1. The man of lawlessness will appear suddenly.
"Don’t let anyone 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."
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3
One thing to recognize about Satan is that he mimics everything God does.
The relationship between the man of lawlessness and Satan
will be an unholy mimicking
and reflection of the relationship between
God the Father and Jesus Christ.
As Christ represented the Father on the earth,
the man of lawlessness will represent Satan.
He will follow his lead
and do his bidding in the last days of the earth.
This man of lawlessness will even appear in the earth
in a similar pattern to Jesus.
For example, Jesus lived 30 years in relative obscurity
before his ministry began, and then he was thrust onto
the world scene and became known.
The same will be true of the man of lawlessness. I am not saying he will live 30 years before he is revealed, but he will be a person in relative obscurity before he is made known to the world.
He will quickly ascend to notoriety on the world stage,
and many will look to him as the hope for the world.
2. The man of lawlessness will oppose God
."He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything
that is called God or is worshiped,
so that he sets himself up in God’s temple,
proclaiming himself to be God."
– 2 Thessalonians 2:4
Taking another page from the Satanic playbook
this man will set himself up as God.
He won’t do this immediately,
but
he will do this eventually which ties back
to Satan’s
desires from the beginning.
Remember the one thing Satan has always wanted
was to sit on the throne
and to be worshipped as God.
This has never changed.
The man of lawlessness will oppose
and attempt to tear down everything
that is Godly,
making himself the one who should be worshipped and followed.
It is important to note this spirit of lawlessness
is already at work in the earth.
Whenever there is rebellion or
opposition against anything that is Godly,
this reflects the spirit of lawlessness at work.
We are seeing the impact of this in the world today.
3. The man of lawlessness is held back by the Holy Spirit."And now you know what is holding him 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 now holds it back
will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way."
– 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7
The thing that prevents this man from
being revealed at this time,
is the Holy Spirit and the presence of the church,
meaning the true body of Christ.
The Spirit of God
is now at work in the hearts of men
calling them to repentance.
The Holy Spirit is keeping this man from being revealed but at the proper time, the Holy Spirit will allow this man to step forward and rule in the earth. For those who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, which I do, I believe this "holding back" will continue until the church is "raptured."
Once the rapture of the church happens
the man of lawlessness will be allowed to
make his presence known.
Until that time even if he is alive right now, which is possible depending on
when the rapture happens,
he will remain in obscurity until the
church is out of the way.
4. The man of lawlessness will operate in deception.
"The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. wickedness deceives those who are perishing.
They perish because they
refused to love the truth and so be saved."
– 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10
The man of lawlessness will be a master deceiver, just as Satan is.
Remember Satan likes to mimic
God and the antichrist will mimic everything Jesus did.
He will come with signs, wonders, and displays of power,
but his motivation will be quite different.
While Jesus came to die and redeem mankind,
this man will come to deceive and destroy.
His goal is to assist
in sealing the eternal fate of those
who hate the truth
and refuse to follow God.
Just as Satan is great at what he does, so will the antichrist be.
5. The man of lawlessness is doomed for destruction
."And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy
by the splendor of his coming."
– 2 Thessalonians 2:8
This man’s reign will be short-lived.
The reign of the antichrist will occur during the Great Tribulation,
he will have seven years to make his impact on the earth.
However, his end is already determined.
When Christ returns, the man of lawlessness will be destroyed
and sealed to the eternal doom that is awaiting him.
The city of Corinth
was
prominent in the first century
It is located in Greece on an isthmus between the
Aegean and Ionian
Seas,
which guaranteed its importance both militarily and commercially. Corinth was the capital of the Roman province Achaia.
It was a prosperous city but also known for its immorality.
Because of Corinth’s sordid reputation, anew Greek word
was coined,
korinthiazomai,
which meant
“to live immorally like a Corinthian.”
Acts 18 tells of Paul’s ministry in Corinth during his
second missionary journey.
Paul came to Corinth from Athens, which was about 45 miles away.
In Corinth he met Aquila and Priscilla and worked with
them in the tentmaking trade.
Paul used the income he earned to
preach the gospel
without relying upon support from others
Paul preached in the synagogue every Sabbath. When the Jews en masse would not respond, Paul decided to take the message to the Gentiles. His ministry resulted in the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles, so the church in Corinth was made up of both.
Paul ministered in Corinth for about a year and a half.
During Paul’s time in Corinth,
opposition against him began to grow
The unbelieving Jews
in the city brought charges against Paul before the
Roman proconsul,
but he refused to get involved in a
Jewish religious dispute.
Paul stayed a bit longer but eventually
moved on to Ephesus
Paul remained in contact with the Corinthian church
through letters and personal emissaries,
sending them warnings and instruction.
The books of 1 and 2 Corinthians are just two of the
letters that he sent to them to address issues and concerns
Paul’s letters to the Corinthians make up his largest body of work
directed to an individual congregation.
These two letters address problem areas that are still often
problems in churches today.
The church at Corinth
had
divided loyalty to different leaders.
Paul rejects this disunity,
telling the church members to
focus on Christ
The individual leaders should only
point them to Christ.
In conjunction with this, some people were
questioning
Paul’s character and authority
(1 Corinthians 1—4).
There was gross
immorality
in the Corinthian church, and it
was being tolerated.
Paul tells the church they
must exercise church discipline
(1 Corinthians 5—6).
Also,
believers were taking each other
to court,
and Paul says they should
handle disagreements among
themselves
(1 Corinthians 6).
There was some confusion about whether or not it was better to
be married or single, and how
married people
should relate to each other
Paul clarifies those issues for them and for the church today
(1 Corinthians 7).
Because of the mixed background of the church in Corinth,
food was an area of conflict and concern.
Jews had strict dietary laws while
Gentiles did not.
How could they maintain table fellowship?
Also, meat sold
in the marketplace may have been
sacrificed to an idol
before being sold.
Could a Christian eat that meat?
And how should a Christian
respond to a fellow
believer who holds a
different opinion?
Paul says that the Christian is free to eat anything
as long as he is not actively participating
in idol worship.
However, if one Christian’s freedom
causes spiritual harm to another believer
by enticing him to do something against his conscience,
Paul says the Christian should voluntarily
curtail
his freedom for the
sake of his fellow Christian
(1 Corinthians 8—10).
Paul also addresses the extent
of
women’s involvement
in worship services
and deals with problems the Corinthians
were having in their gatherings,
including abuses of the
Lord’s Supper
and their
misuse of spiritual gifts
(1 Corinthians 11—14).
In the midst of all the confusion, love should be the
guiding principle
(1 Corinthians 13).
The Corinthians were also confused about the
future resurrection.
It seems that some of them were questioning whether or not those who had died in Christ would be raised bodily.
Paul affirms that, just as Jesus rose bodily, so also will all believers
(1 Corinthians 15).
Paul also gives the Corinthian church
instructions
on giving money to
Support ministry,
and he enjoins the principle of
grace giving
vs. an
obligation based on a set percentage
(1 Corinthians 16)
In 2 Corinthians, Paul has to cover much of the
same territory again.
False teachers had "followed"
intrusively, unjustly, demeaningly and illegally
spied on,
Exploited, and ruthlessly slandered
Paul
Without his permission or knowledge
in his own home at that
and
tried to convince the Corinthians
that he was
not a legitimate apostle
or that they,
the false teachers,
were
much better than Paul.
In his second epistle, Paul has to defend his calling and reiterate and expand upon his previous instructions, as well as
correct the church’s misapplication of
his previous letter.
The New Testament does not give us any further information about the church at Corinth; however, Clement of Rome wrote a letter to them, probably near the end of the first century
(almost 50 years after Paul’s time ministering there),
and he had to deal with some of the same
issues again
Over the years, the city of Corinth began to decline in size and influence. There is evidence of a continuing Christian presence in Corinth for centuries, but how biblical it was at any point in time is difficult to ascertain. In 1858, the ancient city of Corinth was completely destroyed by an earthquake. A new city was rebuilt. Today, the city of Corinth is officially under the Church of Greece (part of the Greek Orthodox Church) under the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece. There is a small evangelical presence in Greece today, but it is
often oppressed if not persecuted outright by the Greek Orthodox authorities.
In spite of all the problems the church at Corinth had, Paul refers to them as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people” (1 Corinthians 1:2). It would be easy to read 1 and 2 Corinthians smugly, given the multitude of their problems, yet the same problems present in Corinth are found in the church today. The church in the 21st century still needs 1 and 2 Corinthians to know how to deal with today’s issues.
"Don’t let anyone 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."
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3
One thing to recognize about Satan is that he mimics everything God does.
The relationship between the man of lawlessness and Satan
will be an unholy mimicking
and reflection of the relationship between
God the Father and Jesus Christ.
As Christ represented the Father on the earth,
the man of lawlessness will represent Satan.
He will follow his lead
and do his bidding in the last days of the earth.
This man of lawlessness will even appear in the earth
in a similar pattern to Jesus.
For example, Jesus lived 30 years in relative obscurity
before his ministry began, and then he was thrust onto
the world scene and became known.
The same will be true of the man of lawlessness. I am not saying he will live 30 years before he is revealed, but he will be a person in relative obscurity before he is made known to the world.
He will quickly ascend to notoriety on the world stage,
and many will look to him as the hope for the world.
2. The man of lawlessness will oppose God
."He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything
that is called God or is worshiped,
so that he sets himself up in God’s temple,
proclaiming himself to be God."
– 2 Thessalonians 2:4
Taking another page from the Satanic playbook
this man will set himself up as God.
He won’t do this immediately,
but
he will do this eventually which ties back
to Satan’s
desires from the beginning.
Remember the one thing Satan has always wanted
was to sit on the throne
and to be worshipped as God.
This has never changed.
The man of lawlessness will oppose
and attempt to tear down everything
that is Godly,
making himself the one who should be worshipped and followed.
It is important to note this spirit of lawlessness
is already at work in the earth.
Whenever there is rebellion or
opposition against anything that is Godly,
this reflects the spirit of lawlessness at work.
We are seeing the impact of this in the world today.
3. The man of lawlessness is held back by the Holy Spirit."And now you know what is holding him 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 now holds it back
will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way."
– 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7
The thing that prevents this man from
being revealed at this time,
is the Holy Spirit and the presence of the church,
meaning the true body of Christ.
The Spirit of God
is now at work in the hearts of men
calling them to repentance.
The Holy Spirit is keeping this man from being revealed but at the proper time, the Holy Spirit will allow this man to step forward and rule in the earth. For those who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, which I do, I believe this "holding back" will continue until the church is "raptured."
Once the rapture of the church happens
the man of lawlessness will be allowed to
make his presence known.
Until that time even if he is alive right now, which is possible depending on
when the rapture happens,
he will remain in obscurity until the
church is out of the way.
4. The man of lawlessness will operate in deception.
"The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. wickedness deceives those who are perishing.
They perish because they
refused to love the truth and so be saved."
– 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10
The man of lawlessness will be a master deceiver, just as Satan is.
Remember Satan likes to mimic
God and the antichrist will mimic everything Jesus did.
He will come with signs, wonders, and displays of power,
but his motivation will be quite different.
While Jesus came to die and redeem mankind,
this man will come to deceive and destroy.
His goal is to assist
in sealing the eternal fate of those
who hate the truth
and refuse to follow God.
Just as Satan is great at what he does, so will the antichrist be.
5. The man of lawlessness is doomed for destruction
."And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy
by the splendor of his coming."
– 2 Thessalonians 2:8
This man’s reign will be short-lived.
The reign of the antichrist will occur during the Great Tribulation,
he will have seven years to make his impact on the earth.
However, his end is already determined.
When Christ returns, the man of lawlessness will be destroyed
and sealed to the eternal doom that is awaiting him.
The city of Corinth
was
prominent in the first century
It is located in Greece on an isthmus between the
Aegean and Ionian
Seas,
which guaranteed its importance both militarily and commercially. Corinth was the capital of the Roman province Achaia.
It was a prosperous city but also known for its immorality.
Because of Corinth’s sordid reputation, anew Greek word
was coined,
korinthiazomai,
which meant
“to live immorally like a Corinthian.”
Acts 18 tells of Paul’s ministry in Corinth during his
second missionary journey.
Paul came to Corinth from Athens, which was about 45 miles away.
In Corinth he met Aquila and Priscilla and worked with
them in the tentmaking trade.
Paul used the income he earned to
preach the gospel
without relying upon support from others
Paul preached in the synagogue every Sabbath. When the Jews en masse would not respond, Paul decided to take the message to the Gentiles. His ministry resulted in the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles, so the church in Corinth was made up of both.
Paul ministered in Corinth for about a year and a half.
During Paul’s time in Corinth,
opposition against him began to grow
The unbelieving Jews
in the city brought charges against Paul before the
Roman proconsul,
but he refused to get involved in a
Jewish religious dispute.
Paul stayed a bit longer but eventually
moved on to Ephesus
Paul remained in contact with the Corinthian church
through letters and personal emissaries,
sending them warnings and instruction.
The books of 1 and 2 Corinthians are just two of the
letters that he sent to them to address issues and concerns
Paul’s letters to the Corinthians make up his largest body of work
directed to an individual congregation.
These two letters address problem areas that are still often
problems in churches today.
The church at Corinth
had
divided loyalty to different leaders.
Paul rejects this disunity,
telling the church members to
focus on Christ
The individual leaders should only
point them to Christ.
In conjunction with this, some people were
questioning
Paul’s character and authority
(1 Corinthians 1—4).
There was gross
immorality
in the Corinthian church, and it
was being tolerated.
Paul tells the church they
must exercise church discipline
(1 Corinthians 5—6).
Also,
believers were taking each other
to court,
and Paul says they should
handle disagreements among
themselves
(1 Corinthians 6).
There was some confusion about whether or not it was better to
be married or single, and how
married people
should relate to each other
Paul clarifies those issues for them and for the church today
(1 Corinthians 7).
Because of the mixed background of the church in Corinth,
food was an area of conflict and concern.
Jews had strict dietary laws while
Gentiles did not.
How could they maintain table fellowship?
Also, meat sold
in the marketplace may have been
sacrificed to an idol
before being sold.
Could a Christian eat that meat?
And how should a Christian
respond to a fellow
believer who holds a
different opinion?
Paul says that the Christian is free to eat anything
as long as he is not actively participating
in idol worship.
However, if one Christian’s freedom
causes spiritual harm to another believer
by enticing him to do something against his conscience,
Paul says the Christian should voluntarily
curtail
his freedom for the
sake of his fellow Christian
(1 Corinthians 8—10).
Paul also addresses the extent
of
women’s involvement
in worship services
and deals with problems the Corinthians
were having in their gatherings,
including abuses of the
Lord’s Supper
and their
misuse of spiritual gifts
(1 Corinthians 11—14).
In the midst of all the confusion, love should be the
guiding principle
(1 Corinthians 13).
The Corinthians were also confused about the
future resurrection.
It seems that some of them were questioning whether or not those who had died in Christ would be raised bodily.
Paul affirms that, just as Jesus rose bodily, so also will all believers
(1 Corinthians 15).
Paul also gives the Corinthian church
instructions
on giving money to
Support ministry,
and he enjoins the principle of
grace giving
vs. an
obligation based on a set percentage
(1 Corinthians 16)
In 2 Corinthians, Paul has to cover much of the
same territory again.
False teachers had "followed"
intrusively, unjustly, demeaningly and illegally
spied on,
Exploited, and ruthlessly slandered
Paul
Without his permission or knowledge
in his own home at that
and
tried to convince the Corinthians
that he was
not a legitimate apostle
or that they,
the false teachers,
were
much better than Paul.
In his second epistle, Paul has to defend his calling and reiterate and expand upon his previous instructions, as well as
correct the church’s misapplication of
his previous letter.
The New Testament does not give us any further information about the church at Corinth; however, Clement of Rome wrote a letter to them, probably near the end of the first century
(almost 50 years after Paul’s time ministering there),
and he had to deal with some of the same
issues again
Over the years, the city of Corinth began to decline in size and influence. There is evidence of a continuing Christian presence in Corinth for centuries, but how biblical it was at any point in time is difficult to ascertain. In 1858, the ancient city of Corinth was completely destroyed by an earthquake. A new city was rebuilt. Today, the city of Corinth is officially under the Church of Greece (part of the Greek Orthodox Church) under the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece. There is a small evangelical presence in Greece today, but it is
often oppressed if not persecuted outright by the Greek Orthodox authorities.
In spite of all the problems the church at Corinth had, Paul refers to them as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people” (1 Corinthians 1:2). It would be easy to read 1 and 2 Corinthians smugly, given the multitude of their problems, yet the same problems present in Corinth are found in the church today. The church in the 21st century still needs 1 and 2 Corinthians to know how to deal with today’s issues.
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