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In answering this error, and in guarding them from the wily efforts of
seducers, he puts everything in its place here by appealing to precious
truths of which he had already spoken. Their gathering together unto Christ
in the air was a demonstration of the impossibility of the day of the Lord
being already come.
Moreover with regard to this last he presents two considerations: first,
the day could not be already come, since Christians were not yet gathered
to the Lord, and they were to come with Him; second, the wicked one who has
then to be judged had not yet appeared, so that the judgment could not be
executed.
The apostle had already instructed the Thessalonians with regard to this
wicked one, when at Thessalonica; and in the former epistle he had taught
them concerning the rapture of the church. In order that the Lord should
come in judgment, iniquity must have reached its height, and open
opposition to God have been manifested. But the truth had another and more
precious side: the saints were to be in the same position as Christ, to be
gathered together unto Him, before He could manifest Himself in glory to
those outside. But these truths require a more connected examination.
Their gathering together unto Christ before the manifestation was a truth
known to the Thessalonians; it is not revealed here, it is used as an
argument. The Lord Jesus was coming, but it was impossible that He should
be without His church in the glory. The King would indeed punish His
rebellious subjects; but, before doing so, He would bring to Himself those
who had been faithful to Him amid the unfaithful, in order to bring them
back with Him and publicly to honour them in the midst of the rebels. But
the apostle here speaks only of the rapture itself, and he adjures them
only by that truth not to allow themselves to be shaken in mind as though
the day were come. What an assured truth must this have been to Christians,
since the apostle could appeal to it as to a known point, on which the
heart could rest! The relationship of the church to Christ, its being
necessarily in the same position with Him rendered the idea that the day
was already come a mere folly.
In the second place, the already known fact is asserted, that the apostacy
must previously take place, and then the man of sin be revealed. Solemn
truth! Everything takes its place. The forms and the name of Christianity
have long been maintained; true Christians have been disowned; but now
there should be a public renunciation of the faith-an apostacy. True
Christians should have their true place in heaven. But, besides this, there
should be a person who would fully realise in sin the character of man
without God. He is the man of sin. He does his own will-it is but Adam
fully developed; and incited by the enemy, he opposes himself to God (it is
open enmity against God), and he exalts himself above all that bears the
name of God; he assumes the place of God in His temple. So that there is
apostacy, that is, the open renunciation of Christianity in general, and an
individual who concentrates in his own person (as to the principles of
iniquity) the opposition that is made against God.
It will be noticed that the character of the wicked one is religious here,
or rather anti-religious. The apostle does not speak of a secular power of
the world, whatever its iniquity may be. The man of sin assumes a religious
character. He exalts himself against the true God, but he shews himself as
God [see note #3]
in the temple of God. Observe here that the sphere is on earth. It is not a
god for faith. He shews himself as a god for the earth. The profession of
Christianity has been abandoned. Sin then characterises an individual, a
man, who fills up the measure of the apostacy of human nature, and, as a
man, proclaims his independence of God. The principle of sin in man is his
own will. He arises, as we have already seen, out of the rejection of
Christianity. In this respect also evil is at its height.
This man of sin exalts himself above God, and, sitting as God in the temple
of God, he defies the God of Israel. This last feature gives his formal
character. He is in conflict with God, as placing himself publicly in this
position-shewing himself as God in the temple of God. It is the God of
Israel who will take vengeance on him.
Christianity, Judaism, natural religion, all are rejected. Man takes a
place there on earth, exalting himself above it all, in opposition to God;
and, in particular, arrogating to himself (for man needs a God, needs
something to worship) the place and the honours of God, and of the God of
Israel. [see note #4]
These verses present the wicked one in connection with the state of man,
and with the different relationships in which man has stood towards God. In
them all he shews himself as apostate, and then he assumes the place of God
Himself-the first object of human ambition, as its attainment was the first
suggestion of Satan.
In that which follows, we see not the condition itself of apostacy with
regard to the different positions in which God had placed man, but simply
man unrestrained, and the work of Satan. The man is but the vessel of the
enemy's power.
Man in whom is the fullness of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus, and man filled
with the energy of Satan, are opposed to each other. Before, it was man
forsaking God, wicked, and exalting himself. Here, it is opposition against
God on the part of man, unrestrained, and inspired by Satan himself.
Consequently we have (not the wicked one, but) the lawless -the
unbridled-one. The principle is the same, for sin is lawlessness. (See 1
John 3:4-Greek.) But in this first case man is viewed in his departure from
God, and in his guiltiness; in the second, as acknowledging none but
himself.
To this condition in which all restraint will be removed, a barrier has yet
existed.
The apostle had already told them of the apostacy, and of the manifestation
of the man of sin. He now says that the Thessalonians ought to know the
hindrance that existed to his progress and his manifestation before the
appointed time. He does not say that he had told them, but they ought to
know it. Knowing the character of the wicked one, the barrier revealed
itself. The main point here is that it was a barrier. The principle of the
evil was already at work: a barrier alone prevented its development. Its
character when developed, would be unbridled will which exalts and opposes
itself.[see note #5]
Unbridled self-will being the principle of the evil, that which bridles
this will is the barrier. Now it exalts itself above all that bears the
name of God, or to which homage is paid: that which hinders it therefore is
the power of God acting in government here below as authorized by Him. The
grossest abuse of power still bears this last character. Christ could say
to Pilate, "Thou couldest have no power against me, except it were given
thee from above." Wicked as he might be, his power is owned as coming from
God. Thus, although men had rejected and crucified the Son of God, so that
their iniquity appeared to be at its height, the hindrance still existed in
full. Afterwards God, having sent His Spirit, gathers out the church, and,
although the mystery of iniquity began immediately to work mingling the
will of men with the worship of God in Spirit, God had always (He still
has) the object of His loving care upon the earth. The Holy Ghost was here
below; the assembly, be its condition what it might, was still on earth,
and God maintained the barrier. And as the porter had opened the door to
Jesus in spite of all obstacles, so He sustains everything, however great
the energy and progress of evil. The evil is bridled: God is the source of
authority on earth. There is one who hinders until he be taken out of the
way. Now when the assembly (the assembly, that is, as composed of the true
members of Christ) is gone, and consequently the Holy Ghost as the
Comforter is no longer dwelling here below, then the apostacy takes place,
[see note #6]
the time to remove the hindrance is come, the evil is unbridled, and at
length (without saying how much time it will take) the evil assumes a
definite shape in him who is its head. The beast comes up from the abyss.
Satan -not God-gives him his authority; and in the second beast all the
energy of Satan is present. The man of sin is there.
Here it is an outward and secular power that is spoken of, but the
religious side of Satan's energy.
With regard to the individual instruments who compose the barrier, they may
change every moment, and it was not the object of the Holy Ghost to name
them. He who was the one of them that existed when this epistle was written
would not be so at the present time; to have named him then would have been
of no use to us in the present day. The object was to declare that the evil
which should be judged was already working, that there was no remedy for
it, that it was only a hindrance on God's part which prevented its full
development: a principle of the highest importance with regard to the
history of Christianity.
Whatever form it might take, the apostacy of the men who would renounce
grace would necessarily be more absolute than any other. It is opposition
to the Lord. It has the character of an adversary. The other principle of
human iniquity enters into it, but this is the source of the "perdition."
It is, the rejection of goodness; it is direct enmity.
" That which hinders" is in general only an instrument, a means, which
prevents the manifestation of the man of sin-the wicked one. So long as the
assembly is on earth, the pretension to be God in His temple cannot take
place or at least would have no influence. Satan has his sphere, and must
needs have it, in the mystery of iniquity; but there is no longer a mystery
when the place of God in His temple is openly taken. That which hinders is
therefore still present. But there is a person active in maintaining this
hindrance. Here I think indeed that it is God in the Person of the Holy
Ghost, who, during the time called "the things that are," restrains the
evil and guards divine authority in the world. As long as that subsists,
the unrestrained exaltation of wickedness cannot take place. Consequently I
do not doubt but that the rapture of the saints is the occasion of the
hindrance being removed and all restraint loosed, although some of the ways
of God are developed before the full manifestation of the evil.
This thought does not rest upon great principles only: the passage itself
supplies elements which shew the state of things when the power of evil
develops itself. 1st, The apostacy has already taken place. This could
hardly be said if the testimony of the assembly still subsisted, as it had
in time past, or even yet more distinctly as being freed from all false and
corrupting elements. 2nd, Authority-as established of God, so far as
exercising a restraint on man's will in God's name-has disappeared from the
scene, for the wicked one exalts himself against all that is called God and
to which homage is paid, and presents himself as God in the temple of God.
Compare Psalm 82, where God stands among the gods (the judges) to judge
them before He inherits the nations. Before that solemn hour when God will
judge the judges of the earth, this wicked one, despising all authority
that comes from Him, sets himself up as God: and that on the earth, where
the judgment will be manifested. And then, 3rdly, in place of the Holy
Ghost and His power manifested on the earth, we find the power of Satan,
and with precisely the same tokens that bore witness to the Person of
Christ. So that the passage itself, whether as to man or as to the enemy,
gives us (in the three points of which we have spoken) the full
confirmation of that which we have ventured to set forth.
The assembly, the powers ordained by God upon the earth, the Holy Ghost
present here as the Comforter in lieu of Christ, have all (as regards the
manifestation of the government and the work of God) given place to the
self-willed unbridled man, and to the power of the enemy.
In saying this we speak of the sphere of this prophecy, which moreover
embraces that of the public testimony of God on earth.
Definitively then we have man here in his own nature-as it has displayed
itself by forsaking God- in the full pursuit of his own will in rebellion
against God; the willful man, developed as the result of apostacy from the
position of grace in which the assembly stood, and in contempt of all the
governmental authority of God on the earth. And since that authority had
shewn itself directly and properly in Judea, this contempt and the spirit
of rebellion in man, who exalts himself above everything, but who cannot be
heavenly (heaven, and all pretension to heaven, is given up by man, and
lost by Satan), display themselves by man taking the place of God in His
temple under the most advanced form of Jewish apostacy and blasphemy. At
the same time Satan acts-God having loosed his bridle-with a power (a lying
power indeed, but) which gives the same testimony before men as that which
the works of Christ did to the Saviour; and also with all the skill that
iniquity possesses to deceive. It is in the wicked, the lawless one, that
Satan works these things. Our consideration of the development of the
latter part of this solemn scene will come (God willing) in the Book of
Revelation. We may add, that there we have this wicked one as the false
Messiah, and as prophet, in the form of his kingdom-two horns like a lamb.
He had been cast down from heaven where he had been anti-priest, and now
takes up Christ's titles on earth of king and prophet. In Daniel 11 he is
seen as king; here, as the unbridled man, and in particular as the result
of the apostacy[see note #7]
and the manifestation of Satan's power. In a word, instead of the assembly,
the apostacy; instead of the Holy Ghost, Satan; and, instead of the
authority of God as a restraint upon evil, the unbridled man setting
himself up as God on the earth.
Another circumstance, already mentioned, demands particular attention. I
have said that he presents himself as the Messiah (that is to say, in His
two characters as king and prophet, which are His earthly characters). In
heaven Satan has then nothing more to do; he has been cast out from thence,
so that there is no imitation of the Lord's high-priesthood. In that
respect Satan had, in his own person, acted another part. He was previously
in heaven the accuser of the brethren. But, at the time of which we are
speaking, the assembly is on high, and the accuser of the brethren is cast
out never to return there. In a man inspired by him he makes himself
prophet and king. And in this character he does the same things (in
falsehood) as those by which God had sanctioned the mission of Christ
before men. (Compare Acts 2:22) In a Greek the words are identical. [see note #8]
I would also recall here another solemn fact in order to complete this
picture. In the history of Elijah we find that the proof of the divinity of
Baal, or that of Jehovah, is made to rest upon the fact of their respective
servants bringing down fire from heaven. Now in Revelation 3 we learn that
the second beast brings down fire from heaven in the sight of men. So that
we find here the marvelous works that sanctioned the Lord's mission, and
there that which proved Jehovah to be the true and only God. And Satan
performs both in order to deceive men.
This may give us an idea of the state in which they will be; and it
indicates also that these things will take place in relation with the Jews,
under the double aspect of their connection with Jehovah and their
rejection of Christ and reception of Antichrist.
Thus, thank God, the truth is abundantly confirmed, that these things do
not relate to the assembly, but to those who, having had opportunity to
profit by the truth, have rejected it, and loved iniquity. Neither does it
relate to the heathen, but only to those among whom the truth has been set
forth.[see note #9]
They refused it and God sends a lie, and an efficacious lie, that they may
believe it. He does this in judgment: He did the same thing with the
nations (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28); He did it also with the Jews (Is. 6:9, 10);
He does it here with nominal Christians. But it does relate to the Jews as
a nation that rejected the truth-the testimony of the Holy Ghost (Acts
7)-but still more to Christians (in name); in short to all those who will
have had the truth presented to them.
With nominal Christians this has necessarily the character of apostacy, or
at least it is connected with this apostacy, and is consequent upon it; as
verse 3 teaches us, the apostacy takes place, and then the man of sin is
revealed.~
In connection with his character of the man of sin he presents himself
without restraint in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is
God.[see note #10]
In relation to the lying power of Satan and his efficient work, he presents
himself in the character of Christ-he is the Antichrist, assuming
consequently a Jewish character. It is not only the pride of man exalting
itself against God, but the power of Satan in man deceiving men and the
Jews in particular, by a false Christ; so that it it were possible, the
very elect would be deceived. We may remark that all these characters are
precisely the opposite of Christ-falsehood instead of truth, iniquity
instead of righteousness, perdition instead of salvation.
It is to a power like this, of lies and destruction that man-having
forsaken Christianity and exalted himself in pride against God-will be
given up. The apostacy (that is to say, the renunciation of Christianity)
will be the occasion of this evil; Judea and the Jews, the scene in which
it ripens and develops itself in a positive way.
The Antichrist will deny the Father and the Son (that is, Christianity); he
will deny that Jesus is the Christ (that is, Jewish unbelief). With the
burden upon him of sin against Christianity, grace, and the presence of the
Holy Ghost, he will ally himself with Jewish unbelief, in order that there
may be not only the full expression of human pride, but also for a time the
Satanic influence of a false Christ, who will strengthen the throne of
Satan among the Gentiles occupied by the first beast to whom the authority
of the dragon has been given. He will also set up his own subordinate
throne over the Jews, as being the Messiah, whom their unbelief is
expecting; while at the same time he will bring in idolatry, the unclean
spirit long gone out who then returns to his house which is devoid of God.
And now, with regard to his destruction (whom the Lord Jesus will consume
with the spirit of His mouth and destroy with the manifestation of His
presence, or of His coming), the first of these means characterises the
judgment; it is the word of truth applied in judgment according to the
power of God. In the Revelation, it says that the sword proceeds out of His
mouth. Here He is not spoken of in the character of a man of war, as in
Revelation 19. The spirit of His mouth is that inward and divine power
which kindles and executes the judgment. It is not an instrument, it is the
divine source of power which executes its purpose by a word. (compare
Isa.33:33) But there is another aspect of this judgment. The Lord, the man
Jesus, will return. His return has two parts-the return into the air to
take His assembly to Himself, and the public manifestation in glory of His
return.
In the first verse of our chapter we have read of His return and our
gathering together unto Him. Here, verse 8, is the manifestation of His
presence publicly in creation. At the time of this public manifestation of
His coming He destroys the whole work and power of the wicked one. It is
the Man formerly obedient and humbling Himself on the earth, exalted of
God, and become Lord of all, who destroys the lawless man that has exalted
himself above everything and made himself as God, instead of being,
obedient to God.
This evil- on the side of Satan's influence-was already working in the
apostle's time; only it was bridled and kept back, until that which
restrained it should no longer be on the scene. Then should the wicked one
be revealed. To sum up, the taking away of the assembly, and the apostacy,
were first necessary; and then this man should present himself as an
unbelieving Jew, [see note #11]
and the power of Satan would be displayed in him.
Now this Satanic influence was for those who had rejected the truth. Of the
Thessalonians -to whom he had given these explanations respecting the day
which they fancied was come-the apostle thought very differently. God had
chosen these "brethren beloved of the Lord " from the beginning for
salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, to
which He had called them by Paul's gospel (and that of His companions), and
to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus. How different was this
from the visitations of the day of the Lord, and the circumstances of which
the apostle had spoken! They were numbered among those who should be the
companions in that day of the Lord Jesus Himself.
