Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
This coming man of lawlessness, son of destruction, Antichrist, is really the theme of this chapter. Satan’s earthly blasphemer will attempt finally and ultimately to oppose Jesus Christ and blaspheme God, and he will attempt to destroy all who worship God and all worship of God, obliterating the very name of God and Christ from the earth if he were able. This Antichrist will be the culmination of all who hate God and Christ. The Antichrist’s spirit has been around through all of redemptive history and he comes from Satan. This is not the first time, in Scripture, the Thessalonians have heard about him. Paul references this in our verses today. Remember that Paul was a Bible scholar. Paul knew what the Old Testament said about the future, particularly in the book of Daniel. Daniel gives us details about this Antichrist. Daniel introduces him in chapter 7 as “a little horn.” Daniel says the Antichrist has eyes like the eyes of a man with an intellectual genius, clever, shrewd, and knowledgeable. He utters great boasts as he speaks to the world. He publically speaks blasphemies against God. This Antichrist is engaged in aggressive hostility against the people of God, seeking their total destruction. His goal is to wipe Christians from the face of the earth if he could. And, it will seem that Antichrist is gaining the upper hand in his will to exterminate God’s people. Readers of the Old Testament in the times before Jesus came to earth would be terrified reading of the “Day of the Lord.” The Thessalonians were also terrified, thinking that the day was upon them. So, Paul comforts them by telling them that, most of what is coming from the Antichrist of the end times, will happen after the Rapture of the Church. Christians can be encouraged that we will be “with the Lord” when all hell breaks loose on this earth.
Source: S C Ball March 14, 2024
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