And
then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will
overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of
his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the
work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and
wonders.
//In my book about Revelation, I make the offhand statement that "Paul,"
in the book of 2 Thessalonians, probably refers to Revelation in his
promise of a coming "man of lawlessness" (the Son of Perdition, or the
One Doomed To Destruction, or in Revelation, the Beast, or in today's
vernacular, merely the Antichrist). I still feel this way; I subscribe
to a relatively early dating of Revelation (around year 80) and a late
dating of 2 Thessalonians (about 90 CE, certainly not by the apostle
Paul).
But,
others argue, didn't the expectation of an evil leader precede
Revelation by decades, even centuries? Yes, this dualism precedes
Christianity, and the book of Daniel writes about this fiendish
character. There were also other apocalyptic writings contemporary with
Revelation. But nothing matches "Paul's" description quite like
Revelation. Note the "breath of his mouth" and the "splendor of his
coming":
Revelation 1:16, In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
And here is the final victory over the enemy and his "counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders":
Revelation
19:20-21, But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet
who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs
he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and
worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery
lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that
came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds
gorged themselves on their flesh.
Just one more bit of evidence that 2 Thessalonians was not written by Paul.
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