Lesson 11 · June 13, 1903

The Lawless One

(1) Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him; (2) to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; (3) let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, (4) he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. (5) Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? (6) And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. (7) For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work; only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. (8) And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and bring to naught by the manifestation of His coming; (9) even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, (10) and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (11) And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: (12) that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Questions.

1.Concerning what two things did the apostle intreat his brethren? .
2.To what end did he beseech them? .
3.Against what did he warn them? What must surely come first? What power must be revealed? By what other term is he called? . Note 1.
4.Against whom is he opposed and exalted? Where does he presume to sit? Whose prerogatives does he assume? . Note 2.
5.Of what did Paul remind them? .
6.What did he say they knew? To what end is the restraining? . Note 3.
7.What power was already working in the church? What hindered its development into the man of sin? How long would it be restrained? . Note 4.
8.When all restraint was removed, what would occur? What would follow the lawless one's career? . Note 5.
9.What marks the time of Christ's coming? How will Satan work? For and in whom will Satan thus work? How is he thus permitted to work for these? .
10.What follows the rejection of the love of the truth? What are men permitted to believe? What will be the consequence? . Note 6.

Notes

1. "The falling away" is noticed in ; , and elsewhere. "The man of sin." Not a man of sin, nor a sinful man, but the aggregation of forces of sin organized and used by the enemy for the express purpose of the overthrow of righteousness, a system of which a man is at the head, standing for the very thought of the transgression or perversion of God's law. . "Son of perdition" means devoted to utter destruction. The wages of sin is death. These are not titles which this power adopts, but are names indicative of its character as God sees it.

2. Not against God alone does the man of sin exalt himself, but against all that opposes him. He assumes to be the true God. He places himself in the church of God (; ) as its director. The one power which has done this pre-eminently is the Papacy; and in whomever it is done in a limited degree, the same spirit rules.

3. God would not permit the development of this power in His church till the time came when the church refused to be longer guided by Him. Then it would be the time of the Papacy, "the lawless one." See a fuller description in .

4. Iniquity is always at work in the natural heart of carnal men. It is born and stays with them till they are regenerated by divine grace. We do not wonder at its working there; we expect its workings and fruits. The great secret of iniquity is when it insinuates itself in the church of God, and is there given place. See . It will be seen that its center is self, self-admiration, self-sufficiency, self-aggrandizement, self-worship, as opposed to the self-denial and self-effacement of Christ Jesus. "One that restraineth." The body of the individual is designed to be a temple of God, filled with His Spirit. . No lesser power can keep man from sin and preserve him from the power of the enemy. . This is as true of the church as it is of the individuals who compose the church. As long as Christ reigns within, so long as His Word is the law, His Spirit the sanctifier, no power can set its throne there or have any control over the life. And as long as faith bids Christ dwell in the heart in a sufficient number of His people, the lawless one will be restrained in the church. Not until the heart shall say, I prefer my way to God's way, not until Christ is shut out, taken out of the way, can the lawless one—of whom the highest type is Satan—reign in the place of God. "Keep thy heart above all keeping."

5. When the Spirit of Christ is bidden to depart by our choice of His rival, then the lawless one will be revealed in person and church. That fullest development has not yet been seen. Within the fold of mystical Babylon there have always been protesting and faithful ones. When Babylon shall become wholly filled with the power of the enemy, when Christ's people shall have been called out (), then Jesus Christ shall appear in His glory. With the breath of His mouth shall He slay the wicked one, and by the forthshining of His presence bring him to nothing. His presence destroys sin; and the lawless one with all his horde has identified himself with sin.

6. God sends no arbitrary punishment, no delusion to destroy; it is Satan who seeks to destroy, and not until men reject every means of salvation does God give them over to Satan's delusions. But that soul who receives the love of the truth can never be deceived to destruction.

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