The Son of Perdition

The first verse in 2 Thessalonians 2 ties together two events; the return of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him. So as we go through our study of end times we cannot divide the two and set them apart even though there are others who teach these two occurrences as separate events. I believe it’s a singular event which means when Jesus comes back we’re gathered together with Him. Then we read in Verse 3 that before the return of the Lord there will be a falling away first and the man of sin will be revealed, the son of perdition. This clearly tells us the falling away and the son of perdition must happen before Jesus returns. I want you to understand that the falling away spoken of here in Scripture means apostasia or apostate which is to depart from your faith or to leave your religion.

There are some who teach that this falling away is the rapture of the Church because they believe it’s referring to a departure of people. Listen, I believe God wrote the dictionary because God created Noah Webster the man who compiled the dictionary. And in the Webster dictionary the word apostate means to leave the faith or to depart from the faith. Therefore, apostasia or apostate does not mean the rapture of the Church. When you look at the sequence of things, first there is going to be an apostate in the Church then Antichrist is revealed and then Jesus returns and our gathering together unto Him takes place.

We then read that Antichrist does what is called “the abomination of desolation” and this is where Antichrist actually goes into the newly built Temple and proclaims to be Messiah and God. This starts what we know as great tribulation. Next we are told that something is withholding him, “For the mystery of iniquity does already work only he who now lets will let, until he be taken out of the way” (Verses 7). Remember we have not left the subject which was the Lord’s return and our gathering unto Him and that Jesus told us there had to be an apostasy first and then the man of sin would be revealed. So we must stop and ask ourselves who “he” is in these verses and there are several thoughts on this matter.

One of the theories is that he is Michael the Archangel and many Messianic Jews believe this because in Daniel 12 the Bible says that Michael, who actually stands for the Jews, stands passively. I don’t agree with this but many Messianic Jews and people that I respect think this way. However, there are others who believe that he is the Holy Spirit and the reason I don’t believe this theory is because the Holy Spirit is omnipresent and He could let until He be taken out of the way. Again, I believe this refers to the diminishing Church! Amen.

Be Blessed,
Sebastian