The End-Time Antagonist

9/18/25 Bible Thought (2 Thessalonians 2)

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As I have mentioned previously, eschatology—the doctrine of the last things—oftentimes fills the hearts of God’s people with fear or dread and I think this is a mighty shame.

In 2 Thessalonians 2, the apostle Paul spends more time on this topic once again. Specifically, he brought this church of young believers a message of encouragement that they had not missed Christ’s coming.

For one thing, Paul pointed out Christ could not have come because the man of lawlessness (son of destruction) had yet to be revealed (2 Thess. 2:3).

The man of lawlessness is commonly understood by scholars to be the antichrist and might likewise be one or even both of the beasts in Revelation.^[1] Here we see that this figure puts himself forward as a counterfeit god (2 Thess. 2:4).

Jesus once warned that many false christs and false prophets would come (Mk. 13:22). They would even be able to do miracles, but they would be imposters seeking to lead believers astray.

For the apostle John, he recognized that more than just a figure, the antichrist was a spirit presently at work in the world in those who opposed Christ (1 Jn. 2:18, 22; 4:3).

There may be coming an end-time antagonist to the people of God sent by Satan himself but let us not fear. For this figure is also the one:

“whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming” (2 Thess. 2:8).

The end of the story is that evil will be swallowed up with good. I am not worried about who the antichrist is. I am worried about who Jesus Christ is.

Even in the study of Revelation, people get lost with all of the bad figures when ultimately the book is the revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:1). It is a book that tells of Him in His glory that we will one day share! If we read Revelation and come away scared of whatever catastrophes may be coming our way we have missed the point and need to try again.

Paul writes pastorally concerning these things in 2 Thessalonians to encourage the believers in Thessalonica, not to bring about fear.

Yes, there will be many who are deceived, “because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thess. 2:10b). However, those who have put their trust in Jesus will not be amongst the deceived.

Paul puts forward two separate groups. There are those who are sent a strong delusion (2 Thess. 2:11) and there are those who are chosen for salvation (2 Thess. 2:13). They are called by God through the gospel to, “obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:14).

With this, Paul prays for them to stand firm in the truth (2 Thess. 2:15) and for God to comfort their hearts and establish them (2 Thess. 2:17).

As we read passages like this, let us not lose sight of the fact that the doctrine of the last things should fill our hearts with hope, not dread. Again, I am not particularly concerned with who the antichrist will be. So long as I know Jesus Christ, I have no reason to fear—no matter what the future holds.

In the end, God’s people are on the winning side. The beast, the false prophet, Satan himself, and every opponent to Jesus Christ will one day have their destiny in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10-15).

So, then let us remain steadfast in our allegiance to Christ, in our profession of Him as Savior and Lord, and trust that no enemy coming our way needs to be believed or feared.

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^[1] Daniel I. Morrison, “Antichrist,” The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

Hobert K. Farrell and Donald M. Lake, “Antichrist,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988) 119.