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Preaching the Living WORD through the Written WORD - 2 Tim 4:2 - |
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THE PERSON AND PROGRAM OF ANTICHRIST 2Th 2:4-7 (03/25/12) Grace Bible
Church, Gillette, Wyoming Pastor Daryl
Hilbert
A. He Promotes
Himself as God (4-5) 1. After
reassuring the Thessalonians that the Day of the Lord had not happened
because “the apostasy” and the “man of lawlessness” had not come
first, Paul describes the person and the program of the Antichrist. 2. Both the
Antichrist’s person and program are focused on elevating himself and removing
any worship of religion. a) The
Antichrist is the “one who opposes”
(antikeimai - in hostile opposition,
enemy, lit. “one who is setting himself against”) God. Because this is a present middle
participle, the Antichrist will himself continue to make hostile oppostion
his purpose. b) Not only will
he oppose God but he will continually be “exalting” (huperairō - uplift oneself, raise over) himself. c) His selfish
ambition will attempt to raise himself “above every so-called god” (lit. “over everything that is being called God”). Any hint of God
or religion (true or false), he will not tolerate. Anything or anyone else
being an “object
of worship” besides himself will be removed by him (Rev 17:16) so that he
alone is worshipped (Rev 13:3-4, 8, 12, 14). 3. His goal is
to be God himself, which has always been the plan of Satan and now being
worked out through the Antichrist. a) His program
is to “take his seat” (aorist infinitive - kathizō, completed and permanent action of sitting down, lit.
“sits down”) in the “temple of
God” and there to be worshipped. b) His purpose
is “displaying himself” (apodeiknumi - demonstrate, put oneself on
display, proclaim oneself, lit. “continually promoting”) “as being God” (lit.“that He himself is God”). This has always been the plan of
Satan as demonstrated by the five “I will’s” of Isa 14:12-14. Satan is
working his plan through the Antichrist. 4. Paul was
faithful in “continually telling” (imperfect
active - le,gō - speak or tell) the Thessalonians many things in
order to strengthen their Christian lives. This also included teaching them
detailed eschatology and the program of the Antichrist (5). B. He is
Restrained by the Restrainer (6-7) 1. Since Paul
had taught the Thessalonians, they knew what or who will be restraining the
man of lawlessness. The word for “restrain” is kate,chō
and literally means to
“hold down, hold fast, or hold back.” Often it refers to “holding fast” to
something in a good sense (Luk 8:15; 1Th 5:21; Heb 10:23). It can also mean
to suppress or restrain (Rom 1:18). 2. So what or who is the restrainer? There
are numerous interpretations such as 1) human
government, 2) preaching, 3) binding of Satan, 4) the church, and 5) Michael
the archangel. 3. However, the one that truly fits the grammar and the
context is that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit. a) In vs. 6 “what restrains” (to kate,chon,
present participle, lit. “the thing that is restraining) is neuter in gender. This speaks of a “force” that
holds back the force of Satan and the Antichrist. In vs. 7 “he who now restrains” (ho kate,chon, present participle, lit. “the one who is
restraining) is a masculine gender
and speaks of a “person” who is holding back the person of the Antichrist.
The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person (Joh
14:26; 15:26; 16:13, “he” - ekei,nos,
masculine demonstrative pronoun) who
exerts His force holding back Satan and the Antichrist. b) It is the Holy Spirit’s ministry to “convict” (ele,gchō) the world concerning sin, righteousness, and
judgment (Joh 16:8-9). It is not a stretch to see how this has a restraining
force in the world. c) Furthermore, it could only be the force of a Divine
Person that could restrain the power of Satan and the Antichrist, something
even Michael the archangel does not possess (Jud 1:8-9). 4. It is quite possible that there is a direct
connection between the Holy Spirit as Restrainer and the Rapture of the
Church. a) The Holy
Spirit indwells the Church (true believers) on earth (1Co 3:16; 6:19).The
Church will be removed from earth at the Rapture (1Th 4:16-17).So we can say
that the Holy Spirit’s special indwelling ministry in the Church will be
removed at the Rapture. b) The Holy
Spirit’s special indwelling ministry in the Church removed at the Rapture
fits with the timeframe stated as, “until he is taken out of the way” (heōs
ek me,sou ge,nêtai, lit. “until he is out of the way” (genêtai - aorist deponent
with active force)). c) The Holy
Spirit Himself, being omnipresent, can never be removed. However, His special
indwelling ministry in the Church can. d) The Holy
Spirit’s ministry of convicting the world of sin works through the Church’s
holy living and preaching of the gospel. This could relate to the force that
is restraining the Antichrist from “being revealed”. (1) When the church leaves the earth in the Rapture, the Holy
Spirit will be taken out of the way in the sense that His unique
lawlessness-restraining ministry through God’s people will be removed (cf.
Gen. 6:3). BKC (2) The removal of the Restrainer at the time of the Rapture
must obviously precede the day of the Lord. Paul’s reasoning is thus a strong
argument for the pretribulational Rapture: the Thessalonians were not in the
Great Tribulation because the Rapture had not yet occurred. BKC 5. Even though
the Antichrist is held back from being revealed, the mystery of lawlessness
is already at work. a) “Mystery”
is the Greek word mustê,rion and in the NT does not mean something that remains a
secret. Nor does it resemble the deduction of a mystery novel. Rather it
means something that God has kept unknown in the past, but now has revealed .
There are a number of “mysteries” like this mentioned in the NT (Rom 16:25;
1Co 2:7*; Eph 1:9, 3:3-5; Col 1:26-27). b) This
particular mystery has to do with lawlessness and the man of lawlessness. “Lawlessness” (anomi,a - without
law, not governed by the Law of God) is the idea that men will live
openly in opposition and rebellion to God’s Law. c) It is “already at work” (ê,dê
energeitai, lit. “already presently working”), not in the
sense that the Antichrist has been revealed, but that evil and lawlessness
permeates the world to a great degree. Lawlessness is in the world (Mat
24:12; 2Co 6:14; 1Jo 3:4 cp. Rom 4:7; Tit 2:14) but the reason that it is not
fully unleashed is because the
Restrainer is keeping it in check. When He is out of the way, it will be the
unbridled and dominant force at work. (1)
In
this case the mystery is the revelation of a future climax of lawlessness in
the world. Then and now a movement against divine law directed by Satan was
and is operative. BKC (2)
But
it is being restrained somewhat, and this restraining will continue until the
time appointed for revealing the man of sin and the climax of lawlessness.
BKC IV.
OBSERVATIONS AND APPLICATIONS A.
Some might believe that in the
struggle between good and evil, evil is winning. The truth is that the evil
is being kept from being completely unleashed in the world today.
Unfortunately that day is coming, but so is the day when the Lord will defeat
Satan and all the evil in the world. B.
The Holy Spirit is using the church
in this present age to be a part of His restraining force on evil in the
world. We might think we are not making much of an impact by our holy living
and witnessing, but the reality is that the Holy Spirit is using those things
along with His restraining power to keep evil at bay. C.
There is another mystery at work which
is the mystery of Christ in the believer, the hope of glory (Col 1:27). Not
only is the Holy Spirit restraining evil but He is revealing Christ in and
through the believer. |
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