2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-17 - Standing Firm Against Lawlessness

Introduction

In 1943 the Allied powers of World War II were considering their next advance in the war after the successful North African campaign against German and Italian forces. Hitler was worried that the next strike would come up through Greece and the Balkans, pinning the Nazis between the British and Americans coming up from the south and the Soviets to the north. The other target was Sicily—controlling that island would open up the Mediterranean to Allied shipping and make an invasion of Europe possible through Italy.

After a good deal of deliberation, the Allies decided to concentrate their next attack on Sicily. The only problem was, in Churchill’s words, “Everybody but a bloody fool would know it was Sicily”. And so the Allies had to come up with a way to convince Hitler that they were definitely not planning to attack Sicily… Their solution, as described in the book Operation Mincemeat, was to create an elaborate deception by planting a body dressed in a British uniform off the coast of Spain, including a briefcase filled with “secret plans” for the Allied invasion of Greece. (It should come as no surprise that one of the British officers that came up with the idea was none other than Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond books!)

A Spanish fisherman found the body floating offshore, and brought it to the local German military intelligence officer, who fell for the deception and forwarded the documents on to Berlin. Three months later, on July 9th, 1943, Allied forces attacked Sicily. Most of the German defenses of the island had been relocated to Sardinia, Greece to meet the expected invasion there (in fact, the Germans were so convinced the attack was coming through Greece that twenty-one German aircraft left to reinforce Sardinia four hours after the attack on Sicily started!)

Deception by an enemy can take you out of the battle; it can sideline you and cancel out your effectiveness. In our text this morning, the Apostle Paul was attempting to “rally the troops” in Thessalonica who had been thrown completely off balance by an act of deception regarding the return of Christ:

2 Thessalonians 2:1–3 (ESV)

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way...

In 1 Thessalonians Paul strengthened and established the church in their faith by pointing them to the hope that they had that the Day of Christ’s return was coming—they had hope that they would be reunited in the flesh with their deceased loved ones (1 Thess. 4:13-18), and that those who were persecuting them were going to face the wrath of Christ someday (1 Thess. 5:1-11, 2 Thess. 1:5-12).

But at some point, whether it was a false teacher who had slipped in or a deceptive letter sent with Paul’s signature forged on it, the Thessalonian believers had come to be convinced that the Day of the Lord was already over, and that they had missed Christ’s return, and that their enemies weren’t going to face any justice. The hope by which Paul had sought to fortify their faith was being stolen from them because they were believing the lies of the false teachers.

So Paul quickly sat down to write this letter—as we said earlier, probably within a few weeks of 1 Thessalonians—to exhort the people not to be “shaken in mind or alarmed” at the deception that said Christ had already returned and there was no future hope for them. Paul wrote this chapter in order to show his readers that

The DECEPTIONS of God’s ENEMIES cannot SHAKE His people’s HOPE

Like the Thessalonians in their day, we live in a day and age that does its best to tell us that our hope in Christ’s return is a delusion; that there is no Second Coming of Christ, that this world is all that there is, and that whatever direction the spirit of the age moves, there is nothing to be done about it. As we noted last week, we can see the day coming when the taunts and animosity and opposition against us for our faith in Christ could begin turning into losing our livelihoods.

But this is not just fear-mongering from the pulpit; this isn’t a preacher going “Watch out for the big bad world out there, it’s going to come get you unless you’re a good little Christian!” Far from it—this is God’s Word fortifying your hope so that you will not be afraid!

Now, talking about fear and foreboding, this passage is one of the most closely-studied, well-known passages in all of the New Testament because of its description of a “Man of Lawlessness” (or “Man of Sin”) AKA “Son of Destruction”. Throughout church history the individual described here as been identified in all sorts of ways: from figures from church history to future manifestations of Satanic evil. So a word or two is in order here as we get into the passage.

First of all, we have to keep in mind that this is a very difficult passage to interpret; one reason is that Paul is referring to conversations he had with the Thessalonians about this topic when he was with them (2 Thess. 2:5: “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” ) So reading this passage kind of feels like listening to half of a phone conversation—Paul is referring to information that his original readers had that we do not have. So that calls for some humility on our parts as we study these verses; we don’t have the whole story here.

Now, the majority report on this passage would say that Paul is describing an individual variously known as “the beast” of Revelation or “the Antichrist” of 1 and 2 John; a terrifying figure of Satanic power who will appear in the last days before Christ’s return. Other interpreters would conclude that this “Man of Lawlessness” refers to someone like Nero (who was alive at this time, and there would have been good reason for Paul not to risk being accused of sedition by writing such things about a member of the Imperial family.)

For our purposes this morning, we’re not going to try to pin down exactly who Paul is referring to (my money’s on Nero, but I’m not bothered one way or another). Because Paul wasn’t writing this letter in order to provide the identity of the Man of Lawlessness; he was writing to encourage the believers to stand firm in the midst of that lawlessness! Whether we are talking about some eschatological monster of the future or historical monster of history or some contemporary spirit of lawlessness that rises up in our day (such as a demand that no one can buy or sell unless they take this particular vaccine) , the lies they tell are the same. Whether the Man of Lawlessness is Nero or Hitler or Pol Pot or Ronald Reagan or George Soros or Chuck Schumer or Dylan Mulvaney, the spirit of lawlessness always comes down to the same deceptions, the same lies to try to intimidate and alarm God’s people.

In the first twelve verses of 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul points out

I. The LIES of the spirit of LAWLESSNESS (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)

Look again at verses 3-5:

2 Thessalonians 2:3–5 (ESV)

3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

The first lie of the spirit of lawlessness is

Claiming their AUTHORITY is ULTIMATE (vv. 3-5)

The man of lawlessness is one who will

2 Thessalonians 2:4 (ESV)

4 ...oppose and exalt himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

You see this in ancient history when Emperor Nero commissioned statues of the sun god Apollo to be carved with his facial features, you see it when Emperor Vespasian had his standard erected in the Holy Place in the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD, when Hitler co-opted the German Lutheran Church for the Nazi party, when Kim Jung Un declares that he is divine and must be worshipped in North Korea, when Jerry Nadler proclaimed on the floor of Congress that whatever notions of God’s Law there were, they had no place in the US Congress. Whenever you see the claim that there is no higher authority than them, you are seeing that lawlessness lie to you. “No hell beneath us, above us only sky...”

This kind of lawlessness claims their authority is ultimate—they play the role of God in your life. And the second lie of this spirit of lawlessness is

Claiming their WILL cannot be THWARTED (vv. 6-7; cp. Psalm 2:3)

The arrogance of lawlessness says that any opposition to its ambition is doomed to fail; that no one can stop them from having their way, and they will do anything they have to in order to get what they want. Like the rebellious and arrogant rulers in Psalm 2--

Psalm 2:2–3 (ESV)

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

But Paul makes it very clear here in our text, doesn’t he, that this man of lawlessness cannot do anything until God gives him room to do so!

2 Thessalonians 2:6–7 (ESV)

6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.

Those who read this passage with an eye to the end times see evidence here of the Holy Spirit restraining the Beast, and then removing His restraining influence at the time of God’s choosing. Those who look at this passage in terms of church history point to some of Nero’s tutors who were well-known to have kept him from indulging in the kind of perversions he reveled in, or the restraining influence of Emperor Claudius, Nero’s predecessor (who was allegedly poisoned by Nero’s mother Agrippina…)

Either way, see here that the truth is the same—it is God and God alone Who governs the wickedness of the man of lawlessness! He does not act with impunity, his evil is bounded and determined by God’s timing! Don’t be deceived into fear or alarm by the growing lawlessness of our age, Christian—God is utterly and completely governing all of it! Stand fast, for you know that your God rules over all of the men of lawlessness, past present and future!

They lie about their power being ultimate, they lie about their will never being thwarted, and they lie in

Claiming their INFLUENCE will never END (v. 8; cp. Isaiah 11:4)

Paul says that when God does remove His restraint from the Man of Lawlessness, He does it for a specific purpose: So that he can be destroyed!

2 Thessalonians 2:8 (ESV)

8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

One of the favorite taunts of the current spirit of lawlessness we are standing in today is that Christians—with their affirmation of God’s Word regarding things like gender and sexual activity and abortion and so forth—that Christians are “on the wrong side of history”. Have you ever considered the enormous arrogance of that taunt? This lawless spirit that infects our age is so conceited, so full of pride that just automatically assumes that everyone a hundred years from now is going to believe exactly what they do! That their opinions and judgments will be unquestioningly obeyed and revered for generations to come… Hitler boasts that his Third Reich would “last a thousand years”—but then he is blown away in an instant by God’s power!

Isaiah 11:4 (ESV)

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

While their boastful claim that their influence and rule will never end is still in their mouth, they are blown away—they are not going to be the final say; they are not going to establish their wickedness for all time! When they tell you that you will are “on the wrong side of history”, they are lying to you! And the deceptions of lawlessness will not shake the hope of God’s people!

Paul wants his readers to stand firm in the midst of the lawlessness that is growing around them, not to be shaken or alarmed or lose their hope. As Paul goes on to describe the particular man of lawlessness in these verses, he points out another characteristic of their lies:

Claiming their POWER is DIVINE (vv. 9-12)

The reality behind all of the man of lawlessness’s boasts about divine power is that it is actually power that comes from Satan himself, for the purposes of deceiving people into turning away from God:

2 Thessalonians 2:9–10 (ESV)

9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Part of the deception that this lawlessness employs is the notion that it every report of some miracle or healing or deliverance is automatically assumed to be of divine origin, and cannot be questioned. That it is “stifling” or “quenching” the Holy Spirit to ask about the power behind these supernatural manifestations— “Touch not the Lord’s anointed!”

But can’t you see here that the Scriptures warn us that we must ask those questions? Where does that power come from? Satan will disguise himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) in order to lead people away from Christ, to cause them to love his lies rather than the truth of God’s Word.

And Paul goes on to warn that God Himself will use this Satanic deception as His means of punishment for those who refuse to love His truth because they would rather love their own sin:

2 Thessalonians 2:11–12 (ESV)

11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Everything about the Man of Lawlessness is a lie—which is only fitting, since his power comes from Satan, the father of lies:

John 8:44 (ESV)

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The lies of the culture around the Thessalonians was threatening to shake their hope—the lie that said that Christ had already come and left them, that the persecutors they were suffering from were not going to be dealt with, that their trust in Christ’s return had been misplaced. Paul writes here in order to shake them out of that deception; to confront the lies of the spirit of lawlessness that surrounded them by demonstrating the fate of the man of lawlessness that was coming.

In the same way, beloved, Paul’s exhortations are a strong encouragement to us that we can stand against the lies of the spirit of lawlessness with

II. The FIRMNESS of the spirit of FAITHFULNESS (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17)

There is a glorious transition in Paul’s writing starting in verse 13. If we back up and start reading from verse 9, we can really hear it:

2 Thessalonians 2:9–13 (ESV)

9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

Do you hear the switch? He goes from describing the fate of those who refuse to believe the truth but love their sin, to the blessings of those who love the Lord and delight to obey Him! Here is the strength that you will find to stand firm against the evil day that you find yourself in, Christian—not just by recognizing the lies of the spirit of lawlessness, but rejoicing in the sure and steady promises of your faithful Savior!

The lie that had rocked the Thessalonian Christians’ peace was that Christ had not come to deliver them, that they were left to fend for themselves in the midst of the growing lawlessness and opposition against their commitment to Christ. But in the last five verses of this chapter, Paul reminds them of the rock-solid, glorious, imperishable treasures they have in the Gospel. In order to stand against the lies of the spirit of lawlessness, Paul calls them in verse 13 to

Stand in the SANCTIFYING LOVE of God (v. 13)

2 Thessalonians 2:13 (ESV)

13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

Christian, you can stand firm against the lawless lies of this age with no fear over whatever manifestation of lawlessness the future may hold, because God has set His love on you! When you were still rebelling against the truth and taking pleasure in unrighteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ set His love on you! He chose you to be saved, and the same Spirit that will bring destruction on the Son of Destruction is the same Spirit that is bringing you into holiness and truth! Your ability to stand in this sanctification rests on God’s unchangeable faithfulness to you. As one preacher put it:

This faithfulness of God is the foundation and cornerstone of our hope of final perseverance. The saints shall persevere in holiness because God perseveres in grace. He perseveres to bless, and there believers persevere in being blessed. He continues to keep His people, and there they continue to keep His commandments. All Of Grace, Page 122 Charles Spurgeon

You stand firm against the evil lawlessness of this age in the sanctifying love of God, and you

Stand in the GLORIOUS GOSPEL of Christ (v. 14; cp. 1 Thess. 5:9)

2 Thessalonians 2:14 (ESV)

14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul is echoing his words from his first letter, where he exhorted the Thessalonians that

1 Thessalonians 5:9 (ESV)

9 ...God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Christian, you can know that no matter what rebellion or lawlessness comes your way now or in the future, no matter what the destiny of the Man of Lawlessness or those who follow him, no matter what may be taken from you in this world, the glory that is reserved for you through Christ can never be taken from you! No matter what the end times holds, no matter whether the Man of Lawlessness lived centuries ago or is still in the future or walking the earth now, there is no need to be insecure about your salvation, anxious about Christ’s return or fearful about the Day of Judgment —you have been destined for salvation through the work of Christ for you! He suffered the wrath of God on that Cross, bleeding and dying and rising again three days later so that none of the wrath of God coming on the lawlessness of this present age will ever touch you!

You can stand in the glorious gospel of Christ, and you can

Stand in the REVEALED TRUTH of God’s Word (v. 15)

2 Thessalonians 2:15 (ESV)

15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

Paul calls the Thessalonians back to what they had originally heard from him about Christ’s return—first by his teaching when he was present with them in Thessalonica (his “spoken word”) and then later by his first epistle (“our letter”). This is how they would avoid being shaken and alarmed—standing firm on what God had revealed to them by his teaching.

And so for us, beloved—we stand firm when we hold fast to what has been revealed to us here in this Book! The age of the apostles ended with the death of John, and since then all of the apostolic writings have been gathered together and preserved for us here. We stand firm against the lawlessness of this age when we hold fast to the truth contained here.

And this helps us to understand why the authority of the Scriptures is under such fierce attack these days, doesn’t it? One of the most insidious lies of our age is that the Bible cannot be trusted; that it is filled with contradictions and inconsistencies, that it cannot stand up to close scrutiny of modern thinking. Any tactic the lawless spirit of this age can manage to loosen your grip on this Book, it will pursue with full force.

And so our response to their attempts to get us to distance ourselves from the Scriptures must be that we delight in these Scriptures even more fiercely! As one author puts it:

“Every [Christian] must adopt an implicit, absolute, childlike wonder at the glory of the Scriptures. We must be people of the Book, knowing it top to bottom, front to back. And we must resolve, before the fact, to have absolutely no problem with any passage of Scripture once the meaning of that passage has been ascertained through honest exegesis. This means, among other things, that Christians must be prepared to condemn sodomy, embrace the doctrine of creation, say that husbands are the heads of their wives, believe in giants and dragons, and believe in Noah’s ark right down to, if necessary, the giraffe’s head sticking out the window” (Doug Wilson, The Case for Classical Christian Education, p. 99).

You stand firm against lawlessness by standing in the revealed truth of God’s Word that has been handed down to you—and Paul says you

Stand in the COMFORTING PRESENCE of God’s Spirit (vv. 16-17)

Paul began this chapter exhorting the Thessalonians not to be shaken or alarmed—and he ends with a blessing of comfort and hope—

2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 (ESV)

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Here again—as Paul often does—he names God the Father and God the Son in his benediction. But he doesn’t name the Holy Spirit. And once again I would submit to you that the Holy Spirit HIMSELF is the eternal comfort and good hope! The Greek word rendered “comfort” here is another grammatical form of the same Greek word for Comforter that Jesus uses to describe the Holy Spirit in John 16. He is your eternal Comfort, He is the One who guarantees your hope because He is the One who applies the grace of Christ to you in the middle of all of your trials and all of the lawlessness of this age.

And not only does He comfort your heart, He establishes your heart in every good work and every good word! Paul repeats the same promise here in verse 17 as he did in Chapter 2:

2 Thessalonians 1:11 (ESV)

11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power,

2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 (ESV)

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

God repeats it over again in this passage because we need to hear it over again! The Enemy will try to throw you off your balance or sideline you with anxiety and fear over the future; but the Holy Spirit that dwells in you will make your work and words effective! From the holiness that you strive for to the good that you want to do in the lives of those around you, He has promised to make you stand firm! The word translated establish here means to strengthen, to confirm, to resolve—do you understand what God is promising you here? That in the middle of all the turmoil and rebellion and persecution and lawlessness of an age that is Hell-bent on rejecting God and His authority, God’s Spirit dwelling in you will establish your effectiveness for His glory!

The Enemy wants to deceive you into abandoning your post—to fly your fighters to Sardinia while he invades Sicily because you believed his lies. But God Himself has promised to comfort you so that you are not shaken by the Enemy’s lies, and He has promised to make you effective in His service!

So stop letting the lying spirit of lawlessness in this world shake you and alarm you—the Triune God Himself has delighted to call you to Himself, to pay the penalty for your sin, to comfort you with eternal comfort and grace. You are not destined for the wrath of God; you are sealed for salvation! So come to Him in repentance for your fear and anxiety that has shut your mouth speaking the truth of God’s Word, confess before Him all of the times you have kept your head down and your voice silent because you let yourself believe the deceptions that say that Christians are ignorant bigots who have no place in this society, for believing the lie that says that there is nothing you can do against the onslaught of lawlessness that is sweeping over our nation.

Because God has promised that you will be established in your good works. The hurting friend that you invite over for a meal in order to share God’s Word with them. Faithfully raising your toddler in the nurture and admonition of the LORD in the midst of the laundry and bills and dishes and diapers. Standing with humble resolve against the institutionally-sanctioned lawlessness at a job that forces you to choose between a paycheck and obedience to God’s decrees for sex and gender. Responding with love and genuine Gospel-concern to a family member who ridicules and demeans you in front of everyone for your trust in God. Adorning the beauty of the Gospel with your God-given talents for the sake of His people. Coming alongside the fainthearted who are being deceived and alarmed by this generation’s lies and strengthening them with a Spirit-fueled joy and holy laughter of the happy warrior who knows that this battle—like every other—belongs to the LORD!

And in the spirit that joy and comfort, let me call you who have no share in Christ today, you who know this Gospel but do not know Christ as Savior, you who are part of the lawlessness of this age and who have refused to love the truth: Stop taking pleasure in your unrighteousness! Stop believing what is false—that God does not matter, that His Word is obsolete, that those who obey Him are ignorant fools, that there is no hell below us and above us only sky.

Because even if you believe those wicked deceptions today, the Day is coming when you will see them for the lies they are! You will realize on that day that you have been lied to, and that you have been lying to yourself. It seems like everyone who reads this chapter wants to know how to identify the “The Man Of Lawlessness”—who is it? Is it a figure from history, is it some shadowy evil presence lurking in the future? But please hear me when I say that on the Day when Christ arrives the identity of the Man of Lawlessness will be the furthest thing from your mind. All that will matter on that Day is whether that lawlessness is dwelling in you.

When the wrath of God is revealed against every Man and Woman of Lawlessness on that Day, the only escape will be for those who have turned away from their lawlessness and have held fast to the promise of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of their sins. So turn away from all the wicked deceptions of this world and the false and fleeting pleasures in unrighteousness and come—and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION:

2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 (ESV)

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

What are the ways the world around us tries to shake our hope in Christ’s return? What are some of the deceptions and lies about God that you encounter in your daily life?

Is the “man of lawlessness” depicted in this chapter a figure from the past or from the future? What makes it difficult to determine with certainty who this might be? What truths about God’s victory over evil can you see in this passage regardless of the identity of the “man of lawlessness?”

One of the taunts leveled against Christians is that they are “on the wrong side of history” because of their beliefs. What is the essential lie behind this statement? How does the depiction of the “man of lawlessness” in this passage reflect that kind of lie?