2 Thessalonians 2.8a-The Man of Lawlessness Will Be Revealed After the Departure of the Holy Spirit at the Rapture of the Church
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 2, 2021
Second Thessalonians: 2 Thessalonians 2:8a-The Man of Lawlessness Will Be Revealed After the Departure of the Holy Spirit at the Rapture
Lesson # 33
2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now, concerning our Lord Jesus Christ’s arrival resulting in our gathering before Him, each of us is requesting each and every one of you brothers and sisters, 2 that each one of you would not be easily shaken from your composure, nor be alarmed by either a spirit, or by a message, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the Lord’s day is taking place. 3 Do not let anyone deceive any one of you in any way. For, if the rebellion does not take place first, namely the unique person characterized by a distinguishable lawlessness has been revealed, that is, the unique son characterized by a distinguishable destruction, then the Lord’s day is absolutely not taking place. 4 The one who for his own benefit opposes, yes even, for his own benefit exalts himself against each and every so-called god or object of worship. Consequently, he himself sits down inside the one and only God’s temple in order to present himself as God. 5 Do you not remember that while I still living among each one of you, I was regularly communicating these things to each one of you? 6 So now each and every one of you possess an accurate comprehensive knowledge of that which is preventing this in order that he himself has been revealed during his own distinct period of time. 7 For the mystery which is characterized by a distinguishable lawlessness for its own benefit is already at work only until the one who now prevents it from being revealed causes Himself to depart from the midst of the world. 8 Consequently, then the one who is characterized by a distinguishable lawlessness will be revealed, whom the Lord will execute as a criminal with the breath from His mouth. Specifically, whom He will cause to come to an end by the unique manifestation produced by His arrival. (My translation)
2 Thessalonians 2:8 begins with a result clause which is then followed by a relative pronoun clause and ends with an epexegetical clause.
All three are prophetic statements regarding the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
At His “Second Advent,” the Lord Jesus Christ will terminate the seventieth week and the Times of the Gentiles.
He will destroy the Tribulational armies, have Antichrist and the False Prophet thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 19:11-19), will imprison Satan for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3) and will establish His millennial reign on planet earth (Rev. 20:4-6).
At that time, the Lord and His armies will orbit the earth before landing on the Mount of Olives, which was the site of His Ascension (Acts. 1:9-11).
There will be a great earthquake when our Lord’s foot touches the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:1-8) and will be a unique day having neither day nor night (Zech. 14:7).
The Lord Jesus Christ describes the Tribulation period in detail and His Second Advent in Matthew 24:29-31 and Luke 21:25-28.
The Second Advent is taught in both the Old and New Testaments (Deuteronomy 30:3; Psalm 2:1-9; 24:7-10; 96:10-13; 110; Isaiah 9:6-7; 63:1-6; Jeremiah 23:1-8; Daniel 2:44-45; 7:18-27; Zechariah 12; 14:1-9; Matthew 19:28; 24:27-31; Mark 13:24-30; Luke 12:35-40; 17:24-37; 18:8; 21:25-28; Acts 1:10-11; 15:16-18; Romans 11:25-27; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; 2:8; 2 Peter 3:3-4; Jude 14-15; Revelation 1:7-8; 2:25-28; 16:15; 19:11-21).
The result clause in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 asserts that the lawless one will be revealed, which is a reference to the Antichrist since he is described in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as “the unique person characterized by a distinguishable lawlessness.”
Paul asserts in this verse that if the rebellion does not take place first, namely the unique person who is characterized by a distinguishable lawlessness has been revealed, that is, the unique son characterized by a distinguishable destruction, then the eschatological day of the Lord is absolutely not taking place.
In other words, the eschatological day of the Lord is taking place when Antichrist is leading a rebellion of the human race against God.
This result clause presents the result of the previous statement recorded in 2 Thessalonians 2:7.
Verse 7 asserts that the mystery which is characterized by a distinguishable lawlessness for its own benefit is already at work only until the one who now prevents it from being revealed causes Himself to depart from the midst of the world.
We noted that “the mystery which is characterized by a distinguishable lawlessness” refers to Satan’s rebellion against God, which began in eternity past before the creation of mankind on the earth.
We also noted that “the one who now prevents” this mystery which is characterized by a distinguishable lawlessness from being revealed is the Holy Spirit.
We also noted that His departure speaks of the rapture of the church.
Therefore, a comparison of this result clause in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 with the statements recorded in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 indicates that the Antichrist will be revealed to the world “as a direct result of” or “as a direct consequence of” the Holy Spirit causing Himself to depart from Satan’s cosmic world system on the earth at the rapture of the church.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:8, the temporal adverb tote, “then” is marking the time when Antichrist will be revealed to the world as being subsequent to the Holy Spirit’s departure from Satan’s cosmic world system on the earth at the rapture of the church.
The noun anomia, “the one characterized by a distinguishable lawlessness” also appeared in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and 6.
In all three instances, the word describes the Antichrist as conducting himself with complete disregard and contempt for the laws and regulations of the law of God that govern society.
It describes him as being in a state of behaving or conducting himself in open defiance of God’s law, which can be summarized as loving God with one’s entire being and strength by loving one’s fellow human being by treating them in a manner in which you would want to be treated.
The articular construction of this abstract noun also particularizes the general quality of this noun and defines it more closely distinguishing it from other notions.
Here it is distinguishing the lawlessness which characterizes the Antichrist from the lawlessness of the rest of the members of the human race since he will deify himself and demand people to worship him above every god including the true and living God, Jesus Christ.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:8, the passive voice of this verb apokalyptō indicates that the Antichrist will receive the action of being revealed to the world by the Holy Spirit causing Himself to depart from Satan’s cosmic world system at the rapture of the church.