2 Thessalonians 2:8b-The Lord Will Kill the Antichrist with the Breath of His Mouth at His Second Advent

2 Thessalonians 2:6 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.

The result clause 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.”

This result clause presents the result of the previous statement recorded in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, which 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.

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.

This relative pronoun clause teaches that the breath coming from the mouth of the Lord Jesus will be the means by which He kills the Antichrist at His Second Advent.

This relative pronoun clause is also picking up the language of Isaiah 11:4.

Isaiah 11:4 He will treat the poor fairly and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and order the wicked to be executed. (NET)

This relative pronoun clause in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 is echoed in Revelation 19:15 and 21.

Revelation 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. (NASB95)

A comparison of Revelation 19:15 and 21 teach that the sword coming from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ will strike dead the citizens of those Gentile nations which oppose Him at His Second Advent.

The relative pronoun clause in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ will kill the Antichrist by the breath of His mouth, which is synonymous with the sword coming from His mouth in Revelation 19:15 and 21.

All three speak of the Lord Jesus Christ exercising His omnipotence by communicating with His words a command which brings to an end the life of those who oppose Him at His Second Advent.

Hebrews 4:12 teaches that the Word of God is alive and powerful and Revelation 19:13 describes Jesus Christ as the Word of God.

Thus, the sword from the Lord’s mouth mentioned in Revelation 19:15 and 21 as well as the reference in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 to the breath of the Lord’s mouth are figurative references to the Lord Jesus Christ exercising His divine omnipotence by speaking a command, which ends the lives of the Antichrist and the rest of unregenerate, unrepentant humanity who will oppose Him at His Second Advent.

Then, as we noted earlier, this relative pronoun clause in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 is followed by an epexegetical clause, which asserts the Lord Jesus will cause the life of the Antichrist to come to an end by the unique manifestation produced by His arrival at His Second Advent.

He will end his biological life while the soul of the Antichrist will be cast into the eternal lake of fire.

Now, as was the case in 2 Thessalonians 2:2, the apostle Paul here in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 is employing “synthetic parallelism” with these clauses.

Leland Ryken writes “Synthetic parallelism should be thought of growing parallelism or expanding parallelism. The second line completes something that was introduced in the first line.”14

Now, here in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, the epexegetical clause in this verse provides more information regarding the previous relative pronoun clause and in fact completes it.

As we noted, the previous relative pronoun asserts that the Lord Jesus will execute the Antichrist as a criminal with the breath from His mouth.

As we also noted, the epexegetical clause asserts that the Lord Jesus will cause the life of the Antichrist to come to an end by the unique manifestation produced by His arrival at His Second Advent.

He will end his biological life while the soul of the Antichrist will be cast into the eternal lake of fire.

This clause is epexegetical because it explains in greater detail the previous statement that the Lord Jesus will execute the Antichrist as a criminal by the breath coming from His mouth.

A comparison of these two statements indicates that the new information provided by this epexegetical clause is that the Antichrist will be killed by the manifestation produced by the Lord Jesus Christ’s arrival at His Second Advent.

In other words, this epexegetical clause identifies “when” the Lord Jesus Christ will kill the Antichrist.

It also teaches that the manifestation produced by the Lord’s arrival at His Second Advent will be the means by which He brings the life and career of the Antichrist on planet earth to an end.

Therefore, the relative pronoun clause and the epexegetical clause in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 reflect “synthetic parallelism” rather than “synonymous parallelism.”

Here in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, the term epiphaneia refers to the Second Advent of Christ since in context, Paul is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ killing the Antichrist.

This will take place at His Second Advent which brings to an end the seventieth week of Daniel, which will be the period in which the Antichrist will publicly manifest his Satanic inspired rebellion against God.

Also, in this epexegetical clause in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, the noun parousia does not refer to the Lord Jesus Christ’s arrival at the rapture or resurrection of the church to remove the church bodily from the earth prior to Daniel’s seventieth week as it does in 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 3:13; 4:15; 5:23 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1.

Rather, it is referring to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ when He returns to the earth with the church.

At that time, the Lord will imprison Satan and his angels for a thousand years, kill the Antichrist and the false prophet, destroy the tribulational armies and establish His millennial reign upon the earth.

This interpretation is clearly indicated by the contents of 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8.

Therefore, since the contents of 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 describe the character and actions of the Antichrist during the seventieth week of Daniel, the noun parousia in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 is referring to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ rather than the rapture.

This is indicated by the fact that the former ends the seventieth week of Daniel according to Daniel 9:27, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 and Revelation 19:11-20:3.

Furthermore, the rapture results in the seventieth week according to 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8.

Together, the seventieth week of Daniel and the Second Advent compose the eschatological day of the Lord.

Lastly, all the passages related to the rapture, namely John 14:1-3, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Philippians 3:20-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, do not speak of the Lord Jesus Christ bringing the Antichrist’s rebellion against Him to an end by killing him.

So therefore, 2 Thessalonians 2:8 contains three prophetic statements which are all related to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, which 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).

14 Ryken, L. (2015). Sweeter than Honey, Richer than Gold: A Guided Study of Biblical Poetry (p. 72). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.