The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Thessalonians — Section 38

seem to be already marshalled In preparation for an awful struggle. It must come Holy Script11re warns us; it will culminate in the revelation of the man of sin. H~ will be revealed-out of previous obscurity; the apparition will be unveiled out of dark- ness. 2. His character. He is a ptrson, a man of miahty intellect and 11iant strenatb of will, who will tuke advantage of a general develop~ent of unbelief and la.wlessn;88 and gain for a time a widespread sovereignty. Sin fills his being; it becomes, as ii were, incarnate in him; it domi11ates his entire personality. He is "a son of perdition• like Judas (compare the common Hebraism, "a son of death"), destined himseli' to eternal death, involving in utter death all who follow him. He is an adversary, a. human Sa.tan, filled with all the awful energy, the concentrated malice of the evil one. He is the antichrist, the avowed and bitter enemy of the holy Saviour, bringing with his intense wickedness the horrible cry of" Ecrasez l'infame I" into awful prominence. He exalts himself against every one that is called God; he sits in the temple of God, reviving the madness of Antiochus Epiphanes, the impious attempt of Caligula.. Such a. man the world has not yet seen. There have been many outbursts of wickedness, many evil men in the long course of history have risen to sovereign power; but no one yet has combined in himself a.II the characteristics ascribed to the man of sin in this Epistle. It is a. fearful spectacle which is yet to come. St. Paul warned the Thes- salonians that such things there would be, uprisings of malice and persecution, anticipa- tions of the wan of sin. He warns the whole Church throughout all time that such things a.re to be looked for; that sooner or later, before the end cometh, the man of sin himself shall be revealed in all the awful energy of unmingled wickedness, relieved by no one trace of goodness. II. THE OBSTACLE. 1. The Thessalonian& knet0 what it waa. St. Paul had told them of this during his short residence in Thcssalonica. For some reason he had dwelt much on this awl11l subject; it must have been necessary for the Thessalonia.ns in their special circumstances, though we know not why. They had knowledge which we have not; they knew precisely what we cannot find out for certain with all our search- ing. We may be satisfied that this knowledge, then good for them, is not now necessary for us, or it would have been more clearly reveale<l. "Ye have an unction from the Holy One," St. John says of believers, "and ye know all things"-all that we need to know for life and godliness. 2. What was it 1 The Roman empire, the power of Roman law, the emperor as embodying that power. This was the answer of most ancient writers; it seems to be the most common answer now. Then the power of Rome checked the outuurst of anarchy and lawlessness. It is still tbe majesty of law, the authority of well-ordered governments, that fulfils the same office. The mystery of lawlessness is working now; it has not reached its height, it has not embodied itself in the fearful personality of the man of sin. But it is working; and it is a mystery, the terrible counterpart of the mystery of godliness. There is a mystery in evil, a strange, fearful mystery, dark secrets not yet revealed; a. mystery which suggests awful, heart-rending questionings-questionings which can be quieted only in his presence who giveth rest to the troubled, anxious soul. This mystery of lawlessness was working even then in the world which the God of love created; it is working now; but it is held down by the restraining power; it cannot give birth to the man of sin till his time shall come, the time foreordained in the counsels of God. Then the restraining power will be taken out of the way; lawlessness will prevail, and its creature and embodiment, the lawless one, will come. III. HIS AOTIVITY. 1. It is but/or a shr:Yrt time. 'l'he Lord Jesus shall destroy him, and that in an instant, when he cometh. He needs only to speak the word of power; the breath of his mouth shall sweep the adversary into that perditiou to which be was appointed. 'l'he manifestation of his coming, the very sight of the awful Judge, shall slay the wicked one. This must be our consulatiou whon the dark problems of life distress our souls-" the Lord cometh." 'l'hen shall come the assured triumph of righteousness, the crowning victory over all the powe~s of evil 2. Bu~ it is treme:nd~. As God is revealed in Christ, so is Sa.tan revealed m the man of sm, the a.nt.ichnst. Tho "miracles and wonders and signs" (Aots ii. 22) which God di<l by Obrist a.re parodied by the power and _sigus and w".nde~ which Sat~n w~ll w~rk through the age~cy of the ma.u of sin. As.Chnst's coming 1s with power, with his mtghty angels 1n fla.mrng fire, so is the coming of the lawless one with all power according to the working of  38 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [cu. 11. 1-1~