The Last Days Series

In the magazine called the New Yorker there was a cartoon of two

ministers conversing in a luxurious library. The older man says to

the younger: “Drawing upon my not inconsiderable experience,

Andrews, my advice to a young man ambitious of preferment in our

calling is to steer clear of two subjects-politics and religion.” There

is no doubt about it that these are the two most controversial

subjects. They are so just because they are important and vital to

both time and eternity. There is much needless controversy,

however, that can be eliminated if men will limit their debate to what

is known, and not argue over the unknown.

There are at least 3 or 4 probable ways to interpret Paul’s

remarks about the man of sin and the restraining power that was

holding him back. One is free to believe any of them if he can

maintain a consistency with the rest of Scripture. It would be easier

to shut out eyes to the matter and just stir clear of controversial

subjects, but this is foolish since we have everything to gain and

nothing to lose by struggling with the hardest passages of the Bible.

However difficult it might be to know the exact interpretation of

every detail, it is easy to get the basic ideas, and these are the values

that we really need anyway. We do not need to know who and when,

but it is important that we know what. If we admit we do not know

who the anti-Christ and the restrainer are for sure, and that we do

not know for sure when he will be revealed, we can still know and

declare what he will do when he does come, and what the

consequences will be. We want to study Paul’s difficult words so as

to know what history will be like the last days.

In verse 7 Paul says the mystery of iniquity is already at work in

the world. Being that the man of sin is a product of Satan’s power, it

is obvious why he is already at work, for Satan does not cease to do

all he can to promote evil. But notice that Paul says he is limited and

works in mystery, which means he works in the dark and in secret.

Lawlessness has no right or power to operate openly in the light, for

the restrainer is holding him back. When the restrainer is out of the

way, then Satan will be permitted by God to again operate in full

power out in the open. The man of sin will come to the light. No

longer will he be limited to underground operations.

Paul is simply telling them that if they think evil is powerful

now, just wait. It will be a great deal worse before history is ended.

The last days have already begun, and the lawless one does have

some power, but in the latter days of the last days he shall be

revealed in great power. The Apostle John said the same thing-anti-Christ

is coming, but already there are many anti-Christs in the

world. Anti-Christianity is as old as Christianity, for both began at

the same time. Herod sought to slay the Christ-child, and from that

day to this there has been a division-the followers of Christ and

opponents of Christ.

Only the presence of the restrainer prevents the final revelation

of the man of lawlessness. The restrainer I believe is the principle of

law and order that is embodied in the church by the power of the

Holy Spirit and manifested in a just government. If you believe the

restrainer to be something else or someone else, as some believe it to

be Michael the archangel, or if you say with Augustine and many

others, “I frankly confess I do not know what he means,” still we can

all agree that the restraining is still going on, and as of now Satan

does not yet have the power to freely establish his man of lawlessness.

If we agree at this point, the rest does not really matter, for then

we are in the same position as the Thessalonians. We are waiting

and looking for the signs to be fulfilled, for the day is yet ahead when

as Paul says in verse 8, the wicked one shall be revealed. Paul

implies by his following words that his rise to power is almost

immediately followed by his being destroyed in the coming of Christ.

Sometime, of course, is needed for him to deceive the people, but

centuries can hardly be read into this place between the coming of

anti-Christ and the coming of Christ. Whoever he is, Paul says Jesus

will consume him, or slay him, with the spirit of His mouth. This is

Old Testament imagery. In Isa. 11 we read of the Messiah coming in