There are things that come into our lives that shake us. We may have started the day feeling rock solid, and then, some news comes out of the blue, and you feel like something just knocked your breath out of you. Perhaps it’s that the job you were banking on is no longer a possibility, you receive bad news about your health, or that your checking account balance is quite a bit lower than it should be. Maybe it’s that something is simply taking a different turn than you thought it’d take. We have all been there. Whatever it is, we are shaken, we are alarmed, and our anxiety levels go through the roof.
Well, something like this happened to the Thessalonians, as we can see from 2 Thessalonians 2. They had received some news that had shaken them to their core. They were shaken, alarmed, and their anxiety was no doubt at an all-time high. The news they received wasn’t that they’d lost out on that job they were banking on, or that their health was bad, or that their checking account balance was low. They’d been told that Christ had already returned. We see that in verses 1-2. Paul writes, “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has already come.”
It seems that Paul wasn’t exactly sure how they’d received this false teaching. Perhaps something had told them in person, or someone claimed a spirit communicated to them, or maybe somebody had even written a letter claiming to be Paul. Whatever the means, Paul is covering all his bases. He wants them to know that however this news came to them, it wasn’t from him, it wasn’t of the Lord, and it is false.
Now, we are not told the exact nature of what the Thessalonians were taught. And it would have to be a bit crafty. After all, it’s hard to believe that the Thessalonians could look around at the world and see the suffering they were enduring and think that Christ had already come and gathered his people to himself. So, maybe it was something along the lines of saying that Christ’s return and gathering people to himself is more of a spiritual reality than a physical one. Then, you could convince people that Christ has returned in some spiritual way, they were with him spiritually, and therefore their suffering shouldn’t really affect them. We simply do not know. But what we do know is that Paul writes to them at the start of this second chapter, correcting this view, exhorting the Thessalonian believers not to be deceived.
And what’s helpful for us is that as Paul lays out some truths the Thessalonians should keep in mind in order not to be deceived by this false teaching, they are truths that are instructive and helpful for us as well. Therefore, since Paul writes about things related to Christ’s return, I want us to recognize some truths from this text related to Christ’s return as well. And the first is that:
This may be quite obvious to us, but Jesus warns about us being deceived about this in his teaching as does Paul here, so we obviously need to make this explicit: we will not miss Christ’s return and our final salvation. You don’t have to worry about it. It’s not going to be secret. You’ll not walk out of shopping at Kroger one afternoon only to find out that you somehow missed out on Christ’s glorious return happening outside.
Now, Paul makes this point by noting a couple of things that have to happen prior to Christ’s return. And I think we’re supposed to understand that these things happen somewhat immediately prior to Christ’s return, and that these things will happen on a world-wide scale. Paul notes two things that will precede Christ’s coming as he writes in verses 3-4, “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”
So, we can see that Paul notes two things that will happen before the return of Christ. There will be a rebellion (again the Lord) and there will come this man of lawlessness. Now, most understand this “man of lawlessness” to be the final manifestation of the beast that we saw when we studied the book of Revelation. You’ll remember that the beast is spoken of in that book as one who had a “mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed” (Rev. 13:3) and again as one who “was and is not and is to come” (Rev. 17:8). And I argued as we went through Revelation that this best was an oppressive person, state, or social structure used by Satan to oppose the Lord and his people. Moreover, the note that he had a mortal wound and was healed or was, is not, and will be again was John’s way of saying there will be many concrete manifestations of the beast throughout history. So, think of Nero, for example, an emperor of Rome who persecuted Christians, responsible for the deaths of Peter and Paul. He was one manifestation of this beast in history. And he died. But we would be mistaken to think that the beast has then come and gone. After all, only a couple centuries later the church would face greater persecution under the imperial reign of Diocletian. And then he died and another concrete manifestation of the beast came about, and that will continue until the end.
However, there is one final manifestation of the beast (this antichrist figure). And it seems that this is the “man of lawlessness” that Paul speaks of in this text. Let me show you why. Take the things we know about this man of lawlessness from the text.
First, there will be a great rebellion that accompanies this man. Paul speaks of “the rebellion” in verse 3.
Second, this man will be destroyed in the end by the word of Christ’s mouth when Christ appears. Paul called him “the son of destruction” in verse 4 and then notes in verse 8, “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring [him] to nothing.”
Third, this man will exalt himself against the Lord as one to be worshipped in the place of the Lord. Paul writes that this lawless man is one “who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (v. 4). Now, I don’t want to get into connecting all of the dots yet, but I will quickly note here that I think taking one’s “seat in the temple” is a metaphorical way of speaking about reigning as one who exalts himself as God, since the temple is the dwelling place of God. So, I don’t think this is a reference to a literal temple.
Fourth, this man of lawlessness is being restrained by something/someone until the time when the Lord sees fit to let him be revealed. Paul writes in verse 6, “And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time” and in verse 7, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.”
Finally, we see that the lawless one is empowered by Satan and is able to deceive many with signs and wonders, so that he will be followed by many. Paul writes, ‘The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing” (vv. 9-10).
So, let me now show you how each of these elements is pictured in this final scene of the last beast’s rebellion against Christ. I’ll try to show you how each of these elements is pictured in the end. First, throughout the book of Revelation, the beast is pictured as exalting himself as an object of worship in the place of the Lord. In fact, all of the world is divided in terms of being a follower of the beast or a follower of the Lamb. So, the beast fits this description of exalting himself as God and an object of worship. Second, we read in many texts about many being deceived, following the beast, and rebelling against the Lord just prior to the Lord’s return. We see it in Revelation 16:13-14, “And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.” Here we have a number of the elements Paul describes accounted for.
And there’s another recounting of this in Revelation 17:14, when the beasts gathers the kings of the earth and, “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” We have a repetition of the rebellion, led by the beast, but now we have the added element of the beast and his army being defeated by the Lamb, as Paul mentions.
Then again we have a repetition of this event in Revelation 19:19-21, where we read, “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and the birds were gorged with their flesh.”
Now, we have most all of the elements accounted for. In this repetition, the beast being worshiped as God is explicitly mentioned. The people being deceived by signs is noted. Christ having a sword coming from his mouth pictures what Paul describes as the Lord willing with the breath that comes from his mouth. The beast’s destruction is described. And we know from reading the whole book that the beast and this rebellion is driven by the activity of Satan, who becomes the focus of judgment when this rebellion and conquest by the Lamb is repeated from the perspective of focusing on Satan in Revelation 20.
The only element we haven’t addressed is who or what restrains this beast (or antichrist) until it’s time for him to be revealed. But I think the best guess is that it’s an angel. After all, throughout the book of Revelation, it’s an angel who serves as the Lord’s agent to restrain and release Satan and his agents. So, in Revelation 20, for example, it is an angel who restrains Satan by binding him in the pit, and it is reasonable to assume that it is an angel who will be commanded of the Lord to release Satan from the pit for his final rebellion before the Lord comes and destroys him and his agents of rebellion.
Therefore, here’s what I think Paul is saying in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10. Before the Lord returns triumphantly to gather his saints to himself, there’s going to be one final concrete manifestation of the beast (this antichrist figure). All the previous antichrists are simply a build up to this one. And you won’t miss him because he’s going to lead a rebellion, deceiving individuals from all over the earth so that they mount a rebellion against the Lord. This final antichrist figure will make himself the object of worship and allegiance, and many will follow him. But two things we should know about him is that, one, he’ll come in the Lord’s timing. When the Lord commands his angel to stop restraining him, he’ll reveal himself. And, two, he’ll be destroyed. As he leads a rebellion to make war against the Lord and his people, the Lord will return and destroy him with his mouth, conquering his enemies and gathering his saved people to himself.
So, that is going to happen before the Lord returns, and that’s not something you’re going to miss just by shopping inside Kroger for an hour. So, Paul says, “Don’t be deceived. Some things will happen before Christ’s triumphant return. They’ve clearly not taken place yet. And when they do, it’ll be obvious to all the world.”
That’s truth number one I want us to see from this text: we will not miss Christ’s return and our final salvation. Therefore, you can never fall prey to the lie that he returned and you somehow missed it. But I want to note a few other things as well.
Notice that right in the middle of Paul’s description of what will happen prior to the Lord’s triumphant return, he insets a statement in verse 5, saying, “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things.”
What Paul is telling them should not be new information to them. Though he was only able to be with the Thessalonian believers a short while, he used that time to teach them about the Lord’s return. He taught them these things while he was with them. What was their problem then? Why had they been deceived? The answer is that they’d forgotten the teaching that Paul had given them. They’d not remembered it and kept it in their minds. And because it had disappeared from their minds, they were easy prey for deception and false teaching.
Now, we’re not in a place where we, like the Thessalonians, can say, “Remember when Paul was with us and taught us about this.” Paul died and went to be with the Lord a long time ago. However, we have something even better. We have our Bibles. All the teaching that Paul wanted believers to know has been written down and preserved for us in our Bibles. And it’s not just what the Spirit gave us through Paul. Rather, all the Lord wanted us to know to love him, obey him, and walk faithfully before him, period, has been given to us in our Bibles.
However, we can fall prey to the same kind of deceptive schemes of the enemy in our day if we forget what the Bible says. And the problem is that the world all around us is constantly pushing us to accept and believe things contrary to the teaching of the Bible. For example, Aaron taught an entire semester-long Sunday school class on the Bible and homosexuality because the culture is pressing so hard against the Bible’s teaching. And we can’t afford to forget what the Bible says. We could do the same thing with abortion and many other topics lest we forget and find ourselves deceived by the persuasive arguments of the enemy through the world around us.
A number of years ago I got a weedeater from David Matlock. When he gave it to me, he walked me through instructions for starting it. He mentioned making sure an orange switch was moved down from the stop to the start position, make sure it’s primed, where the choke needed to be, etc. Well, one day, shortly after I got it, I went out to start it, and it wouldn’t start. After about fifteen minutes and 100 pulls on the weedeater, I was drenched in sweat, angry, and probably had regressed in terms of sanctification. And then, I sat it down, defeated. That’s when I looked up and saw that the orange switch was on “stop” not “start.” I switched it down, pulled the string, and it started instantly. I’d forgotten David’s instructions, and it’d cost me a lot of time, enemy, and will to do yard work. Now, I actually say to myself every time I go to start it, “Make sure that switch isn’t on stop.” That’s what we need to do with the Word – make sure we know what it says by constantly exposing ourselves to it and reminding ourselves of it.
Verse 5 is a reminder that the way we strengthen ourselves against deception is by remembering the Bible, and the way to make sure we remember God’s Word is by exposing ourselves to it again and again. Hear it preached, hear it read, read it yourself, memorize it, talk about it at small groups, discuss it as a family, and on and on. This is how we stay anchored in truth and strengthened to stand against false teaching.
There’s also another truth we need to be reminded of that we see in verses 11-12, namely, that:
In verses 11-12, Paul speaks of people who have not believed the gospel and are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and be saved. And here’s what Paul says that God does to them prior to the return of Christ. He writes, “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
You see, if you ask, “Why would so many follow this man of lawlessness in rebellion against the Lord?” the answer is that the Lord himself sends them strong delusion so that they believe what is false. And if you ask why the Lord would do that, the answer is because he’s judging them for their unbelief and pursuit of sinful pleasures in unrighteousness.
We’re prone to thinking that those who reject the gospel will continue to have a chance to repent and believe until they die, and then it’s too late. However, Paul reminds us in this text that sometimes the Lord may well choose to go ahead and let them face judgment now. And the way his judgment comes into this life now is by giving them over to believe the falsehoods they want to believe.
Now, this has implications for us as we share the gospel with people. We are right to note that we can’t convert someone by our power. We often say that we are responsible to share the gospel, and God is responsible to convert them. And there’s truth in that in the sense that we should trust the Lord and the power of the gospel and not try to win people to Christ through manipulative practices. But we shouldn’t think, therefore, that we shouldn’t warn men of imminent judgment and plead with them to believe in Christ now.
You see, when we evangelize we are right to warn people that they may not have many opportunities to believe the gospel. If they refuse to bow the knee to Christ now, it may be too late tomorrow. They may die tomorrow, sure. But even if they live, they may face the judgment of the Lord giving them over to deception so that repentance is impossible. Obedience to Christ and his gospel is nothing to be trifled with. We must warn men that the Lord’s judgment for refusing to believe is real, terrible, and certain.
And final, these verses remind us that:
Paul reminds these Thessalonians that some things will happen just prior to Christ’s return that will be obvious to all. Therefore, they can relax and know he’s not come yet. However, this isn’t his way of telling them not to be ready for Christ’s return at any moment. The consistent teaching of the Bible is that we should always live in a way anticipating our Lord’s return at any moment. And we need to keep that in mind.
But these verses also remind us that we should be ready in case the Lord delays a while. We’d be foolish to assume the Lord is coming back so soon that we never make plans. Right now, we have an intern program where we are training guys in hopes of sending out church planters to the most unevangelized areas of our country and around the world. We have members trying to get things in place so that in ten years they can go out to one of these areas where we’ve sent a church planter and labor with them and support them. And we better keep doing that because if the Lord tarries another ten years, I want us to have planned for ten years of faithfulness. And if he tarries another fifty years, I want us to have planned for fifty years of faithfulness.
And the chief way to ensure our faithfulness for fifty years or five hundred years is to make sure we’re continually centered on the gospel, the good news that the Son of God took on flesh, lived for us, died for our sins, was raised on the third day, and that in him we can know salvation by repenting and believing in him. This is why our service every Sunday revolves around the gospel. And it’s why we’re coming to the table to remember the gospel now.
Therefore, as we prepare to come to the table, let us rest in knowing we will not miss Christ’s return and our final salvation; ask God to help us to be faithful in learning, knowing, and hearing his word; go out with the gospel, warning unbelievers and pleading with them to believe the good news; and be ready at any moment for Christ’s return while also planning for a long life of faithful obedience to him should he delay. Let this be our response to this word this morning as we now come to the table. Amen.