Deeper Reflection
IF THE WORD OF GOD IS TRUE – THAT “IN THE LAST DAYS difficult times will come” (2 Tim 3:1), and “difficult” in the moral and spiritual sense, things and times in the world will become worse and worse, and not better, in spite of its great and fast progress in science and technology. Advanced science and technology can only make humanity better on the outside, but not the inside – the heart. Ironically, advanced science and technology can bring about a greater moral and spiritual corruption of the heart. The world will be in this deteriorating state despite the life-transforming Gospel being “spread rapidly” and “glorified” (2 Thess 3:1). But we ought to be like Isaiah: “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne” (Isa 6:1) – a clear and strong vision of the sovereignty of God.In 2 Thessalonians 2, the thrice repeated word “reveal” is used in relation to “the man of lawlessness” (vv.3, 6, 8). Most significantly, the verb is in the passive voice in all three occurrences: “is revealed” (v.3) and “will be revealed” (vv.6, 8). We must not miss the theology of the Divine Passive here. It is not the antichrist “will reveal” himself. The divine passive means he “is revealed” and “will be revealed” by God Himself. The antichrist has no say over his appearing in the world. Words concerning time are used to underline Divine Timing: “unless the apostasy comes first” (v.3), “so that in his time” (v.6) and “only…until he is taken away” (v.7).The narrative of the antichrist is full of the sovereignty of God.