Title: The Rise and Fall of the Antichrist 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 No one is to deceive you in any way!” “3b For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what restrains him now, so that he will be revealed in his time.” The Rise of the Antichrist • Genesis 3 – “the serpent” • Daniel 7, 11, 12 – “the horn” • Matthew 24 – “false christs, the Abomination of Desolation” • John 12 – “the prince (ruler) of this world” • 1 John 2:18 – “antichrists, the antichrist coming” • Revelation 13 – “the beast" • 2 Thess. 2 – “the man of lawlessness, son of destruction, one coming in accord with Satan” 2 Thessalonians 2:7 “7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is removed. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will eliminate with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders…” The Fall of the Antichrist • Antichrist Restrained • Restrainer Removed • Antichrist Revealed • Christ Revealed • Antichrist Eliminated 2 Thessalonians 2:10 “10 ...and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” CONCLUSION: The Rise and Fall of the Antichrist (2 Thess. 2) Love the truth. (10) Do not take pleasure in wickedness. (12) Examine everything. (1 Thess. 5:2) Stand firm. (15) 1 Thessalonians 5:2, “...but examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good, 22 abstain from every form of evil.” Alan Kurschner, Antichrist Before the Day of the Lord, “God in his wisdom has ordained the last generation of the church to experience an unprecedented global persecution, and it could be our generation. His purpose is to purify his church, for he is coming back for a blameless bride who will have ‘steadfast endurance’ in faith even through terrible suffering.” NOTE: For further reading on the pre-wrath view of the end times: Antichrist Before the Day of the Lord: What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Return of Christ by Alan Kurschner