A Survey of Eschatology, Part Ten

Evil Threesome

This shortest of the twelve parts of this study is prefatory to delving into the book of Revelation . It asks questions, makes some observations for pondering them in light of the whole counsel of God in Scripture, but refrains from "rushing in where angels fear to go" with a glib answer. The evil threesome are:

1. The man of lawlessness – "Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God." (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)

2. Antichrist –

• "Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us." (1 John 2:18,19)


• "Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son." (1 John 2:22)


• "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already." (1 John 4:2,3)


• "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist." (2 John 1:7)

3. The beast – First appears in the 13th chapter of Revelation, other references in that book afterward.

Let's not overlook the fact that there is limited Scriptural data about the three, especially the first two. The second Thessalonians passage alone refers to the man of lawlessness. The word antichrist appears nowhere in Scripture except in the verses cited. Is not sound theology based on multiple passages? (For example, is Matthew 28:19 the sole basis of Trinitarianism?) Now here are some more questions and reflective comments to consider in light of the context of those passages, in light of the context of the Bible books in which they appear, and indeed in light of all Scripture before we jump to conclusions regarding any of the three:

1. On what basis do we conclude that they are all to be identified as the same person?


2. In the case of the beast, apparently the term refers to both a person and to empirical (Roman) power.


3. As to the man of lawlessness, he was not yet revealed, but John wrote that antichrist is "now in the world already."


4. John identifies antichrist as the spirit which denies the incarnation, not as one individual.


5. Yet John also refers to any incarnation denying human deceiver as the antichrist.


6. John indicates that these deceivers had "gone out" from Christian fellowship. Is there any indication that the beast and the man of lawlessness were ever in Christian fellowship?


7. In what sense does the man of lawlessness "take his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God?"

As to that last question, consider Chapter 25 part 6 of the original Westminster Confession of Faith (A.D. 1647): "There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ; nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the Church, against Christ and all that is called God." (This apparently does regard the man of lawlessness and the antichrist as identical.)

Some historic papal titles and claims would appear to make this persuasion credible. Here are a few of those titles and claims (in Latin followed English translations): Dominus Deus noster papa – Our Lord God the pope; Deus alter in terra – Another God on earth; Idem est dominium Dei et papae – The dominion of God and the pope is the same.

The idea might be criticized by noting that Paul wrote of THE man of sin, not a succession of MEN of sin…

So, there is some food for thought and some motivation to dig deeper and deeper into that inexhaustible treasure trove of wisdom and knowledge, the holy Bible. Go to A Survey of Eschatology, Part Eleven