(2) 2 Th 2““.—The signs of the end.—The eschatological teaching of the Second Epistle is supplementary to that of the First. It deals with the troublous times which will immediately precede the Second Advent. The coming of Christ is certain, but the end is not at. First must come the apostasy, and the culmination of evil in the person of the ‘ man of lawlessness,’ who will wage war on every object of human veneration, and take his seat in the Temple, claiming Divine honours as his right. Deceived by the signs and wonders he displays, those who have rejected the true Christ will hasten to follow this blasphemous imitator. Their infatuation is the Divine punishment of their previous wilful blindness.
The ‘mystery of lawlessness,’ of which these thin will be the climax, is already at work in the world . But’ at present it is prevented by some influence or person from attaining its full development. Only when the restraining power has been removed will the ‘ man of lawlessness ’ be revealed. For a time he will succeed, but his reign will be ended by the coming of the Lord Jesus to destroy him and to set up the kingdom of the saints (2″“). This teaching 0 aims to he merely an echo of instruction already
Wicked has replaced man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2:8
2Thessalonians 2:8 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: (KJV)
