Things that Must Take Place

Introduction

2 Thessalonians 2:3–10 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? 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. 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. 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.

Pray

1. The Rebellion that is Coming (v.3)

The Bible speaks of a rebellion that will come before the Day of the Lord appears. Bible commentators have had differing views on whether this is a rebelliuon or a falling away. I do believe that there is a difference between a rebellion and a falling a way. Both of these things are mentioned in the Bible.

In 1 Tim. 4:1 the Bible says,

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

This falling away of those in the faith is taking place right now in our day. I believe that we are seeing people that once held to faithful doctrine falling fast as the culture changes and they seek to stay accepted by the culture. Friends, let me be clear with you that James says,

James 4:4 ESV

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

We can’t hang on to trying to be accepted by the world and be faithful to God because they are headed in opposite directions.

However, I think what Paul is describing here is something different than the falling away that is coming. Paul is describing a rebellion. The Bible describes the rebellion in the Book of Revelation. As the scenes unfold, the people of the world are being judged and yet they won’t repent. They become even more defiant and shake their fists at God and curse Him. They are in an all out rebellion against God.

The rebellion is really present even now in the hearts of the people of the world. Did you see how our culture is up in arms over the Supreme Court ruling on the side of life? We are no longer seeing people hiding their rebellion in their hearts anymore. They are growing more and more defiant, but the question is: are you?

2. The Revelation of the Antichrist (v.3)

The next thing to unfold is the revelation of a sinister man. He is going to be one of the worst men who has ever walked the planet. The Man of Sin or the Man of Lawlessness is who the Antichrist is described as.

Think about these titles. Man of Sin and Man of Lawlessness. This man cares nothing about the things of God. Yet, he will start off subtle. He will win the hearts of the world by deception and cunning.

There seems to be a lot of evidence that there will be some global catastrophes happening that will create a leadership vacuum. I personally believe that if the rapture does happen prior to the Great Tribulation, you are going to see a lot of confusion over people that are gone.

However, even if you don’t believe in a pre-trib rapture, you will see the events of Revelation unfold and there will be massive death and cosmic catastrophe happening. I don’t believe you can interpret these events in Revelation as figurative.

There will be a lot of things going on in the world and this man will bring everyone together. He will even be able to bring together all of the world’s religions together. All of the three major religions hold to diverging beliefs and yet we are already seeing a lot of inter-faith cooperation happening.

Don’t get me wrong, we should be friendly to everyone, but do you see believers in the Old Testament trying to campaign for Baal to have a place of worship? I do believe that everyone should have the freedom to believe and worship as they choose. That is fundamental for freedom of expression for all religions. However, that does not mean that as a Christian I can campaign for other faiths that will lead people to hell. There simply isn’t a whole lot of common ground that we can stand on.

That being said, the Antichrist will be able to bring all faiths together because he does so by the power of great deception. The world is under the influence of the ruler of this world, who is Satan. So when Satan chooses to unify the faiths of the world who do not truly belong to Jesus under one man, he will do so.

3. The Abomination of Desolation (vv. 4-5)

That leads to the greatest of all sins that will be committed by the Antichrist. He will commit the Abomination of Desolation. This is described in the Book of Daniel.

Daniel 11:31–35 ESV

31 Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 33 And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.

4. The Removal of the Restrainer (vv.6-7)

5. The Results of the Treachery (vv.8-12)