“…He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 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.” 2 Thessalonians 2:7b-8.

The last half of verse 7 has been included for context. He who restrains has been interpreted in different ways (see the post on 2-22-21).

However many conservative expositors believe the One who restrains is the Holy Spirit. This is the approach that will be taken in this study.

Because the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the way when He takes all of the believers (Christians) from the earth and ceases to restrain evil from taking its course.

The lawless one, also known as the beast, or the Antichrist, will then come into power increasingly until he rules the entire earth by the middle of the tribulation.

It says of the lawless one that the Lord Jesus, will consume him with the “…breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming”. This statement seems to conflict with the one concerning the Antichrist’s end in Revelation 19.

“And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him [Jesus Christ] who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.” Revelation 19:19-21.

Above, it says Antichrist is cast live into the lake of fire, which is different from the hell we are familiar with. Hell contains all who die in their sin, hell is beneath our feet right now.

The lake of fire is empty and in existence right now, though there is no indication where it is, other than that it is not on, or in, this earth.

If the Lord consumes the Antichrist with the breath of His mouth; the breath of His mouth meaning He speaks the word and the Antichrist is consumed, or killed, how is he cast live into the lake of fire?

Before we take that on, it is also written that Christ will destroy Antichrist with the brightness of His coming. This becomes clear when one understands that the word destroy means to render inoperative.

So when Jesus appears in the brightness of all His glory; poof, all of the Antichrist’s power will disappear and become inoperative as if it had never been.

In death Antichrist will find himself in hell, and his armies will stampede in panic, perhaps even trampling his body underfoot in their rush.

But they are all doomed, not one will escape who come there that day to annihilate Israel, by killing every Jew, men women and children.

So we have here an inconsistency; in Revelation, he is cast live into the lake of fire, in the Thessalonian letter, he appears to be killed, which is it?

Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum seems to have reconciled this in the following manner.

The Antichrist does indeed die when the Lord consumes him with the breath of His mouth, and he finds himself in hell. His short stay there is described in Isaiah 14:3-11 part of which is quoted below.

“Hell from beneath is excited about you, to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the dead for you, all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. They all shall speak and say to you: ‘Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us?’” Isaiah 14:9-10.

Beware when you read Isaiah 14:3-23; because verses 12-15 are not about Antichrist, rather they refer to the downfall of Satan himself by his old name Lucifer. Then it continues to portray what happens to the corpse of Antichrist after his death, Isaiah 14:16-20.

Isaiah 14:21-23 speak of the fate of Antichrist’s children. It is unlikely that this is a reference to his actual offspring, but rather his children in wickedness, those who walk with him as his allies in evil.

Jesus illustrated the possibility of having someone being referred to as a child of, without actually being their offspring.

“Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.’ He answered and said to them: ‘He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.’” Matthew 13:36-40.

Here we see that a person can be a son of the kingdom or the son of Satan. So a kingdom can produce, but it cannot give birth. Satan may have followers who have his characteristics as you might expect real children to have of their parents. Yet he did not father them in a biological way.

The children of the Antichrist are fathered spiritually by him and Satan without any biological bonds.

By the way, the parable in Matthew 13 above directly relates to our subject in this study. Read it carefully again when you have time.

If you will permit, here are a couple more references to fathers and children.

“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants [biological descendants], but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father [biological Father], and you do what you have seen with your father.” They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.’ Then they said to Him, ‘We were not born of fornication; we have one Father – God.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father [spiritual Father], you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil [spiritual father], and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.’” John 8:37-44.

And one last reference to this relationship below.

“In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:10.

Be careful to read this right, it says, “…Whoever does not practice righteousness”. Christians do unrighteous things, but we do not practice unrighteousness.

This is an important concept; do we practice falsehood, lying, cheating, stealing, lusting, or hating without remorse, are we ashamed when we find ourselves doing them?

Returning to the battle of Armageddon, the Antichrist is likely the first fatality in the battle and having died, he finds himself in hell where he is mocked by others.

Many I am sure will be persons that he had executed in some grisly fashion while he ruled on earth.

This would certainly include the three kings he had killed some three and a half years earlier to consolidate his dictatorship over the whole earth, see Daniel 7:7-8.

The second stage occurs when the Antichrist is resurrected out of hell and cast alive into the lake of fire as it is stated in Revelation 19:20 quoted earlier.

There is then, a period of time between the words:

“Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.” Revelation 19:20a.

And the words:

“These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.” Revelation 19:20b.

Time gaps like this in prophecy are not unheard of; for instance the gap between the resurrection of Christ and His return to rule during the millennium has been about two thousand years so far.

If this is a correct scenario, I reckon that Antichrist’s stay in hell may not be less than a few days or more than about a month because he will be cast into the lake of fire before the millennium begins.

While it is more of a theory than something that can be backed up by more precise Bible verses, Dr. Fruchtenbaum’s analysis is sound and probably the right answer.

Bear in mind as you study Scripture that Satan is the great counterfeiter, which is another form of lying, a thing that Jesus said Satan was, a liar and the father of it.

If you have read the Bible or read Bible stories, or heard them in Sunday School, you will be familiar with some of his counterfeits, whether you noticed them as counterfeits or not.

God started the practice of animal sacrifices. Which is implied when He made tunics of skin to clothe Adam and Eve when they sinned in the Garden of Eden, since an animal had to die for it; God could have made clothes out of wool, or even cotton, or some other plant material, yet it was an animal skin, see Genesis 3:21.

This concept of animal sacrifice is confirmed with the offerings of Cain and Abel, see Genesis 4:1-7, Abel brought an animal sacrifice from the firstlings of his flock, and Cain brought of the fruit of the ground; God respect Abel’s sacrifice, but he rejected Cain’s sacrifice.

It is obvious that God’s instructions were specific, animal sacrifice for sin.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11.

“And according to the law almost all things are purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission [forgiveness].” Hebrews 9:22.

“…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” 1 Peter 1:18-21.

The point is this, Satan; beginning with Cain began to pervert the intentions of God’s using animal sacrifice to cover sins until Christ made the great sacrifice prefigured by the shedding of animal blood.

Though Cain’s line perished in the flood, Satan was able to carry their attitude forward and bring in idolatry and blood sacrifice to mimic and twist God’s intentions for them.

He did this even to the point of having idolaters engage in human sacrifice, even perverting it to the point of infant sacrifice, often by burning them alive.

Satan has counterfeited sacrifices, and religions like paganism, witchcraft, Spiritism, animism, Hinduism, Islam, New Age, mysticism, Christian Science, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, to name just a few.

There have been false christs, false prophets who claimed to speak for God, emperors who have demanded worship as gods, all counterfeits, all lying spirits, all meant to deceive men and lead them to destruction.

“For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.” Mark 13:22-23.

And now, as we have seen in these studies in Thessalonians, Satan will unveil his masterpiece of deception, a masterpiece thousands of years in the making; a false trinity.

Satan as god the father, Antichrist as god the son, and the false prophet as the unholy spirit, complete with all power, signs, and lying wonders. God allows this to play out for His own purposes.

Antichrist comes into the world spreading falsehood, Christ came into the world spreading the truth; Antichrist extols iniquity, while Christ brings in righteousness; Antichrist leads men into perdition, Christ saves their souls.

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.” 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.

See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 for the account of the resurrection of, “…those who are Christ’s at His coming.” There are two resurrections the first one takes place in two parts and is the resurrection of the righteous, of whom Christ is the firstfruits; the second resurrection is the resurrection of the damned out of hell.

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2.

This resurrection of those in hell is described in Revelation 20:11-15.

“The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.” Revelation 20:13.

Let us recap the prophetic events as they happen to maintain perspective.

The rapture, removal of all Christians occurs before the tribulation begins. The tribulation will end after 7 years with the battle of Armageddon.

Afterward and before the beginning of the Millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ on earth, the Antichrist and the false prophet will be cast live into the lake of fire.

Satan will be imprisoned during the millennium, afterward he will be let loose to instigate rebellion on earth which will be quickly ended and Satan will be cast into the lake of fire before the Day of Judgment begins, see Revelation chapters 19-20.

“And the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:10.

Forever and ever in this verse is the strongest term in Greek for eternity. I wish folks could grasp the concept of an unending eternity; especially one in unending misery.

Lying Wonders, 2 Thessalonians 2:8 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 11-1-13, updated on 3-2-21.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.