Happy Friday, everybody. Part of mature Bible reading is the willingness to stop and to ponder the hardest realities that God reveals to us in His Word. We don't skim over hard texts. We press in with questions seeking understanding. So this summer we're addressing three sobering questions inspired by serious Bible readers working through the first two chapters of 2 Thessalonians.

Namely, is God present or is He absent in His eternal judgment? 2 Thessalonians 1.9 seems to say that He's absent. On Monday we addressed that in ABJ 18.01. Next, many of you have written us asking Pastor John to identify this mysterious man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2. Who is he?

That's today. And then we have a question about God sending strong delusions into the world. Does He still do something like that today? If so, what is that? This third question on 2 Thessalonians 2.11 is on the table in one week next Friday in ABJ 18.06. So today we approach this topic of the man of lawlessness.

Here's one representative email from many. Pastor John, my name is Jared and I live in San Jose, California. I was reading through my Bible and recently came across a section about the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1-12. At first I assumed this man was Satan himself, but it becomes clear in verse 9 that this lawless one is by the activity of Satan.

So it's not Satan. In your estimation, who is this lawless man? I don't usually read 12 verses of Scripture when we do an APJ. But Jared's question can only be answered by specifics from the text of 2 Thessalonians. So let me read the first 12 verses of 2 Thessalonians.

I think people will find it riveting, frankly. This is the sort of Scripture people hang on and say, "Whoa, what's that talking about?" The situation is that some kind of rumor is going around in Thessalonica to the effect that Paul has taught by some letter or some revelation that Paul himself has taught that the day of the Lord has come, meaning Jesus is going to show up in the clouds any day.

And people were quitting their jobs and mooching off of others, and Paul had to handle this feeling that was running through the church. And here's how he did it. These are the first verses of 2 Thessalonians 2. "Now, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion," or could be translated apostasy or falling away, "comes first, and secondly, 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.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now, so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he's out of the way.

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan is with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved.

Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that they may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So Paul says that the day of the second coming cannot have arrived and will not arrive until the great apostasy happens and the man of lawlessness is revealed.

That's his basic answer to the hysteria in Thessalonica. Here's my summary then from that text of what we can say about the man of lawlessness. There are questions that are left unanswered, but we can say something. Number one, he's a man, a human, not an angel, not a demon, man of lawlessness.

Two, he is quintessentially lawless. That is, he's called a man of lawlessness. He considers himself absolutely above law. He is lawless in considering himself subject to no law and no lawgiver and no authority. Number three, since there's only one person who's above law, namely God who writes it, the man of lawlessness claims to be God.

It says so explicitly. Verse four, 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. So this man of lawlessness claims to be the final climactic Antichrist. I am a man.

I am God. But I'm not Jesus. I don't believe in Jesus. I'm against Jesus. That's the ultimate expression of Antichrist. There have been many Antichrists, John says, and this one is the last. He's going to be destroyed by the mouth of Jesus and the fire of heaven when he comes.

Four, he is born for destruction. Paul calls him son of destruction. Verse three, his DNA, so to speak, is from his satanic father. So he's going to be destroyed. That's what his DNA is. He is going to be destroyed. He has no future. He is quintessentially lawless and doomed.

Five, as a man, he is coming nevertheless by the power of Satan. Verse nine, the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan. He's not Satan. Jared got that exactly right. He is empowered and driven by Satan, animated by Satan, serving Satan, accomplishing Satan's purposes in vain.

Number six, therefore, as a man, he will nevertheless have supernatural power. Paul calls it all power. Verse nine, and he will work signs and wonders. And when the ESV translates verse nine and calls them false signs and wonders, be careful. We should not read that to mean they don't really happen.

They're really not supernatural. This is cloak and dagger. This is rabbit out of a hat. No, no, no. It's not. It means they really do happen. Satanic power really is at work in them, but they happen in the service of falsehood. That's what it means by calling them false signs and wonders.

They serve a lie. They are signs and wonders in the service of a great lie. But the satanic supernatural power is real. That's why it's going to be so deceptive. Number seven, and finally, therefore, the man of lawlessness will be unparalleled in his ability to deceive. Verse 10 says he comes with all deception of unrighteousness.

Wicked deception for those who are perishing. Literally, it reads in all deception of unrighteousness because two verses later, we see that the way he deceives is by making unrighteousness seem pleasurable. They found pleasure in unrighteousness. Now, I would argue that Paul is unpacking in these words, the prophecies of Jesus.

Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 24 10. Then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. You see, Christians, this is a great apostasy. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved. So Jesus foresaw a great deception, betrayal, a great betrayal, a great apostasy. And he foresaw a horrible season of lawlessness in which the love of many grows cold. No matter how many forerunners of this man of lawlessness there have been in history, we know that none of them is what Paul is talking about.

Some people try to get around this text by saying, "Oh, there have been lots of men of lawlessness and they've copped up in all kinds of seasons of history." Well, that's true, but it's irrelevant because this man of lawlessness is going to be destroyed by the final fiery second coming.

Verse 8, "Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming." This is it. It's over. End of the age. This is the coming of verse 1, when Christ gathers his elect from the four winds.

It's the coming of 2 Thessalonians 1, 7, when he comes with his mighty angels in flaming fire. It's the coming of 1 Thessalonians 2, 19, 3, 13, 4, 15, when the saints will be raised from the dead to meet the Lord in the air. In other words, the great apostasy and this man of lawlessness are at the climactic end of the age.

They are brought to an end by the glorious appearing of the coming of the Lord. This is what we hope for. This is what we pray for. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen. Thank you, Pastor John. Thanks for the great Bible question. And thanks for all the great Bible questions you have sent us over the years.

Keep them coming in to us. We answer them. And you can find them in our online archive at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn. You might want to check out that archive. We might have already addressed your question in the past. Well, here in the States, we are about to celebrate the 4th of July.

That's on Monday. It's a holiday for us, but there are no holidays on this podcast. No, sir. So on Monday, we are back and we are going to talk politics, patriotism, and the pulpit. We have a great question on it. Seems like a good time to do it. I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and Pastor John and I will see you back here on Monday.

Have a great weekend. . . .