2 Thessalonians Chapter 2

A word of Warning, continued

VERSE 8 “And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”

“And then shall that Wicked one [the system of error] be revealed [Greek: apokalupsis, uncovered, exposed, recognized], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness [Greek: epiphania] of his coming [Greek: parousia presence].”

Notice that it is the spirit of the Lord’s mouth and the brightness of his presence which will destroy the Wicked One. This is where the erroneous doctrine has developed that truth binds Satan.

Although Verse 8 does say that the reveling of Christ will have the effect of destroying the Wicked One, the reference is to the man of sin the system and not to Satan personally. When the people know that the Church of Rome is the Antichrist, that knowledge alone will (eventually) destroy the system. Satan, however, is an individual, a personality, not a system—and he is invisible. An invisible being cannot be fought with truth!

Satan’s visible system can be destroyed with truth but not Satan himself. At the end of the present age, the beast (the false system, the Antichrist) will be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone—into perdition, everlasting destruction, Second Death—from which there is no resurrection, but Satan’s destruction will not occur until the end of the Millennium. The Church, risen and glorified, not truth and light, will destroy Satan at the end of the Kingdom Age. Satan’s visible organization, system, or headquarters down here on earth will be destroyed earlier, but the invisible cannot be equated with the visible.

And even so, this verse is speaking of Jesus’ epiphania, that particular period of his presence and not the present time. When the epiphania comes, Jesus will be reigning, but now Satan is the god of this world. Now there are children of disobedience, but in the Kingdom— when Jesus rules and exercises his great power—all will have to obey, even if they are not in heart harmony. Insurrection will not be tolerated until the Little Season at the very end of the Kingdom. As the Pastor said, some will falsely conclude that the Kingdom Age is over and improperly try to seize power.

“Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”

What is going to be destroyed?

Not Satan but his system, the nominal Church (both mother and daughters). At the beginning of the Harvest, Jesus served a meal to his followers through the faithful and wise servant, a human agent. That was a quiet message, but not a startling one. It is very enlightening and even mind-boggling to be brought out of darkness and given understanding of the Scriptures, but what will destroy the nominal system is a subsequent public enlightenment as the result of Christ’s presence.

First, Jesus feeds his Church quietly, and he will not interfere with the last members’ being taken violently—just as God did not interfere with the crucifixion of His Son. The Father restrained Himself because Jesus’ death was a necessity and a fulfillment of prophecy. Therefore, at the present time during the Second Presence (once again bear in mind the age in which we live, this is the age of faith, NOT sight, remember this presence is invisible and only discerned by those so enlighten by the spirit those who have been awake and looking, not to the desert, nor the inner rooms, nor to skies as do the majority of the professing church, but to the more sure word of prophecy), Jesus has been feeding and strengthening these few (a relative handful), especially with the end-time message (the “harvest message”, “present truth”), but in time the message will seep out to more and more people to become general knowledge. That general knowledge and enlightenment—when the people see the incongruities—will be the downfall of Papacy, the downfall of the great Antichrist system. The attitude presently has been that the fault lies with certain individuals, leaders and popes, but that the system itself is legitimate and ordained of God.

Comment: This verse shows that the epiphania is future. If the epiphania had started, there would be enough information to destroy the man of sin right now.

Reply: Yes, the epiphania and the apokalupsis portions of the parousia are for the world. The parousia extends for the entire thousand years.

The Second Advent, the “Day of the Lord”, the day of his parousia or presence is no more one particular day, than was the first advent one particular day. Both compose a period of time, the first lasting but a few short years, the latter the entire millennial age.

What is the “spirit” of Jesus’ mouth?

Jesus will consume the Wicked One with the spirit of his mouth and destroy with the epiphania of his parousia.

“Consume” means destroy—they are synonymous terms here. The technique of couplets and dual expression is often used for emphasis, especially in the Psalms. The same thing is said two different ways to reaffirm and strengthen a statement. (Of course sometimes a difference in meaning is intended. Only with the help of God’s Holy Spirit can we determine the sense correctly.) Verse 8 is emphasizing the destruction of the man of sin. Jesus will consume, he will destroy; that is, there will be complete eradication. In the first epistle, Paul said the trouble would come suddenly, as the birth pang (1 Thess. 5:3). Now, in this second epistle, Paul was again stressing the destruction, and was not indicating a gradual process.

In a paraphrase of Verse 8, the truth that is revealed at the time of the epiphania will destroy Papacy. The destruction will be sudden as in the smiting of the image—within a few weeks or months.

The clue here is that when the time comes for Papacy’s fall, something will happen to expose that system and incur the wrath of the people. In the past, at the time of the Protestant Reformation, Papacy suffered a wound unto death, from which it revived and survived, but it will not survive this future wound (Rev. 13:3). Such anger will be directed against Papacy that the people and her own eunuchs (from within) will tear down the system. The Church will be with the Lord before Papacy’s destruction. The Christ will come forth and ensure the Day of Jehovah’s wrath and Papacy’s permanent destruction. The destruction is stated twice in verse 8 lest we get the thought that the deception at the end of the Millennium might be religious. No, the deception at that time will be along the lines of a civil insurrection.

When Luther and others exposed Papacy, they were trying to reform and reconcile the system. Only a relative few saw the iniquity of the system. Moreover, it was not destroyed, only wounded. Thus we know that Paul was talking about something different here. When the majority of the people see the evils in the near future, the system will be everlastingly torn down. In former days the Reformers were persecuted rather than Papacy.

Verses 7 and 8 cover a very long period of time, spanning from the time when Imperial (or Pagan) Rome was taken out of the way to Papacy rise and developed to the Protestant Reformation and revealing of the Lawless One to the time when Papacy will be destroyed during the epiphania stage of our Lord’s parousia (presence)” (Excerpts taken from The Book of Thessalonians)

We move on to Verse 9 and our word of warning in our next post.