2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 Part 1 Bible Teaching

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So, having said what he said in chapter 1 about the coming of Christ we open chapter 2, which is one of the most cited chapters relative to eschatology outside of Revelation, and perhaps Daniel and here we get a mouthful of specifics from Paul about the same.

Remember, because of misinterpreting his writings to them and assuming that the day of Yeshua return was “at hand” (meaning, it was about about to happen in any moment), Paul has written this second epistle and here he gives some real insights to them about when the day was going to be closer at hand.

Now, Paul speaks quite a bit about the end times in most of his epistles, and what we are about to read is only one reference to someone he calls “the Man of Lawlessness. “

In other words, there are other things that Paul spends more time on in his letters quantitatively.

In Romans 8, he talks about the longing of “the created order to be restored,” which I believe was restored when the New Heaven and New earth were established after the wiping out of the former economy of the Mosaic Law.

In 1st Corinthians 15 he speaks at length about the resurrection – which would commence at the coming of the Lord and was part and parcel to the restoration of the created order he longs for.

Most of Paul’s emphasis in how they were to believe and act is couched in his warning, teaching, and telling the believers in that day that the end of that age was approaching, that Yeshua was coming back with reward and judgement, and for them to be ready as a pure and unspotted bride.

So, let’s read what he says in the first 12 verses though I don’t think we will get though all of it today.

2nd Thessalonians 2.1-12
Part I
September 13th 2020
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1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Yeshua Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Okay, let me just touch on last week as a summary. Looking at Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he wrote to a church that was experiencing persecution (II Thess. 1:4-7).

Last week Paul spoke of their “persecutions and tribulations,” but also their patience, faith, and endurance (verse 4).

At verse 5-6 he spoke of their suffering and troubles but also promised that those who troubled them would be repaid with tribulation (verse 6) and that the Saints would receive rest “when the Lord Yeshua is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God” (verses 7-8).

If this prophecy is still not fulfilled, as many believe and teach today, then none of those believers lived to experience that relief as Paul promised them.

Additionally, those who “troubled them” have not yet been repaid with tribulation, according to Paul’s promise to them as well.

The persecution experienced by the Thessalonians was evidently coming from the Jews which appears to be directed by religious leaders in Jerusalem, where the man of lawlessness, mentioned later, would make his headquarters.

I say this because of what he says in 1st Thessalonians 2:14-16 saying

“For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Yeshua: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Yeshua and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they might be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.”

It’s believed that II Thessalonians was written around AD 52. Great judgment came upon the Jews 14 years later during the Jewish-Roman War (AD 66-73).

Listen – when we recall the words of Yeshu, it’s no surprise that Paul expected his first century readers to personally experience relief from their afflictions.

Yeshua had likewise promised to come in His kingdom, in judgment, with His angels, and in His Father’s glory while some of His 12 disciples were still alive (Matthew 16:27-28).

Paul viewed the coming judgment upon apostate Israel as a good development for the spread of the gospel among the nations.

The “man of lawlessness” and the “mystery of lawlessness” were direct concerns for the believers living in Thessalonica in Paul’s day because what was happening in Jerusalem, and what would soon reach a crisis level, affected their lives in a significant way.

So, Paul wrote to a church that was apparently entertaining concerns that they had missed Christ’s coming, for Paul wrote in the first verse:

“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Yeshua Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.” (II Thess. 2:1-2).

We must consider the nature of their expectation about these things because if their expectation of the Lord’s coming was that it would bring an end to the world, or that it would result in the instant removal of all believers from the planet, it’s hard to imagine how they could be led to believe that these things had already occurred.

Have you ever thought of that?

Therefore, their expectation of His coming and what was supposed to occur would be that His return would NOT mean a radical change to the entire world.

Additionally, if “the Day of the Lord’s Second Coming’ also included “a rapture,” and they thought it had already occurred, why would Paul the Apostle still be around?

Obviously then, they did not associate the return of Christ to the man-made rapture or to a major change in the world economies.

Simply put, when the scripture talks about “the rising up to meet the Lord it refers to the resurrection,” even the initial start of the resurrection and not the mythical rapture men have created.

In the face of all of these facts a Presbyterian pastor named Lohman wrote:

“Now, if on the other hand, the Thessalonians believed “the Day of the Lord” was to be the coming judgment against apostate Israel, then asking about that event would make sense.“

And this was because things were happening to Israel then.

Now, Paul states plainly that two events had to occur before “the day of the Lord” would come upon them: (verse 1)

1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Yeshua Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come 1) a falling away first, and 2) that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Before we cover that, let’s look at Paul tells them to

“be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Remain calm and be not SOON shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor in word or, he says, “in letter AS from us.”

The line, “as from us” suggests that there were certainly counterfeit gospels out there which proposed false doctrine to believers in that day.

This reality lets us know how tenuous the faith was in that age, and how misleading information could have been to those of faith. It also shows the absolute necessity of living apostles to clarify truth to them/then.

So, to the two events that had to happened, according to Paul, before the DAY of Christ would be at hand.

[1] the rebellion, and [2] the revealing of the man of lawlessness.

The key Greek terms in the verse are

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

The Greek word “apostasia” (translated, falling way) in verse 3 is rendered by most modern translations as “the rebellion” or “the revolt.”

So, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, “except there come a rebellion or a revolt first” and that man of sin be reveled as a son of perdition. “

Many people suggest, like the Mormons, that this passage is describing a spiritual falling away, or, as the LDS say, a loss of priesthood authority from the earth, and Christians, applying the condition to our day, suggest that he is speaking of Christians as a whole falling or walking from the faith.

Those explanations are possible, but this word can also indicate a social or political rebellion.

Of course we know from the Jewish historian Josephus (and other sources too) report that in AD 66 AD a large-scale rebellion rose up in Israel through the efforts of a group called “the Zealots” which lead to the Roman Empire to declare war on Israel.

This rebellion began about 14 years after Paul wrote this letter, although the seeds of that rebellion were already taking root when Paul’s wrote these things and there had been smaller outbreaks even earlier.

So here in verse 3, Paul made the argument that Christ’s coming in judgment against Israel (and with reward for the faithful, commencing the start of the universal resurrection of all) but said it would not take place before this great rebellion had begun.

I suggest that this rebellion was the one lead by the Zealots, which lead to war, and ultimately led to the Roman Empire coming in an doing what Yeshua said would happen as a sign of his coming and the end of that age in Matthew 24.

So that was the first sign they were to look for. The second was the Man of Lawlessness being revelated.

This is only mentioned here in 2nd Thessalonian 2.1–12 so let’s re-read what Paul says to them about him:

2nd Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

There are some things here worth noting. First, Paul clearly thinks that, whoever this mysterious ‘man of lawlessness’ is, he is ‘already at work.’
That in and of itself is supremely important in our eschatological assessment of things.
And we can say this because he says:
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

Clearly to them then – clearly timestamped to that day.

It is also clear where Paul says that he will “set himself up in the temple.” And we know that this was that temple then because if it wasn’t Paul would have to differentiate because they HAD a temple in their midst. To me it is clear that he was speaking about that temple then.

However, “in that day” because Paul says “now YOU KNOW” something was holding this man of lawlessness back.

Something was currently holding him back from being revealed or from his expressing his ultimate power, as Paul says:

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

From all this we also see that Paul had previously given the believers at Thessalonica insights to something – and we are not completely privy to all that he said.

What we do know, however, was that one of Paul’s purposes for addressing this subject to the believers there at Thessalonica was they had become convinced that He either had come back or more likely that he was coming back soon, and this caused some or the believers to throw up hands, surrender earning a living, and therefore to presumably drain other believers of their resources – even though Paul does not say this explicitly in the epistles.

What he does say is “he does not want them to panic.” They have not been left behind and there is no fear in the end happening yet – for . . .

There has not been an apostasy (rebellion or uprising) and the Man of Lawlessness (or sin) has not been revealed.

Now, the antichrist is only mentioned four times in the entire New Testament – three of them from the pen of John in his first epistle and 1 in his second.

We know that when he wrote about him that the antichrist was actually revealed and among them.

Listen to what he says to them/then:

Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 1 John 2:18

And then:

Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Yeshua is the Messiah. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 1 John 2:22

And then

…but every spirit that does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 1 John 4:3

And finally,

Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Yeshua Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 2 John 7

Again, there are several things worth noticing simply by reading the text carefully.

First, although John does talk about ‘the antichrist’ at several points – meaning in a singular sense – he is also clear that there have, and continue to be, many such people. In other words, “many ‘antichrists’ have already come;” and “ every spirit that does not acknowledge Yeshua is of the antichrist,” and “any such person’ who denies Yeshua came in the flesh ‘is the antichrist’.”

Secondly, we cannot escape the fact that much of what John says is what we might call “realized eschatology”—that is, he speaks as though he and his readers are already in the ‘end times’ when he says several times ‘it is the last hour’.

This stance is in harmony with Peter who on the day of Pentecost, defends the people who were speaking in tongues by citing the prophet Joel from chapter 2 and says:

Ac 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

The idea that the world of a New heaven and new earth was coming is also supported when Yeshua said:

The Kingdom of God is within you, and Paul says (in 2nd Corinthians 5:17) that those then who put their faith in Yeshua were “a new creation.”

So, what is the significance of the title “man of lawlessness?” Many people assume that he was antinomian and would not be restrained under any laws of the Land.

I would suggest another view which is also in harmony with Paul and His day, the Jews and the Temple, where this man is going to perform some unseemly acts.

See, the Law of Moses was held in the highest regard in Paul’s world. And the temple on Mt. Moriah was central to the Law.

Because Paul says in verse 4 “that he “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”

It’s very likely that Paul was saying that this man would trample on the Law of Moses and freely commit sins under the law.

This would also confirm that he was revealed while the law was still being practiced (meaning before the temple was destroyed in AD 70).

We can also note the close relationship between “lawlessness” and “rebellion” in these verses. And this is where we might get closer to who this man of lawlessness was.

See, it was that group called the Zealots that were about to lead a massive rebellion against Rome in Paul’s day, and Paul and his readers knew this was their goal for some time.

To me it seems natural that this man of lawlessness would naturally come from their ranks.

Josephus, who chronicled their rebellion in Wars of the Jews, ran out of adjectives to describe how wicked it was and how profoundly the Zealots violated the Law for which they were supposed to be so committed to, which fits with how Paul describes the Man, saying:

He “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.”

And of course we know that the temple mentioned here (which Paul does not have to explain or describe to his readers) was burned and taken down completely top to bottom 18 years after Paul wrote this letter.

Now, let’s quickly talk about the popular futurist belief that a third temple must soon be rebuilt in Jerusalem, and that a future antichrist (lawless) figure will then be enthroned in that temple.

Ask yourselves – is there any way that the Thessalonian believers, reading this letter, would have understood Paul’s words this way?

This is a great way to establish application of passages – how would the audience interpret what was being said to them?

They knew from Yeshua’ own prophecies that the temple (the one they knew and most likely had visited) would be destroyed in their own generation from passages like Matthew 23:29-24:1, 24:3, 24:34; Luke 19:41-44, Luke 21:5-33.

There are no clues in the text pointing to a different temple than that one being described in this prophecy.

How strange it would have been for them to think that Herod’s temple would later be replaced in order for a futuristic lawless individual to proclaim his divinity in a new temple.

In fact, why would they even need to be informed about him and these events if they were to occur almost 20 centuries later?

All Paul would have to say is, it’s not gonna happen for 2000 plus years guy – and as an apostle who was informed by the Spirit, he could have said this if it were the truth.

But Paul clearly wrote to them about the lawless one because he would directly impact their lives or the lives of those they cared about then.

And by the way, those who are trying to initiate this temple project today are hoping to resume old covenant sacrifices, which would be a direct rejection of Christ and His work on the cross. And yet there are a number of American Christians passionately pushing to see such a project come about, donating millions of dollars to make it happen.

Anyway, Paul has reminded the Thessalonians that he had already discussed with them (in person) about the coming rebellion and the man of sin.

But we are not given many details of that earlier conversation. Apparently, Paul had not only discussed with them the identity of the man of lawlessness but also the entity or person that was restraining him, because he says at verse 6,

“And YOU KNOW what is restraining him NOW so that he may be revealed in his time.”

This again points to a first-century fulfillment, as does verse 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.”

There is a book called, Parousia by one James Stuart Russell in 1878, (which was frequently cited by guys like the late RC Sproul) and in it he writes:

“Is it not obvious that whoever the man of sin may be, he must be someone with whom the apostle [Paul] and his readers had to do? Is he not writing to living men about matters in which they are intensely interested? Why should he delineate the features of this mysterious personage to the Thessalonians if he was one with whom the Thessalonians had nothing to do, from whom they had nothing to fear, and who would not be revealed for ages yet to come? It is clear that he speaks of one whose influence was already beginning to be felt, and whose unchecked and lawless fury would [before] long burst forth…”

I mention this to show that these insights have been around a long time, but have been quelled by louder more zealous voices who will not, cannot, see nor embrace the truth because of the din of irrational personal opinions.

Adam Marshaalk, an author I admire greatly writes:

That the “mystery of lawlessness” was a reference to the Zealot movement which had been gaining steam since Hezekiah the Zealot rose up in 47 BC, and especially since his son, Judas the Galilean (meantioned in Acts 5:37), led a failed rebellion in AD 6.

The goal of this movement was to regain for Israel the full independence which had been won by the Maccabees from 164 – 142 BC, but which was lost after Pompey the Great invaded in 63 BC and Herod the Great began to rule over Judea in 37 BC.

Their long-planned rebellion finally exploded into a full-scale war around August AD 66, according to Josephus’ Wars 2.17.2, and it resulted in Jerusalem being filled with abominations (which are cited in, Wars 2.17.10).

We also note that Paul mentions a restrainer who was somehow capable of holding the man of lawlessness back.

Some fulfillment eschatologists suggest that this restrainer was the collective strength of the Jewish high priests who led the peace movement in Jerusalem at the time.

In his Wars of the Jews, Josephus wrote a great deal about how they were a thorn in the side to the Zealots, at times preventing them from fully doing as they pleased.

This makes contextual historical sense.

So let’s move out to the actual Jewish-Roman War that started in AD 66. The peace movement “to prevent the zealots from doing more damage” was led by two men – Ananus ben Ananus and Yeshua ben Gamaliel.

Their long speeches against the Zealots can be read in Josephus Wars 4.3.10 and Wars 4.4.3.

Josephus said that Ananus “preferred peace above all things,” was “a shrewd man in speaking and persuading the people,” who “had already gotten the mastery of those who opposed his designs or were for the war” (Wars 4.5.2).

Josephis tells us that in late AD 67 the Zealots appointed a fake and completely unqualified high priest named, Phannias, who essentially became their puppet (Wars 4.3.6-8).

Josephus reports: “At this point, the people of Jerusalem “could no longer bear the insolence of this procedure, but did altogether run zealously, in order to overthrow that tyranny…” (Wars 4.3.9).

In the speech of Ananus (Wars 4.3.10), he pledged to lead the people in an all-or-nothing attack against the Zealots, not sparing his own body.

Ananus and his followers actually gained the upper hand against the Zealots, forcing them into the inner temple and gaining control of the rest of the city (Wars 4.3.12), but their progress came undone because of the trickery of John Levi of Gischala (Wars 4.3.13-14).

Ananus and Yeshua were both killed, along with other priests, during the Zealot Temple Siege of February-March AD 68.

WHICH SPEAKS perfectly to the restrainer being taken “out of the way” and their deaths were a significant turning point for Jerusalem, according to Josephus who wrote:

“I should not mistake if I said that the death of Ananus was the beginning of the destruction of the city, and that from this very day may be dated the overthrow of her wall, and the ruin of her affairs, whereon they saw their high priest, and the procurer of their preservation, slain in the midst of their city… to say all in a word, if Ananus had survived they had certainly compounded matters… And the Jews had then put abundance of delays in the way of the Romans, if they had had such a general as he was” (Wars 4.5.2).

After their deaths, the Zealots were unrestrained and Josephus wrote that
they “fell upon the people as upon a flock of profane animals, and cut their throats.”

Others endured “terrible torments” before finally meeting their deaths. At least 12,000 died in that massacre (Wars 4.5.3).

Josephus himself describes how the Zealots increased their wickedness because the peace-loving high priests were no longer there to hinder them, saying:

“[T]he zealots grew more insolent, not as deserted by their confederates, but as freed from such men as might hinder their designs, and put some stop to their wickedness. Accordingly they made no longer any delay, nor took any deliberation in their enormous practices, but made use of the shortest methods for all their executions, and what they had once resolved upon, they put in practice sooner than anyone could imagine…” (Wars 4.6.1).

So Paul tells the believers there that once the restrainer was “taken out of the way” (verse 7), “the lawless one [would] be revealed, whom (verse 8) the Lord [would] consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”

We will pick this up next week as we wrap verses 1-12 up.

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