Difference between revisions of "The Man of Lawlessness~"

Latest revision as of 23:17, 24 May 2019

The Man of Lawlessness

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We must now consider the various statements Paul makes about the man of lawlessness. He is lawless; he is the son of destruction (v3); he exalts himself; he takes his seat in the temple of God (v4); his coming and presence will be accompanied by all power and miracles and false wonders (v9). The Apostle John writes in similar terms of the antichrist.

Lawlessness is an established feature of modern society. You only need to read the morning paper or listen to the news to know this. Crime statistics are soaring in most countries. Less and less places all over the world are safe to walk around at night. Travel in many parts of the world is increasingly dangerous. More and more we need to ask for the Lord's protection in our daily lives.

Clearly we live in an age of lawlessness.

It is easy, but not very helpful, to dwell on the outward manifestations of lawlessness. Everybody knows about it. It is of far more value to look at its spiritual roots. Who were the lawless people in the New Testament? The Greeks? The Romans? The Sadducees? The Zealots? We find the surprising answer in Matthew 23:28. Jesus says to the Pharisees, 'Inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness'. The whole chapter expands and explains this one verse and we do well to read and understand it.

The Pharisees didn't go around mugging people. Nor were they involved in football hooliganism. They were the Bible students of their day. They spent much of their time studying and teaching the law. How could they be lawless? They made two great mistakes. Firstly the law that they taught was largely not the law of God, but their additions to it. Secondly it was not a law written on their hearts and an inward part of their lives and experience. It was simply retained by much study in their heads.

When a bishop, ignorant of the law of God, proclaims his own views and opinions to the world, he is guilty of a far greater lawlessness than an ignorant soccer hooligan. When a priest in a pulpit holds forth the views of his denomination, without ever searching to see if he has the mind of God, he is safe from the law of the land, but will give account on the day of judgement.

When a Bible teacher who claims to know God and to have heard the voice of the Holy Spirit rejects the word of God to proclaim the opinions of man, I believe he is the most guilty. James wisely says, 'Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive a greater judgement'. If we see lawlessness in the world, we must search our hearts and root out the lawlessness from there. Judgement must begin at the house of God.

Who is in the midst?

We read in verse 4 that the man of lawlessness takes his seat in the temple of God. It was a terrible day when Antiochus Epiphanes placed a statue of Jupiter in the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and offered a sow upon the altar. It was in Daniel's words an abomination of desolation. But the Most High does not live in houses made with human hands.

There is a far greater and more important temple than any that ever stood or may yet stand on Mount Moriah. 'You are the temple of the Holy Spirit', wrote Paul to the Corinthians. The man of lawlessness wants to take his seat in the midst of God's people. His great aim is to take Christ's place. He wants to rule the people of God. He wants to sit in the midst of their assembly and dominate it with his presence. That is the real abomination of desolation. Beside this a mere pig on an altar of stone is nothing.

Is it possible that antichrist can take the place of honour in a gathering of true believers? We find the answer in verse 7. Literally translated this reads, 'He who restrains (will do so) until he becomes out of the midst'. Jesus said, 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst' (Mat 18:20). If Jesus is in the midst, there is no room for the man of lawlessness.

If Jesus becomes out of the midst there is then a vacuum waiting to be filled. Note the passive of the word gathered. God does the gathering, not we ourselves. The people of God come together in different ways. Some are truly drawn together by the Holy Spirit and genuinely meet in the name of Jesus. Jesus is then in the midst according to his promise. Others meet of their own or someone else's will, or through habit, or because they think they should. Jesus has given no guarantee that he will be in their midst.

Church history illustrates and clarifies this for us. The early believers met together often against opposition and in personal danger, but they continued to meet, as they were powerfully drawn by the Holy Spirit and by love for one another.

Time passed and the initial flame burnt down. They still met, but Ichabod (Where is the glory? - see 1 Samuel 4:21) was written over their gatherings. The glory of God had departed. Jesus was no longer in their midst. Ezekiel's vision of the glory of God leaving the temple and the city (chs 10,11) had a second fulfilment. There was now a vacant seat. The man of lawlessness was ready to take it. Men began to dominate and rule and exalt themselves over the flock of Christ. Their claims became more and more blasphemous and their titles more and more exalted as the centuries passed.

This passage of 2 Thessalonians has been fulfilled historically, and is being fulfilled, and may be fulfilled yet more. It is of no value to meet if Jesus is not in the midst. Worse than that, it is dangerous. One is, at least in a small way, building a platform for the manifestation of the antichrist.

Many people imagine that as long as they are assembling, they are satisfying God's requirements. The instruction of Hebrews 10:25, '... not giving up our own assembling ...', is only obeyed if Jesus is in the midst. The same Greek word episynagogee is used there as in verse 1 of our passage. It implies meeting together upon him. If he is not in the meeting, it is better if we aren't either. Paul told the Corinthians plainly that they came together not for the better, but for the worse (1 Cor 11:17).

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