Wednesday Bible Study Fellowship, November 19, 2008
The Antichrist
II Thessalonians 2:1-12
Introduction: When we studied Daniel we learned about the antichrist. When we looked at Matthew 24 Jesus gave His followers three exhortations concerning His coming: be watching, be ready, be faithful. Tonight, we will look at the antichrist from the New Testament perspective of the apostle Paul. Knowing that Christians of all ages are to be watching, ready and faithful, knowing what Daniel taught, we now look at what Paul taught through the inspiration of God’s Spirit!
I. The Rapture (1, 2)
A. Paul wrote concerning “the coming” of our Lord Jesus Christ
1. Coming is the Greek parousia. It means presence.
2. Revelation is the Greek apokalupsis. It means revelation and emphasizes the purpose and plan of God in the second coming of Jesus.
B. The coming of Jesus is divided into two stages:
1. The Rapture – here Christians are “gathered to Him”
2. The Second Coming “The Day of the Lord has no reference to the church. After the Rapture, the day of Christ, or the age of grace, comes to an end and the Day of the Lord begins.” (McGee)
C. The word “gathered” means collection.
D. When are the Christians collected into the presence or parousia of Jesus? The Rapture. This was described in I Thess.4:13-18.
E. The Rapture section ends with “Therefore encourage each other with these words” (I Thess.4:18).
F. The Christians at Thessalonica however instead of being encourage were
1. unsettled / shaken (KJV) = saleuo which means “to agitate or shake”. It comes from the Greek word salou meaning the tossing or swell of the sea.
2. alarmed / troubled (KJV) = The Greek word throeo meaning “to be troubled in mind, to be frightened, alarmed”.
G. False teachers had reported “…that the day of the Lord had already come” (2) and these Christians thought they had missed the rapture! The “Day of the Lord” indicates a time frame between the rapture and the second coming. We refer to this “Day of Lord” as the tribulation. It is interesting that there is always a group of super-duper saints who seem to think they get direct information from the Lord. They don’t think they need to study the Word of God…” (McGee) [Acts 2:20
II. The Rebel
A. Paul assured his readers that they “have not” missed the rapture!
B. The Day of the Lord “…will not come…” until two phenomena occur:
1. The rebellion / the falling away (KJV). The Greek word is apostasia. There will be after the rapture the apostasia. The Greek scholar Thayer tells us the word indicates “a falling away, defection, divorcement.”
a. “It points to a deliberate abandonment of a former professed position” (Expositors, pg.321).
b. After the rapture when Christians are gone and the Holy Spirit has been removed there will be a worldwide rebellion against God. “This worldwide anti-God movement will be so universal as to earn for itself a special designation: ‘the apostasy’…” (Expositors, 322).
c. Note Jesus’ question in Luke 18:8.
1) The organized church departs from the faith.
2) Christians will be removed in the rapture! Then the organized church will have no believers (Rev.17)
2. The revelation (apokalupto – to uncover, lay bare, make known)
3. The antichrist (Rev.13) will be uncovered and characterized in four ways:
a. The man of lawlessness (3). He will oppose God’s law.
b. The man doomed to destruction son of perdition (3). This means that his destiny is perdition. Perdition is the Greek word apoleia which means destruction. Judas is referred to as the son of perdition (John 17:12).
c. The one demanding worship (4). We know from Daniel 9:26-27, 11:31, 36, 37 and 12:11 that at the mid point of the tribulation the antichrist will desecrate the temple of God, committing the abomination of desolation and demand to be worshipped. Jesus speaks of this event in Matt.24:15.
d. The powerful one (9, 10)
1) He is a Satan “energized” man. The word “work/working” of Satan is energeia.
2) Power (KJV) = dunamis
3) Signs = semeion meaning that by which a person is distinguished.
4) Counterfeit wonders = teras meaning a miracle, prodigy.
5) Deceptive (10)
4. The word antichrist is found only 5 times in the New Testament and all are in John’s epistles.
5. If the antichrist is to become the worldwide ruler during the tribulation he will have to be alive many years before the rapture!
III. The Restrainer (5-7)
A. Who is powerful enough t o hold back Satan and his energized antichrist? Only God!
B. When is the Holy Spirit of God “…taken out of the way” (7)? At the rapture!
C. The proper time (6) is after the rapture. When the rapture occurs the Christians and the Holy Spirit are taken out of the world. God will still be present in the world but He will not be indwelling believers as He does today!
D. God will then send a powerful delusion so that people left behind “the lie.” Why does God do this? Because the people had rejected His Son! They refused to love the truth and be saved! (10)
Conclusion: II Thess.1:5 says that God’s judgment is right. We also know that God is just (1:6). The Bible teaches that those who refuse the truth now will be sent a “strong delusion” when the Holy Spirit is removed. They will be condemned. We know God’s Word teaches that many will be saved during the tribulation. I wonder if the delusion will come to places like America that have the truth and if the many who are saved are in countries that today do not have the truth.