In the preceding study, we found in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians assurance that born-again Christians will not go into the Tribulation. When Paul first went to Thessalonica, he was able to stay for only a very short time, something like three weeks; but he established the church. Not long after he had left the new converts, he wrote them a letter of gratitude for their reception of the Word and for their steadfastness in the faith. He re-emphasized many of the truths that he had taught them including that of the rapture before the Tribulation. Soon, however, trouble arose which involved the newly established church. From the account in Acts, we see that disturbance was due not only to unbelieving Jews, but also to others, probably professed Christians. The time of the rapture had become a controversial issue, even as it is today. Paul, therefore, wrote his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians to correct the errors that had arisen and once again to establish the new converts in the faith.

Paul realized that the false teachers might be claiming that they had revelations made to them by the Spirit which were contrary to those which he himself had delivered; that their information was derived from "the living voice," the regular apostolic tradition which had been handed down from the day of our Lord; and that they had epistles even from him which taught a different doctrine from that which he had taught when he had been with them. The Apostle, therefore, exhorted the new converts not to be distressed by "spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us." The false teachers were trying to convince them that the Tribulation had come upon them and that, therefore the rapture had already occurred and they had been left out. Paul, consequently, set the time-table of events straight, so to speak, to show the disturbed church the error of these false teachers; "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…" (II Thess. 2:1-3).

In this first verse, we have the rapture of the Church. "The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him …" As verse 5 indicates, Paul had taught the converts about the rapture. He had also summarized it in his First Epistle to them (4:13-5:11). The Lord will descend from heaven into the air. The dead in Christ will rise first and with the living believers will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and to go with Him to heaven. The disturbed converts, therefore, would have no difficulty in understanding what Paul meant in his Second Epistle by "the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him.…"

In the second verse, we have the Tribulation, "the day of the Lord." Unfortunately the King James Version reads "the day of Christ," which has two connotations in the New Testament: the day of His coming for His saints before the Tribulation; and the time that he will reign upon the earth, which will be His day. Following the original Greek, the American Revised Version, 1901 edition, here reads, "the day of the Lord." In Old Testament prophecies, the Tribulation is often mentioned as "the day of Jehovah." Jeremiah calls it "the time of Jacob's trouble."

In the third verse, we have the apostasy of the church, "the falling away." The Greek term here translated as "the falling away" frequently was used to refer to a political revolt. But in the New Testament, for example, in Acts 21:21, it refers to a religious apostasy, to a religious, spiritual revolt away from God. Both the Old and the New Testaments (for example I Tim. 4:1-4; II Tim. 3:1-5; 4:1-4) attest that such a general falling away from the faith will occur. A glance at world conditions convinces any unprejudiced, unbiased person that a definite deflection from the faith has already begun which may very easily become a spiritual landslide away from the faith as we approach the end of the age.

Also in the third verse, we have the Antichrist, "the man of sin… the son of perdition," who is to be revealed—that is, his identity will become known—before the Tribulation. Various individuals have been identified as "the man of sin… the son of perdition." Literally translated, however, the term is perishing. Judas' perishing, losing all hope of eternal life, was expressed by the Hebrew idiom, carried over into the Greek, as "the son of perishing." To identify Judas as the Antichrist on the basis of this verse is, to say the least, most questionable. Others claim that Nero, the first Roman emperor to launch a general persecution against the Christians, will be the Antichrist. Such a claim is mere guesswork with no foundation of evidence whatsoever. Yet others maintain that the Pope is "the man of sin… the son of perdition." In my opinion, they are following the theologians of the Reformation, who had to find some scriptural proof for castigating the Pope and sending him to perdition. I have found no valid reason for this identification. To whom, then, does Paul refer in this passage? Incontrovertible evidence establishes the world dictator of the end time as the Antichrist.

Having mentioned the man of sin in the third verse, Paul refers to him in the fourth in terms of the language descriptive of the willful king of whom we read in Daniel 11:36-41: "And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods; and he shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done. 37 Neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 But in his place shall he honor the god of fortresses; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 39 And he shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god: whosoever acknowledgeth him he will increase with glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for a price. 40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south contend with him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall be delivered out of his hand; Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon."

Paul condenses this description into a portion of a sentence, verse 4. The man of sin is "he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God."

According to Daniel, the king will do whatever he wills. He will exalt himself above every god and will speak great things against the true God; he will reject, also the gods of his fathers (he being a Roman [Daniel 9:26], the gods of his fathers will be the old Roman gods brought back into existence in the end time); he will disregard the desire of women (the Messiah thus spoken of because the great desire of a Jewish woman of ancient times was to be the mother of the promised Messiah); neither will he have any regard for any of the pagan gods that will be worshiped at the end time. Various scriptural passages indicate that idolatry will be wide-spread after the rapture of the Chruch (for example, Isaiah 2:20-22; 17:7,8; 57:3-10; Rev. 9:20,21. The benighted people of the earth will bring back old pagan gods and will unite themselves into one great world organization, called by John in Revelation 17:5 "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Harlots and of the Abominations [idols] of the Earth." During the first half of the seven years of the Tribulation, the world government will support this organization. Then the Antichrist, becoming insanely jealous of the devotion of the people to this ecclesiasticism, will overthrow and destroy the organization. He will reject all religion, even blaspheming the God of heaven and opposing all that is called God or that is worshiped. Then he will present himself as God and demand the worship of all mankind.

Paul states that the Tribulation will not begin until after this man of sin has been revealed. To see how he can be revealed before the Tribulation, let us turn again to Daniel. In chapter 7 appears a vision of four beasts that emerge in succession from the great sea when the waters are troubled. According to fundamental scholars interpreting prophecy, these beasts are symbolic of the four world empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, which succeed each other in the order given in the vision. The fourth beast will be in existence at the time of the end and will speak great swelling words against the Almighty (v. 8).

The beast has a twofold symbolic significance. Sometimes it symbolizes the ruler of the empire, as in verse 17. At other times as in verse 23, it represents the kingdom over which the individual ruler reigns. The fourth beast is the fourth kingdom which differs from all its predecessors. It devours the whole earth, treads it down, and breaks it in pieces (v. 23.) In other words, it becomes a world empire. The beast bears on its head ten horns that represent ten kings, "And as for the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall ten kings arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the former, and he shall put down three kings" (Dan. 7:24). Out of what kingdom shall the ten kings arise? There is but one answer: the fourth kingdom when it has become a world organization. But how can the ten kings come out of that world empire? Obviously this world kingdom will collapse, falling into ten different divisions, over each of which a dictator will arise. After such a world-shaking event, each of these ten dictators will have problems with which none of them can cope. Then another horn, another dictator, will arise (v. 20). He will gain power over the original ten and will put down three of them. He will then speak against the Most High and wear out the saints of the Almighty. Moreover, he will change the times and the law and will reign with a high hand for "a time, times, and a half a time," for three and a half years, the latter half of the Tribulation (v. 25). The ten fragments, or divisions, into which the world empire will fall are symbolized by the ten toes of Daniel's image of chapter two.

Shortly after these ten dictators will have attained power and while they will be grappling with their several problems, a smooth-tongued, far-sighted diplomat and politician of the highest order will arise out of obscurity. He will acquire his ability and his amiability, along with his sagacity and wisdom, from Satan. He will be able to advise these rulers on how to solve their problems; but, of course, he will lay an exorbitant levy upon them for his help. He will naturally assume the leadership of these ten grateful dictators whom he will assist. As I have shown in my book "The Seventy Weeks of Daniel," this willful king, the Antichrist, in the course of time, will make a seven-year covenant with the apostate Jews, but not with the faithful orthodox Jews who believe in the Scriptures as the Word of God (Daniel 9:24-27). This seven-year covenant covers the Tribulation period. It is for Daniel's seventieth week of years that immediately precedes the return of the Lord to earth to establish His millennial kingdom.

Immediately after the making of this covenant, a revolt against the Antichrist will arise that will develop into World War I of the Tribulation (Rev. 6:3,4). During the first half of the Tribulation, the little horn, the Antichrist, while reigning with the ten horns, the ten dictators, will be jealously building up his forces and "in his place shall he honor the god of fortresses" (Dan. 11:38), by giving the adoration due to God alone to his great military machine and putting his trust in it.

Then in the middle of the Tribulation, World War II will burst forth. The king of the South and the king of the North will come against the Antichrist. The conflagration will spread throughout the entire world, with the exception of the countries of Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. Three of the original ten dictators will be killed. The remaining seven will become mere puppets of the Antichrist, who will reign with absolute authority for the remaining three and a half years of the Tribulation. He will arrogate to himself the honor and the worship that belong to God alone. He will go to Jerusalem and stage the greatest demonstration of diabolical power that the world will ever see. Those whose names have not been written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world, their eyes being blinded to spiritual things, will give honor, glory, and praise to this willful king. Upon this ruler who will be devoid of all human feeling and consideration for others, God will pour out His wrath and bring His seven judgments (Revelation, chapter 16).

The despotic rule of the Antichrist will culminate in World War III of the Tribulation, commonly referred to as the Battle of Armageddon, when he and his false prophet with their armies will come against and be defeated by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Antichrist and his aid will have their hosts destroyed, and the two will be cast into the lake of fire, where they will remain for the thousand years of the Lord's glorious reign upon the earth. Satan will be bound during these thousand years, the Millennium, while Christ, with His saints, will reign throughout the earth (Rev. 19:19-20:6).

Having learned who the man of sin, the son of perdition, is, let us return to the passage in II Thessalonians. Now we can understand how the Antichrist can be revealed before the Tribulation. As we have just seen, the fourth kingdom represented by the fourth beast with the ten horns on its head, will become a world kingdom which will collapse, falling into ten divisions over each of which a dictator will arise. Then the little horn the Antichrist, will assume leadership. Those living upon the earth at the time of this specific development and who will know what the prophet Daniel says will be able to point to this smooth, diabolically inspired diplomat and say with absolute and perfect confidence: "There is the man of sin, the son of perdition the Antichrist!" they will thus, through Daniel's prophecy, be able to recognize the antichrist as he rises to power, before the period of the Tribulation, which as we have seen does not begin until he makes his seven-year covenant with the Apostate Jews. He will, therefore, be revealed, as Paul says, before the Tribulation begins.

Paul obviously had taught the Thessalonian Christians about the rapture, the rise of the Antichrist to world domination, and the Tribulation, for he asks, "Remember ye not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" (v. 5). Then he states (vv. 6,7): "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." As with the "man of sin," a controversy has arisen over the identity of "that which restraineth."

All nouns in the Greek are masculine, feminine, or neuter gender. But in Greek, gender does not always have a sex connotation. In verse 6 Paul speaks of "that which restraineth," using the neuter relative pronoun. But in verse 7 he uses the masculine gender in speaking of "one that restraineth now," or "he who restrains."

Those who believe that the Holy Spirit will depart from the world with the church at the rapture believe that the Holy Spirit is the restraining power to which Paul refers. The holy Spirit undoubtedly does hinder, to a certain extent, at least, the spread of evil and its activity. But was Paul talking about the Holy Spirit as the restrainer?" The Greek word church is in the feminine gender; Spirit is I the neuter. If Paul had been referring to the Holy Spirit in the Church, certainly he would have used the feminine and neuter pronouns. But he used the masculine and the neuter. Since he certainly knew the Greek language, I question most seriously his use of the masculine pronoun to refer to the Church.

Another reason for my doubting that the reference is to the Holy Spirit is the time element involved. We have already seen that, in verse 3, Paul is talking about the revealing of the Antichrist before the Tribulation. But, in verse 4, he speaks of the deeds of the Antichrist in the middle of the Tribulation. Since the three parenthetical verses that follow verse 4 deal with events mentioned in that verse, the restrainer, we can safely conclude, will be removed in the middle of the Tribulation. Will the Church be raptured in the middle of the Tribulation? Some excellent brethren firmly believe so. But I have never been able to accept that position. Through my studies, I am absolutely convinced that the Church will be removed before the Tribulation begins. As we have already seen, Christ will deliver us from the wrath to come, for we are not appointed unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation from the wrath to come through the Lord Jesus Christ (I Thess. 1:10; 5:9; 4:13-5:11).

If the Holy Spirit in the Church is not the restraining force, what then is? Who is the one restraining until he be taken out of the way? The answer to this question, I firmly believe, is found in Daniel 11:36-41, studied in the light of Daniel, chapter 7. As we have seen, during the first half of the Tribulation, the Antichrist will have the pre-eminence, but not absolute control. The other dictators will hold him in check. In World War II of the Tribulation, however three of the ten dictators will be killed; and the rest of them will become mere puppets of the Antichrist. All human restraint will thus be removed. In the light of Daniel, chapters 7 and 11, I am in accord with biblical scholars who believe that the restraint to which Paul refers is the civil government of the ten dictators. When the three will have been slain and he rest made powerless, their government will, of course, fall. Energized and assisted by Satan (Rev., chap. 13), the Antichrist will then move forward in his self-willed, determined manner without any limitations whatsoever.

Remembering that verses 5-7 of II Thessalonians, chapter 2, are parenthetical, let us now study verse 8 as if it followed verse 4 immediately: "8 And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming…." Obviously the adverb then refers to the time that the Antichrist will set himself up as God, as mentioned in verse 4. As we have seen in Daniel, chapter 11, this event occurs in the middle of the Tribulation. Hence, in the middle of the Tribulation, he will be revealed for the second time, not as to his identity, because that will be made known before the Tribulation, but as to his character—his being the lawless one who has no regard for law or respect for God or man.

Paul next speaks of the Antichrist's coming "according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceit of unrighteousness …" (vv. 9,10). Of what coming is the Apostle speaking? The answer is probably found in Revelation 13:3 and 17:8. In World War II of the Tribulation, apparently, the Antichrist will receive the stroke of death, will actually die; but his spirit will be brought back from Sheol by Satan. His spirit will re-enter his body, and he will come back to life. At that time, according to Revelation, chapter 13, he will receive his throne and power from Satan and will put on a mighty demonstration of supernatural power, performing miracles at Jerusalem.

The purpose of such superhuman, diabolical powers is to convince the people of the world that the Antichrist is God and that men must worship him alone; for there will be actual manifestations of satanic power and signs and lying wonders to support the lie that he is God. But only a certain class of people will be deceived. Paul speaks of them as "them that perish." They are those wo will have an opportunity to receive the truth, but will spurn it, because of their pleasure in unrighteousness. God therefore, will allow the Antichrist to display his power in order that they may be deceived and, consequently, be lost.

Paul's statement shows that the gospel, the truth will have been given to all men but that a certain portion of them will refuse to receive it, because of their pleasure in unrighteousness. Who in the Tribulation Period will give the truth to the world and let even those who do not want it have an opportunity of hearing it? To find the answer to this question, let us investigate the passages of scripture which look forward to this special time of the Tribulation. God promised Abraham to bless all nations in him and in his seed (Gen. 12:3; 22:15-18), Christ himself being the Seed par excellence. Psalm 67:1,2 foretells Israel's pleading for mercy and for God's blessings, "that thy way may be known upon earth, thy salvation among all nations." Since the Word of God cannot be broken we may be certain that Israel will pray as here foretold and will give forth the truth to all nations.

Isaiah 17:7, 8 reveals that the truth will be given and the people of the earth will turn to the Lord "in that day," that is during the Tribulation. In Isaiah 24:1-20, we have a vivid description of the Tribulation and of a mighty turning to God (vv. 14-16a; see also Isa. 26:9). If men, in general, do not turn to the Lord now when the gospel is preached, how can we hope that they will do so in vast numbers during the Tribulation? In Isaiah 26:9, we find that, when these people are right to the and of self by the judgments of the Tribulation, then, and then alone, they will listen to the gospel. Isaiah's term "the inhabitants of the world" indicates that the greater portion but not all, of mankind then living will turn to the Lord.

Revelation, chapter 7, is the classical passage which deals with the world-wide revival of the Tribulation. John saw the sealing of 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. These are literal Jews who are sealed so that none of the judgments of the Tribulation (Rev., 6, 8, 9, and 16) can affect them in any way. They will not be called forth until the Tribulation has begun, and not a single Gentile will be among them.

Then John saw a multitude of saved people (vv. 9, 10). He learned from an angel that this multitude from every nation, tribe, peoples, and tongues are those who will hear the Word during the Tribulation, will accept Christ, and will wash their robes white in the blood of the Lamb (vv. 14, 15). They will be saved during the Tribulation.

When we view Revelation, chapter 7, in the light of God's intention to bless all nations in and through Abraham's literal seed who will be sealed for service in the first part of the Tribulation, and when we read of this innumerable host of converts, we must conclude that the 144,000 Jewish evangelists are the ones who will conduct this mightiest of all soul saving campaigns in the first part of the Tribulation.