In the magazine called the New Yorker there was a cartoon of two
ministers conversing in a luxurious library. The older man says to
the younger: “Drawing upon my not inconsiderable experience,
Andrews, my advice to a young man ambitious of preferment in our
calling is to steer clear of two subjects-politics and religion.” There
is no doubt about it that these are the two most controversial
subjects. They are so just because they are important and vital to
both time and eternity. There is much needless controversy,
however, that can be eliminated if men will limit their debate to what
is known, and not argue over the unknown.
There are at least 3 or 4 probable ways to interpret Paul’s
remarks about the man of sin and the restraining power that was
holding him back. One is free to believe any of them if he can
maintain a consistency with the rest of Scripture. It would be easier
to shut out eyes to the matter and just stir clear of controversial
subjects, but this is foolish since we have everything to gain and
nothing to lose by struggling with the hardest passages of the Bible.
However difficult it might be to know the exact interpretation of
every detail, it is easy to get the basic ideas, and these are the values
that we really need anyway. We do not need to know who and when,
but it is important that we know what. If we admit we do not know
who the anti-Christ and the restrainer are for sure, and that we do
not know for sure when he will be revealed, we can still know and
declare what he will do when he does come, and what the
consequences will be. We want to study Paul’s difficult words so as
to know what history will be like the last days.
In verse 7 Paul says the mystery of iniquity is already at work in
the world. Being that the man of sin is a product of Satan’s power, it
is obvious why he is already at work, for Satan does not cease to do
all he can to promote evil. But notice that Paul says he is limited and
works in mystery, which means he works in the dark and in secret.
Lawlessness has no right or power to operate openly in the light, for
the restrainer is holding him back. When the restrainer is out of the
way, then Satan will be permitted by God to again operate in full
power out in the open. The man of sin will come to the light. No
longer will he be limited to underground operations.
Paul is simply telling them that if they think evil is powerful
now, just wait. It will be a great deal worse before history is ended.
The last days have already begun, and the lawless one does have
some power, but in the latter days of the last days he shall be
revealed in great power. The Apostle John said the same thing-anti-Christ
is coming, but already there are many anti-Christs in the
world. Anti-Christianity is as old as Christianity, for both began at
the same time. Herod sought to slay the Christ-child, and from that
day to this there has been a division-the followers of Christ and
opponents of Christ.
Only the presence of the restrainer prevents the final revelation
of the man of lawlessness. The restrainer I believe is the principle of
law and order that is embodied in the church by the power of the
Holy Spirit and manifested in a just government. If you believe the
restrainer to be something else or someone else, as some believe it to
be Michael the archangel, or if you say with Augustine and many
others, “I frankly confess I do not know what he means,” still we can
all agree that the restraining is still going on, and as of now Satan
does not yet have the power to freely establish his man of lawlessness.
If we agree at this point, the rest does not really matter, for then
we are in the same position as the Thessalonians. We are waiting
and looking for the signs to be fulfilled, for the day is yet ahead when
as Paul says in verse 8, the wicked one shall be revealed. Paul
implies by his following words that his rise to power is almost
immediately followed by his being destroyed in the coming of Christ.
Sometime, of course, is needed for him to deceive the people, but
centuries can hardly be read into this place between the coming of
anti-Christ and the coming of Christ. Whoever he is, Paul says Jesus
will consume him, or slay him, with the spirit of His mouth. This is
Old Testament imagery. In Isa. 11 we read of the Messiah coming in
judgment: “...he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and
with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.”
When Jesus comes again it will not be in patient long suffering,
nor with a message of love to woo the wicked from their sin. He
comes in glory and power to judge and destroy. He comes to wrap
up history by bringing justice upon all believers. All he has to do is
speak and it is done. When he says, “Depart from me ye accursed,”
it will be accomplished. What the Jews looked for in Messiah in the
first century is what He will be when He comes again. He will be
absolute sovereign, and He will triumph over all His enemies.
Paul indicates that He will come with such brightness that the
light itself will destroy the power of darkness. Notice that it is the
brightness of His coming, that is His parousia, which will destroy the
lawless one. Parousia is the word used by Paul in his teaching
concerning the rapture of the church. Those who put 7 years
between the parousia, which includes the rapture, and this parousia
which ends the rule of the man of sin, do so on the arbitrary ground
that their system demands it. There is no support for such a view in
the Greek. If such an arbitrary use of Scripture can be allowed for
one system, then it can be allowed for all, and the cults have as much
right to twist the Bible to fit their schemes as anyone else. Just
because a person is an evangelical Christian does not mean he has a
license to do what he condemns in others.
If you cannot prove what you believe by Scripture alone, then
you are as accountable as those who do the same to prove what you
do not believe. The point is, the New Testament uses parousia as a
term to describe all of the events of the second coming. It is without
foundation to say it has two meanings. When Jesus comes with His
saints and for His saints it will be to destroy the man of sin, which
also makes the theory of the secret rapture improbable if not
impossible.
After Paul has given a brief order of events: the falling away, the
man of sin revealed, and the second coming of Christ, he goes on to
give the reasons for this in God’s plan, and he describes briefly what
the plan of the man of sin will be. In verse 9 he gives us the source of
our power, and the signs of that power. All of the terms here to
describe the signs are terms used of the miracles of Christ. In other
words, they are going to be real supernatural acts to gain the
allegiance of the people. Anti-Christ will be a real counterfeit of
Christ. The motive and goal, however, are all based on evil and
falsehood. They are designed to deceive rather than enlighten like
the miracles of Christ.
Notice that the word coming is used again, but here it is the
parousia of the anti-Christ. In verse 6 the word for his being
revealed is also the same word used of the revelation of Christ, which
is apokalypsis. The appearance of the anti-Christ on the stage of
history is described in the same terms as the appearance of the true
Christ. Since it is obvious that the parousia and the apokalypsis of
the man of sin are the same event, why should it not be equally as
obvious that the parousia and apokalypsis of Christ are the same
event? They are not two different events separated by 7 years, as
some believe. There is no more basis for that than there is in putting
7 years between the revealing and the coming of the anti-Christ.
The fact that the anti-Christ has a revelation and a coming
confirms my conviction that he is a supernatural being, and that he is
now in existence, as he was in the first century, he will appear just as
soon as Satan is unbound and allowed to pursue his plan of deception
through signs and wonders. At this point I would caution against
what I feel is another misuse of Scripture. Every time someone
appears who can do great wonders, someone is quick to point out
that even Satan will do miracles to deceive the people. Paul did not
go into detail and tell us what the signs would be, but it is certainly
unjust to impose this passage on all those with whom we disagree.
Much healing may be evil in its source and result, but I would
hesitate to link any of it with the miracles of the anti-Christ, for they
just do not fit the picture. None of those who can be criticized are
anywhere near fulfilling Paul’s description of the anti-Christ. Be
careful how you apply this passage to wonder workers. Unless you
are prepared to deny that God is doing anymore wonders in the
world, you are in danger of using the Word of God to impose the
work of God.
In verse 10 Paul says it will be the lost who are going to perish,
and who will fall for him when he comes. They will fall for his
deceiving lies just because they loved not the truth. In other words,
God is going to use Satan’s evil scheme as a means of accomplishing
his own judgment upon the foolish and hardhearted who reject the
Gospel. Only the lost will be deceived, for the saved are in no
danger. The implication is that the whole world will have been
evangelized, for they have all had a chance to receive the truth, but
many have not received it. In other words, after the world has had a
chance the day of grace will end, and the day of judgment will begin.
God let Satan back on the battlefield and laughs at his futile efforts,
for when he is at his best he fails utterly, and Christ destroys his
whole plan by His coming. However we interpret details, the
message is clear that Satan is going to have one more chance to
deceive the world, and then he will be destroyed, or judged forever.
History as we know it will close, and this is what we call the last days.
