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‘That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.’
2Th_2:3
I. The spirit of Antichrist is the spirit of opposition to all moral restraint, and to all rule and authority. It is the spirit of corruption as St. Peter says, that is to say, of undoing and decomposition. Corruption is the opposite to life. Life builds up, corruption destroys.
II. The spirit of Antichrist is the spirit of hindering and forbidding the Church to do the work Christ has set her to do. It is the spirit that hates and would tread down worship offered to Christ. It is the spirit that abhors and would eliminate all definite belief in the truths of the gospel.
III. The antichristian spirit is not only engaged in attack from without, it is a corrupting spirit acting within, degenerating that which is good. Now we are expressly told that before the end the man of sin will be revealed, who is to oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
IV. But the end is not yet.—As you look into the summer sky on the advent of a storm, you see fitful flashes and hear distant rumblings before the tempest bursts with full fury on you; so throughout the age of the Christian Church we see the flash and hear the mutter of persecution, the signs preceding the advent of Antichrist and the coming of our Lord in glory. Such was the destruction of Jerusalem, such persecution following persecution; such in France, the outburst of the Revolution—but the whole series of events, the full stress of that terrible time will not be yet—not till the end.
—
Rev. S. Baring-Gould.
Illustrations(1) ‘I cannot say that the Papacy is the Antichrist, but it has shown the antichristian spirit. It is founded on lies, for its claims rest on forged title-deeds, the Decretals; it has been a corrupting power, encouraging, sanctioning lying wonders, conferring indulgences on such as worship this and that image which the Pope solemnly crowns; it withdrew the cup from the laity, withheld the Bible from the people, revolutionised the divine order of the Church, by the Pope exalting himself over all the bishops of the Latin communion, making them derive their authority and mission from him; it has used torture and the sword and fire to exterminate those who revolted against its supremacy, and it has finally proclaimed its infallibility.’
(2) ‘The most striking foreshadowing of the great falling away, and the revolt against Christ and His kingdom, was shown on a small scale, and in one land only—in the French Revolution. Then the Sunday was abolished and the week made to consist of ten days. The churches were desecrated and turned into debating club rooms, the worship of Christ was forbidden, and it was a matter of death for Christians to assemble for Divine worship, priests wherever caught were hung to a tree or the next lamp-post, and volleys of shot were poured upon those who assembled for prayer, and finally in place of God, in the temple of God, Human Reason was elevated to be publicly worshipped.’
THE MAN OF SIN
I. As knowing that we have no assurance that Antichrist will not come in our own day, survey his features attentively as they are given in God’s Word, in order that we may know him if we see him. And
II. If exaltation of self against and above God—if a blasphemous assumption of the privileges and prerogatives of the Godhead be a prime note of Antichrist, then let us look warily in the direction of Rome.
III. But He is called the lawless one; and although superstition is ever near akin to unbelief, yet we must in fairness acknowledge that the licentiousness of speculation finds its most congenial atmosphere in other branches of the Church than the Roman. All may read the signs of the times, and must be aware that the nations of the north could contribute a feature to the man of sin, no less than those that dwell beyond the Alps.
IV. Keep these the great verities of faith, and suffer not the business or the calling, the family ties or the social duties, to elbow everything else clean out of your sight.
—
Dean Burgon.
Illustration‘When we recall our Lord’s Prayer that all might be one as He with the Father, it is not possible to avoid the conclusion that the spirit of Antichrist will be the sectarian spirit striving to make Christ’s prayer of none effect. That there will be finally a great conjuration among all who hate the truth, or are jealous of the Church, and are in revolt against the moral law, is clearly laid down in Scripture, under the form of a great gathering against Jerusalem, and a final and terrible persecution, so terrible that men will fall away and deny the Faith so as to save their lives, or so as to stand well with the World Power; and doubtless there will be all sorts of attempts at compromise. The great bulk of men may have sufficient faith in Christ to wish to obey Him and worship Him, but will not have the moral courage to resist the power of the world when a confederate attack is made upon the Church.’