EPISODE 89 2 THESSALONIANS CHAPTER 2 "What to know about the Anti-Christ'

Welcome to Share the Word. In Thessalonica, false prophets continue to wreak havoc by circulating letters which would have the new believers thinking that the tribulation has already started and that Paul actually believes it himself. The deceivers continue to try to undermine the truth and bring confusion to young believers, and then there's talk of the Antichrist. Let's listen in. Second Thessalonians chapter 2. What to know about the Antichrist.

And now we come to this fascinating topic I teased a little bit last time. Chapter 2 of Second Thessalonians begins like this: Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching, allegedly from us, whether by prophecy or word or by mouth or by letter, asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don't let anybody deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, even setting himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

I mentioned last time that since the time Timothy first rejoined Paul with the questions about the future from the young believers in Thessalonica, someone had begun teaching them that the persecutions they were starting to experience were because the tribulation had already started. The tribulation, the time of intense trouble on earth just before Jesus' second coming. It sounds like they were being told falsely that Paul himself now believed that. They'd apparently even been shown a forged letter alleging he had written this much. Man, false prophets and false teachers, they seem to show up in short order in these early churches like ants at a picnic, don't they? They're always following hard on Paul's heels, trying to knock the early Christians off course.

Notice here, Paul calls them deceivers. There's little explanation for it except that Satan is always trying to undermine the truth. He's the author of confusion. You know what? There's just as many ants showing up at our picnics today, if you know what I mean. The only way to recognize deceivers delivering false information and bad theology is to be rooted in what the Word of God actually teaches.

But the young Christians in Thessalonica, they weren't there yet. So on his second visit, Timothy was confronted with new questions by members of this church. They were so confused. Are we in the tribulation already? Did we misunderstand what Paul said about the rapture? Could we have somehow missed it?

Timothy was probably bombarded with such questions, and like a small group leader who isn't quite sure he knows the right answers on his own, he as quickly as possible carried these questions back to the Apostle Paul to get clarification. Returning to our big idea from last lesson, it seems clear to me that Paul had taught the believers when he was there in Thessalonica to expect the rapture before the day of the Lord judgments began, that is, before the tribulation time. Else, why would they be confused at this point after being told differently? And why would Paul say they had been deceived? In Paul's answers to this new crisis of understanding, we get more revelation about the tribulation era and especially about the villain of all villains who will dominate that time, best known to us as the Antichrist. Let's talk about that name first for a moment.

It's the most used title for this evil character, although it's not the most used title in the Scripture. We know who the real Christ is, meaning the Messiah, Jesus. The Antichrist will be a false Messiah that arises on the world scene during the end times. The prefix anti not only means opposing, and he will certainly be opposing Christ, but even more so, in the language the New Testament was written in, it means instead of. The Antichrist will be a false Messiah. People will turn to at that time instead of Jesus.

Someone the deceived people on earth in that time will see as a savior and even come to worship as a god. Here in our passage, Paul refers to him as the man of lawlessness, or maybe in a different translation it says the man of sin, meaning he will be the very embodiment of sin and rebellion against God. In the Revelation, which is full of imagery, he is called the beast because he's like a wild animal who ravages and destroys. The prophet Daniel calls him the prince who is to come, suggesting that this person will appear on the scene as a world leader. This will be a real man who will rise to become the dominant figure during the tribulation era. But notice, it also calls him in verse 3 the son of perdition.

That's an idiom meaning one destined to destruction. He has a major role to play in end time events, but his fate is already decided. So when Paul opens this section by saying, I don't want you to be deceived concerning the coming of Jesus and our being gathered together to him, meaning the rapture, he's saying, Don't be alarmed because we're not there yet. And then explains, in the tribulation, for one thing, the Antichrist will appear on the scene, and he's not here yet. And for another, he says, the great apostasy will have occurred, which it has not yet. And then later in the section he says, and the restraint that is now on evil will have been removed, and it's not been removed yet.

So what you've been told, that is, that the tribulation has started and you are in it, that's wrong, and it certainly didn't come from me. In addition to the Antichrist appearing on the scene, Paul says that when the tribulation gets underway, a great rebellion must occur. The Greek word is apostasia, and it's often straight translated as apostasy, which means a willful turning away from the truth, a determined rebellion against God and His ways. During the tribulation time, there will be a final definitive rebellion against God. I think Paul ultimately has in mind what's described by the prophet Daniel and in John's visions when the Antichrist person, indwelt by Satan, having consolidated power, puts an image of himself in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and declares that he himself is now God, demanding worship.

That's what he's referring to for sure in verse 4 when he writes, He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped. So he sets himself up in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Believe it or not, the most influential religious leader in the world at that time will endorse this and urge people to accept the Antichrist as God and follow him as the world's savior. That will be the ultimate act of rebellion against the one true God in heaven, what Jesus called an abomination that causes desolation. We'll have to delve into this more when we get to the book of Revelation and go through it chapter by chapter. Without a doubt, there is certainly already apostasy going on today, as groups that at one time honored God's Word and held up Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life are willfully turning away from fidelity to the Bible.

For just one current example, more than 25% of the local churches that were affiliated with the United Methodist denomination have, in the last year, voted to leave that organization over its ongoing apostasy, specifically related to ordaining, practicing, self-identifying homosexuals as pastors and performing marriage ceremonies between homosexuals. So that means 75% of the congregations in the third largest denomination claiming to be Christian in America have decided to go along with the apostasy, even though God's Word is very clear that homosexuality is unnatural and a perversion of His intention for sexual relationships. 75% of the leaders in congregations in that group have decided, We don't believe that anymore. In fact, we intend to celebrate immorality and do our part to normalize it by welcoming pastors who are openly homosexual and celebrating conducting same-sex marriages.

That's a grave error, a clear example of apostasy in our time. There's an antichrist spirit already unleashed in the world directly at odds with God's truth. That issue is just one small front of the battle between truth and error, and people not rooted in God's Word are easily being deceived. But still, I can assure you, as Paul assured the Thessalonians then, we are certainly closer in our day, but at the time I write this, we are also not in the tribulation yet. Evil and rebellion against God and His truth are growing, but they will be ratcheted up to a level never seen before at that time. Paul goes on to mention another factor that will enable that to happen in verses 6 and 7.

You know what is holding him, that is the Antichrist, back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who holds it back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed, the Antichrist. Notice in those verses a what. You know what is holding him back, Paul wrote, and a who. Who is holding him back?

Something and someone are currently restraining evil and preventing the Antichrist from being revealed, preventing the spirit of lawlessness from taking complete control on our planet. Since Paul doesn't explicitly say what and who that is, there have been a lot of theories. To me, since we are in the context of the rapture, the coming of Christ and our being gathered to Him, as Paul began, I think the answers to the questions must be what refers to the church and who refers to the Holy Spirit. The church, all the believers, will be taken up at the rapture, and the Holy Spirit, who is indwelling us, He will be going up with us, apparently. Remember, the Holy Spirit came to indwell Christians on the day of Pentecost, 33 A.D. That's what inaugurated the church age we're now in, and that will end at the rapture when the church is taken up.

When Christ's followers are removed safely to heaven, the Holy Spirit's influence on this world will also be removed. Then, yikes, then evil will be completely unhindered, and the Antichrist, the man of sin, will be revealed and begin to wreak havoc on this earth. So the sequence for the future, the way this era we are living in now will end, is that one ordinary day Jesus will return for His church, and all true believers will be taken up safely to heaven. When that happens, the influence of the Holy Spirit, who along with God's people serves to restrain evil in the world now, will be out of the way, and the lawlessness and the rebellion against God that have been brewing a long time will be free to run unhindered for seven years.

During that time, a charismatic leader many will see as a savior who promises great things and seems supernaturally gifted, the one we call Antichrist, will be ceded power by other world leaders with the hope he can bring some peace and safety to the world, return some sense of normalcy out of the chaos. But once he consolidates power, being then indwelt by Satan, he will do just the opposite. Revelation chapter 6 and following describe the last years of this world as Satan tries to do things he's always wanted to do, completely rule mankind, while at the same time God is raining down judgments on the rebellious unbelievers who have refused to follow Him. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24, if this time had not been shortened, no one would survive it. Mercifully, it will be cut short by the powerful second coming of Christ to the earth.

Then Paul writes at verse 8, The Lord Jesus will overthrow him, that's the Antichrist, with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by the splendor of His coming, by the mere breath of His mouth. Blow them away. Is there anything else we can glean from this passage about the tribulation time? Yes, in fact, in verses 9 to 12, Paul writes this. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.

They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie. The Antichrist, empowered by Satan, will be able to deceive the people who are on the earth at that time. He'll seem like a superhero to them at first. This person won't appear evil and demonic when he comes to power. He will be someone at first greatly admired and display awe-inspiring power.

Even other world leaders will be mesmerized by him and trust him enough to follow him. But there will come a tipping point. It will be when he sets up the image of himself in the temple, as we mentioned a few moments ago, and then demands that his government be unquestioningly obeyed. And now holding all the cards, that he's actually to be worshipped as God. How in the world could all of that happen, you're probably thinking. Well, remember, believers are gone then.

The Holy Spirit's influence has been removed then. Satanic deception will be very strong then, unopposed and apparently verified by signs and wonders. The world will be in chaos and people very full of fear from devastating natural disasters and raging wars. People will be desperate for a leader who can solve the frightening crises and return to some kind of normalcy. Did you hear in the verses I just read, too, twice Paul say that they will go along with this because they believe the lie. What does that mean?

What's the lie? I'm pretty sure it will be more than just one big untruth. It will likely be a clever, connected narrative. It will include some explanation for where all those annoying Christians disappeared to. There has to be some lying explanation for that. And of course, part of the narrative must also include who the Antichrist really is, because people will accept him and follow him as though he is the world's Messiah, even a god on earth.

There will be other parts to it as well, because the Antichrist will be violently anti-Semitic. The Jews are always somehow at fault. And Antichrist will go after them and anyone who is in any way associated with God. But by the time he consolidates power, people left on this planet cannot do anything or even buy or sell anything, Revelation reveals, without his government's approval. And as we know, people do what they got to do when they are hungry and they want to survive. People will go along with this, and they will go along en masse.

Let me make two more quick points. Paul wrote this inspired epistle in 51 or 52 A.D., and the temple of God in Jerusalem was still standing. Worship there was actively still going on. So when he writes about the Antichrist gaining control and setting up some image of himself in the temple of God, those who had been in Jerusalem or even heard about it could easily visualize that. But that magnificent temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. after a rebellion of the Jews against Roman rule. And since then, there has not been a temple in Jerusalem.

So for what Paul describes here to literally transpire, and I think it will, there will have to be another Jewish temple built. This is why there's so much tension surrounding the Temple Mount area in Jerusalem, that 30-some acre plateau on old Jerusalem's southeastern side, where both Solomon's and Herod's temples once stood, where a Muslim shrine stands today. Did you realize the religious Jews in Israel very much intend to see a third temple built there? In fact, the plans for it have already been drawn. The implements and furniture described in the law of Moses that need to be in it have already been built. Men who can serve in it as priests and Levites have already been identified by DNA analysis.

The proper animals used for sacrifices in that temple have already been bred. If you'd like to learn all about this, there's a website you can visit, not a Christian website, a Jewish website, templeinstitute.org, templeinstitute.org. You'll be fascinated. You're probably not familiar with this if you don't follow biblical prophecy sites. But one of the reasons the Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7 of 2023, which started the most recent war between Israel and the Arab Palestinians, was because there was a rumor afloat that religious Jews were going to carry out a sacrifice that weekend on the Mount of Olives overlooking that Temple Mount, that they were going to sacrifice a red heifer to cleanse the site, a ritual prescription in the Old Testament law to prepare for rebuilding the third temple. Sound crazy?

It's not fantasy. It's not a writer's imagination. This stuff is going on right now. And along with many other clues, these are some of the things that convince Christians that our generation might be the one that sees the end of this age. But this much we know for sure. By the midpoint of the tribulation, seven years, there will be a temple again in Jerusalem, from which the Antichrist makes the declaration that he is now God and demands the people left on Earth at that time acknowledge him as such.

The other point I want to make, I think some people who doubt the Word of God are worse scoff at it. May have in the back of their minds, well, you know, if Christians disappear and the stuff in the Bible that it says about the tribulation starts to happen, then I'll believe. Then I'll call out to God and I'll accept Christ. The Bible does indicate there will be people saved during the tribulation time. But here's how I hope you come to look at this. Here's how I hope anybody I care about comes to look at this.

If you won't receive Christ and turn your life toward following Him now, just imagine how much harder it will be when the current of delusion is running so strong, when everybody is panicked and getting on board with Antichrist and his program. People who resist or turn to God in that time will become enemy number one of that regime. Martyrs will be plentiful, according to the Book of Revelation. So you think you will be brave enough to challenge what's going on then? You're going to come out as a follower of Christ then? No.

The last place you want to find yourself, friend, is in that world after believers are caught up to be with Christ. I'm not trying to scare anyone. Okay, maybe I am a little. But I'm only describing for you what God has revealed to us in His Word is going to happen in the future. If you haven't joined Christ's team yet, the wise thing to do is to get on board now. Turn away from sin and self now and embrace Christ as your Savior now.

Be ready for that day because we never know when Jesus is returning. We never even know when our lifetime on this earth is up. Everything here is passing away, including us, one way or another. The idea that we have forever to make important decisions is delusional. So while it is still today. Call on the name of the Lord and be saved.

Maybe you remember, in the 1990s and early 2000s, books known as the Left Behind series sold a whopping 80 million copies worldwide. They were futuristic novels set against the scenario of the rapture and what will happen after it in the tribulation time. They used the biblical outline of events and the characters and judgments described by biblical prophets as their framework. Then, as novels do, of course, developed their own storylines and characters. When I Googled Left Behind book series, the first entry that popped up for me read like this: Left Behind is a franchise of apocalyptic fiction written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Critics characterize the series as a revenge fantasy in which right-wing Christians win out over the rational, scientific, modern, post-Enlightenment world.

In other words, all this stuff about the return of Jesus and the end of the world is a clever book-selling fantasy dreamed up by Christian right-wing extremists. But more rational, science-accepting, enlightened modern people agree it's nonsense. Hmm. Are they sure about that? The reality is the underlying outline is not a fantasy made up by Tim LaHaye and his co-author. It's simply what's laid out here in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and by the prophet Daniel, and in the book of Revelation about the future.

It's what God has put down for us in His Word about what's ahead for this planet. It's our advance warning. We can believe Him, or we can believe the smart people, the enlightened people who accepted a lot of lies and dismissed God and His Word. They will be the people that accept the lies when the tribulation dawns too. I know I'm not believing them. I hope you are with me.

This has been Paul for Share the Word. Thanks, Paul. There seems to be an antichrist spirit already unleashed in this world, and people are sitting and waiting for it to happen. Don't wait. Don't wait for the last minute. If you have questions, ask.

The truth of the Gospels are in your hands, and the lies of the deceivers will continue to reverberate in this world. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.