Jesus was coming to destroy the lawless one

JESUS WAS COMING TO DESTROY THE LAWLESS ONE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Thessalonians2:8 8
And then the l
awless one will be revealed,whom the LORD Jesus
will overthrowwith the breath of his mouth and
destroy by the splendorof his coming.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Mystery Of Lawlessness
2 Thessalonians 2:7, 8
W.F. Adeney The exact, objective application of this prediction, like that of the preceding
description, is not easy to discover. But principles are involved which are susceptible of general
application.
I. THERE IS A MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS. By this expression the apostle probably
means a mystery the character of which is lawless.
1. We may expect to meet with new mysteries. While time and inquiry resolve some mysteries,
they bring upon us fresh ones. We are not to expect to be able to understand all the forces and
influences with which we are surrounded. It is enough that we are in the hands of God who
knows all, and trusting in Christ who can lead us safely through the darkness.
2. New mysteries may be characterized by new lawlessness. The answer to our inquiries may be
very unsatisfactory in revealing only evil. There are strange novelties which are obscure in all
points but their moral character, and that is plainly evil. If so, we may hope for no good from
them, and need not further interest ourselves in them.
3. All lawlessness is mysterious. How did it originate? How is its existence possible? Why does
not God sweep it away? These questions have perplexed men in all ages. We bow before them in
helpless, pained wonder.
II. THERE IS A RESTRAINT ON THE MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS.
1. Its full power is not yet revealed. There are those who treat all sin with unbecoming levity,
because they do not yet see its terrible fruits. They are playing with a torpid adder, that may
awake at any moment and inflict a fatal wound. No one knows what hidden possibilities of harm

lurk in the deep caverns of undeveloped sin. There are volcanoes in the hearts of some quiet men
which may burst into destructive fires.
2. Human means may be used to restrain the mystery of lawlessness. Government, law, society,
healthy habits of the majority, keep it down for a time.
3. God holds the mystery of lawlessness in check. He is supreme over its wildest raging. "He that
sitteth in the heavens shall laugh." God restrains the superabundant wrath of man (Psalm 76:10).
III. THE HIDDEN MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS WILL BE REVEALED. The volcano must
break into eruption some day. Evil cannot slumber forever. Hypocrisy will tire of its meek,
innocent demeanour. The harvest of sin will have to be reaped. Let not any man put his
confidence in the secretness or slowness of the processes of evil. The more they are hidden now,
the worse will be the appalling outburst of them when the restraint under which they groan at
present is released. The longer the wild horses are held in by the leash, the fiercer will be their
mad gallop when they break loose.
IV. CHRIST WILL CONQUER THE MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS. Evil will not long be
rampant. One fearful rebellion and then a tremendous defeat.
1. Christ is to be the Conqueror of it. He came to destroy the works of the devil. We could not
effect this great work. He, our Saviour, does it for us.
2. Christ is to come again for this object. When the mystery is revealed, Christ's "manifestation"
follows.
3. Christ conquers with a breath. His first work was difficult, involving his death. His last work
will be divinely simple, and yet sublimely successful. - W.F.A.
Biblical Illustrator
And then shall that wicked be revealed
2 Thessalonians 2:8
AntichristI. HIS TITLE. "That lawless one." It is the property of Antichrist to boast himself to be
above all laws, in which he resembles Antiochus (Daniel 11:36). It cannot, therefore, be hard to
find him out, for —
1. Who is that infallible judge that takes upon him to decide all controversies, who judges all
things, is judged of none; who destroys with fire and sword those who question his authority, and
who releases from their allegiance the subjects of those who dispute his supreme sovereignty?
2. Who is he that takes upon him, with faculties, licences, and pardons to dispense with the law
of God, and to allow open and notorious sins?

3. Who is he that by his own writers is said to be freed from all human law, that has a paramount
authority to all laws, that he cannot be bound by them? One expressly says that he is above law,
against law, and without law; a plain description of the lawless one in the text; and another, not
without a spice of blasphemy, "God and the Pope have their will for a law."
4. Who is he that has brought into the Church the worship of God by images, and the worship of
saints and angels, which is the great lawlessness which is branded by the Christian law as such?
If there be no such power extant, then we are yet to seek for Antichrist; but if there be, none so
wilfully blind as they that cannot see wood for trees, and know not where to fix this character.
II. HIS REVELATION.
1. His appearance in the world. He shall be in the world as soon as a certain hindrance is
removed.(1) The most learned argue that this impediment was the Roman empire: that gone,
Antichrist was to be revealed or the prediction proved false.(2) Things of great moment cannot
be removed nor established in a minute. The removing of the Roman empire was not all at once,
nor the rising of the pontificate, but by degrees. When Constantine began to remove the imperial
throne to Byzantium, though the majesty of the empire continued at Rome, yet this was a step in
removing the impediment; it lessened the Emperor's authority there and increased that of the
Pope's.(3) The progress of Antichristian tyranny is, in short, this: About A.D. 600 their
ecclesiastical power began to be raised when the majesty of the empire was weak in Italy. When
John of Constantinople had usurped the title of , said, "The king of pride is near, and an army of
priests is prepared to serve him as their general;" and in about six years Phoeos conferred on
Pope Boniface the same title. About the Pope obtained the Pantheon, or temple of all devils, and
consecrated it to Mary and all saints. The temporal monarchy was long in hatching, but began in
that century. Pope Constantine would have his foot kissed like another Diocletian, and openly
resisted the Emperor Philippius, and encouraged the treason of Justine and Anastasius. In the
eighth century, Gregorys II and III continued the rebellion, and caused all Italy to withdraw their
obedience from the Emperor Leo; and later Zachary assisted Pepin to depose Childeric.
Afterward Adrian took upon him to translate the empire of the Greeks to the Latins, and ever
since the Popes have made broils in kingdoms and assumed the right of deposing kings.
2. God's discovery of him to the world was also by degrees, in raising up witnesses against the
tyranny and usurpation of Rome in every age. Five hundred years before Luther, Peter Bruis
began, and Henry, his scholar, succeeded him, and to both succeeded the and ; then Wicliffe, the
, Savonarola, and lastly Luther and the German and English reformers.
III. HIS RUIN.
1. The manner of his fall.(1) "Consumed." Antichrist is not presently to be destroyed, but to
waste away by a lingering consumption; as his rising was by degrees so he will lose his
authority.(a) The reason for this is that God has a use for him as he has for the devil himself, and
therefore permits him some limited power to scourge his people for their sins, to try his people's
obedience, to cure their divisions, and to keep up a remembrance of His mercies.(b) Observe
how this consumption is accomplished. The pomp and height was about 1,500 years after Christ,
but what a decay has happened since by the revival of religion and learning.(c) Caution.
Antichrist is being consumed, but he is not yet dead. What strength he may recover before his
last destruction God knows; but it has re-entered many countries from which it was cast out, and
made havoc among the evangelical Churches. What, then, shall we do? Watch and pray
(Matthew 13:25); reform and repent (Revelation 2:5); be fortified and established by knowledge

(2 Peter 3:17), by grace (Hebrews 13:9; 1 John 2:20).(d) The author and means of this
consumption, "The Lord...with the breath of his mouth," which means either His providential
Word (Isaiah 11:4; Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 1:3; John 18:6), or the efficacy of His Gospel
(Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 2:16). Antichrist's destruction is to be by the
victorious evidence of truth. It must needs be so, for the tyranny is upheld by darkness which is
dispelled by the light of truth; and therefore the Papists cannot endure the Scriptures. Again, his
kingdom is carried on by falsehood, and his impostures are discovered by the simplicity of the
gospel.(2) "Destroyed." The coming which is to accomplish this final annihilation is most likely
the Second Advent (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3). Others conceive some
notable manifestation of his presence and power in his Church, but it is certain that at the
judgment the beast and false prophet shall be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20).
2. The use to be made of this. Be not discouraged at the survival of Antichrist: his doom is
sealed.
(T. Manton, D. D.)
The means of the destruction of Antichrist
C. Lee.The gospel — "the breath of His mouth." And how admirably adapted is the means to
accomplish the end!
1. The man of sin has usurped the place of God in the throne of the Church. What is required to
depose the tyrant? The proclamation and reception of the gospel. This shows that St. Peter had
no dominion over the consciences of his brethren or the faith of the Church to which he
ministered, and consequently that he never transferred such power to others. The gospel shows
that God is the only Lord of conscience: and as this is known and appreciated will man fall from
the position he has usurped, and God be raised and worshipped.
2. The man of sin has dictated the creed of the Church and declared it to be the merit of human
actions and sufferings. And what is necessary to consume this fatal error, but the knowledge of
the gospel which declares that the just shall live by faith: that salvation is of grace, through faith,
and the gift of God.
3. The man of sin has vended and sold pardons and future rewards, what is necessary to consume
this power of the Pope, except the knowledge and belief that God only can forgive sins; that He
forgives freely through the merits of Christ, and for His sake confers the kingdom of heaven on
those that believe.
4. The man of sin assumes a dominion over the invisible world, and professes to have power to
deliver souls from the flames of purgatory, what is necessary to consume this error, but to
circulate the Scriptures, which most clearly show that God only has power to reach the
inhabitants of the invisible world.
5. The man of sin labours to keep men in ignorance. What is necessary to dispel the darkness of
the human mind, and thus to consume this his stronghold, but to send men the light of life.
(C. Lee.)
The Christian revelation of life
Newman Smyth, D. D.1. In "Modern Painters" Ruskin reminds us of the delight we feel in view
of a bright distance over a dark horizon. At sunrise, beyond some line of purple hills, we have

seen the sky become a great space of light, and though the shadows of night were lingering in the
valley we have looked into the dawn.
2. In the Bible we are always looking over a foreground in shadow into a bright distance.(1) In
Old Testament prophecy the waste and tumult of history were seen against the far Messianic
glory.(2) In the New Testament the apostles have learned to see all the wickedness of the world
horizoned by the manifestation of the Coming of Christ.
3. In Christian vision, then, two aspects of Christian life and world history should be viewed
together.(1) If we have been compelled to observe the evil of the world we need to look on until
we see its darkness beneath the brightness of the Lord's presence.(2) On the other hand, we must
not shrink from any knowledge of the evil of the world. The Good Shepherd will seek the lost
sheep, and not wait for the coming dawn.
4. Observe how Jesus always seemed to see both aspects. Sin was an ever present fact to Him,
but He saw it all set in the holy love of God; and because of this He could at once condemn sin
and rejoice over it.
5. A similar juxtaposition characterizes this chapter. We do not know exactly of what Paul was
thinking, but it is clear that he saw the darker foreground, and the bright distance, the mystery of
iniquity still working, and the manifestation of the coming of Christ.
I. THE TEXT DISCOVERS THE LAW BY WHICH THE MANIFESTATION OF THE
PRESENCE OF CHRIST FOLLOWS THE REVELATION OF THE MAN OF SIN. The
revelation of sin is necessary for its judgment. As soon as the man of sin becomes revealed, then
follows his destruction. Things have to grow worse in order that they may become better. We can
discover this principle when we survey great historic masses of sin. When Babylon's
abominations were full, God's judgment brought all her pomp down to hell. So with pagan and
mediaeval Rome. The Goth and Vandals were let loose by Providence when the vices of a
decayed civilization had filled the cup of wrath; and the Papal corruption was ripe for destruction
when Luther sounded his appeal. What availed the voice of some New England divine to check
the growing system of slavery in America? Both North and South were making money by letting
it alone. But all the while it was growing up under the law of God's judgment. Providence lets
wheat and tares grow till the harvest. And when at last that man of sin was fully revealed, the
compromises which had restrained the full growth and revelation of slavery being taken away,
then came the hour of its destruction.
II. THERE IS ALWAYS, THEREFORE, REASON FOR HOPE WHEN WE SEE SOME EVIL
THING COMING OUT OF ITS CONCEALMENT, and making its power felt with a more
shameless impudence. Whether it be intemperance, the power of the saloon, or greed, or lust, or
monopoly, or anarchy. This law is a reason for hope and courage in all Christian work.
Something may have given you a moment's revelation of the mystery of iniquity in your
neighbourhood, and discouraged, you are tempted to say What is the use of our feeble endeavour
against such powers of evil? Or you may have run against some dead wall of indifference, or
custom, or wrong method entrenched in some good institution, and because rebuffed where you
expected sympathy you either drop the work or continue with heartlessness. But you have furled
to look up until you saw some bit of God's sky at the end of your way. If we are sure we have
seen the wrong and harm, we may be sure that it will be manifest in time, and that in time what
hinders its revelation will be removed, and then it shall be consumed in the brightness of the
Lord's Coming. This is the reason why the men who really have seen evil things, and fought

mightily against them, as a rule have been not only the bravest men, the self sacrificing, the
martyrs, but also the cheeriest and most hopeful men. It is the indifferent man, he who does not
lift a finger to take any burden from men's shoulders, who fears that his country is going to
destruction, as it might do for aught he does.
III. THE SAME PRINCIPLE OBTAINS WITH REFERENCE TO OUR INDIVIDUAL
SALVATION. Sins one after another come to revelation in our lives, and, as they are revealed
will be consumed in some manifestation of Christ. A man goes on in a life that was not
satisfactory to his conscience or heart. Something happens to bring that dissatisfaction to
revelation. He sees a larger, diviner self rising before his present self, condemning it, and ready
to consume it as by the presence of Christ. That is a crisis for any man. And if we disown the
man of sin in us, and own the Christ self, we are converted. And every time any sin comes to
revelation is God's opportunity of grace. When it Teaches its full measure it may not prove to be
a vehement passion, or devouring beast, but only some little meanness, selfishness, etc. But at
last we see it as an evil thing, contrary to God. Then let it be consumed in the presence of Christ.
"Behold now is the accepted time." And the progress upward is one of ever increasing quickness
of perception of evil and power over sin.
IV. Such is the benign law of growth and grace; BUT ITS ALTERNATIVE CANNOT BE
ESCAPED. If the man of sin in us is revealed, and we will not let him go, what then? The sin
must be punished. God cannot hold heaven safe in one hand, and let the sin of the world escape
from the other. The man of sin must be destroyed, and if we cling to it how can God separate us
from its fate? We must go where sin goes, if our hearts cleave to the sin. That is so in this world,
why should it be different in any ether? All dishonesties go straight and sure towards ruin, and
eventually carry the defaulters with them. Hence the urgency of the gospel to us now.
(Newman Smyth, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) And then.—Then at length, when the obstructor is
gone, two things shall happen: (1) the Lawless One shall be revealed, and (2) then the Lord will
come and destroy him. The purpose with which St. Paul began this chapter was to show
relatively the date of our Lord’s Advent; but he is now so engrossed in describing the events
which must precede it, that when he does mention the Advent again he does so in a parenthetical
relative clause.
That Wicked.—Or, the Lawless One. The English version has again obscured the passage by not
keeping the same word as in 2Thessalonians 2:7. The general tendency to “lawlessness” or
“rebellion” will be brought to a head in the person of “the Lawless One” or “the “Rebel,” just as
the “obstruction” is impersonated in “the Obstructor.” The publication of the “secret of
rebelliousness” will be effected by the manifesto of the Rebel-in-chief. Of course, this Rebel is
the same person with the Man of Sin, the change of title being due to the particularising of his sin
by the word “lawlessness” in 2Thessalonians 2:7; the specification of the time is the only
additional intelligence; all the emphasis of the sentence, therefore, rests on “And then.”

The Lord.—The best text adds the name Jesus, which serves more clearly to contrast Him with
His rival. The word “whom” might be more pointedly paraphrased by “and him.”
With the spirit of his mouth.—St. Paul is quoting roughly from Isaiah 11:4 (comp. Job 4:9;
Psalm 18:15; Wisdom Of Solomon 11:20 : “might have fallen down with one blast, . . . scattered
abroad through the breath of Thy power”); and therefore we are to understand it to signify the
perfect ease with which Christ will destroy Antichrist. Even when the phrase is used of speech
(as it may perhaps be here), the absence of labour is the point to be noticed (e.g., Psalm 33:6).
With the brightness of his coming.—Rather, with the appearing of His presence. Here, again, it is
the mere fact of the true Christ’s showing Himself, which will reduce to nothingness (such is the
meaning of the Greek for “destroy”) the false Christ. When they shall stand face to face there
will be no possibility of delusion any more.
Benson CommentaryHYPERLINK "/2_thessalonians/2-8.htm"2 Thessalonians 2:8. And then —
When every prince and power that restrains is taken away; that wicked — Ο ανομος, that lawless
one, who boasts himself to be above all laws, and the infallible judge, dispensing with, and
interpreting the laws of God, according to his pleasure. Nothing can be more plain than that this
wicked or lawless one, and the man of sin, must be one and the same person: shall be revealed —
This revelation must mean that he would then no longer work secretly, but would openly show
himself, possessing the character, and performing the actions ascribed to the man of sin. Whom
the Lord shall consume — The apostle does not mean that he should be consumed immediately
after he was revealed; but, to comfort the Thessalonians, he no sooner mentions his revelation,
than he foretels also his destruction, even before he describes his other qualifications; which
qualifications should have been described first in order of time, but the apostle hastens to what
was first and warmest in his thoughts and wishes. The word αναλωσει, here rendered to
consume, Chandler observes, is used to denote a lingering, gradual consumption; being applied
to the waste of time, to the dissipation of an estate, and the slow death of being eaten up of
worms. He supposes it has the same meaning here, importing that the man of sin is to be
gradually destroyed by the spirit — Or breath rather, as it seems πνευμα should have been here
translated; of Christ’s mouth — By which expression the preaching of true doctrine, and its
efficacy in destroying the man of sin, are predicted. For the mouth being the instrument by which
speech is formed of breath, or air from the lungs, the breath of his mouth is a proper figurative
expression to denote the speaking or preaching of true doctrine. Accordingly, the preaching of
the gospel is termed, (Revelation 19:15,) a sharp sword proceeding out of the mouth of Christ;
and (Hosea 6:5) God says, I have hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the word of
my mouth. See also Isaiah 11:4. Or, the expression may include both the preaching of the gospel
and the power of the Spirit accompanying it; and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming
— By clear, convincing reasons and arguments contained in the doctrine of those that shall speak
or write by the Spirit of Christ, or by God’s manifest judgments against him in the pouring out of
the several vials, Revelation 16. The original expression, επιφανεια της παρουσιας αυτου, is,
literally, the bright shining of his coming, and means that, as darkness is dispelled by the rising
of the sun, so the mystery of iniquity shall be destroyed by the lustre with which Christ will
cause the true doctrine of the gospel to shine. “If,” says Dr. Benson, “St. John and St. Paul have
prophesied of the same corruptions, it should seem that the head of the apostacy will be
destroyed by some signal judgment, after its influence or dominion hath, in a gradual manner,
been destroyed by the force of truth.” According to Daniel, (Daniel 7:27,) after the little horn is
consumed and destroyed, the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under

the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; a prediction which
undoubtedly signifies the general conversion of both Gentiles and Jews to the Christian faith, and
the universal reign of righteousness and peace through all the earth.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary2:5-12 Something hindered or withheld the man of sin. It
is supposed to be the power of the Roman empire, which the apostle did not mention more
plainly at that time. Corruption of doctrine and worship came in by degrees, and the usurping of
power was gradual; thus the mystery of iniquity prevailed. Superstition and idolatry were
advanced by pretended devotion, and bigotry and persecution were promoted by pretended zeal
for God and his glory. This mystery of iniquity was even then begun; while the apostles were yet
living, persons pretended zeal for Christ, but really opposed him. The fall or ruin of the
antichristian state is declared. The pure word of God, with the Spirit of God, will discover this
mystery of iniquity, and in due time it shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming.
Signs and wonders, visions and miracles, are pretended; but they are false signs to support false
doctrines; and lying wonders, or only pretended miracles, to cheat the people; and the diabolical
deceits with which the antichristian state has been supported, are notorious. The persons are
described, who are his willing subjects. Their sin is this; They did not love the truth, and
therefore did not believe it; and they were pleased with false notions. God leaves them to
themselves, then sin will follow of course, and spiritual judgments here, and eternal punishments
hereafter. These prophecies have, in a great measure, come to pass, and confirm the truth of the
Scriptures. This passage exactly agrees with the system of popery, as it prevails in the Romish
church, and under the Romish popes. But though the son of perdition has been revealed, though
he has opposed and exalted himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; and has
spoken and acted as if he were a god upon earth, and has proclaimed his insolent pride, and
supported his delusions, by lying miracles and all kinds of frauds; still the Lord has not yet fully
destroyed him with the brightness of his coming; that and other prophecies remain to be fulfilled
before the end shall come.
Barnes' Notes on the BibleAnd then shall that Wicked be revealed - ὁ ἄνομος ho anomos - "the
wicked one," referring to the "man of sin," and called "the wicked one" because of the eminent
depravity of the system of which he was to be the head; see the notes on 2 Thessalonians 2:3.
Whom the Lord shall consume - The Lord Jesus; see the notes on Acts 1:24. The word
"consume" here - ἀναλώσει analōsei - means "to destroy;" see Galatians 5:15; Luke 9:54. The
word would be applicable to any kind of destruction. The methods by which this will be done are
immediately specified - and it is of much importance to understand them, if this refers to the
papacy. "With the spirit of his mouth." What goes out of his mouth, or what he speaks; that is,
word, truth, command, or gospel - all of which he may be regarded as speaking. In Revelation
1:16; Revelation 19:15, Revelation 19:21, it is said of the Redeemer that "a sharp two-edged
sword goeth out of his mouth;" that is, his word, doctrine, or command - what he speaks - is like
a sharp sword. It will cut deep; will lay open the heart; will destroy his enemies. Compare Isaiah
11:4, "With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." The reference in the passage before
us is to one of the methods which would be employed to "destroy" the man of sin; and the sense
is, that it would be by what is spoken by the Redeemer. This may refer either to what he will say
at his coming, or to his truth - already spoken; to what has gone from his lips, by whomsoever
uttered; and the meaning then is, that one of the grand agencies for destroying this anti-Christian
power is the truth spoken or revealed by the Saviour - that is, his pure gospel.

If this latter is the true interpretation, it may mean that the process for his destruction may have
commenced long anterior to the personal appearing of the Redeemer, but that the complete
destruction of this power will be accomplished by the splendor of his second coming. It cannot
be denied, however, that the most obvious interpretation is that which refers both clauses in the
sentence to the same period - that of his second coming. Still, it is not improper to suppose that it
may be implied that his power will be weakened and diminished by the influence of the gospel,
though it may not be wholly destroyed until the second coming of the Saviour.
And shall destroy - καταργήσει katargēsei. Shall bring to nothing; cause to cease; put an end to.
This is, in some respects, a stronger word than that which in the former part of the verse is
rendered "consume." It denotes a more entire destruction than that, though it does not refer so
much to any positive agency by which it will be done. In the former word, the attention is
directed more to the agency by which the destruction will be effected - to the exertion of some
kind of power to do it; in this word the attention is directed rather to the entireness or totality of
the destruction. The anti-Christian domination will wholly cease, or be entirely destroyed. The
words would naturally harmonize with the idea that there would be a somewhat gradual process
under the operation of truth toward the destruction of the man of sin, but that the complete
annihilation of his power would be by some more manifest exhibition of the personal glory of the
Saviour.
With the brightness of his coming - This is evidently a Hebraism, meaning his splendid or
glorious appearing. The Greek word, however, rendered "brightness" (ἐπιφανεία epiphaneia -
epiphany) - means merely "an appearing," or "appearance." So it is used in 1 Timothy 6:4; 2
Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 4:8; Titus 2:13, in all which places it is rendered
appearing, and refers to the manifestation of the Saviour when he shall come to judge the world.
It is used nowhere else in the New Testament. There is no necessary idea of splendor in the
word, and the idea is not, as our translation would seem to convey, that there would be such a
dazzling light, or such unsufferable brightness that all would be consumed before it, but that he
would appear, and that this anti-Christian power would be destroyed by his appearing; that is, by
himself when he would return. The agency in doing it would not be his brightness, but himself. It
would seem to follow from this, that, however this enormous power of wickedness might be
weakened by truth, the final triumph over it would be reserved for the Son of God himself on his
second return to our world. Yet, if this be so, it need not lessen our zeal in endeavoring to
diminish the power of these corruptions; to establish and spread the truth, or to convert the
defenders of these errors to a better faith.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary8. Translate, "the lawless one"; the embodiment of
all the godless "lawlessness" which has been working in "mystery" for ages (2Th 2:7): "the man
of sin" (2Th 2:3).
whom the Lord—Some of the oldest manuscripts read, "the Lord Jesus." How awful that He
whose very name means God-Saviour, should appear as the Destroyer; but the salvation of the
Church requires the destruction of her foe. As the reign of Israel in Canaan was ushered in by
judgments on the nations for apostasy (for the Canaanites were originally worshippers of the true
God: thus Melchisedek, king of Salem, was the "priest of the most high God," Ge 14:18: Ammon
and Moab came from righteous Lot), so the Son of David's reign in Zion and over the whole
earth, is to be ushered in by judgments on the apostate Christian world.
consume … and … destroy—So Da 7:26, "consume and destroy"; Da 11:45. He shall "consume"
him by His mere breath (Isa 11:4; 30:33): the sentence of judgment being the sharp sword that

goeth out of His mouth (Re 19:15, 21). Antichrist's manifestation and destruction are declared in
the same breath; at his greatest height he is nearest his fall, like Herod his type (Isa 1:24-27; Ac
12:20-23). As the advancing fire, while still at a distance consumes little insects [Chrysostom] by
its mere heat, so Christ's mere approach is enough to consume Antichrist. The mere "appearance
of the coming" of the Lord of glory is sufficient to show to Antichrist his perfect nothingness. He
is seized and "cast alive into the take of fire" (Re 19:20). So the world kingdoms, and the
kingdom of the beast, give place to that of the Son of man and His saints. The Greek for
"destroy" means "abolish" (the same Greek is so translated, 2Ti 1:10); that is, cause every vestige
of him to disappear. Compare as to Gog attacking Israel and destroyed by Jehovah (Eze 38:1-
39:29), so as not to leave a vestige of him.
with the brightness of his coming—Greek, "the manifestation, (or appearance) of His presence":
the first outburst of His advent—the first gleam of His presence—is enough to abolish utterly all
traces of Antichrist, as darkness disappears before the dawning day. Next, his adherents are
"slain with the sword out of His mouth" (Re 19:21). Bengel's distinction between "the
appearance of His coming" and the "coming" itself is not justified by 1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 1:10; 4:1, 8;
Tit 2:13, where the same Greek for "appearing" (English Version, here "the brightness") plainly
refers to the coming itself. The expression, "manifestation (appearing) of His presence," is used
in awful contrast to the revelation of the wicked one in the beginning of the verse.
Matthew Poole's CommentaryAnd then shall that Wicked be revealed: this revealing I think
differs from that mentioned before, 2 Thessalonians 2:3; he is first revealed, as I said: quoad
existentiam, when he comes forth into being, and then quoad apparentiam, when he comes to be
discovered. And this I suppose is meant here, because his destruction is mentioned as following
upon it; for the discovering of him is the first step to his ruin, and here is called by another name.
At his first rising he is a man of sin; but after he hath violated the laws of God and the laws of
Christ by setting up his own, he is well called anomov, that lawless one; and now he that
pretended so highly for Christ is discovered to be antichrist. The mystery of iniquity that before
lay hid comes to be revealed, God enlightening the eyes of many learned ministers and princes,
yea, and of multitudes of people herein; the Scriptures, before shut up in an unknown tongue,
being now translated to the understanding of the common people; those that were made drunk
with the wine of her fornication, Revelation 17:2, now put away their wine from them, as Eli said
to Hannah; and the kings and kingdoms that gave their power to the beast, now come to hate the
whore, & c., the time being come for the fulfilling the words of God herein, Revelation 17:17.
And this revelation is signified and foretold when the angel said to John, I will tell thee the
mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, Revelation 17:7. There is need of a
Divine revelation to know the mystery of iniquity, as well as the mystery of godliness. And the
woman is the same with the man of sin mentioned before, once the spouse of Christ, but now by
her idolatry become a whore, and divorced from him; said to be also that great city, which
reigneth over the kings of the earth, Revelation 17:18. By the understanding these thngs this
wicked one comes to be revealed.
Whom the Lord shall consume; which is not done all at once; his consumption goes before his
destruction. As Jezebel, the prophetess who seduced the servants of God to commit fornication,
is said to be cast into a bed of languishing, Revelation 2:20,22; as he rose up by degrees, so shall
he be consumed gradually. His power declines by degrees, both civil and ecclesiastical, and the
authority he had got both in and over the consciences of men. The seven vials are the seven last
plagues, which do gradually consume him. And this is said to be done by the Lord himself,

which is the Lord Jesus. He that made war with the Lamb is overcome by the Lamb, Revelation
17:14; though many instruments may be employed herein; for he is said to have those with him
who are called chosen and faithful; and it belongs to him, as all power of heaven and earth is
given to him, to save his people, and to destroy his adversaries; as it is said of him, Psalm 97:3:
A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. As he is a refreshing, directing
light to his people, so a consuming fire to his adversaries. The stone cut out of the mountain
without hands, Daniel 2:34, smites the image in the time of the fourth monarchy, when Christ
came into the world, and in the latter end of it, under the antichristian state, it is broken in pieces.
With the spirit of his mouth; as was prophesied of him, Isaiah 11:4: With the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked, even this wicked one here in the text, Revelation 18:8 19:15. And this,
as some interpret, he shall do with ease, as by a word speaking; or by a word of command,
saying: Let it be done, and it shall be done. Or, as we may read it, with the spirit of his lips,
because of the power or spirit that goes along with his word. But this breath of Christ’s mouth
Cajetane and others understand of the word of the gospel, which is the breath of Christ’s mouth
in the mouths of his ministers, called the everlasting gospel, Revelation 14:6, which an angel
flying through the midst of heaven is said to have, to preach to them that dwell upon the earth;
and then followed by another angel, saying: Babylon is fallen, is fallen, 2 Thessalonians 2:8. The
mystery of iniquity will be unveiled by the clear preaching of the word; and the primitive pure
institutions of Christ, and doctrines of the gospel: will be vindicated from the antichristian
corruptions and innovations. And the spirit of Christ going forth with the gospel, will make it
effectual hereunto. These are the rod of his strength, whereby he rules in the midst of his
enemies, Psalm 110:2, and whereby he shall consume this man of sin. Nations and people will
fall off from him as they come to understand the truth by the word preached.
And shall destroy; after is consuming follows his destruction, katarghsei, the word destroy here
signifies to abolish, enervate, to make of no force; and so used often in the New Testament:
sometimes applied to the law, Romans 3:31, sometimes to the body of sin, Romans 6:6,
sometimes to persons to whom Christ will not be effectual, Galatians 5:4; here to the man of sin:
so that whatever remains there may be of him in the world, they shall be without any efficacy or
power: his jurisdiction shall be abolished, his keys shall not be able to open or shut, the edge of
both his swords shall be quite blunted, his triple crown shall fall off his head, his purgatory fire
shall be put out, his images shall lose their veneration; the spell of the cross shall be detected, the
intercession of saints shall be found to be a fiction, infallibility shall be fonnd to be a deceit,
supremacy of the church shall fall to the ground; the rivers of his large revenues shall be dried
up, &c., and the beast that was, and is not, and yet is, Revelation 17:8, shall now utterly cease to
be.
With the brightness of his coming: the breath of his mouth wasted him, and the brightness of his
coming destroys him. Some interpret this of Christ’s personal coming to judgment, which will be
with great brightness, as Matthew 24:27: As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth
even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be; coming in the glory of heaven, and
every eye shall see him; and of his coming he spake 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18, and in this chapter
also, as that which was not so near at hand as some imagined. And without question his coming
will destroy him, if not destroyed before, as well as the rest of the wicked, 2 Thessalonians 1:9;
but whether judgment may not first proceed against the antichristian state, and those that have

sinned under the gospel, is a question. It is sometimes mentioned particularly with respect to
them: as in the parable of the tares and wheat, Matthew 13:1-30, of the ten virgins, and the
talents, Matthew 25:1-46. And the beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire,
Revelation 19:20, before the general judgment, mentioned Revelation 20:12. So that at Christ’s
personal coming his judgment will, as some conceive, begin here, and then proceed to the rest of
the world; whereupon many assign some great length of time to Christ’s stay upon earth, and
judging the world. Others take
the brightness of his coming in a spiritual sense, for a clearer manifestation of Christ in the
world. As the kingdom of antichrist, or of this man of sin, is founded in darkness, so the
brightness of this coming will dispel and destroy it. With respect to his eternal generation, Christ
is said to be
the brightness of his Father’s glory, Hebrews 1:2; but this is a brightness with respect to men.
And though he hath come in his Spirit to enlighten his church from the beginning of the world,
and more eminently after his ascension, yet this will exceed all the former, and is peculiarly
styled
the brightness of his coming. And so they expect this destruction of this man of sin before
Christ’s coming to judgment; for if it be the same with the fall of Babylon, mentioned in the
Revelation, many things are to be done here upon earth after that, before Christ’s last coming,
and they mention the calling of the Jews, the destruction of those enemies called Gog and
Magog, the coming down of the new Jerusalem from heaven, which is some glorious state of the
ctmrch here upon earth. However, the apostle here mentions nothing of a destruction by the
material sword; what princes may do of different religions upon a civil account, I do not know,
but as this man of sin rose out of the apostacy of the church, so he will not be consumed and
destroyed but by a return from it, which is done by the breath of Christ’s mouth, and the
brightness of his coming. But yet, by some instruments or other, God will avenge the blood of
his servants upon this man of sin in the time and way appointed of him.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd then shall that wicked be revealed,.... That lawless one,
who sets himself above the laws of God and man, and dispenses with them at pleasure, who
judges all men, but is judged by no man; as he was in his ecclesiastical power, when Phocas,
who murdered the Emperor Mauritius, granted to Boniface III. to be called universal bishop; and
in his civil power in succeeding popes, who took upon them the power over kings and emperors,
to crown, depose, and excommunicate at pleasure:
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth: that is, the "Lord Jesus", as the
Alexandrian copy, and Vulgate Latin version read; and the Syriac version, "our Lord Jesus": who
is Lord of lords, and God over all; and so able to do what he is here said he shall do: and which
he will do
with the Spirit of his mouth; meaning either the Holy Spirit, the third person which proceeds
from him, as in Psalm 33:6, and so the Ethiopic version, "whom the Spirit of our Lord Jesus shall
cast out"; Christ will by his Spirit blow a blast upon antichrist and his kingdom, which he shall
never recover again, but ever after consume and waste away: or else by his spirit is meant his
Gospel; the Scriptures in general are the breath of God, being divinely inspired by him, and are
the sword of the Spirit, the twoedged sword of law and Gospel, which proceeds out of Christ's

mouth; the Gospel contains the words of Christ, which are spirit and life; these come out of his
mouth, and are sharper than any twoedged sword; and as hereby sinners are cut to the heart,
hewn and slain, convicted and converted, so by this likewise antichrist will be consumed, and is
consuming; for this phrase denotes the beginning of his destruction, which took place at the time
of the reformation by the preaching of the Gospel by Luther and others; by which this man of sin
received his deadly wound, and has been in a consumption ever since, and is sensibly wasting in
his power and glory every day, and will ere long come to utter destruction:
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; either in a spiritual way, when he shall come
in his spiritual kingdom and glory, by the light of his Gospel and the illuminations of his Spirit;
when at eventide it shall be light; when he the sun of righteousness shall arise; when latter day
light and glory shall appear, and latter day darkness, the gross darkness of Popery, Paganism, and
Judaism, which cover the people, shall, be removed, and antichrist in every form shall disappear:
or in a personal manner, when he shall come to judge the quick and dead, which will be in
flaming fire and great glory; and then will antichrist and his followers, the beast and those that
have worshipped him, be cast with the devil and the false prophet into the lake which burns with
fire and brimstone; and this will be the last and utter end of him. In this passage there is a
manifest reference to Isaiah 11:4, "with the breath of his mouth shall he slay the wicked": which
the Targumist paraphrases,
"with the words of his lips he shall slay , "Armillus the wicked":''
and which the Jews say will be done by the Messiah at his coming;
"for so (i) (say they) that phrase in Deuteronomy 22:8 "if a man fall from thence", has respect to
Armillus the wicked, who at the coming of our Messiah will be slain, as it is said in Isaiah 11:4'
This Armillus, the Jews say (k), is the head of all idolatry, the tenth king who shall reign at
Rome, the city of Satan; that he shall rise up after Gog and Magog, and shall go up to Jerusalem,
and slay Messiah ben Joseph, and shall himself be slain by Messiah the son of David; yea, they
say expressly (l), it is the same whom the Gentiles call antichrist: it is the same with Romulus the
first king of the Romans, and designs a Roman, the Roman antichrist; and it may be observed,
that the Targumist interprets "the breath of his mouth", by his word; and so says another of their
writers (m),
"the meaning is by the word of his lips, for the word goes out of the mouth with the vapour and
breath:''
such an expression as this is said (n) to be used by Moses, when he was bid by God to answer the
angels who objected to his having the law given him;
"I am afraid (says he) they will slay (or burn me), , "with the breath of their mouth":''
much more may this be feared from the breath of Christ's mouth.
(i) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 148. 2.((k) Apud Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. col. 221, 222, 223. (l) Abkath
Rochel, par. 1. sign. 7. p. 52. (m) In Ohel Moed. fol. 19. 1.((n) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 88. 2.
Geneva Study Bible{8} And then shall {i} that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall {k}
consume with the {l} spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
(8) That wickedness will at length be detected by the word of the Lord, and will utterly be
abolished by Christ's coming.
(i) Literally, that lawless fellow, that is to say, he that will completely tread upon God's law.

(k) Bring to nothing.
(l) With his word, for the true ministers of the word are as a mouth, by which the Lord breathes
out that mighty and everlasting word, which will break his enemies apart, as though the word
were an iron rod.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT CommentaryHYPERLINK "/2_thessalonians/2-8.htm"2 Thessalonians 2:8. What
was left to the readers themselves to supply to μόνον, 2 Thessalonians 2:7, from the conclusion
of 2 Thessalonians 2:6, is now, in its essence, although in an altered form, expressly indicated by
καὶ τότε ἀποκαλυφθήσεται ὁ ἄνομος.
καὶ τότε] and then, namely, as soon as the κατέχων is taken out of the way. The emphasis is on
καὶ τότε, not on ὁ ἄνομος (Grotius), nor on ἀποκαλυφθήσεται.
ὁ ἄνομος] the lawless one, is not a different person from ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας (Grotius), but
identical with him. For καὶ τότε ἀποκαλυφθήσεται points back to μόνον, 2 Thessalonians 2:7,
and by this to ἀποκαλυφθῆναι αὐτόν, 2 Thessalonians 2:6. The expression ἀνομία, just used,
afforded the easily explained occasion for calling Antichrist ἄνομος.
With the relative sentence ὃν ὁ κύριος … παρουσίας αὐτοῦ (which is incorrectly enclosed in a
parenthesis by Benson, Moldenhauer, Schott, and Kern) the apostle immediately adds the
ultimate fate which Antichrist has to expect. That Paul so directly passes over to this, although he
has it yet in view to speak of the working of Antichrist before his destruction (comp. 2
Thessalonians 2:9-10), is an involuntary impulse of his Christian heart which causes him
immediately to resolve the horror which the announcement of such an event as the ἀποκάλυψις
τοῦ ἀνόμου has into comfort and consolation, as a discord into harmony, comp. 2 Thessalonians
2:3-4.
In a soaring and poetical form of expression, the members of which have their Hebrew parallels,
Paul describes the fate of Antichrist. Not improbably Isaiah 11:4 was present to his mind, where
it is declared of the promised Deliverer of the seed of Jesse: καὶ πατάξει λῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ
στόματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν πνεύματι διὰ χειλέων ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβῆ.
ἀναλίσκειν] to consume, to destroy.
τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ] describes the power and irresistible might of the reappearing
Christ, the breath of whose mouth suffices to bring His opponents to nothing. More definite
interpretations, as the sentence of condemnation (Vatablus, Cornelius a Lapide), or a command
or address (Theodoret: φθέγξεται μόνον; Theodore Mopsuestia, ed. Fritzsche, p. 148: μόνον
ἐπιβοήσας … τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει τὸ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ἀντὶ τοῦ τῇ φωνῇ, ἀπὸ τοῦ
παρʼ ἡμῖν αὐτὸ εἰρηκώς, ἐπειδὴ ἡμεῖς τῷ πνεύματι συνεργῷ κεχρήμεθα πρὸς τὴν ἔναρθρον
λαλιάν), are to be rejected; for they destroy or weaken the picturesque directness and strength of
the figure. Comp. moreover, Eurip. Med. 588: ἓν γὰρ οὖν κτενεῖ σʼ ἔπος.
καταργεῖν] to overthrow, to annihilate. On account of Revelation 19:20, Calovius and Olshausen
interpret the verb of a mere “rendering inefficient,” depriving Antichrist of his influence; but the

parallel ἀναλώσει decides against this meaning, and a comparison of the Pauline form of
expression with that of the Apocalypse is useless labour.
τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ] by the appearance of His presence. The majestic brightness
of the advent is not described by ἐπιφάνεια (Musculus, Hemming, Bullinger, Heinsius, Andrew
Osiander, Cornelius a Lapide, Erasmus Schmid, Calixt, Clericus, Bernard a Piconius, Sebastian
Schmid, Schoettgen, Turretin, Whitby, Benson, Macknight, Koppe, Krause, Bolten,
Heydenreich, Pelt, Schott, Kern, Wieseler, and others); also παρουσία and ἐπιφάνεια are not to
be distinguished, as Olshausen strangely thinks, as objective and subjective, i.e. as “the actual
fact of the appearance of Christ,” and “the contemplation of it on the part of man, the
consciousness of His presence;” but the placing the two together has the same design as
formerly, τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, namely, vividly to represent the power of Christ,
inasmuch as the mere advent of His presence suffices to annihilate His adversaries. Comp.
Bengel: “apparitio adventus ipso adventu prior est, vel certe prima ipsius adventus emicatio, uti
ἐπιφάνεια τῆς ἡμέρας.”
Expositor's Greek TestamentHYPERLINK "/2_thessalonians/2-8.htm"2 Thessalonians 2:8. ὅν,
κ.τ.λ., his career is short and tragic. The apparition (cf. 1 Timothy 6:14, etc., Thieme, Die
Inschriften von Magnesia, 34 f.) of Jesus heralds his overthrow.—ἐπιφανείᾳ = sudden
appearance of a deity at some crisis (cf. Diod., Sicul., i. 25), as the god in 2Ma 2:21; 2Ma 3:24,
etc. “In hieratic inscriptions the appearing of the god in visible form to men is commonly
expressed by the same word” (Ramsay, Exp. Ti., x. 208). This passage, with its fierce messianic
anticipation of the adversary’s doom interrupts the description of his mission which is resumed
(in 2 Thessalonians 2:9) with an account of the inspiration (κατὰ), method (ἐν) and results (2
Thessalonians 2:10), of this evil advent. Galen (de facult. nat., 1. 2, 4–5) physiologically defines
ἐνέργεια as the process of activity whose product is ἔργον. The impulse to ἐνέργεια is δύναμις.
The δύναμις of this supernatural delusion is specially manifested in signs and wonders. The
power of working miracles in order to deceive people (2 Thessalonians 2:11) was an accepted
trait in the Jewish and early Christian ideas of such eschatological opponents of God (cf. on
Revelation 13:13, and Friedländer’s Geschichte d. jüd. Apolog., 493 f.).
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges8. And then shall that Wicked be revealed] Then, “in
his own season” (2 Thessalonians 2:6), in contrast with the now of the last clause, the time of his
restraint: then shall be revealed the lawless one (R. V.).
It is essential that we keep in mind the identity of the figure depicted from 2 Thessalonians 2:3
onwards. The variety, of synonyms employed by the A.V. is distracting. This “revealing of the
Lawless One” is the unveiling of “the mystery of lawlessness already at work;” he is no other
than “the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition” announced in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Three
times, with persistent emphasis, the word revealed is repeated (2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2
Thessalonians 2:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:8), as of some unearthly and portentous object, that holds
the gazer spell-bound. Comp. note on “mystery,” 2 Thessalonians 2:7.
“The lawless” (anomos) is a term frequently occurring in the LXX, both in the singular and
plural; it denotes the typical “sinner,” or “wicked person” of the O.T.
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth] According to the true reading, and
better rendering, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth (R. V.).

On the title “Lord Jesus” and its relation to the Second Advent, see note to 1 Thessalonians 2:19.
Jesus, the human Name, could not be wanting here, where the overthrow of “the man of
lawlessness” is in question.
The words that follow come from the prophecy of the judgement of the Rod of Jesse, Isaiah 11:4
: “He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He
slay the wicked.” Such predictions had not been accomplished in the humble, suffering
Messiah,—or but in foretaste, by the denunciations of Jesus (Matthew 23. &c.); they remain to
be verified in His triumph. The Lawless One, being the ultimate embodiment of the world’s
wickedness and defiance of God, must suffer the conclusive fulfilment of the prophet’s words.
Just as the sight of the Lord Jesus will suffice to bring ruin on cruel persecutors (ch. 2
Thessalonians 1:9), so it will need but the breath of His mouth to lay low the haughty and Titanic
Antichrist: “A word shall quickly slay him!”
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming] More exactly, and shall bring to nought with
the manifestation of his coming (or presence: Greek parousia; see note on this word, 1
Thessalonians 2:19).
The Greek verb signifies to make inoperative, destroy in effect; it is a favourite word with St
Paul: comp. 2 Timothy 1:10, “having abolished death;” and Galatians 3:17, “to make the promise
of none effect.” The elect of the manifestation of the Lord Jesus will be to paralyse the Lawless
One and strip him of his power. See note on ch. 2 Thessalonians 1:9, “destruction (coming) from
the presence of the Lord.”
The word rendered “manifestation” (epiphaneia, our Epiphany) is not found in St Paul again till
we come to his latest Epistles, where it is applied to the Second, and once to the First Coming: 1
Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 1:10; Titus 2:13. It signifies by usage an extraordinary, commonly a
superhuman, divine apperance. Similarly the corresponding adjective, rendered “notable’ in Acts
2:20 (from Joel 2:31 : Hebrew, “terrible”). Prima ipsius adventus emicatio (Bengel).
In 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 we are told (1) of the agency which brings about the coming of the
Man of Lawlessness and the means employed for the purpose, (2) of the victims of his
ascendancy (2 Thessalonians 2:10), and (3) of the issue for which in the sovereignty of Divine
judgement his power is overruled (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).
Bengel's GnomenHYPERLINK "/2_thessalonians/2-8.htm"2 Thessalonians 2:8. Τότε, then)
immediately.—ὁ ἄνομος) This is the last and most weighty appellation, comprehending the force
of the preceding ones. That unjust, iniquitous, lawless one, and (by a more nervous term used by
Plautus and Nonius, ‘illex’) the outlaw. ‫,עשר‬ LXX., ἀσεβὴς, ungodly, Isaiah 11:4 : He shall smite
the earth with the word (rod) of His mouth (τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ), and with the breath of His lips
shall He slay the ungodly (ἐν πνεύματι—ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβῆ).—ὃν, whom) after having long enough
acted the part of a man of violence.—ὁ Κυρίος,[18] the Lord) the Lord of lords, Revelation
19:16.—τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, by the breath [or rather, the Spirit] of His mouth)
There also proceeds out of this mouth a sword (ῥομφαία), Ib. Revelation 19:15; Revelation
19:21.—Τῇ ἘΠΙΦΑΝΕΊᾼ Τῆς ΠΑΡΟΥΣΊΑς ΑὐΤΟῦ, with the appearance of His coming [But

Engl. Vers., with the brightness of His coming]) In some places appearance, in others coming
[παρουσία], is mentioned, the latter in 2 Thessalonians 2:1, both being used in the same sense;
but here the appearance of His coming is before the coming itself, or at least (it expresses) the
first dawn of the brightness of His actual coming, as ἐπιφάνεια τῆς ἡμέρας [expresses the
appearance or dawning of day].
[18] The 2d Ed. prefers the fuller reading ὁ Κυρίος Ἰησοῦς; and the Germ. Vers. follows it.—E.
B.
Tisch., with B (judging from silence), Rec. Text, Orig. 1, 668d, reads ὁ Κύριος. But Lachm.
better, with AD(Δ) corrected, Gfg Vulg., Orig. 4, 321b, Iren. 182, 323, Hilary, reads ὁ Κύριος
Ἰησοῦς. Orig. 1, 424e has Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς.—ED.
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - And then; namely, so soon as he that restraineth is taken out of the
way. Shall that Wicked; or, that lawless one, in whom the mystery of lawlessness is realized; not
different from, but the same with, the "man of sin, the son of perdition." Be revealed; appear
unveiled in all his naked deformity. No longer working secretly, but openly, and in an
undisguised form; no longer the mystery, but the revelation of lawlessness. The apostle now
interrupts his description of the man of sin by announcing his doom. Whom the Lord; or, as the
best attested manuscripts read, whom the Lord Jesus. Shall consume; or rather, shall slay (R.V.).
With the spirit (or, breath) of his mouth. Various interpretations have been given to this clause.
Some refer it to the Word of God, and others to the Holy Spirit, and suppose that the conversion
of the world is here predicted; but this is evidently an erroneous interpretation, as the doom of
antichrist is here announced. Others refer the term to a cry or word, and think that the sentence of
condemnation pronounced by the Lord Jesus on the wicked is intended. But the words are to be
taken literally as a description of the power and irresistible might of Christ at his coming - that
the mere breath of his mouth is sufficient to consume the wicked (comp. Isaiah 11:4, "He shall
smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the
wicked"). And shall destroy (or, annihilate) with the brightness (or, appearance) of his coming.
The two words, epiphany and parousia, which are elsewhere used separately to denote the
coming of Christ, are here employed. There is no ground for the assertion that the first is the
subjective and the second the objective aspect of Christ's coming (Olshausen). The brightness of
Christ's coming is not here expressed; but the meaning is that the mere appearance of Christ's
presence will annihilate the wicked.
Vincent's Word StudiesConsume (ἀνελεῖ)
Better, slay, as Matthew 2:16; Luke 22:2; Acts 5:33.
Spirit (πνεύματι)
Better, breath. Πνεῦμα, almost always translated spirit, is from πνεῖν to breathe or blow.
Frequent in class. in this sense. Comp. John 3:8; Hebrews 1:7. lxx, Psalm 147:7; Ep. of Jeremiah
61. Philo says "the spirit of God signifies, in one sense, the air, the third element; and it is used in
this sense in the beginning of Genesis... for air, being light, is born up, and uses water as its
basis. In the other sense it is the pure wisdom in which every wise man participates" (De
Gigantibus, 5). See on Romans 8:4.
Shall destroy (καταργήσει)
See on cumbereth, Luke 13:7 and see on make without effect, Romans 3:3.

With the brightness (τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ)
See on 1 Timothy 6:14. Rev., correctly, manifestation. See lxx, Esther 5:1; Amos 5:22; 2 Macc.
2:21; 3 Macc. 2:9. In class. (but late) of deities appearing to a worshipper (Plut. Themistocles,
30): of the sudden appearance of an enemy (Polyb. i. 54, 2): of a manifestation of Providence
(Diod. Sic. i.:15): of the heathen gods assuming shape and appearing in order to work mischief
(Just. Mart. Apol. i. 5). In N.T. of the parousia. See 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy
4:1, 2 Timothy 4:8; Titus 2:13. In 2 Timothy 1:10, of Christ's historical manifestation. So
ἐπιφαίνω, Titus 2:11; Titus 3:4. Only here in Paul.
Coming (παρουσίας)
Or presence, which is the original meaning. In N.T. with a few exceptions, of the second coming
of Christ. The combination manifestation of his presence (only here) appears to emphasize the
resistless power of the Son of man, not (as Lightfoot) his splendor and glory. The mere appearing
of his presence suffices to destroy his adversary.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BARCLAY
This is undoubtedly one of the most difficult passages in the whole New Testament; and it is so
because it is using terms and thinking in pictures which were perfectly familiar to those to whom
Paul was speaking but which are utterly strange to us.
The general picture is this. Paul was telling the Thessalonians that they must give up their
nervous, hysterical waiting for the Second Coming. He denied that he had ever said that the Day
of the Lord had come. That was a misinterpretation of his words which must not be attributed to
him; and he told them that before the Day of the Lord could come much had still to happen.
First there would come an age of rebellion against God; into this world there had already come a
secret evil power which was working in the world and on men to bring this time of rebellion.
Somewhere there was being kept one who was as much the incarnation of evil as Jesus was the
incarnation of God. He was The Man of Sin, The Son of Perdition, The Lawless One. In time the
power which was restraining him would be removed from the scene; and then this devil incarnate
would come. When he came, he would gather his own people to him just as Jesus Christ had
gathered his. Those who had refused to accept Christ were waiting to accept him. Then would
come a last battle in which Christ would utterly destroy The Lawless One; Christ's people would
be gathered to him and the wicked men who had accepted The Lawless One as their master
would be destroyed.
We have to remember one thing. Almost all the Eastern faiths believed in a power of evil as they
believed in a power of good; and believed, too, in a kind of battle between God and this power of
evil. For instance, the Babylonians had a story that Tiamat, the dragon, had rebelled against
Marduk, the creator, and had in the final battle been destroyed. Paul was dealing in a set of ideas

which were common property. The Jews, too, had that idea. They called the Satanic power Belial
or, more correctly, Beliar. When the Jews wished to describe a man as utterly bad they called
him a son of Beliar (Deuteronomy 13:13; 1 Kings 21:10; 1 Kings 21:13; 2 Samuel 22:5). In 2
Corinthians 6:15 Paul uses this term as the opposite of God. This evil incarnate was the antithesis
of God. The Christians took this over, later than Paul, under the title Antichrist (1 John 2:18; 1
John 2:22; 1 John 4:3). Obviously such a power cannot go on existing for ever in the universe;
and there was widespread belief in a final battle in which God would triumph and this force of
anti-God would be finally destroyed. That is the picture with which Paul is working.
What was the restraining force which was still keeping The Lawless One under control? No one
can answer that question with certainty. Most likely Paul meant the Roman Empire. Time and
again he himself was to be saved from the fury of the mob by the justice of the Roman
magistrate. Rome was the restraining power which kept the world from insane anarchy. But the
day would come when that power would be removed--and then would be chaos.
So then Paul pictures a growing rebellion against God, the emergence of one who was the devil
incarnate as Christ had been God incarnate, a final struggle and the ultimate triumph of God.
When this incarnate evil came into the world there would be some who would accept him as
master, those who had refused Christ; and they along with their evil master would find final
defeat and terrible judgment.
However remote these pictures may be from us they nevertheless have certain permanent truth in
them.
(i) There is a force of evil in the world. Even if he could not logically prove that there was a devil
many a man would say, "I know there is because I have met him." We hide our heads in the sand
if we deny that there is an evil power at work amongst men.
(ii) God is in control. Things may seem to be crashing to chaos but in some strange way even the
chaos is in God's control.
(iii) The ultimate triumph of God is sure. In the end nothing can stand against him. The Lawless
One may have his day but there comes a time when God says, "Thus far and no farther." And so
the great question is, "On what side are you? In the struggle at the heart of the universe are you
for God--or Satan?"
STRONG DELUSION
Dr. W. A. Criswell
2 Thessalonians 2:8-11
5-11-58 7:30 p. m.
This sermon tonight is the most terrible that I have ever prepared in my life. In the second
chapter of the second Thessalonian letter – Second Thessalonians, the second chapter – if you
would like to read with me the passage, we shall begin at the eighth verse: Second
Thessalonians, the second chapter, beginning at the eighth verse.

The title of the sermon tonight is The Strong Delusion. The text is the eleventh verse: "For this
cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be
damned who believed not the truth" [2 Thessalonians 2:11-12].
Now let’s read the context if you would like. Second Thessalonians 2, beginning at the eighth
verse, and we’ll read the chapter.
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,
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying
wonders,
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not
the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth,
Whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by
word or our epistle.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath
given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
Comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work.
[2 Thessalonians 2:8-17]
Nor would I preach on a thing like this were it not so evidently before me as we go through the
Bible and were it not also so much a fabric of the texture of the gospel.
A great part of this sermon tonight, I do not understand. I do not know. I – it is beyond me. But
it’s in the Bible, and I see it not only in the Book God has written with His hand, but I see it in
the book all around me of human life and human story.
The text is that these who oppose God in Christ "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in
them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved" [2
Thessalonians 2:10] – "no" to God, and "no" to Christ, and "no" to Jesus – "for this cause,"
turning down the appeal, "for this cause" – saying "no" to Christ – "for this cause God shall send
them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned, that they all
might be judged, who believe not the truth" [2 Thessalonians 2:11-12]. And the text: "For this
cause God shall send them strong delusion" [2 Thessalonians 2:11].
Now it is a different translation. I mean, the actual words are not "strong delusion." Means the
same thing: "For this cause God shall send them energeia." And you’ve got an English word like
that Greek word energeia. Best way to translate it would be "working" – "God shall send them a
working," an energeia planēs.

Ninety-one times in this New Testament do you find that word and cognate words and words that
mean the same thing. Ninety-one times will you find that – translated in many places "deception,
deceiving, a working of deception." Planaō means "to wander," or "to cause to wander," and
finally "to lead astray," and then "to deceive."
That’s interesting thing – words. "Planet" comes from that. It’s from the Greek word planaō,
"wandering, to make to wander, to deceive, to lead astray." Planētēs – one of the forms of the
verbs – a planētēs, and your word "planet" comes from it. And that came because in the ancient
world, the so-called astronomers – they weren’t astronomers, they just did the best they could
looking up there in the sky. Some stars seemed to wander, to move around, so they called them
planētēs: "planets." They moved around, and some stars seemed to be fixed. That’s what the
ancient looked at up there in the sky.
Well, that’s this word here: "a wandering, a causing to wander, a leading astray," and then finally
the meaning "a deception, an illusion, a deceiving." And it is so much in the Word of the Lord.
As I turn the page here, Paul traces the fall of humanity, all of it, to a deception, to a deceiving.
"Adam was not deceived" – he knew what he was doing – "but the woman being deceived, was
in the transgression" [1 Timothy 2:14].
You know, another interesting thing about words: most of the times, a word that is used first
back here in the beginning will have the same use and the same significance all the way through
the Holy Scriptures. And back there in the third chapter of Genesis and in the thirteenth verse,
Eve says to God: "The serpent beguiled me" – there’s that word again, "deceived me" – "and I
did eat" [Genesis 3:13].
"Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived" [1 Timothy 2:14] beguiled – same
word. "Satan beguiled me" – deceived me, led me astray – "and I did eat" [Genesis 3:13].
I one time heard of a boy in England on the countryside walking down a lane followed by a pig.
Had he been followed by a dog, no one would have thought of it, but it was unusual to see a boy
walking down the lane followed by a pig. And a man passing by, noticing it, said to the lad,
"How do you get that pig to follow you?"
And he said, "I do it with a bag of beans. I drop a bean here and a bean there and a bean there,
and the pig comes along and he follows me eating the beans."
And the man said, "Where are you taking the pig?"
And the boy said, "To the slaughterhouse."
Deceived.
"For this cause God shall send them strong delusion," an energy, a working of deception, led
astray, "that they might be damned who believed not the truth" [from 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12].
Now, I said there is a tremendous revelation of this thing in the Word of God. "The Spirit
speaketh expressly that in these latter times" [1 Timothy 4:1] – and all times are latter times for
us. Brother, fifty years from now, you won’t be here. Twenty-five years from now, most of us
will not be here. Outside of these young people, a score, a decade – these are latter times for us.
"The Spirit speaketh expressly . . . they shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing" –
there’s that word again – "deceiving spirits, doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy" [1
Timothy 4:1-2].

That’s the strangest: "in hypocrisy," a pseudologōn, pseudologōn. Pseudo is "false." Logos is
"word." "In hypocrisy": people who speak false words. The true logos – and it’s translated
"Word" – the true Word is Christ, and here he speaks of pseudologos. Here is the true Christ and
the true gospel and the true message, and here is a false word and a false hope and a false appeal
and a false invitation and a false gospel, called here – this is only place you’ll find that word – a
pseudologos: a "false word."
Turn the page, and here in Second Peter, there are coming and have been – 2 Peter 2:1 – "false
prophets," pseudo prophētai. "Even as there shall be false teachers," pseudo didaskoloi, "who
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, [denying] the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift [destruction]"; pseudo didaskoloi, pseudo didaskolos, "a false teacher" –
didaskolos, "didactic, teacher," didaskolos; pseudo, "a false one."
This is a speaking of the day when we come to our highest intellectual capacities, our greatest
achievements in science and research, when psychology has plumbed the depths of the human
soul, when culture and knowledge and training and education are on every hand. This – instead
of the teacher and his science and his knowledge leading and bringing to God, it brings to grosser
materialism and atheism, and a spurning of the great spiritual values of life, and a doing away
with the necessity of a personal commitment to Jesus Christ – a pseudodidaskolos.
And they are everywhere and in every institution, and our institutions become a little more
grossly material, grossly infidel – not just our state institutions. More and more and more people,
they say, who are religious, who are converted, who are saved, are that way because of
intellectual aberration. They are ecclesiastical nuts. If they knew better, they wouldn’t be that
way – didaskolos, "teachers," pseudo, "false."
Then it says "false prophets." You know, when you read and you’re thinking of a thing,
everything you read seems to point in that direction. Times are coming, says the Bible, when
there shall fall upon this world fire and blood and furor and smoke, war [Revelation 8:5-13]. And
it’s in those days that people turn to any kind of a savior, anybody that could lead them out.
Now this is from Josephus [Titus Flavius Josephus, 37-100 CE] in that famous, famous account
of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A. D. as he writes of it in the sixth book of The Wars of the Jews
[75 CE]. Josephus was the general of the Hebrew army, and he was captured in Galilee. He
headed the army in Galilee, and he sat there in the tents of the commanders of the Roman
legions, and he saw the destruction of Jerusalem. You’ll not find in literature anything more
vivid than as he describes the blood that flowed in the streets of the city of God. And this is the
paragraph of its final destruction:
A false prophet was the occasion of these people’s destruction. He had made a public
proclamation in the city to that very day: God commanded him to get up on the temple, and that
there they should receive miraculous signs of deliverance. Now there was then a great number of
false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose upon the people . . . that they might be buoyed
up above fear and care by such hopes.
[Book VI, Chapter 5, The Wars of the Jews, by Josephus, 75 CE]
False hopes: "You don’t need to worry; we not going to have another war. You don’t need to
worry; things are getting better and better and better. You don’t need to be concerned; we all
going to be saved. God’s good. God’s full of love. He’s not going to damn anybody to hell.
Don’t you be concerned or troubled or agitated." False prophets!

Then he spiritualizes. Josephus always doing that. "Now a man" – he’s telling why they were
such dupes and why they followed these false teachers and prophets:
Now a man that is in adversity does easily comply with such promises; for when such a seducer
makes him believe that he shall be delivered from those miseries which oppress him, then it is
that he’s full of hope for such deliverance.
These were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers . . .
– he uses the same Greek word there –
while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly
foretell their future desolation . . . but like men infatuated, without eyes to see or minds to
consider, did not regard the denunciations that God had made to them.
[Book VI, Chapter 5, The Wars of the Jews, by Josephus, 75 CE]
Josephus believed that Jerusalem was committed by God to destruction, and he’s speaking of the
false prophets who say: "There’s a deliverance. God’s not going to damn you. He’s not going to
destroy you." And they were buoyed up in false hopes by false doctrines by false prophets. I had
a great deal prepared that I’m going to leave out.
False Christs. You had one in recent days. Have you ever gone to Chicago and seen that Baha’i,
big temple of Baha’ism? They got one in Haifa [Haifa, Israel], all over this world. And in our
day, Abdu’l-Baha [1844-1921], the original of Baha’ism, said, "I am all these early messiahs
together. I supersede all previous teachers. Christ was the highest until I came; and now it is the
duty of men to listen to me."
And this Book says, in this text that I am preaching from [2 Thessalonians 2:8-11], that that kind
of a thing shall find its ultimate in this final Antichrist, this final wicked one, this final man of
sin, the son of perdition. Our world shall be in such stress, such, such heaviness and misery, such
war and blood, that they will look to anybody who will say, "I can lead the way out. I am your
savior."
And turning aside from God and the true Christ and repentance and faith in Him, the multitudes
flock to this false Christ and are led to ultimate damnation and destruction which brings me to
the heart of this message and this text. Turning aside from the truth and turning aside from the
saving gospel of the Son of God – the true, the alēthea logos, the true logos, the true Word –
therefore, God shall send them this energizing of delusion that they might be damned who
believed not the truth [2 Thessalonians 2:10-12].
A thing like that strikes you dead. How is it that God, God do a thing like that? "For this cause
God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they might be damned
who turn aside from the truth" [2 Thessalonians 2:11-12] of Jesus Christ. I don’t know. I don’t
understand. I just see it everywhere.
There is a principle – like God runs His universe by gravity, by the laws of light – there is a
spiritual law/principle that when a man says "no" to God and "no" to Christ and "no" to the
appeal that finally he becomes a negation himself. God confirms him in that rejection. I can
illustrate it endlessly in the Bible.
In the days of Noah, He said, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man" [Genesis 6:3], and at
the end of the 120 years of the preaching of righteous Noah, God shut him in the ark [Genesis
7:13-16].

And that young evangelist, Buckner Fanning [1922- ], preaching one night on that described a
thing that I have heard several times, and always it’s the truth of God. He described the rain as it
began to fall and the waters as they began to rise, and then the people went to the door of the ark
and pounded on the door: "Noah! Noah! Noah! Open to us!" Why didn’t Noah open the door?
Because the Bible says God shut that door [Genesis 7:16]. God shut the door.
You find the same thing in the parable of the five foolish virgins [Matthew 25:1-13]. While the
five who were wise entered in, the five who were foolish went to buy oil for their lamps
[Matthew 25:10]; and when they came back, the door was shut. And they said, "Lord, Lord, open
to us" [Matthew 25:11]. And God shut that door and said, "Depart, I never knew you" [Matthew
25:12]. God did it.
You have the same confirmation in the life of Esau. Though he sought it carefully with tears, he
couldn’t undo those decisions that he made [Genesis 25:29-34, 27:38-41; Hebrews 12:16-17].
You have the same thing in the story of Pharaoh. Pharaoh hardened his heart [Exodus 8:15], and
Pharaoh hardened his heart [Exodus 8:32], and Pharaoh hardened his heart [Exodus 9:34]. Then
the Bible says, "And then God hardened his heart" – confirmed him in the decision that he’d
made [Exodus 9:12, 10:1]. "God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,
that they might be damned" [from 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12]. Hardened his heart, hardened his
heart, hardened his heart, then God hardened his heart.
Same Scriptures describe Saul, who, turning aside from the appeal of Samuel, the prophet of
God, and turning aside from the expressed and manifest will of God [1 Samuel 15:1-15] – finally
it says: "The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled
him" [1 Samuel 16:14].
You have the same thing graphically described here in the first chapter of the Book of Romans
three times. Did you ever hear of that symphony of Beethoven? [Ludwig van Beethoven, 1712-
1773] Is it the ninth one? "Ta, ta, ta, da" – that theme all through that. Sound like a death knell.
"Wherefore God gave them up," Romans 1:24. Romans 1:26: "For this cause God gave them
up." Romans 1:28: "God gave them up."
You say "no" and "no" and "no" and "no," and some day it is a confirmed negation in your life.
You will die in that negative: "No, no."
I cannot enter into it. "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask,
and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say
that he shall pray for it" [1 John 5:16]. There is a sin unto death: "No; no; no," and God says,
"No."
"Preacher, why, I can repent any time. I can give my life to the devil, and then at the end of it, I
can come and be saved. Don’t try to scare me. I’ve heard the preacher say, ‘And He’s a God of
mercy’ [Deuteronomy 4:31]. I’ve heard him say, ‘He delights not in the death of anyone’
[Ezekiel 18:23]. I’ve heard him say, ‘And whosoever will may come’ [Revelation 22:17]. I have
said ‘no’ to Him forty years. I’m going to say ‘no’ to Him thirty more years, and at the end of
seventy years, after I’ve given my life to the world, I am coming down that aisle and be saved. "
Are you? Can you? Will you? "For this cause God shall send them a strong delusion . . . that they
might be damned who reject the truth" [2 Thessalonians 2:11-12].
I just don’t know whether you can do it any time or not – death bed repentance the old-timers
used to preach about. And the thief on the cross nailed there, just before he died, turned in faith

to Jesus, and Jesus saved Him [Luke 23:39-43]. So far as we know, being a malefactor, he
wasn’t a cheap robber or thief. He was an insurrectionist; he was a patriot; he was leading armies
against Rome. So far as we know, that political leader, that’s the first time he ever saw Jesus.
And the first time he ever had an opportunity to accept the Lord, he did it. And so far as I know,
there is no instance in the Bible where a man has rejected God and then, on his deathbed, turned
and has been saved. So far as I know, I do not know of any.
There’s something about when you say "no." There’s something about it, that your heart
becomes that negation. "I don’t care what the preacher says, I am not going down that aisle. I
don’t care how many people pray, I’m not going to respond. I don’t care how earnestly they
plead or how many times they visit in my home, I am not going to respond."
"And God sends a strong delusion . . . that they might be damned who receive not the truth" [2
Thessalonians 2:11-12]. You become that. You are that, and you die that way. As the eleventh
chapter of Ecclesiastes says, "As the tree falls, so shall it lie" [Ecclesiastes 11:3].
Oh these things, they are awful. The damnation and the judgment and the condemnation of God
upon men who refuse Christ, it’s awful to contemplate: forever and ever, and always and forever,
and in unending eons of eternity, always and forever in torment, in darkness, in loneliness
[Matthew 25:30; Luke 16:19-26].
Isn’t that funny? "Don’t you be disturbed, preacher. If I go down to perdition and damnation,
most of the world will be there with me." Isn’t that a strange thing? The Bible picture of
perdition is not that you’re in the crowd. You’re by yourself. You’re alone. You’re in darkness.
You’re not going to have a frivolous, tripping, likesome good time. Brother, you’re in hell.
You’re in torment. You’re damned! You’re shut out from God. You’re by yourself. There’s no
light there; there’s no glory there; there’s no fellowship there; there’s no communion there. You
are by yourself, shut out in utter darkness, forever and forever and forever and forever.
These things bow you to your knees. O, God!
You know, reading the lives of some of these Scots preachers, I came across one not long ago.
He said – he died when he was in his twenties. They were trying to get him to spare himself, and
his answer was very humble and very simple. He said, "How can I sleep at night when there are
three thousand souls in this village, and I know not how it is with them and God?" No wonder he
spent his life.
A fellow went to the church to find out the secret of the young pastor’s tremendous, tremendous
effect in preaching. Wasn’t anybody there but the janitor, and so he asked the janitor, "How is it
that this young man was so effective in his preaching?"
And the janitor said, "Why, I can show you easily." He said, "You come with me."
And he followed the janitor to the pastor’s little cubbyhole of a study. He said, "That’s his chair.
Sit down in it." And the visitor sat down in the preacher’s chair. He said, "Now that’s his desk."
He said, "Put your hands on it," and he put his hands on it. He said, "Put your face in your
hands," and the visitor put his face in his hands. He said, "Now weep."
He took him to the auditorium. He said, "Mount up into the pulpit," and he mount in the pulpit.
He said, "Now stand there behind the sacred desk," and he stood there behind the sacred desk.
And he said, "Now cover your face with your hands and weep!"

That’s the fellow who said, "How can I sleep when there are three thousand souls in this village,
and I know not how it is between them and God?"
I say of me – not speaking of you, of me – that I act as though this message were a travesty.
Where is the blood-red earnestness in it?
Man, if you reject this appeal, you are lost; and if you continue to reject this appeal, God will
confirm you in that rejection! Your heart becomes insensible. Your soul is calloused. Your life is
dragged down. You are lost and you will die that way barring the miraculous intervention of
God. Oh, oh, oh, let us pray.
Our saving Lord, the same blessed Jesus who took up into His arms the little children as lambs
and blessed them [Matthew 19:13-15], that same loving Lord is the One who taught us almost all
that we know of the fires of damnation, of the awful day of judgment [Matthew 13:40-42]. He
was the One who wept looking over a lost city: "Oh, how oft would I have gathered thy children
together, as a hen gathereth her brood under her wing, and you would not! Behold, your house is
left unto you desolate" [Matthew 23:37-38]. No other way, no other hope, no other truth [John
14:6]. Our salvation lies in Thee, O Jesus.
Then, Lord, why can’t I preach like it? Why can’t I persuade like it? Why could people come to
these services and go out these doors lost: "No, I will not"? O merciful and compassionate God,
our Father, intervene tonight. Stand in the way of a man’s headlong plunge into that final death
and judgment, and turn him around. May he come in faith to Thee. We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
While we sing this song of appeal, would you turn tonight, and in simple and humble faith and
trust, come to Jesus? Would you? Would you? You may not understand it all. I surely don’t. But
no small part of the glory of being a Christian is its continual unfolding and revelation. Even the
angels look into it [1 Peter 1:12] desiring to understand it, and they cannot. How much less could
a man?
But I know enough to know that Jesus died for me. I know enough to know that He has saved
other people. Did you have a Christian mother? Did you know a Christian father? Have you seen
a Christian mother or father? Have you seen godly people? Let them be a testimony what God
can do for you. What He’s done for somebody else, He can do for you and will.
In simple faith: "Not that I know it all or understand it all or can explain it all, but I know enough
to know that Jesus died for me [Romans 5:8]. And I can be saved by a look at the Crucified
One." There is life for a look for thee [Numbers 21:6-9; John 3:14-15]. Would you look tonight
and be saved? Would you?
In this balcony around, in this lower floor, into this aisle and down here to the front: "Here I am,
and here I come. By the help of God, tonight, I look to Jesus in faith. May He save my soul from
hell. May He forgive my sins. May He take me to Himself now and forever." Would you come?
Would you make it now while we stand and while we sing?
THE RESTRAINT AND ITS REMOVAL
2 Thessalonians 2:6-12 (R.V.)

CHRIST cannot come, the Apostle has told us, until the falling away has first come, and the man
of sin been revealed. In the verses before us, we are told that the man of sin himself cannot come,
in the full sense of the word, he cannot be revealed in his true character of the counter-Christ, till
a restraining force, known to the Thessalonians, but only obscurely alluded to by the Apostle, is
taken out of the way. The Last Advent is thus at two removes from the present. First, there must
be the removal of the power which holds the man of sin in check; then the culmination of evil in
that great adversary of God; and not till then the return of the Lord in glory as Saviour and Judge.
We might think that this put the Advent to such a distance as practically to disconnect it from the
present, and make it a matter of little interest to the Christian. But, as we have seen already, what
is significant in this whole passage is the spiritual law which governs the future of the world, the
law that good and evil must ripen together, and in conflict with each other; and it is involved in
that law that the final state of the world, which brings on the Advent, is latent, in all its principles
and spiritual features, in the present. That day is indissolubly connected with this. The life that
we now live has all the importance, and ought to have all the intensity, which comes from its
bearing the future in its bosom. Through the eyes of this New Testament prophet we can see the
end from the beginning; and the day on which we happen to read his words is as critical, in its
own nature, as the great day of the Lord.
The end, the Apostle tells us, is at some distance, but it is preparing. "The mystery of lawlessness
doth already work." The forces which are hostile to God, and which, are to break out in the great
apostasy, and the insane presumption of the man of sin, are even now in operation, but secretly.
They are not visible to the careless, or to the infatuated, or to the spiritually blind; but the
Apostle can discern them. Taught by the Spirit to read the signs of the times, he sees in the world
around him symptoms of forces, secret, unorganised, to some extent inscrutable, yet
unmistakable in their character. They are the beginnings of the apostasy, the first workings,
fettered as yet and baffled, of the power which is to set itself in the place of God. He sees also,
and has already told the Thessalonians, of another power of an opposite character. "Ye know," he
says, "that which restraineth only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the
way." This restraining power is spoken of both in the neuter and the masculine, both as a
principle or institution, and as a person; and there is no reason to doubt that those fathers of the
Church are right who identified it with the Empire of Rome and its sovereign head. The apostasy
was to take place among the Jews; and the Apostle saw that Rome and its Emperor were the
grand restraint upon the violence of that stubborn race. The Jews had been his worst enemies,
ever since he had embraced the cause of the Nazarene Messiah Jesus; and all that time the
Romans had been his best friends. If injustice had been done him in their name, as at Philippi,
atonement had been made; and, on the whole, he had owed to them his protection against Jewish
persecution. He felt sure that his own experience was typical; the final development of hatred to
God and all that was on God’s side could not but be restrained so long as the power of Rome
stood firm. That power was a sufficient check upon anarchic violence. While it held its ground,
the powers of evil could not organise themselves and work openly; they constituted a mystery of
iniquity, working, as it were, underground. But when this great restraint was removed, all that
had been labouring so long in secret would come suddenly to view, in its full dimensions; the
lawless one would stand revealed.
But, it may be asked, could Paul imagine that the Roman power, as represented by the Emperor,
was likely to be removed within any measurable time? Was it not the very type and symbol of all
that was stable and perpetual in man’s life? In one way, it was; and as at least a temporary check

on the final eruption of wickedness, it is here recognised to have a degree of stability; but it was
certainly not eternal. Paul may have seen plainly enough in such careers as those of Caligula and
Claudius the impending collapse of the Julian dynasty; and the very obscurity and reserve with
which he expresses himself amount to a distinct proof that he has something in his mind which it
was not safe to describe more plainly. Dr. Farrar has pointed to the remarkable correspondence
between this passage, interpreted of the Roman Empire, and a paragraph in Josephus, in which
that historian explains the visions of Daniel to his pagan readers. Josephus shows that the image
with the head of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the ankles
and feet of iron, represents a succession of four empires. He names the Babylonian as the first,
and indicates plainly that the Medo-Persian and the Greek are the second and third; but when he
comes to the fourth, which is destroyed by the stone cut out without hands, he does not venture,
as all his countrymen did, to identify it with the Roman. That would have been disloyal in a
courtier, and dangerous as well; so he remarks, when he comes to the point, that he thinks it
proper to say nothing about the stone and the kingdom it destroys, his duty as a historian being to
record what is past and gone, and not what is yet to come. In a precisely similar way does St.
Paul here hint at an event which it would have been perilous to name. But what he means is:
When the Roman power has been removed, the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord will
come to destroy him.
What was said of the man of sin in the last chapter has again its application here. The Roman
Empire did not fall within any such period as Paul anticipated; nor, when it did, was there any
such crisis as he describes. The man of sin was not revealed, and the Lord did not come. But
these are the human elements in the prophecy; and its interest and meaning for us lie in the
description which an inspired writer gives of the final forms of wickedness, and their connection
with principles which were at work around him, and are at work among us. He does not, indeed,
come to these at once. He passes over them, and anticipates the final victory, when the Lord shall
destroy the man of sin with the breath of His mouth, and bring him to nought by the appearance
of His coming; he would not have Christian men face the terrible picture of the last workings of
evil until they have braced and comforted their hearts with the prospect of a crowning victory.
There is a great battle to be fought; there are great perils to be encountered; there is a prospect
with something in it appalling to the bravest heart; but there is light beyond. It needs but the
breath of the Lord Jesus; it needs but the first ray of His glorious appearing to brighten the sky,
and all the power of evil is at an end. Only after he has fixed the mind on this does St. Paul
describe the supreme efforts of the enemy.
His coming, he says-and he uses the word applied to Christ’s advent, as though to teach us that
the event in question is as significant for evil as the other for good-his coming is according to the
working of Satan. When Christ was in the world, His presence with men was according to the
working of God; the works that the Father gave Him to do, the same He did, and nothing else.
His life was the life of God entering into our ordinary human life, and drawing into its own
mighty and eternal current all who gave themselves up to Him. It was the supreme form of
goodness, absolutely tender and faithful; using all the power of the Highest in pure unselfishness
and truth. When sin has reached its height, we shall see a character in whom all this is reversed.
Its presence with men will be according to the working of Satan; not an ineffective thing, but
very potent; carrying in its train vast effects and consequences; so vast and so influential, in spite
of its utter badness, that it is no exaggeration to describe its "coming" ( παρουσια), its
"appearing" ( επιφανεια) and its "revelation" ( αποκαλυψις), by the very same words which are
applied to Christ Himself. If there is one word which can characterise this whole phenomenon,

Jesus was coming to destroy the lawless one

Jesus was coming to destroy the lawless one

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