2nd Thessalonians 1-12 - Signs of the man of sin

At some point the man of sin comes into view, but when. In 2nd Thessalonians we find some references.

2nd Thessalonians 1-12

¹ Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 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. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Reassurance for the Thessalonians

In verses 1-3 Paul reassures the Thessalonians that coming of Christ is still to come because they were concerned that some of the families would not be saved if it already had. Then signs are mentioned:

1. A great falling away from the faith comes, and (or maybe at the same time:)
2. The son of perdition or the man of sin is revealed - and he poses to be God
3. Then the Lord comes for the gathering unto Him

The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ can have a few pointers. Referring to what is mentioned at the 6th seal in Revelation 6:16, we can clearly see the coming of Jesus Christ. He may not set foot on Earth, but no soul on this planet will deny then that He has not come. So that is one point in time to be very sure about. The second point in time when Christ is coming is when Christ does set foot on the ground at the very end after the great tribulation. As we are here at the start of the Great Tribulation we the first time the Lord comes is for the rapture and the Sixth Seal.

What we can see is there is a peak in time when a falling away from the faith comes, and the cause of it all is most probable the man of sin. The pivotal moment is when this horrid person claims to be God standing in the Holy place. That might be when many in the world will fall away. And at that very point in time Christ maybe triggered to come into the clouds and rapture the Church.

The Falling Away

From different sources - but I have not read it myself yet - I hear that the man of sin is a charismatic man, who is going to be very popular among the wicked. And some who were in the direction of the right path may be attracted to follow the abomination of desolation. So when this horrid person will come to power, and he will, many will follow him. Because he'll put a good show - with much trickery and demonic power to make people believe.

Revealing of the man of sin

The man of sin is the one that makes the covenant for 7 years for Israel (Daniel 9:27), but the question is, what does revealed mean - in the sense to whom? At this point when the abomination of desolation is in the Holy place - then the Jews know that he is not who they thought he was, and that I think what is meant here. The Christians may have identified him already by the 7 year covenant. 

The Third Temple of God

Implicitly, if we look verse 4, what it says about the man of sin: " ... he sits as God in the temple of God...". This means that there must be a temple of God. And two temples have been already been destroyed. The first one by the Babylonians, and the second one by the Romans. There is no temple at this time. That is why we now talk of the Third Temple of God. And that is exactly what the Jews want to build today, to reinstate the offerings. And the Holy place is most likely near- or the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (have not got into that yet). 

The Restrainer

The Restrainer in the Bible is not identified but only by what He does. Most believe He belongs to the Holy Trinity but we do not know who. He is referenced as in capital R - so He is likely to be of the Holy Trinity. Most think He is the Holy Spirit - but that is speculation. There is some backup for that as we read in the new testament passages that some apostle was not to go into little Asia - the Holy Spirit stopped them from doing that. This the Holy Spirit does influences His will over some people - as He did with Jesus when He lead Him into the desert. In a sense it you can see it as steering, restraining or not permitting...

Judgement

God looks into the hearts of the wicked, and if He sees that they love the darkness rather than the light, then at some point they will not be able to see the light, as the are under judgement, they will believe the lies of the evil one. And this suggest there is no turning back. They are  doomed. 

Analysis

The signs of the falling away are already here in our time. I remember that not long ago some people broke, a copy, of the 10 commandment tablets of Moses on mount Sinai and yelled that they were not satisfied and cocked up a new set of 10 commandments. The falling away is also in false churches like the charismatics and so on... and paganism is on its way back and the godless are everywhere. But there is peak moment of that which brings God to a point to say: "enough is enough". And He pulls away the Restrainer. The question we can ask ourselves is what is this peak point? The text does not really say that there is a sequence to the matter of the falling away and the revealing of the man of sin. Because the "AND" can also imply that these events are simultaneous. But then I would have a very good candidate for the peak point:

That point I think could be when the man of sin says he is God, standing in the Holy place, and for certain that will be a world wide broadcast. And then that those who follow him believe that. That could be the bomb I believe; believing that man of sin is God, that could be the ultimate falling away and that is when enough is enough. It seems reasonable but it is a mere assumption, nothing more.

What more is said is that the Day of the Lord does not come until the man of sin is revealed. Now I know that he is behind the covenant of 7 years. But nowhere it says that this man will be revealed by then. For Christians only knowing the 7 year covenant exists is a countdown for the end of the world. For certain, the Jews will not recognize this man as the man of sin until He is in the Holy place. Then they will understand they have been messing with the wrong guy. 

In the context of verse 1 and 2 our Lord will come and the saints will gather unto Him, I can only interpret this as the Rapture. So this is not the very end with the final harvest. So of what I read up till now is that the rapture is after the man of sin revealed himself, and that is when the Tribulation starts, and that just might coincide with what is said in Revelation 7:9-14, this multitude comes out of the great tribulation.... Looks like a match. This letter to the Thessalonians actually says that we are going to see partially the Great Tribulation period until the Day of the Lord. Also meaning that the Day of the Lord is starts in the Great Tribulation. 

And it all still fits of what Scripture literally says. We are not appointed to wrath we will be saved from the wrath to come. 

I really do not make a point about when that man of sin is revealed to us Christians. But it really comes down to the Jews only when they understand that their man of the covenant is the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place and claims to be God. And the only point in time when that happens is at the start of the Great Tribulation. 

Rapture Event List (v1.4)

End of days signs

1. First End Time Contractions (stated in Matthew 24:7) - means ever higher frequency - but the end is not yet:
   
   • Many False Prophets shall arise - saying I am the Way, I am the Christ.
   • There will be wars and rumors of wars.
   • Nation will arise against nation and kingdom against kingdom
   • There will be pestilences.
   • There will be earth quakes.
   • There will be famines.
   • There will be troubles.
   • Fearful sights and great signs from Heaven: this refers to natural disasters - like storms, tornados, volcanic eruptions, tsunami's etc... 
2. The Gospel is shared to the whole world.
3. Cannot determine which of these is first:
   • The man of sin starts a covenant of 7 years
   • The 3rd Holy temple of God will be built. 
4. The Jews will resume animal sacrifice at the Holy Temple.
5. There will be a great falling away from the faith
6. The man of sin will break the covenant by stopping the animal sacrifices. 
7. The abomination of desolation, the man of sin revealed, will be standing in the Holy place proclaiming himself to be God. (And the Restrainer is no longer restraining)
8. The man of sin starts the great tribulation period (the worst period in history).
9. {UNKNOWN TIME GAP}
10. The gathering of the Saints = Rapture?
    1. God will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel.
    2. God will descend from heaven with the Trumpet of God
    3. A series of trumpet sounds will be heard and at the Last Trumpet will sound...:
    4. Those who are asleep in Christ will be resurrected, and go to meet the Lord in the air.
    5. Those who are alive and remain, will go to meet the Lord in the air - in the blink of an eye.
11. The Wrath of God - the Great Day of the Lord

End Signs

1. The Sun will be darkened.
2. The Moon will not give it's light.
3. Stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light.
4. Stars will fall from the sky.
5. The Earth will be moved out her place. 
6. Heavenly bodies will be shaken.
7. And on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.
8. Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth.
9. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.
10. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
11. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.