2:1,2 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
When Paul was with the church at Thessalonica, he had taught the believers about the return of Jesus and he had reminded them in his first letter that those who have fallen asleep in Jesus (believers who had died and gone to be with the Lord) would return with Him (I Thes. 4:14,15), For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (I Thes. 4:16,17).
But evidently false teachers were confusing the church regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him. They were saying that the day of the Lord has come (2 Thes. 2:2). The false teachers were presenting their message either by a spirit, which would be a demonic spirit manifesting through a false prophet, or a message, which would be a false teacher, or a letter as if from us, counterfeit apostolic writings.
2:3a Let no one in any way deceive you,
This is a command. The church must not be deceived in any way. How could they, or we, be deceived? They had the word of God. So do we. They had the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, indwelling them. So do we.
2:3b,4 for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
The Day of the Lord — the return of our Lord and the end of history — will not come unless the apostasy comes first. Apostasy refers to rebellion or falling away. One of the signs of the end will be a falling away from Scriptural truth, Biblically defined morality, reverence for God and blasphemous disrespect for all that is holy and sacred. The spirit of apostasy will manifest socially in lawlessness and rebellion.
Further, the Day of the Lord will not occur until the man of lawlessness is revealed. The word revealed refers to a particular moment when his true nature will become evident. In a time when the social order is disintegrating around the world, when lawlessness rules the day, this man will epitomize disrespect for traditional, Bible-based morality, truth and law.
He will be the ultimate blasphemer of God. John says, There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies … And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven (Rev. 13:5,6).
He will be the ultimate enemy of the true church, It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him (Rev. 13:7).
Paul calls him the man the son of destruction, referring to the judgment of God for which he is destined. John calls him the antichrist (I Jn. 2:18) and describes him in Revelation 11:7 as the beast that comes up out of the abyss. The fact that he comes up out of the abyss, the place of demonic imprisonment (Luke 8:31, Rev. 9:2,3) does not mean that he is demonic in origin. It means that his power and authority and character are entirely demonic. This is a human being who not merely has a demonic anointing on his life. He is totally surrendered to and energized by Satan.
Paul further describes him as one who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God (I Thes. 2:4). He will suppress all other religions and enthrone himself in a rebuilt Jerusalem temple, displaying himself as being God.
He will have in his employ a false priest / false prophet who performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast (Rev. 13:13,14).
2 Thes. 2:5,6 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.
Paul reminds the church that he had taught them about this man of lawlessness and he says, you know what restrains him now. The word restrains means to hold back.
There has been much debate over the centuries as to this restraining force. Evidently Paul had explained this to the church so he does not include the information in his letter. Some have suggested it was the Roman government or human government in general but governments are often corrupt, often instruments of evil and eventually fail. In fact, the Roman government became a murderous persecutor of the church.
Others suggest the restrainer is the prayers of the church or the preaching of the Gospel but churches are not always faithful to pray with authority or to preach truthfully. Some have suggested angelic powers and while that is possible, it is not entirely satisfactory.
The most satisfactory explanation is that the restrainer is God Himself through the Holy Spirit who across the centuries has prevented lawlessness from entirely consuming the earth. He will also restrain this final manifestation of the antichrist spirit, the man of lawlessness, until God’s appointed time. We are reminded that all of history is under the sovereign control of almighty God and nothing happens apart from His timing.
Jesus was born in the fulness of time. Though the rulers tried to kill Jesus on a number of occasions, they were not able except at the exact hour of the Lord’s choosing — as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered. Our God is Lord over all of time and history. The man of lawlessness will be revealed in God’s timing.
2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
The mystery of lawlessness is an interesting phrase. We are reminded that we can never truly understand the depth of evil in this world or even in the human heart. As Jeremiah reminds us, The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick (wicked); who can understand it? (Jere. 17:9).
This fathomless evil has been at work since Adam and Eve first fell from grace. It so corrupted their first son, Cain, that murdered his brother Abel. By the tenth generation from Adam, the generation of Noah, the Lord described humanity with these words, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5).
Lawlessness will continue and multiply until he who now restrains … is taken out of the way. It is not that the Lord will remove His Holy Spirit entirely from the world for it is the Spirit who convicts of in and convinces of righteousness. No one would be saved if the Holy Spirit was completely absent. But it is as though the Lord will lift His restraining hand, allowing demons and wicked humanity to fulfill their evil desires without divine restraint.
2:8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
After the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit has been removed, that lawless one will be revealed. Notice the time sequence — lawlessness motivated by the antichrist spirit has been at work for generations, since the fall of Adam and Eve. Though evil has been restrained by the Holy Spirit, in the fulness of God’s timing the Spirit will cease to restrain evil which will allow the revelation of the final embodiment of the antichrist spirit, the man of lawlessness, the Antichrist.
His world wide dominion will be a time of unprecedented violence, blasphemy and demonic activity. However, his career will be short lived. Notice Paul’s absolute confidence in the sovereignty of God over human history. The revelation of the Antichrist will be soon followed by his destruction — whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.
The word slay — anelei — can refer to physical death but does not in his case. It may also be translated to do away with and that is the intent here. In Revelation 19:20 we read that the Antichrist, with the false prophet, are both thrown alive into the lake of fire. They are not slain. They are done away with, thrown away like garbage.
How will the Lord do away with the Antichrist? With the breath of His mouth — truth. And it will be truth proclaimed by the appearance, the second coming, of Jesus.
Isaiah, referring to the Messiah, said, But with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked (Isaiah 11:4)
John provides this symbolic representation of Jesus, From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations (Rev. 19:15). Jesus Christ, truth incarnate, will destroy the power and the empire of the Antichrist with His powerful word of truth.
In one sense, this has been happening for centuries. As the Gospel has been proclaimed under the anointing of the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders following, kingdoms and dominions of darkness have been pulled down. Light has penetrated darkness. Captives have been set free into the glorious liberty of the kingdom of God. Jesus, ministering through His church, has been confronting, exposing, disarming and trampling serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19).
In this final confrontation, Paul says that the Lord Jesus will destroy the man of lawlessness with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming. The phrase bring to an end — katargeo — means to abolish. The kingdom of the Antichrist will be abolished at the appearance, the epiphaneia — the brightness — of the coming of Jesus. The manifesting of the glory of the Lord will destroy the empire of the Antichrist.
Paul continues to give us information about the Antichrist. He wants us to be discerning.
2:9,10 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish,
The word coming, parousia, is the same word used in reference to the second coming of Jesus. It refers to arrival but also presence.
1. The arrival, the presence of the Antichrist is in accord with the activity of Satan. The word activity — energeia — from which we derive the English word energy — refers to power in action. The Antichrist will be energized, empowered by Satan.
Even as Jesus, God incarnate, God in the flesh, performed the will of His Father, so this man will allow Satan to completely incarnate into his mind and soul his hatred of God and humanity, his evil intellect, his perverse powers. Since humanity’s fall from grace, this has happened to a limited degree throughout history. Satan plants his wickedness and deceit in sinful, unrepentant men and women who then express wickedness and deceit in human society through false religion, false philosophy, degenerate artistic expression, unjust laws, oppressive economic and political systems, racist and hateful attitudes. But there has always been the restraining presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
However, when God removes the restraining power of the Holy Spirit, the world will be flooded with demonic activity, evil will flourish unchecked and this ultimate lawless man, entirely energized and empowered by Satan, will step onto the world stage.
2. He will work with all power and signs and false wonders. It is not that all of the miracles are false, though some will be. But they point to that which is false. The purpose of the miracles is to deceive and to give credibility to the man of lawless and his desire to be worshipped.
3. With all the deception of wickedness.
All of the powers, weapons and instruments of darkness to deceive and seduce will be released through this man.
4. However, his power and miracles are effective only in the lives of those who perish. Who are they who will perish and what makes them vulnerable?
2:10 because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
Truth refers to Jesus, truth incarnate in human flesh, and His gospel of salvation and all the truthful doctrines that exalt our Lord. Having rejected truth, people are vulnerable to the lies and propaganda and Satanic power and false miracles of Satan.
Remember, there were many people who saw the miracles of Jesus and heard His amazing wisdom but willfully turned away. Why? Jesus said, This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil (John 3:19). They turned from light because light exposes darkness and they loved their sin. But in turning from light and truth, they turned to spiritual blindness. Paul reminds us that, The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4).
Willful unbelief leads to spiritual blindness, the inability to recognize saving truth. In turning from truth revealed in Christ our Lord and Savior, people turn from salvation.
2:11,12 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
God has never been a passive bystander in the universe He created. He upholds all that He created not only through the laws of nature which He ordained but also according to the moral principles which are consistent with His own being. God built a moral foundation into the structure of this universe consistent with His moral goodness. He did this for our good and for our blessing. Those who violate God’s moral law experience consequences just as those who violate laws of nature.
God is not only working through the physical and moral structure of the universe, He also continually, actively and providentially moves all of time and history toward the fulfilling of all that He purposed from before the beginning. He removes kings and establishes kings (Daniel 2:21). He sets the time and boundary of every empire (Acts 17:26).
One of the most fearsome aspects of God’s activity in history is judicial abandonment. In Romans 1:18-32 Paul traces the de-evolution of humanity from the rejection of the existence of God, to the invention of false gods, to the inevitable downward spiral into darkness and depravity. Three times the apostle says, God gave them over (Rom. 1:24,26,28). Gave them over to what? To the evil they chose in defiance of and rebellion against God.
One expression of the judgment of God is to give individuals and societies over to the evil they have chosen — judicial abandonment. This is the principle Paul is expressing here. Those who rejected the Savior who is truth incarnate, who instead believed the man of lawlessness and bowed at the altar of his idolatry, will be subjected by God to a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false. God Himself will send the delusion that they all may be judged.
Why? Because they did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. They believed, obeyed and worshipped the man of lawlessness. They will be given over to lawlessness, chaos, anarchy, abandoned to a disintegrating society. They took pleasure in wickedness. They will be encompassed in wickedness, dwelling in wickedness, experiencing wickedness at the hands of others and experiencing the consequences of their own wickedness.
Those who reject light will be given over to darkness. Those who reject truth will be given over to lies and propaganda. God will lift His restraining hand and allow the full measure of evil to be experienced by those who reject the truth and purity which is in Christ and in His Gospel.
There are some who say, “God is unfair to send delusion on anyone.” But God is only confirming people in what they have chosen. In the Exodus account of Moses and Pharaoh, we read that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart but only after Pharaoh hardened his own heart. There comes a point where a human soul is so hardened against God that it will not open to mercy or truth. God then gives them over to their eternal choice.
But remember, Jesus wept over Jerusalem’s rejection of their Messiah (Luke 19:41) and he lamented, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling (Matt. 23:37). Never doubt God’s unfathomable tears over lost souls.
Now Paul has a word of rejoicing and exhortation for believers in whatever seasons of lawlessness and unrestrained evil we may live.
2:13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
Paul gives thanks for his fellow saints for the following reasons:
1. Because they are beloved by the Lord. Indeed, the Lord loved us before we even knew His name, demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). On Jesus’ final night with His disciples before the cross, just before He washed their feet, we read, Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end (John 13:1). The word end, telos, means to the fullest capacity. Our Lord loves us with His fullest capacity to love.
2. Because God has chosen you (them, us) from the beginning for salvation. Indeed, He (God) chose us in Him (in Christ) before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). Before there was a universe, God chose to set His redeeming love, His saving grace on us.
3. Through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. To sanctify means to set apart as holy: God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him (Eph. 1:4).
It is the Holy Spirit who establishes the holiness of our Lord in us as we hold fast our faith in the truth. The Holy Spirit opens our minds and souls to the truth revealed in the holy Bible, plants that truth in us and progressively brings us into conformity with the truth. In his first letter to this church, Paul said, For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe (I Thes. 2:13).
Jesus is progressively performing in us the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, progressively transforming us into His likeness, separating us unto Himself that we may share in His glorious work now and behold His glory in eternity.
2:15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.
In the midst of false teaching and lawlessness, idolatry and wickedness, we are to stand firm. How do we do this? By holding to the traditions which you were taught. These traditions are found and expounded in the word of God, our holy Bible. The same Holy Spirit who inspired this word now indwells us and interprets this word to us as we read and meditate it, as we listen to Godly teachers and as we live this word.
2:16,17 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.
As we move deeper into the end times and lawlessness increases, as false prophets and false teachers motivated by the antichrist spirit increase, even if we live into the day when the restraining hand of the Holy Spirit is lifted and the final Antichrist rises up, even then we may be assured that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, (will) comfort and strengthen (our ) hearts in every good work and word.
He will be faithful to keep us through time into eternity.