04 - The Nature Of The Deceiver 2011

Last time we looked at the appearance of “the man of sin,” the Antichrist. He will appear on the world stage as a political leader. He will have next to him a man the Book of Revelation calls “the false prophet,” who will be a religious leader.

Antichrist will successfully introduce a one-world economic system complete with the infamous “mark of the beast,” on the hand or forehead, without which no one will be able to buy or sell.

He will also broker a much longed for peace treaty between the Arabs and Israel. For this he will be considered a political genius. He will be praised and eventually worshipped.

We also saw that he will receive a seeming death blow to the head from which he appears to miraculously recover.

Next, Paul reveals the nature of this deceiver:

2:4 “…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped,”

The word for “oppose” means literally “to lie opposite,” “to be averse,” or “to be repugnant to.” It signifies “an adversary.” So here we have the aim of the Antichrist; he is utterly opposed to Christ and all that He represents.

His aim will be to undermine all divine authority in human life and society on this earth. Even now we are witnessing an ever-increasing anti-Christian, humanistic, and atheistic surge in our culture. This will only increase.

Paul says that he also “exalts himself.” Exalt comes from a Greek word meaning “to exalt exceedingly.” Conceit and arrogance will be his middle names.

The multitudes, having rejected Christ and His gospel, will openly worship this man of sin. Satan will present him to the world as the christ of all the cults, the messiah of the Jews, the Mahdi of Islam, the reincarnate Buddha, the Krishna of the Hindus, the incarnate god of this world.

Following the aim of Antichrist comes the claim of the Antichrist:

“…so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

This verse, along with Revelation 13:11-18, makes clear that the Jews will without doubt one day rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. And in the rebuilt temple, Antichrist will proclaim to the world that he is deity.

The phrase “showing himself” is the word “demonstrate.” It is in the continuous verb tense meaning that this will be his ongoing policy once he has seated himself in the Jewish temple.

At this point, Paul inserts a personal note to the Thessalonians. He reminds them of what they had forgotten:

2:5 “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?”

Clearly, Paul had covered a lot of ground while he was with the young church before being driven out of town. And what had they apparently forgotten?

2:6 “And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.”

They had forgotten that all these events were being restrained, held fast deliberately and actively. The reason for the restraint was so that Antichrist might not be revealed before the proper time. In other words, God has everything under control, even the Antichrist’s appearance.

In the next verse, Paul tells us that the One holding back the Antichrist and unbridled lawlessness on this planet is the Holy Spirit:

2:7 “For the mystery of iniquity is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.”

The word “mystery” in scripture refers to a truth that once was hidden but is now revealed. The “mystery of iniquity” is the secret working of lawlessness. From the very beginning, it has been a goal of Satan and his wicked spirits in the heavenlies (Eph.6:11-12) to overthrow God’s purposes.

Next, the masculine is used in the Greek language to show that the Restrainer can be spoken of as a person. The only One who can restrain Satan and his angels is the Holy Spirit. The instrument of that restraint—what the Holy Spirit has used through the ages—is the church.

Nothing can happen prophetically until a change occurs and the mighty power that is now restraining Satan is removed: “…only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.”

As long as the Holy Spirit and the church remain on earth, the day of grace continues. When the church is taken out of the way (raptured), the way will be clear for Satan and the Antichrist to take over the world.

During this awful time, people will be left to learn for themselves what the world will be like once unrestrained wickedness is given full rein. The Book of Revelation gives us the awful details.

Although the Holy Spirit will no longer restrain the development of the mystery of iniquity, that does not mean that it will be impossible for people to be saved or that God will no longer have those on earth to bear witness to Him.

On the contrary, millions of people will be saved after the Rapture. We call them Tribulation Saints. Two witnesses John introduces us to in Rev. 11:1-7 along with 144,000 witnesses will reap a vast harvest (Rev.7:1-17).

These people will not be in the church, which will be gone, but they will be in the Kingdom. And they will pay a high price for their confession of faith. Countless millions will be martyred by the Antichrist.

Next, the Holy Spirit through Paul moves the story on to the end and answers three questions concerning this diabolical Man of Sin—when? Who? And why? First, he tells us when:

2:8 “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”

The Antichrist will have his apocalypse—his unveiling, his revealing to the world after the church is gone. We must pause here and consider the power of the often maligned but God-appointed church. Jesus said, “The gates of hell will not prevail against her” (Matt.16:18-19).

Only when God’s church is gone will Antichrist and Satan finally be freed to wreak their havoc unchecked. C.S. Lewis described the church as it really is—“spread out through all time and space, rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners.”

Though the Antichrist will reign, it will be but for a brief season. The Holy Spirit reveals that “the Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of His coming.”

His day will end. His doom shall come. A sword from the Lord’s mouth will slay him. Apparently, all that Jesus will have to do is speak! Not only will Antichrist be consumed but he will also be destroyed by “the brightness of His coming.”

Commentator John Phillips writes, “One glimpse of “the brightness of His coming” and all of the schemes and works of Antichrist will be brought to nothing. The brightness of the Lord’s coming will reveal the tarnish, the tinsel, the grotesqueness, the tawdry shoddiness, the uselessness, the shame, the crime and guilt, and the cheapness of Satan’s imitation Christ and his phony kingdom.”

The Apostle Paul has told us when; now he tells us who:

2:9-10a “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish,”

God is going to give Satan unhindered license to behave as he wants and will give him enough rope to hang himself. And he will give the sinner an unhindered opportunity to believe as he wants and will give him enough rope to damn himself.

First, as did Christ, Antichrist will have a coming. He will be revealed to his own, to a godless world that has long since rejected Christ Jesus.

Then, his coming will be “after the working of Satan.” Satan will introduce him onstage as the seal judgments revealed in Revelations have reduced the world to chaos. People will be eager to find a man able to bring order and sanity back to the world.

Satan will clothe his man with power; “with all power, signs, and lying wonders…” For a season, the Antichrist will be invincible. He will bring the entire world under his sway for a limited time. His personal charisma and political cunning will be enhanced by his power to work miracles. He will dazzle the world with “lying signs and wonders.”

The word used for “signs” is the common word that John used to describe the miracles performed by Christ. The lying signs that the Antichrist will perform shall be intended to deceive, if possible, the very elect (Matt.24:23-24).

Antichrist will also perform wonders. The word for “wonders” refers to something marvelous, something that produces a marked effect on those who witness the miracle. Signs appeal to the intellect, wonders appeal to the imagination.

We have the when, and we have the who. Paul next reveals why God will permit Satan this one brief hour of triumph: “Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2:10b).

Oh the cost of rejecting Christ Jesus! To reject His love and offer of salvation is to invite wrath and terrible deception. For those left behind there will be delusion:

2:11 “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,”

Delusion means literally “to wander,” “to forsake the right path.” It implies a departure from both sound doctrine and morals. And note that Paul calls it “the lie,” not just any lie; the ultimate lie that Antichrist is God.

It is a sobering fact that men are free to choose their own way and God is free to confirm them in their delusions. Just before putting down his pen, the Prophet Isaiah issued a warning from God:

“I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before my eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not” (Isa. 66:4).

Before He rained down hell from heaven upon the wicked people of Sodom, God first smote them with blindness (Gen.19:4-11). So will God do in the hour of Antichrist; they shall be struck with spiritual blindness—a “strong delusion” that they will believe “the lie.”

Paul warns in Romans 1:24-32 that a time comes in the personal history of an unbeliever when God gives him up. God warns in Genesis 6:3, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.”

An anonymous poem puts it this way:

There is a line by us unseen

That crosses every path;

The hidden boundary line between

God’s mercy and His wrath.

And what shall be the end result for those under this awful delusion?

2:12 “…that they all may be damned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

The deluded will be comprised of those who had “pleasure in unrighteousness. As Jesus said, “They loved the darkness more than the light” (John 3:19).

The ultimate reason people reject the truth is not mental but moral; it lies in man’s love of sin and his pleasure in unrighteousness.