except in the most general way. We must recollect that the Holy Spirit not only dwells there, but also acts providentially in the government of the world. I am far from meaning that, when the church is gone, He will restrain the powers of the world much longer. There are men of the world who have no confidence in its stability; though it exercises no salutary fear over their souls, and they cling to it all the same. I am sure that no Christian man should trust it for a moment. They are not called to promise fair things to that which cast out and slew the Lord of glory. They know that its doom is coming quickly, but not till they have formally rejected the truth, and accepted the man of sin. But no matter what the wicked will of man and the wiles of Satan may be, they will not be able absolutely to extinguish divinely-controlled government among men as soon as they desire. There is One that still restrains, who could always indeed, but who will cease only when, according to God, the time for the final outburst arrives. It does not, I think, terminate at once, even when the Lord shall have come and taken up His saints, both those that sleep and all those alive and waiting for Him. I say "all," for, you must remember, it is invariably assumed in scripture that every saint waits for Christ. The notion that a person may be a saint, and not looking for His coming, does not enter into the mind of the Holy Spirit. One may fall, of course, into a wrong state from bad teaching or careless ways; but if Christ is my life and righteousness, I shall surely love Him; and if so, I must want to see and be with Him in the condition of glory, where alone such life and righteousness, and the love that gave them, have their just display and results. Hence it is always assumed that every Christian is, in the knowledge of His love, waiting for Christ to come and receive us to Himself, that we may be with Him in the Father's house before He executes judgment on the world. Till then the Spirit of God acts as a cheek on the designs of Satan; and even after the church is gone (as I think) He will restrain for a short space.

From the Apocalypse we learn that for a little while God carries out certain agencies of blessing. Not only does He not immediately cease to deal with souls, but we do not at once see either the apostasy or the man of sin. This is a consideration that bears on the question; for undoubtedly it is not the will of man that either sheds blessing on souls or restrains the proudest effort of Satan. After the church is taken up, then the Spirit of God works; and this doubly. He will bring souls into the knowledge of the testimony that God will then raise up to meet the existing circumstances, for His own glory as well as in His pitiful mercy to man. But, besides, He will even then restrain the powers that be from falling instantaneously into the devices of the devil. At a certain given moment, which the Revelation clearly defines, Satan will be cast down from heaven, and will then bring forward his long-meditated plan. The empire that has disappeared from among men for so long, that the wise men of the world think its resurrection impossible the Roman empire will come forward clothed with a diabolical energy. This is the moment when the Spirit ceases to restrain.

Accordingly the Western empire will use all its might, and Satan will help it, to establish a politico-religious power in Jerusalem, who will be the head of the Jews, and at the same time the religious chief of the West. Such is the issue of idolatrous Christ-rejecting Judaism and of apostate Christendom. The man of sin will sit and be worshipped as God, in His temple at Jerusalem. This will enable the Roman empire still to carry on its political game of opposition to the Eastern powers. The West, I say, will support and be supported by the Antichrist, and consequently must share in the awful destruction that the Lord will Himself execute when He appears. Angels will do their part, and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone; for they will be caught red-handed in their opposition to the Lamb, little knowing that He is Lord of lords and King of kings. As for the civil and religious leaders, the beast and the false prophet, they will be consigned to everlasting destruction, without even the form of trial. Nothing less awaits these last and seemingly greatest leaders of the world's false glory. But, remember, the flower of the West (of these lands that boast of religion, and civilization, and progress) shall perish in this destruction of the revived imperial power and its Jewish ally.

I dare not prophesy smooth things to our own country and race. I believe that all these kingdoms of the West, now so confident in their resources and power, will fall helplessly into the hands of Satan at last. At Jerusalem the man of sin, as at Rome, the civil head of empire, with his confederate but subject kings, will be the two beasts of Revelation 13:1-18. It is not the time to enter into further details now; but I may state ray conviction, that the man of sin, whom 2 Thess. shows enthroned in God's temple, will be the accepted Messiah of the deceived Jews in Jerusalem, as the first beast is the imperial head at Rome; for the civil power will then be separate from the religious, and we all know how ardently men desire this now. But its accomplishment will have results far different from what most look for.

I confess I am struck by the solemn fact, that one cannot speak of these subjects, even at short intervals of time, without perceiving new features which, in principle, bring us more and more up to the brink of the precipice. I do then, from every point of view, warn all those who are looking for bright hopes on the earth, and promising improvement to men. It is serious to observe that the lawless one here described and reserved for such a destiny is related very nearly to the mystery of lawlessness which was then at work, as the apostle let us know, and which has gone on increasing, and is immensely increased now. It is true that the lawless one will not be revealed until the restraint of the Spirit of God over the world is removed. This appears to me to be the unforced deduction from the apostle's statement, compared with the light thrown on the subject by other Scriptures, which, by common consent, treat of the same time and point. It is the Spirit of God ceasing to restrain in the world as well as in the church, since He will for a brief space both act on souls and restrain Satan in the world, after the church has been caught up to heaven.

This I consider a comprehensive and correct view of what, is revealed. It is put generally here both as "he who withholds" and as "that which withholds." The particular from of withholding power might differ according to varying circumstances. The Christians of old used to think the Roman empire withheld them. Nor was their idea far from the mark; because the empire was assuredly among the powers ordained of God, as I do not doubt emperors, kings, presidents, etc., are still. But the hour hastens when the powers that be will cease to derive their authority from God; when the West above all will openly renounce the true God, and the beast will rise up from the abyss. Our chapter adds a true picture of the extent to which the man of sin will be allowed to go in diabolical imitation of what God wrought by Christ when here below. It is the hour of retribution, when the proud apostates who refused the truth accept and perish in the lie of the enemy. How blessed the lot of the saints which the apostle contrasts with this! (Verses 13-17.)

The next chapter (2 Thessalonians 3:1-18) closes the epistle with divers desires, and a prayer for them that the Lord would direct their hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ. The key-note is thus maintained from first to last. As Christ waits to come, so should we, that we may meet Him then. But the apostle would not have this hope nor the Lord Himself dishonoured by the reproach of disorderly ways. And thus he nowhere more enjoins the duty of honourable industry, appealing to his own example, than in the epistles which most insist on Christ's coming as the proximate and constant hope of the Christian. If any would pervert such a truth, or any other, to idleness and disorder, he was to be marked as unworthy of Christian companionship, not of course counted an enemy (like the wicked or heretics), but admonished as a brother. Idleness is fruitful of disorder and the foe of peace, which the apostle desired for them from the Lord of peace Himself always and in every way.

May we seriously heed the truth, and its immediate application to our consciences and ways! May God give us quiet energy without restlessness or excitement, but so much the more calmly, because of the realized nearness of the Lord's return, and the solemn consequences for all mankind! Oh for an earnest, burning zeal; for self-denying love; for hearts devoted to Christ, which might warn men of their impending destruction, that, if they have not been won by His love, they may at least tremble at the hopeless inextricable ruin in which their unbelief will soon leave them for ever.