2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 & 7-9
(2 Th 2:3-4) Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; {4} Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God
(2 Th 2:7-9) For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. {8} And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: {9} Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
Within the context of these verses , we will have a clear understanding of who the Antichrist is. Verse 3 is closely linked with another passage of Scripture which opens up the identity of Antichrist. Incidentally, this passage is used as a proof text that there will be a physical Antichrist on this earth. Yet, this passage nowhere uses the description for the man of sin as Antichrist. Since God uses this moniker in other areas of the New Testament, it would seem appropriate that God would use the title of Antichrist here also.
Do we have a problem? No, we do not! The passage that 2 Thess. 2:3 is linked to is Isaiah 14:12-17. We will focus on only 3 verses but you read the entire passage to gain the understanding of this group of verses.
(Isa 14:12, 16-17) How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! {16} They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; {17} That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
Did you notice the vital link in these verses to 2 Thess. 2:3? In verse 16, Lucifer, a.k.a., Satan is called "the man." Now we know that Satan is an angel not a physical human being. (The NIV omits "Lucifer" in verse 12 and calls him the morningstar which is the name for Christ in Revelation 2:28 and 22:16.. Isn’t it heresy to equate Christ with Satan? The Mormons do this.)
Here God refers to Satan as the man which caused havoc on the earth. It is interesting to note that in Luke 4:18, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of preaching deliverance to the captives. Isaiah 14:17 speaks of Satan not opening his house of the prisoners. The whole complicated doctrine need not be complicated.
Let us transfer the title "The Man" to 2 Thess. 2:3 and see if we are on the right track. There we read about the "Man of Sin" which is Satan himself. We saw the passage in Isaiah speaking directly about and to Satan and we see this passage speaking directly about Satan, as the man of sin. The man of sin is not a human being, for what human being can wage the war Satan has been waging against Christ from the time of creation, right in the Garden of Eden.
The Antichrist is therefore Satan and by this understanding of who he is, it fulfills the requirement for the end time prophecy in verse 3, "and that man of sin be revealed,..." The man of sin has been revealed and it is Satan.
In verse 4, we see Satan sitting in the temple of God. The temple in view here is not the physical temple but the temple which is the body of believers. (1 Cor. 3:16-17, 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21; Rev. 3:12, 11:19) God is warning us that Satan is sitting in the churches and bringing false gospels. The people will think they are worshipping God when in essence they will be worshipping the false gospels of Satan.
This deception is most prevalent in the charismatic churches where they still believe God is bringing new revelation through tongues, signs, and wonders.
In verse 7 we are told of the mystery of iniquity which is already in the world and the Holy Spirit is hindering him until the Holy Spirit removes His restraints. As the Holy Spirit begins to remove restraints evil will begin to multiply and intensify. Who can argue that we are not at that point in history now? Never has there been so much blatant evil in any contemporary generation as in ours.
Verses 8 & 9 yields some precious truths about the destruction of Satan at the second coming of Christ. Verse 8 tells us that when the Holy Spirit restrains His activity, then the wicked one will be revealed. As we have plainly seen, Satan is that wicked one. Verse 9 gives us insight into the final destruction of Satan. The words "even him" are in italics which means they are not in the original. The word "after" should have been translated "against" which gives the verse a clearer understanding. Let’s look at the clarification.
http://www.scionofzion.com/antichrist.htm
