Two Major Events in Paul’s Eschatology: 2 Thessalonians 2
I. INTRODUCTION
A. God is establishing forerunners to prepare the church for a dramatic clash with the power of darkness and the
amount of pain, anguish, glory and power that will be manifested in this hour of history. This is one reason why God has
been raising up a prayer movement over the last twenty years.
B. 2 Thessalonians 2 is one of the classic chapters about the timing of the coming of the Lord in other words – the
rapture.
C. 2 Thessalonians 2:1 “Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord and our gathering together to Him.” He is
referring t our being caught up to meet the Lord in the air. In other words, the rapture described in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
II. A PASTORAL PROBLEM
A. 2 Thessalonians 2:2 – Paul addresses a pastoral problem in Thessalonica (they thought rapture already taken
place.)
B. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 – “Do not be deceived” – Matthew 24:4, Jesus starts with the same idea.
C. He says, “That day will not come until two things happen…” (1) It is not until the falling away comes first. (2) It is
not until the man of sin or the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition. Paul is making it very clear. He says,
“There is not going to be a catching up to meet the Lord in the air until there is a global apostasy, or a falling away of
people who professed that they were genuine believers in Jesus and then deny Him.” There will be hundreds of millions of
people who name the name of Jesus today who will deny Him before the Lord’s coming. There will be hundreds of millions
of new believers in the great harvest. There will be a falling away and there will be a great harvest going on simultaneously.
1. Firstly, the global falling away from the faith.
a. 1 Timothy 4:1, there will be an apostasy, a great falling away.
b. Why? Offended.
c. Reason: wearing down by persecution. Separates true from false.
2. Secondly, the man of sin or man of lawlessness, the son of perdition has to be revealed. We call him the antichrist.
D. The antichrist
1. There is a spirit of the antichrist that has been operating throughout all of church history.
2. 1 John talks about the spirit of the antichrist. Do not confuse the spirit of the antichrist, which is a demonic influence
to take people away from eh truth of Jesus, with the antichrist himself. He is a real person. He is a real human being
supernaturally empowered by the very powers of hell themselves. He must appear before we are caught away to meet the
Lord in the air.
E. This deception that Paul is addressing is everywhere. I break it into three categories.
1. Firstly, there is the pre-tribulation doctrine that says the rapture is coming and then a tribulation. We escape and
never see the apostasy. We never see the man of sin. The pre-tribulation rapture position teaches that we will escape
when the bible teaches that we will overcome. There is a radical difference between escaping and overcoming.
2. The second non-biblical doctrine comes from a theological system that allegorizes or makes the primary events
symbolic. Therefore, these events never really happen, they are only symbolic. IN other words, there is no literal falling
away and no man of sin.
3. The third group is the scoffers (2 Peter 3:3; Jude 18). There is a mocking spirit in the world and even in the church.
4. All three responses leave the people of God totally unprepared in the most dramatic time of natural history.
F. What happened under Stalin in communist Russia and Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany was a dress rehearsal for the
crisis that is coming to the whole earth. What happened under Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany against the Jewish people and
against fervent believers in Jesus who took a stand against him will happen again but on a larger scale. The fierceness
will be more intense under the man of sin.
G. Imagine – in the 1920’s in Europe, if somebody would have said, “there is a man named Adolf Hitler and another
man named Joseph Stalin who will come and as a result of their leadership, 50 million people in Europe will die in a six
year period. The human cruelty was beyond anything that we could imagine.
H. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3 it says, “The man of sin has to be revealed, the son of perdition.” He goes on to describe
him in verse 4. “He is the man who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or that is worshipped.”
He is a real man. Yes, there is a spirit of the antichrist, but this man is literal.
I. 2 Thessalonians 2:4, he will sit in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.
J. 2 Thessalonians 2:5, Paul considered these truths to be foundational to new believers. Acts 17:2, Paul was only in
the city of Thessalonica for three weeks. In other words, Paul led them to Jesus then taught them about the falling away,
the man of sin and the catching away to meet the Lord. Within three weeks he teaches them about the apostasy and the
man of sin. My point being that this is not a doctrine of second important.
K. 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 Paul taught about the divine restraint upon the timing of this man being released. He
describes the divine restraint that will be lifted in God’s perfect time.
L. 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9 we do not need to be fearful of this man. He will be consumed by the breath of God. He
only has a moment on the human stage of history.
M. 2 Thessalonians 2:10 states that he will have all unrighteousness. He will operate with all unrighteousness. Sin
will become unprecedented worldwide. Sin will escalate to a level unknown in world history. His reign and his rule, his
legislation, will be rooted in what the bible calls “all unrighteousness and deception because they did not love the truth”.
He has a three and a half year period of unrestrained activity. It mirrors the three and a half years of Jesus’ earthly
ministry.
N. The lawless man will come according to the working of satan, with all power and with signs. He will operate in an
evil anointing. Yet the counterfeit signs and wonders are only possible because the authentic ones are present as well.
O. 2 Thessalonians 2:11, God Himself will send a strong delusion on the people who love darkness.” God will send a
delusion Himself upon the earth. It will be like what God did in Egypt with Pharaoh. If people love the truth then He will
cause the Spirit of conviction to lead them to salvation. If they hate the truth and love sin and refuse to repent then they
will be deluded. God does not want anybody in the middle sitting on the fence. He wants everybody radical for Jesus or
radically against Him. There will be no neutral zone. There will only be two camps on earth. The middle position will be
removed. There will only be two types of people when the Lord appears: those who love Him and those who hate Him.
III. THE DECEPTION:
A. False signs and wonders – the deception will include false signs and wonders. Matthew 24;24 AND Revelation 13
describe false signs and wonders. The church will be experiencing true miracles as promised by Jesus as “greater works
than these”. (John 14:12)
B. False anointing – there will be an evil anointing to speak blasphemous things against God in a way that is
convincing. Multitudes will be deceived by this evil anointing that is on these emissaries of this prince of darkness. These
evil preachers will speak under a false anointing with the authority of darkness.
C. Sorcery – Revelation 18:23 says that the devil will deceive all of the nations by sorcery. There is going to be an
evil revival of sorcery. It will be widespread across the nations Revelation 9:20
IV. REVELATION 13
A. Corresponding with the falling away is the great harvest. Matthew 13 teaches that the wheat and the tares will
mature together (in the final three and a half years of natural history).
B. The prayer movement in the earth today is a preemptive strike of the merciful God to get the church ready.
C. Revelation 13 describes the man of sin. Revelation 17 adds to Revelation 13.
D. Revelation 13:1 “Then I stood on the sand of the sea and I aw a beast.” That is the man of sin.
E. Revelation 12:9 the dragon is the devil.
F. Revelation 13:4, the whole earth will worship satan. The world religion will be satan worship.
G. Revelation 13:5, the man of sin will be given a mouth to speak great things. His vision will be grand. His ideas will be
compelling and powerful. He will have an anointing to speak with supernatural clarity and with compelling ideas.
H. Revelation 13:7, this authority is being granted to him by God. IN other words, we cannot bind him to prayer because
God grants him authority. Why? To purify, refine and to make radiant the people of God. (Daniel 11:33-35)
I. He is granted to make war with the saints and to overcome them for three and a half years. In other words, martyrdom
will escalate for 3-1/2 years. The saints will be physically overcome in martyrdom. Daniel 7:21, 25 uses this exact language.
J. Revelation 12:11, the saints will overcome satan by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony and their
willingness to embrace martyrdom.
K. Satan overcomes the saints physically, but they overcome satan spiritually by embracing martyrdom with their deep
love for Jesus.
L. The blood of the martyrs will be the seed of the gospel explosion across the earth.
M. Revelation 13:8, all the earth will worship this evil leader as they worship satan.
N. Compare Revelation 13:7 with Revelation 12:11. Satan overcomes the saints physically. The saints overcome
satan spiritually.
1. Daniel 7:21-26 says the saints will inherit the kingdom and possess it forever.
2. Daniel 7:18 says, “The saints will possess the kingdom forever.”
3. Daniel 7:21 says that this man of sin will war against the saints and overcome them or prevail against them.
4. Daniel 7:22, God will only let this happen for a short time.
5. Daniel 7:25, the saints will be persecuted and worn down.
6. Daniel 7:26 the saints will be victorious
O. Revelation 15:2 The end time church will be victorious in martyrdom.
P. Revelation 17:6, this woman speaks of the worldwide religion that is worshipping this evil man. The one world religion
will be drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
Q. Jesus opens the fifth seal in Revelation 6:9-11. Jesus will allow worldwide martyrdom.
R. The martyrs cry out, “How long until the judgments stop the martyrdom on the earth? The answer is staggering. IN
Revelation 6:11, He says, “Rest until the number of martyrs is completed.” In the divine economy, the issue of God’s end time
judgment is related to the issue of the number of martyrs being completed.