2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, The Man of Lawlessness Comes First

If you believed that the rapture of the saints would occur after the time of great tribulation and the career of the antichrist, would you be alarmed that the Day of the Lord had begun? I think you would be excited that the judgment Paul talked about in chapter 1 and the rest promised to those who believe had arrived. But the Thessalonians are not excited, at least, not in a good way. They’re scared. Why? Because they believed that the rapture Paul described in the first letter (4:13-18) would occur before the Day of the Lord.

^2:1 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering up to him, ² that you not be hastily shaken in your minds, and don’t be alarmed, whether because of a spirit, or a word, or an epistle as if from us, as if the day of the Lord is already present. ³ Don’t let anyone deceive you in this way. Because it won’t happen unless the apostasy first comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the one doomed to destruction, ⁴ who is hostile against and exalts himself above everything called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits in the temple of God proclaiming that he is God.

Paul has heard that the Thessalonians were in dismay because they believed a prophetic utterance (“spirit”), a “word” supposedly from Paul, even a letter from him, had declared that the persecution they were facing was in fact the beginning of the Day of the Lord. That means they had missed the rapture, the taking up of believers, dead and alive, to meet with Jesus in the air before his coming all the way to earth to establish his kingdom. None of that was true. Any such prophetic utterance was not true (he had instructed them in the first letter not to despise prophecies but to evaluate them). And he had sent no word or letter saying this (note that at the end of this letter he began a new practice of signing the letter in his own handwriting, 3:17, so that this could not happen again). Paul could just say, “Hey, I told you, you will be raptured up to the air before the Day of the Lord begins.” And we’ll see, he does say this in an indirect way in verses 5-7.

But first he tells them two events that must happen before the Day of the Lord happens, and since these hadn’t happened the Day of the Lord cannot have already come. The first event is “the apostasy.” Apostasy is abandonment of the faith, and the Scriptures predict this occurrence in several places:

¹¹ And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. ¹² Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold…²⁴ For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. (Matthew 24:11,12, 24)

Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. (1 Timothy 4:1)

You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. ² For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. ³ They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. ⁴ They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. ⁵ They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

³ For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will reject the truth and chase after myths. (2 Timothy 4:3,4)

But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. (2 Peter 2:1,2)

³ Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. ⁴ They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” (2 Peter 3:3,4)

¹⁷ But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. ¹⁸ They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. (Jude 1:17,18)

The second event is the “revelation” of the man of lawlessness, who will seat himself in the temple in Jerusalem (which, of course, hasn’t been built yet) and declare that he is God. This equates with the prophecy of Daniel 9:27,

²⁷ The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.

Matthew 24:15,

¹⁵ “The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration^[d] standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!)

And Revelation 13:11-15,

¹¹ Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon. ¹² He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. ¹³ He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching. ¹⁴ And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. ¹⁵ He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.

This is the first beast of Revelation 13, the antichrist of 1 John 2:18,22; 4:13; and 2 John 1:7. As the true Christ or Messiah is “revealed,” so the false Christ is revealed. We know he hasn’t been revealed yet because there is no temple for him to sit in and falsely proclaim his deity.

And so the Thessalonians could know they hadn’t missed the rapture and that the Day of the Lord had not yet come.