2 Thessalonians 2:5-12
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 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. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 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. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The end is being held back by God in His sovereign plan, until the time He ordained comes. Then the lawless one will come forth to be seen in his work against the Lord and His Christ. This antichrist will be working by Satan’s lies and signs of limited power allowed by God to deceive the unbelieving who are hardened to the love of God’s gospel truth. Therefore God will give the unbelieving a strong delusion to believe the deceiver’s lies and finish the condemnation we all deserve apart from the gospel of Christ’s righteousness. The fleeting pleasure this world finds in unrighteousness will find the lie’s due justice. But in the end we are reminded that the Lord will smite that one with the words of His breath (Rev.19:15-16) and His coming in the bright light of His holy glory and power. The end is already, but not yet, and so we are reminded with the Thessalonians here of the timing and absolute victory of our sovereign Lord over the evil one and our fallen world to be judged and His elect to be eternally reconciled to Him forever. We wait with hope and the word of God held tight in faith and held out (Phil.2:16) to the world for salvation.
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