"The Man of Lawlessness pt. 2"

Introduction

The governments of the world will all eventually be confronted with the sovereign rule of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father at the place of supremacy while all of the enemies of Christ are being made into a footstool for His feet.

Scripture tells us that the last enemy to be destroyed is death (I Corinthians 15:26). That happens when the dead are raised and the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality at the last trumpet (I Corinthians 15:52).

“Then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (I Corinthians 15:54-55).

And death is thrown into the Lake of Fire at the Great White Throne of judgement at the beginning of the eternal state of a new heavens and a new earth in Revelation 20:14.

All rule will be put under His feet and His authority will be manifested in all areas of existence in heaven and on earth.

We look forward to that day as believers but our current situation is in a state where evil is being allowed upon the earth and God’s purposes are being fulfilled in the hearts of men and women as they are coming into relationship with Christ as the Spiritual dynamic of His Kingdom advances.

And eventually the “man of lawlessness” will come forward and embody evil and influence the order of the governments of the world. But there is a reason that he is being held back. Look at your text at verses 5-6 at what I am referring to as the restraint:

I. The Restraint (5-6): 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.

It appears that when Paul was with them in person he had told the Church at Thessalonica already about the man of lawlessness. And specifically he had mentioned to them what it was that was restraining the man of lawlessness from being revealed.

The problem for us is that we are not being told what that restraining element is specifically here in 2 Thessalonians. Theologians speculate on what it could be and offer many possibilities. But we are just not told here in our text.

II Peter 3:9 tells us at least in part why the restraint is taking place. It says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

If you read II Peter you can see the context is referring to the second coming of Christ. Peter is answering the assertions that people make regarding the delay in the return of Christ.

This is not and appeal for Universal-ism. Which would be the idea that Christ will return when all people reach repentance in Christ. And you say but Pastor it says God doesn’t will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

If this is true Christ will never come until everyone comes and God is a colossal failure at accomplishing His will because people die outside of Christ every day.

It is obvious that the “all” that God is willing to come to repentance is making reference to the elect of God. Because Peter tells his readers to make their calling and election sure in 2 Peter 1:10.

People quote 2 Peter 3:9 all the time in an attempt to refute the doctrine of election but they ignore the context of what Peter is saying.

One reason behind the restraint is that God is not willing that His elect should perish outside being in the faith.

Regardless of the details of the restraint one thing is for sure, the restraint is being exercised due to the sovereign and providential rule of God that is orchestrating the events and the final revelation of the man of lawlessness.

Christian we should be busy doing the work of God by proclaiming the gospel and making disciples while we live in the world anticipating our Lord’s return. If God is not willing that any of His elect perish but come to saving faith and He ordains the preaching of the gospel as the means by which He works His salvation then it should be at the core of our mission in the world.

This means that we should not be in anguish over His return and the political landscape moving in the direction towards ushering in the man of lawlessness, near as much as we should be busy spreading the message of the gospel in the world.

I was setting with a missionary from an unreached people group in a nation that is hostile to the gospel. He was raised in America and went as a missionary through New Tribes.

He was talking about how hard it was on his kids to come to America. They can’t bear to watch T.V. and they can’t believe how godless they culture is in America. So we were talking about American culture and the godless stuff that is so prevalent in our society

This was back not long after it was discovered that planned parenthood was selling parts of aborted babies. I was filling him in on that and some of the cultural trends of our day.

He was in anguish as he said, Pastor Brett that is sickening! He said we are just shut off from the world and we don’t hear anything where we are. We just keep our heads down and stay busy for the Kingdom preaching the gospel.

Christian that whole conversation made me realize how desensitized we are to the immorality of our own culture and the loss of fervent passion we have for the gospel ministry and the expansion of the Kingdom of God. We have lost our sense of urgency in seeing the lost come to Jesus.

Pastor Brett we just want Jesus to come and get us and take us out of all this mess. If that is so then we should show it not by wringing our hands but by opening our mouths and proclaiming the gospel. Because God is not willing that any of His elect perish and all of those that He has appointed to salvation will be in the Kingdom.

It is our mission and we are too close to the end to lay down now. We will rest from our labors but today is not the day but we are closer to it than we have ever been.

Don’t think that just because it doesn’t appear that the man of lawlessness has been revealed that we have all kinds of time. Look at the Revelation in verses 7-8:

II. The Revelation (7-8): 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. 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.

The Present Revelation (7).

Paul explains that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work in the world it is just currently restrained from manifesting the embodiment of the final man of lawlessness.

I John 2:18, I John 4:3 both tell us that the spirit of Antichrist is already in the world. John argues that this is an indicator that we are in the last days. The Spirit of Antichrist promotes a distortion of Christ rule and identity in the world. His sovereign rule and His identity as the eternal Son of God made flesh are crucial to who Jesus Christ is and Antichrist seeks to subvert that.

Antichrist seeks to distort and to detract from Christ and His glory in the world and place the emphasis elsewhere.

Satan doesn’t know the appointed time. His system of demonic influence in the world is always ready for a man of lawlessness to come forward but he is not the one in charge, God is.

Like Moses and King David were types or a metaphorical examples of the coming Messiah of God, so we can see historical examples of types of the Antichrist in history.

Alexander the Great, Antiochus Epiphanes, Nero or others in the line of the Ceasar’s of Rome, possibly Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin and many other possibilities who have had the hunger and quest for world dominance and influence. They are present in history but they remind us of a future revelation.

The Future Revelation (8).

Verse 8 tells us that God will eventually remove His hand at the appointed time and the man of lawlessness will come forward onto the political scene.

But it also tells us that Jesus Christ will in the end destroy him with the breath of His mouth. Christ is the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19:11-21.

But it won’t be only the man of lawlessness that He will bring to nothing. It will be all the wicked on planet earth who are in defiance of Christ as King.

On that day the birds will be summoned to gather from around the globe to feast on the dead and that will be the final battle.

You read that or you hear me talk about it and people say things like well my Jesus would never do such a thing like that to human beings. He is far too loving to do something like that.

And you are right, Your Jesus would never do something like that. But I am talking about the Jesus of the Bible, not the Jesus of your imagination based upon your cumulative expectations of who you want your Jesus to be.

Same way with God. People speculate that God could never commit such a great injustice of slaughtering the wicked on such a grand scale. What kind of God would do such a thing? A Holy God would. One who hates sin for it’s offence against Him and the destructive influence it has had upon His creation and His people.

What is so interesting is even so called Christians believe it would be so unlike God to do such a thing. But those same so called Christians fail to see that the greatest apparent injustice in all of history is the day when He crucified His own Son in our place for our sin.

Where God commissioned the Son to die, the innocent for the guilty. No one in all my years has never came into my office to challenge the justice of God on that note. But that is legitimately the only place it could be challenged.

But to do so would undermine the biblical understanding of the love of God. Because in all the history of the Universe never has such love ever been expressed as it was the day Christ took our place. A Holy God’s divine justice demanded it and the love of God for sinners was expressed with emphatic intensity in the revelation of the gospel.

God has established the Messianic rule of His Son. So what would His divine justice require out of those rebels who defy their creators rule? You know, the Antichrist and his followers, what would one expect God to do?

It will be a glorious day when the eternal Son of God is vindicated when He comes in all of His glory. You see Christian it is not just that He comes to take us home but it is when He is vindicated before all of heaven and earth as the Messianic King of God.

And everyone will know it. Everyone in who has ever lived. All the naysayers and the blasphemers. Kings will bow and adore and nations will kneel down before him and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

The Antichrist and his followers will have a rendezvous with the lake of fire and death and the grave will be thrown in there as well.

Conclusion

Where are you going to spend eternity? Are you trusting in the final work of Jesus Christ for your salvation?

Unbeliever you need a Saviour. You need someone to die in your place to make payment for your offense against a Holy God.

One beggar telling another beggar where to find the bread. Believe the gospel!

If you are in Christ then you kn ow where your hope is. But what about those that God has put in your path to preach the gospel to. As believers we know at least in part why we are still here.

All the elect are not in yet. There are still more who are yet to hear.

Christian aren't you glad He didn’t close the door of time on you when you were not in the faith? I am. Someone loved me enough to preach to me and God was merciful to open my eyes to believe the gospel of His Son as the expression of His love to me.

Christian rest in Him. Let’s Pray!