2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth… I. HIS TITLE. "That lawless one." It is the property of Antichrist to boast himself to be above all laws, in which he resembles Antiochus (Daniel 11:36). It cannot, therefore, be hard to find him out, for — 1. Who is that infallible judge that takes upon him to decide all controversies, who judges all things, is judged of none; who destroys with fire and sword those who question his authority, and who releases from their allegiance the subjects of those who dispute his supreme sovereignty? 2. Who is he that takes upon him, with faculties, licences, and pardons to dispense with the law of God, and to allow open and notorious sins? 3. Who is he that by his own writers is said to be freed from all human law, that has a paramount authority to all laws, that he cannot be bound by them? One expressly says that he is above law, against law, and without law; a plain description of the lawless one in the text; and another, not without a spice of blasphemy, "God and the Pope have their will for a law." 4. Who is he that has brought into the Church the worship of God by images, and the worship of saints and angels, which is the great lawlessness which is branded by the Christian law as such? If there be no such power extant, then we are yet to seek for Antichrist; but if there be, none so wilfully blind as they that cannot see wood for trees, and know not where to fix this character. II. HIS REVELATION. 1. His appearance in the world. He shall be in the world as soon as a certain hindrance is removed. (1) The most learned argue that this impediment was the Roman empire: that gone, Antichrist was to be revealed or the prediction proved false. (2) Things of great moment cannot be removed nor established in a minute. The removing of the Roman empire was not all at once, nor the rising of the pontificate, but by degrees. When Constantine began to remove the imperial throne to Byzantium, though the majesty of the empire continued at Rome, yet this was a step in removing the impediment; it lessened the Emperor's authority there and increased that of the Pope's. (3) The progress of Antichristian tyranny is, in short, this: About A.D. 600 their ecclesiastical power began to be raised when the majesty of the empire was weak in Italy. When John of Constantinople had usurped the title of , said, "The king of pride is near, and an army of priests is prepared to serve him as their general;" and in about six years Phoeos conferred on Pope Boniface the same title. About the Pope obtained the Pantheon, or temple of all devils, and consecrated it to Mary and all saints. The temporal monarchy was long in hatching, but began in that century. Pope Constantine would have his foot kissed like another Diocletian, and openly resisted the Emperor Philippius, and encouraged the treason of Justine and Anastasius. In the eighth century, Gregorys II and III continued the rebellion, and caused all Italy to withdraw their obedience from the Emperor Leo; and later Zachary assisted Pepin to depose Childeric. Afterward Adrian took upon him to translate the empire of the Greeks to the Latins, and ever since the Popes have made broils in kingdoms and assumed the right of deposing kings. 2. God's discovery of him to the world was also by degrees, in raising up witnesses against the tyranny and usurpation of Rome in every age. Five hundred years before Luther, Peter Bruis began, and Henry, his scholar, succeeded him, and to both succeeded the and ; then Wicliffe, the , Savonarola, and lastly Luther and the German and English reformers. III. HIS RUIN. 1. The manner of his fall. (1) "Consumed." Antichrist is not presently to be destroyed, but to waste away by a lingering consumption; as his rising was by degrees so he will lose his authority. (a) The reason for this is that God has a use for him as he has for the devil himself, and therefore permits him some limited power to scourge his people for their sins, to try his people's obedience, to cure their divisions, and to keep up a remembrance of His mercies. (b) Observe how this consumption is accomplished. The pomp and height was about 1,500 years after Christ, but what a decay has happened since by the revival of religion and learning. (c) Caution. Antichrist is being consumed, but he is not yet dead. What strength he may recover before his last destruction God knows; but it has re-entered many countries from which it was cast out, and made havoc among the evangelical Churches. What, then, shall we do? Watch and pray (Matthew 13:25); reform and repent (Revelation 2:5); be fortified and established by knowledge (2 Peter 3:17), by grace (Hebrews 13:9; 1 John 2:20). (d) The author and means of this consumption, "The Lord...with the breath of his mouth," which means either His providential Word (Isaiah 11:4; Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 1:3; John 18:6), or the efficacy of His Gospel (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 2:16). Antichrist's destruction is to be by the victorious evidence of truth. It must needs be so, for the tyranny is upheld by darkness which is dispelled by the light of truth; and therefore the Papists cannot endure the Scriptures. Again, his kingdom is carried on by falsehood, and his impostures are discovered by the simplicity of the gospel. (2) "Destroyed." The coming which is to accomplish this final annihilation is most likely the Second Advent (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3). Others conceive some notable manifestation of his presence and power in his Church, but it is certain that at the judgment the beast and false prophet shall be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20). 2. The use to be made of this. Be not discouraged at the survival of Antichrist: his doom is sealed. (T. Manton, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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: |
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