Word of Salvation – Vol.12 No.51 – December 1966

 

The Devil’s Last Chance

 

Sermon by Rev. C. J. Reitsma on 2Thess. 2:1-12

Scripture Reading: 2Thess.2

Psalter Hymnal: 185, 186, 332, 368, 452, 468

 

Beloved Congregation,

In just a few more hours each of us is going to enter a new year.  Time is rushing on!  Life is a serious business.  Do you know what life is?  It is a series of blessed opportunities to please the Lord, opportunities available to us today, but gone tomorrow.  Each of us is filling up page after page in God’s own record book.  Soon the record of your life and mine will be complete, the book will be closed, and we will stand before the penetrating eyes of a holy God.

Now, in this sermon we are going to think not only about the end of this year, but about the end of all the years of human history… the end of the world and especially, the appearance of the Antichrist.

The Bible tells us that we are approaching the most spiritually dangerous period in all of human history and that period is the time of Antichrist.  Are you ready for it?  The time of final Antichrist may soon be here.  In one all out struggle Satan and Antichrist will attempt to destroy faith in the believer with terrible violence and subtle treachery..  Will you continue to stand firm in faith when sin becomes so attractive and easy?  One thing is certain, if at the present time you play with sin, you will most certainly perish in it when Antichrist appears.  Nothing less than whole souled dedication to the Lord right now, and a determination to be absorbed in the truth and love and joy of the Lord from moment to moment, will prepare us for the great tribulation that is coming.

So, let us be on our guard against the Antichrist and let us examine what the Bible has to say about him in 2Thessalonians 2:1-12.  There we are told how:
I.  Antichrist is described.
II.  Antichrist is delayed.
III.  Antichrist is destroyed.

I.  Antichrist is described.

The Bible tells us that before the Lord Jesus will return to earth certain signs of the times must be fulfilled, and one of these signs is the appearance of Antichrist.  When we survey the field of history we find that the Antichrist has been identified with Satan himself, kings, false prophets and evil movements of every description.  Some regarded the Roman Emperor, Nero, as the Antichrist.  During the Reformation many were sure he was the Pope.  In our own day some thought he would be Hitler or Stalin.  But, all of these suggestions have proven to be false.  Well then, who is the Antichrist and what will he be like?

In answer to this question the Bible tells us that the Antichrist is both a man and a movement, a person and an attitude of mind, one single individual and a world-wide influence, a someone and a something.

For example, the Bible tells us in Daniel 7 and 2Thess.2 that the Antichrist will indeed be a person.  He is pictured as a man in whom rebellion against God will be concentrated as one definite person living in the end of time.

Daniel 7:25 reads like this, “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High.”  Notice that it is a “he” that speaks and that he “speaks”.  And here in 2Thessalonians 2 we hear him described as the “man of sin” and as the “son of perdition”.  He “opposes”, “exalts”, “seats” himself and will be slain.  Those words only fit a real person.

But, this is not to deny that there is also an Antichristian power and influence.  And this spirit of Antichrist is already present in the world today and, in fact, it was already present when the Apostle John wrote in his epistle (2:18) “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that the antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”  And, the Apostle goes on to say, “And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that (spirit) of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

To sum up, we can say that everyone who denies that Jesus is the divine Son of God is an antichrist because he shares in the spirit of rebellion against God and unbelief.  It is also clear, however, that the final Antichrist, as pictured here in Thessalonians, will be a definite person living in the end-time and in this man the spirit of rebellion against God and unbelief will be concentrated and embodied.

Let us now limit ourselves to 2Thessalonians 2 and examine some of the ways in which the Antichrist and his coming are described.

In verse three, we read that there will be a great “falling away” from the faith at the time of Antichrist.  Thus many who had previously maintained a formal kind of Christianity will abandon it altogether when Antichrist comes.  Great numbers of people will leave the church.  This is called “apostasy” and it is one of the signs that we should be looking for.

Then in verse four, another sign of Antichrist’s coming is the deification of man.  Antichrist is not only a person who will oppose Christ, but he will imitate Christ.  He will try to take God’s place and claim for himself the honour that belongs to God alone.  Antichrist will try to dethrone God and enthrone himself.  This will be a time of complete and radical atheism.  It reminds us very much of the recent advances gained by atheism in the “God is dead” movement and the terrible fact that support for this movement has come from the churches.

And in verse seven, still another sign of the Antichrist is the huge wave of lawlessness that will burst forth and engulf the earth.  It is said to be a “mystery of iniquity”.  An even better translation would be “mystery of lawlessness”.  And, the word “mystery” refers to something which though present was concealed from view and now stands poised and ready to be exposed when the curtains are drawn back.  The idea is that while in former times God restrained sin and lawlessness, in the time of Antichrist God will release his restraining hand and will allow this lawlessness and standardless living to run its free course.  As a result the standards of right and wrong as set forth in God’s law will be turned upside down.

This is surely the trend today.  Perhaps you have heard of “The New Morality”.  Actually, it is just plain old filthy living.  It may come as a surprise to some that even clergymen are recommending pre-marital sex as good preparation for marriage.  It is shocking, but true.  They are deliberately turning upside down the standards of life set forth in God’s law and making vice a virtue.  Immorality is the thing that is becoming sophisticated and divorce a mark of distinction.  Poor mixed-up beatniks, unshaven and unwashed, walk about town in their bare feet and try to make people think they are artistic and very superior.  And consider modern music for a moment, how filled with unresolved conflict and discordant sounds.  It never finds a good solid chord but ends while still in flight and leaves the listener hanging in mid-air.  It seems that modern music, modern art, and modern literature all show the confusion characteristic of the age of Antichrist.

Finally, the arrival of Antichrist will be attended by a great outburst of satanic power and satanic miracles, according to verse nine.  What a show he will put on People will be astonished by it and deceived by it.  People will say, “Antichrist must be all right if he can do things like this”, and many will be persuaded to accept his claims never recognizing that the power of Antichrist is the power of Satan.  This will be the greatest hoax in history.  The devil will fool masses of people into hell.

And we are even told how Satan will carry out his trickery.  Verse ten speaks of the “deceivableness of unrighteousness”.  This means that sin will be freed from the harmful results that heretofore had always been the results of sin.  At the present time drunkenness destroys a man’s liver and lust brings venereal disease, but in the time of Antichrist these harmful results of sin will be reduced and even eliminated so that people will be able to sin and really enjoy it.  The art of sinning will be perfected.  Sin will be attractive and it will appear so wholesome, so ideal, so desirable.  And people by the thousands will accept Satan’s offer, abandon their faith and take pleasure in unrighteousness – verse twelve.

By way of review we can say that the final Antichrist will be a real Satan-controlled person whose coming will be attended by desertion of the church, a revival of atheism, a reversal of moral standards, and an outburst of miraculous satanic power by means of which sin will be made fully pleasing.  The powerful appeal of sin will not subside with each passing year.  The power of sin will keep growing as Antichrist keeps coming.  Will you hold the faith?  Watch and pray!  One thing is certain, if you play with sin now, you will perish in it then.

II.  Antichrist is delayed.

Since we have just been speaking about what the Antichrist is like, we turn next to the matter of when he shall appear.  Verses six and seven deal with this and we may put these verses like this: “You know, therefore, what is now delaying him, so that he should be revealed at his own time.  For the mystery of lawlessness is already working.  Except, that He who is now delaying him must first get out of the way.’

If you find the thought in these verses difficult to follow you are by no means the only one.  The very fact that the thought is hard to follow had prompted the interpretation that Paul for reasons of safety is intentionally hiding his meaning from the Roman rulers.  It is as though he were writing a message in code.  In this view the Antichrist is usually regarded as the papacy and the Roman rulers are the ones who are standing in the way and blocking its rise to power.

But there is another and more suitable interpretation and to arrive at it we must remind ourselves of the situation in the church at Thessalonica.  People in the church there believed that the return of the Lord Jesus was just a matter of a few more days or even hours.  They sold all their property and just sat around idle.  After all, they argued, what is the use of working, building, saving and making any plans at all if the world is going to last only a few more days.  They were so intent on heaven and the future that they became very careless about their everyday life and responsibilities.  They were nervous and excited.  They remind us of some people today who want sensationalism in religion.  They love these wandering lecturers on prophetic topics who unroll their charts and declare with authority that “according to prophecy” there is going to be a certain kind of war, and who will be in it and win it and when.  “Well, enough of that”, Paul says, “get to work”.  The day of Christ is not yet at hand.  Certain things have to happen first.  For one thing, the Antichrist must first appear.  And don’t even let the coming of Antichrist stop you from being active, working Christians, because Antichrist is being delayed and restrained.  So, accept this encouragement, you Thessalonians.  Work while Antichrist is being held back.  Make your time count.  Take the opportunities that are yours.  Go ahead, Antichrist will not get you.  He looks fierce and he is fierce, but he cannot reach you, at least not yet because he is being held back like a dog on his chain.  Ah, what comfort and stimulation this must have given to the Thessalonians, what peace of mind.

And now we are ready to answer the question as to what is delaying the Antichrist.  For whoever this person is he must be the kind of person who is completely capable of keeping the Antichrist in check and thereby to guarantee the protection of believers.  Who but the Lord Jesus Christ fits this description?  Only Jesus working by means of the Gospel can be in view.  Only the Almighty Christ can cope with the mighty Antichrist.  How could human government ever restrain the supernatural energies of Satan?  No, it is Christ who can and does control the Antichrist.  That is the comfort of God’s people in every age.  “Thy God reigneth!”  That is what the Thessalonians needed to hear and it is what we need to hear as we stand ready to enter into a new year.  Nothing is going to happen that He will not permit.  Though we may hear the footsteps of Antichrist at our front door and his hand toying with the latch he cannot come in except by the will of our Almighty Saviour and Friend.  We know not what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.

Let us summarize this point.  The Antichrist is straining to come and indeed, we may say that he is coming closer.  But, his advance is being restrained by the Lord Jesus Christ who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  The Lord Jesus is restraining Antichrist so that the Gospel may be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and that sinners may hear, repent, believe and be saved.  God will not allow Antichrist to come prematurely to interrupt the Gospel’s saving work.

And now let me ask you, are you working while Christ is restraining?  Are you living for Jesus?  Are you putting your faith to work right now while you have the chance to do so?  Perhaps there are some among us this evening who as yet have never been converted.  I ask you, “Are you ready to look into the deep and holy eyes of Jesus?”  It may be that you have been warned many times and invited to receive and live for Christ, but on this New Year’s Eve I put before you the question, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?”  One thing is certain, if we play with sin now, we shall surely perish in it when Antichrist appears.

III.  Antichrist is destroyed.

In verse eight of this chapter we read how Antichrist will be destroyed.  When the Lord Jesus returns to earth he will consume the Antichrist with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming.

Now after all that we have said about how powerful and how treacherous an enemy the final Antichrist will be it must come as great relief to you to know that God’s Word says that Antichrist will ultimately be destroyed.  We might be inclined to feel discouraged at having to face so formidable a foe.  And, of course, it is true that many, many people are making the terrible mistake of underestimating the tempting power of Satan and Antichrist,

But, the thing we have to see is that while Antichrist will give us a fierce battle he will be no match at all for the Lord Jesus.  No sir!  When Jesus returns there is not going to be a long and drawn out conflict during which Christ will gradually overcome Antichrist.  On the contrary!  The Bible tells us that the issue will be settled in a moment.  The Lord will not even have to raise so much as a finger.  He will blow at him and the battle will be over.  The Lord will go “phoof” and just blow the Antichrist away.  That is the kind of Jesus we have, Antichrist strong?  Yes, he is terribly strong for us, but he amounts to nothing for the Lord.

And our text adds that he will be destroyed by the brightness of his coming.  The word “destroy” here means to put something completely out of commission and make it useless.  This is what the Lord is going to do to the Antichrist.  And he will do it with the first ray of his gleaming and glorious appearance.  One glance by Jesus will paralyse him.  Is not our Lord’s countenance as the sun that shineth, in his strength?  And did not his captors in the garden fall backward at his word, “I am he”, and lay helpless upon the ground?  One look by Jesus will destroy completely the power of Antichrist,

Ah, what a comfort it is to know that we belong to such an Almighty Lord as Jesus.  Truly he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.  Though Antichrist may rage it is Christ who reigns.  The Lord will be with us always, in life and in death.  He will guide us by his counsel and afterward receive us to glory, Let us then go forward serving the Lord knowing this that we only have one life and it will soon be past, but what is done for Christ will last.

“Trembling soul, beset by fears, “Thy God reigneth!”
Look above and dry thy tears: “Thy God reigneth!”
Though thy foes with pow’r assail,
Naught against thee shall prevail;
Trust in him – Hell never fail: “Thy God reigneth, Thy God reigneth!”
Church of Christ, awake, awake!  “Thy God reigneth!”
‘           Forward, then, fresh courage take: “Thy God reigneth!”
Soon, descending from his throne,
He shall claim thee for his own;
`           Sin shall then be overthrown: “Thy God reigneth, Thy God reigneth!”

Amen.