A second indication that humanity is living in its last days upon the earth is the revelation of “the man of lawlessness” who is also known as the Antichrist or the “beast” of the Book of Revelation.
Paul the Apostle tried to comfort his Thessalonian readers with the words, “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day (i.e. the Day of the Lord) will not come, unless the rebellion (apostasy) comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:3-4).
Whether Paul actually succeeded in comforting his readership or not is a matter of speculation.
One thing is for certain, the whole idea of looking out for someone in league with the devil as an indication that judgment was about to strike the earth with the full fury and wrath of God is not something anyone wants to contemplate deeply just before going to bed at night.
Regardless, a clear indication that all hell is about to break loose upon the earth is the unveiling of the individual and his diabolic systems of religion and politics that has been, sadly, the topic of much fanatical or misguided guesswork.
Yet, Paul tells us that the antichrist will be a man who is the epitome of lawlessness, mainly because he takes his marching order from none other than the devil himself (cf. Rev. 13:4).
The Greek term translated lawlessness is anomia; it is used 15 times in the New Testament and is synonymous with other terms like wickedness (Heb. 1:9) and sinfulness (1 Jn. 3:4).
But, what law is the antichrist breaking in the days ahead?
Since the context of Second Thessalonians is the Day of the Lord, which involved God’s final judgment upon all rebellious humanity, then the law itself would be the Ten Commandments, generally, and then loving God with one’s whole heart, mind, and soul (Matt. 22:37) and then to love one’s neighbor as oneself, as Jesus taught in Matthew 22:39.
Such an understanding would fit perfectly with Jesus’ prediction that “because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many would grow cold” (Matt. 24:12), for lawlessness equates to lovelessness.
Instead of loving God and others, people will “lovers of self” (2 Tim. 3:1), which will be encouraged by the antichrist, as he gathers and prepares like-minded individuals to wage a final war against God and His Christ at the Battle of Armageddon in Israel (Rev. 16:14-16).
Perhaps this another reason why those Christians in Thessalonica could take solace that the Day of the Lord had not arrived simply because although there were selfish sinners who seemingly followed antichristian ideas and practices then, as they do today, it paled in comparison to the time when the Antichrist comes fully into view and power.
Then, like no other time in human history, the ultimate in narcissistic rebellion against all things godly and lawful will be the attitude of the world, which is why many Christians will die violent deaths at the hands of the Antichrist and his henchmen for their failure to comply with his dictates.
It is also why Christians today can take comfort in knowing that the Day of the Lord has not commenced, even though some falsely assume that we are already in the midst of the Great Tribulation spoken of in Matthew 24:21.
That is not to say that Christians should not be watchful for the coming day when Christ returns; only that despite all the obvious wickedness and lawlessness currently taking place, those are preludes of worse things to come, and those until the Antichrist is revealed, then the Day of the Lord has not commenced.
Nevertheless, the Bible has more to say about this Antichrist character, and I will delve into those revelations in the next blog post.
