D eception has always been the key tool of Satan in working his wickedness in the world and in the hearts of men. In II Thessaloni- ans 2:1-10, we see how this will cul minate in the end times. If you are alive at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, having rejected the Son of God, you will not have another op portunity to be saved. Many, people will be saved in the Tribulation, but you will not be one of them if you are not saved now. The simple reason is that you have already had your opportunity. On what basis do you deserve a s e c o n d chance ? Why shouldn’t all the people who are in hell have another chance? The Bible makes it clear that in that day you will not be able to believe. God will send a strong delusion so that you will rather believe a lie. God is not cruel in doing this. You are the one who is cruel in rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. God is simply saying, “If this is the way you want it, this is the way you’ll have it.” If you insist on living and dying without Jesus Christ, then you choose the ul timate doom that awaits the sinner. Note the doom of the man of sin (v. 11). What is “the lie?” The truth we know to be Christ Himself (John 14:6). The lie is the anti-Christ him self who claims to be God. The re cent “Death of God” movement is another bold stroke of Satan in his effort to divert the attention of man from God and turn it toward him self. It was this lie of Satan that led to the fall of man when the devil said to Eve, “. . . In the day ye eat there of, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Paul also wrote of men who changed the truth of God into a lie (Rom. 1:25). The apostle John
wrote, “When he speaketh the lie, he speaketh of his own” (John 8: 44). The lie here in II Thessalonians 2 :11 is not just any lie that men will accept, but Satan’s great lie, the anti-Christ. As is always true, how ever, God will use this evil design of Satan to work out his own trium phant purpose. The end of the anti- Christ is given in verse 8. The Holy Spirit assures us that when the prop er time arrives, the lawless one will be dealt with properly and perman ently. Two verbs are used to describe the fate of the anti-Christ. The first is “consume.” Notice it in verse eight. The idea is that the anti-Christ will first be slain physically, and that by a single statement from our Lord Jesus. The prophet Isaiah made this prediction in Isaiah 11:4. The apos tle John likewise spoke eschatalogi- cally of Christ in Revelation 19:15. We know that the sword is our Lord’s own Word, according to Ephesians 6:17 and Hebrews 4:12. So swift and decisive will be the action of our Lord, that the issue will be set tled in a moment. Thus “consume” means to slay utterly. By His Word were all things created (Psa. 33:6); by His Word are all things controlled (Heb. 1:3); by His Word are all sinners consumed (Job 4:9). The second verb that Paul uses to describe the fate of the anti-Christ is the word “destroy” (II Thess. 2: 8). The idea is not of extinction, but rather ruin. It is not loss of being, but rather loss of well-being. When Jesus said that believers shall not perish (John 3:16), He was simply assuring us that we who trust in Him shall not lose our eternal well being. When we read that, in the flood of Noah’s day, the earth per- 9
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