The Things to Come - Part 2: 2 Thess Lesson 6

The Sovereign Plan of God and Things to Come

2 Thessalonians 2:5-9

 Let’s read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 together again this morning. We will be focusing on verses 5-9 in our study today.

 There isn’t any doubt that Satan plays a prominent role in the end time events. He will inspire one whose coming will be in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders. If you read the book of the Revelation you find that satanic activity explodes during the events surrounding the end of the age. This is exactly what Paul describes in our passage today. We will do our best to understand what Paul has written, but there is a powerful message overwritten on these verses. The powerful truth that runs through these verses is the reality of God’s absolute sovereign control over all things, especially the things to come.

 Satan is the enemy of God. He has worked to thwart the plans of God from the earliest chapters of Genesis. He doesn’t quit until he is thrown into the lake of fire at the end of the Revelation. But we must never forget. Satan is God’s devil. Satan exists under the sovereign hand of God. Satan can do no more than he is allowed to do. Satan cannot do as he pleases. He cannot do anything he wishes. Anyone who can do whatever he wishes, is, by definition, absolutely sovereign. This would mean that Satan was subject to no one. Nothing could be further from the truth. Satan is now, and always has been, and always will be subject to God. This is certainly true as it pertains to the things to come.

 There are questions about how things will play out as history moves toward the end. There are different interpretations of verses that deal with Christ’s return. But there is one thing that is not in question, one thing not up for the slightest debate – and that is the undeniable reality, the unquestionable certainty, that the unalterable plan of God will play out exactly as God intends for it to play out. God is on His throne. God is in absolute control of the events of history. It has been correctly stated that history is His-Story. He not only knows the beginning from the end, He wrote the end from the beginning. He will bring His glorious, perfect plans to completion. Nothing can prevail against God’s plan.

 All those who have been predestined to salvation will be saved. All those spoken of in our text, who will perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved, will perish. Evil will continue. Sin will abound. Deception will persist. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:1 that the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. Paul wrote also to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1 that in the last days difficult times will come. All of this is true. But what is also true is that God has set an end date. In God’s time He will bring an end to all rebellion. He will destroy all evil.

 Just to remind you, this second chapter was written to comfort and encourage the Thessalonians who had been disturbed by some false teaching regarding the return of Christ and the day of the Lord. Paul writes to remind them of what he had already taught them. The day of the Lord will not come until the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed. This lawless one is the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship. He takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as God.

 Paul says in verse 5, “Do you not remember that while I was with you, I was telling you these things.” Paul had taught them some specifics. He reminds them of what they already knew. In the beginning of verse 6 Paul continues by saying, “and you know what restrains him now…” Evidently, the identity of “what restrains him now” had already been made known to the Thessalonians, but since Paul doesn’t repeat what it is, we don’t know what they already knew. But one thing we do know. We can see who is in control of all things. We can see clearly that while Paul is talking about the man of lawlessness and his activity in the world, the One who is the main character of this passage is the One who isn’t even mentioned by name. His name is prominent in the previous verses, and His name is mentioned in verse 11 and will return to prominence in verse 13. His name is God. One thing that is indisputable is that God is sovereign in everything described here.

 There are some serious interpretational challenged here. There are questions that I doubt anyone can answer beyond a shadow of a doubt. We don’t know for certain the identity of the “what” mentioned in verse 6. Paul told the Thessalonians but he didn’t tell us. But what we do know is that whatever it is that is restraining him now, it is in accord with God’s perfect plan and it will continue until the time God has determined. There are many suggestions regarding what the “what” means. We will talk about that in a few minutes. Whatever the “what” is, it is subject to the power of God and the perfect plan of God. So I believe the “what” is the power of God.

 Satan has his man, the antichrist, who will work out Satan’s plan. The things that Paul told us last week will happen. But whose plan is it really? I would submit to you that it is ultimately God’s plan. Only God can tell us with perfect clarity and impeccable accuracy what will come to pass in the future. What will come to pass in the future is exactly what He has decreed. God has decreed the appearance of the man of lawlessness. God tells us what he will do and how he will do it. God reveals through Paul that this one comes in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders and with all deception of wickedness. God is not the author of the evil committed by the lawless one. He is responsible for his evil. But all these things are according to God’s sovereign plan.

 God has told you O man what He is going to do. This isn’t the first time. God told Adam and Eve that there would come from the seed of the woman One whose heel would crush the head of Satan. That One has come, just as God said He would. God told Abraham that his descendants would be oppressed slaves in a foreign land for 400 years, but that they would be delivered. Were they taken into that foreign land? Were they delivered from it? How long was it? God told the Jews they would be in Babylonian captivity for seventy years. How long was it? Jesus said that He would be killed and be raised from the dead after three days. How long was it? Does what God decrees always come to pass exactly as He says it will? It does. It always has, and it always will.

 This is good news for us, and bad news for many. We will get to the good news in verses 13-17. Matthew will tell you the bad news for those described in verses 10-12 next week. This is also bad news for the man of lawlessness, bad news for Satan, bad news for all the demons of hell, bad news for all who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved, but took pleasure in wickedness.

 The world would do well to set up and take notice. God will do what He tells us He intends to do. Proverbs 1:7 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The fear of the Lord is reverence, awe, honor and respect for who God is. It is to properly understand who we are in relation to Him. This fear comes from an understanding of His attributes. He has revealed to us who He is. Among His many attributes is his truthfulness. God cannot lie. When He says the lawless one will be destroyed by Jesus upon His return, guess what? He will be destroyed. If God says that the unbelievers will perish, the unbelievers will perish.

 As we deal with verses 6-9 I will offer you some plausible explanations for what Paul may have been saying in parts of these verses. Some parts are clear. Some parts are not so clear. I must be honest up front. I don’t know for sure about some of this. I think even the greatest theologians of the ages would make the same confession. Obviously God did not want us to know every detail or He would have made sure to inspire Paul to write more detail. 

 That said, there are parts of this that are head scratching. We are left scratching our heads and wondering why we don’t have the perfect answers. Other parts of this passage are very much heart strengthening. I would just remind you again that Paul wanted the end result to be what he has written in verses 16-17. He wants us to be given eternal comfort and good hope by grace. He asks God to comfort and strengthen our hearts in every good work. So, I will do my best with the things that make us scratch our heads, but I will lead you to the things that will strengthen your hearts.

 Verse 5 reminds us that these things were things the Thessalonians already knew. Let’s do our best to learn them ourselves. Verse 6 begins with “and you know what restrains him now…” In God’s time the man of lawlessness will be revealed. But not now. Now the man of lawlessness is being restrained. The word “restrained” is “katecho” in the Greek and it means, “to hold back, hold down, or restrain.” We are immediately left with the question, what is it that is restraining him? 

 There are several suggestions. Here are a few. The man of lawlessness is not yet to be revealed because the preaching of the gospel is restraining him. Eventually, when the gospel has been preached to all the nations, the restraint will be removed. Other suggestions include the nation of Israel, the church’s influence in the world as salt and light, human government, general principles of law and morality, the Roman Empire, Michael the archangel, and the Holy Spirit. Depending upon who you read, you might conclude that any one of these options is correct. Which one is correct? I don’t know. It is a head scratching mystery to me. I didn’t even mention all the alternatives. There may be others you have considered and can defend.

 I prefer to focus on the heart strengthening reality. Whatever, or whoever, restrains the man of lawlessness is operating by the power of God. The power of God working through the restrainer is infinitely greater than the power of Satan who works through the man of lawlessness. It strengthens and encourages my heart to know who is in complete control of his appearing.

 The omnipotent power of God is on display here. God is in complete control of the unfolding of end time events. The man of lawlessness will not be revealed until God removes the restraint and allows him to come to power. He will not exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship and take his seat in the temple of God one second before God has decided it will happen, or one second later. In his time he will be revealed, but God alone decides when that time will be. Not even Satan can move the hands of God’s clock forward or backward even a millisecond. In his time he will be revealed and when is his time? When God says it is time.

 This also implies that he will be revealed and there is no power on earth that can prevent him from being revealed. There is a power that restrains, whatever it is, and when God decides to remove the restraint, he will be revealed.

 Verse 7 tells us, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.” The word “mystery” describes something hidden or kept secret for long ages past. The same word is used to describe the mystery of the gospel in Romans 16:25-27. Let’s turn there for a moment. The gospel of Jesus Christ which was preached by Paul was the revelation of a mystery kept secret from long ages past. In God’s time it was revealed and made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith. The revelation of this mystery produced an explosion of growth in the work of salvation among mankind. 

 In the same way, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Verse 8 says, “then that lawless one will be revealed…” Then, there will be an explosion of lawlessness. 

We cannot deny that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work because we see so much evil in the world. We live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Sin, evil, corruption, lawlessness, and perversions of every kind permeate our society. I have a news flash for you. We haven’t seen anything yet. It will get worse, much worse. The day is coming when we who stand for truth will do so at the risk of death. Charlie Kirk was a precursor of things to come. It would already be much worse if Satan had his way. If I am correct in my understanding of Revelation 9, the time of Tribulation will see the release of the worst demonic powers yet released from the bottomless pit. They will fill the earth with the very evil and moral indecency that motivated God to destroy mankind in the Flood.

There is no question that this lawlessness is already at work. But all lawlessness is not satanic. There are many examples of evil that don’t need satanic inspiration. Lust, greed, deception, murder, covetousness, idolatry, theft, and many such things do not originate with Satan. We cannot say the devil made us do these things because they start in the corrupt human heart. So the sinful hearts of fallen people are inclined to sin and deception. That is why we need a Savior.

Because the fallen, corrupt, deceitful heart is given to evil, satanically inspired manifestations of lawlessness are so effective. The satanically inspired lawlessness is already at work and it shows up in false religions. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and he is very effective at creating false religions designed to deceive people into believing they are right with God when they are not. Every works based religion is a satanically inspired false religion. But so is every religious movement that distorts the truth about God and His plan and purpose of salvation is also a product of satanic inspiration. I must say that this includes the Charismatic movement because it totally flips the God/Man relationship upside down and makes God the servant of man.

We would all be victims of satanic deception but for the fact that there is now One who restrains him. The last part of verse 7 says, “only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.” If you look back at verse 6 you notice it says, “and you know what restrains him now…” This is a neuter participle in the Greek. That is why the translators used “what” rather than “he.” I believe verse 6 uses the gender neutral participle because that which restrains now is the power of God. Whatever it might be specifically, and I mentioned the possibilities, the real restrainer is the power of God. Power is gender neutral.

In verse 7 there is a change. The restrainer is designated in the masculine. It is “he who now restrains…” I believe this is a reference to the Holy Spirit. The power of God now restrains and the Holy Spirit is the omnipresent person of the God-head who is in the world. The Holy Spirit is the member of the Godhead who manifests and exerts the power of God in the world. The work of the Holy Spirit is to execute the Divine will with relation to mankind. His sovereign activity was seen in Creation, in the Incarnation of Christ, in the inspiration of the written revelation, the word of God, and in the work of salvation. The Holy Spirit is the supernatural Agent in regeneration, sanctification, and in sealing us for the day of redemption.

If I am correct and this speaks of the Holy Spirit, then what does it mean that He is taken out of the way. Some argue that it can’t refer to the Holy Spirit because if He is taken out of the way during any portion of the Tribulation, then no one will be able to be saved after He is taken out. This would be true because not one is saved without the work of the Holy Spirit.

The idea conveyed by the word translated “taken out” isn’t that of complete removal, but rather of stepping aside, or getting out of the way. At the appropriate time, the time God has ordained, the Holy Spirit will get out of the way. He will give Satan a little more room, a little more opportunity to do what he wills to do. At God’s appointed time the Holy Spirit will step aside and allow a great political leader to rise to power. He will appear to have answers to the world’s problems. He will rule over a worldwide kingdom. He will sign a peace treaty with Israel and in the middle of the seven year period he will do what is described in verses 3-4.

This man of lawlessness will be Satan’s man. Satan himself cannot become incarnate. He will find the one individual over whom he can exercise complete control, who will perform his will to a similar degree to which Christ accomplished the will of His Father. The lawless one, inspired by Satan, will seek to destroy the righteous seed of God. He will seek to annihilate the Jews. He will demand to be worshipped as God.

 According to verse 9-10a, the lawless one’s “coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish...” Among his power and signs and false wonders with which he will deceive the unregenerate will be his apparent death from a fatal wound from which he will seemingly miraculously be healed. You can read about that in Revelation 13. This may be how he deceives the world into accepting that he is God and deserving of worship.

He will have the help of a false prophet who performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven. His signs will permit him to deceive all the earth, except for those whose names are written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb. The deception will include the creation of an image to which is given the appearance of coming to life so that it will speak. 

Not only will there be deception, but also coercion. Antichrist’s armies will be tasked with killing anyone who will not worship the beast and will require a mark on the hand or forehead if anyone wants to buy or sell.

There is one more important factor in this deception. I will only mention it here and Matthew will likely have more to say about it next week. The last part of verse 10 tells us why those who perish must perish. It is “because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” Verses 11-12 go on to say, “For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”

There will be so much evidence. The gospel will be preached by 144,000 Jewish converts and even two angels proclaiming the gospel over the whole world, and yet the vast majority will be deceived. They are judged because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved, but took pleasure in wickedness. Sinners beware! God declared early in the book of Genesis saying, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever.” (Gen. 6:3) Jesus spoke in parables so that those unwilling to see and hear the truth might see but not see, and hear but not hear. There is a judicial hardening of those who will not hear the truth of God.

Finally, look with me at verse 8 at the fate of the lawless one. The lawless one will be revealed, “whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.” I trust you have done your homework. You were to have read of this from Revelation 19 through the end of the book. If you haven’t, please do. It is important for the people of God to know the end of the story. We win, if we are truly Christ’s at His coming. Then, all the plan of God will be complete.

It is God’s plan from start to finish. Do I have a perfect understanding of how all the details are going to play out between now and the end of God’s plan? I do not have a perfect understanding of the way it will play out. Do I know how it ends? I do. This lawless one will be revealed. He will do everything God has decreed he will do. This does not mean that God is the author of the evil this one will commit. This would make God the author of evil and that cannot be. Our passage is clear. The lawless one works in accord with the activity of Satan. When his deeds are done – he will be destroyed.

Just when it appears that he will succeed in all his evil intent, at just the precise time which God has decided, Christ will appear and conquer the beast and the victory of Christ will be as effortless as breathing breath from one’s mouth. Daniel 7:26 says of the antichrist, “His dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.” Revelation 19:20 says, “And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped the image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.”

Jesus will effortlessly crush this hellish ruler. The word “slay” does not mean “kill.” The NIV translates it “overthrow.” He will be alive when he is thrown into the lake of fire. Paul tells us in verse 8 that the lawless one will be brought to an end. He will be finished forever.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is to come back to what we know to be true. If we get all twisted up in controversial interpretations of things that are not so easy to understand, we can find our hearts and minds in turmoil. Head scratching is ok. Sometimes it is necessary. But never turn your attention away from the truth that strengthens your heart. If you find yourself scratching your head because you don’t know what something means, turn your focus toward that which will strengthen your heart.

Let’s pray.