Pocket Sized Thoughts – 2 Thessalonians – Part 5

The Man of Sin (lawlessness) … the son of perdition.” (2:3)

One of the signs that precede the return of the Lord Jesus is a revealing, or unveiling, of the man of sin, or man of lawlessness. The fact that Paul refers to an unveiling indicates a slightly gradual process, which is not fully apparent at first. This being is also called the son of destruction. This does not mean annihilation, but ultimate ruin of all that is good, godly, righteous, loving, peaceful and joyful. It is the same word that is used for the marring of the wineskins, so that their function is lost (Luke 5:37), and of the sheep who was lost, alone and in danger of never being found again and returning to the safety of the shepherd’s fold (Luke 15:4). I cannot identify who, or what this being is. I simply don’t know. It may be a person, but it may be an economic plan, or a political theory, which promises to fix all the world’s problems. While this end may seem good in itself, the solution will be entirely humanistic. There will be nothing of God in it at all. In effect, God will be totally deposed from the philosophy of this human agency. This man of lawlessness is the end product of all the sin of all mankind. He/it is the ultimate fruition of man’s rebellion against God. As such, this ‘mystery of iniquity’ (v.7), has been at work down through the ages and is coming, increasingly, into the sharper focus of final formation. These are horrendous thoughts to contemplate, but we are not to be afraid because they are just a prelude for the glorious coming of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

PRAYER :- “Lord, even though sin abounds, thank you that the grace of salvation in Christ Jesus abounds even more; help me to cling to that and not lose my hold upon Him.”