Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Thessalonians 2:4

"he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God." — 2 Thessalonians 2:4 (ASV)

(3) This individual “opposes and exalts himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped.” His direct and determined opposition to the true God will be a leading feature of the continuing apostasy. It will be especially marked by removal of the symbolic articles from the Jerusalem temple. The man of lawlessness will occupy the holy precincts in order to accept and even demand worship that is due God alone. This evidently is a Jewish temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem in the future. Dependence of these words on Da 9:26–27; 11:31, 36– 37; 12:11 (cf. Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14) demands such a reference. There is no impressive evidence for understanding “temple” (GK 3724) in a nonliteral sense. The well-known “abomination that causes desolation” (Mark 13:14) is sometimes regarded as a person and sometimes as an act of desecration by that person. The act of desecration to which this verse looks will transpire halfway through the seventieth prophetic week of Da 9:24–27, when the covenant made earlier with the Jewish people is broken. This will mark the climax of this lawless one’s career. Historically, a foreshadowing of this blasphemous intrusion happened when Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple in Jerusalem just before the Maccabean revolt.

The relationship of this portion of 2 Thessalonians to Christ’s parousia confirms the impression that Paul must be referring to a single historical personage. Quests for such a person in the past and present have proved fruitless. Resemblances to Antiochus Epiphanes, Nero, Diocletian, one of the popes, and others may be admitted. But fulfillment of all details of the prophecy must await the future period of this man’s prominence. “The man of lawlessness” will be a new historical figure whom Satan will energize to do his will in the world. As “man of God” in the OT regularly designates a divine prophet, the present “man of lawlessness” designates a false prophet, probably to be identified with the second beast of Rev 13:11ff. (cf. Revelation 16:13; 19:20; 20:10). His primary function will be to preside over the religious apostasy in cooperation with the beast out of the sea (Revelation 13:1ff.), who leads political opposition to God. As God’s chief opponent in Jerusalem whose background is probably Jewish (cf. Daniel 11:36–37), the lawless one will give religious leadership to complement the dominance of his associate over governments of the world’s nations.

The presence of such an apostasy and counterfeit god will not escape international observation. The nonpresence of these things when Paul wrote proves his thesis regarding the nonarrival of the day of the Lord.