We get a lot of doomsayers these days. There’s a trend of people saying the end times are imminently upon us because so-and-so is clearly the Antichrist, and things have never been worse than they are now. But the fact of the matter is that people have been saying things have never been worse for the past 2000 years. Perhaps we’re naturally prone to interpret God’s Word with our own culture as a basis!
Nevertheless, we should still take the end times seriously. Things are going to get really bad before they get infinitely good. Paul writes to the Thessalonians to prepare them for what sort of events will signal the beginning of that end. A great king will one day rise—an emissary of Satan, a man of lawlessness. He will scheme with lies and injustice to gain global power, he will proclaim blasphemies against the one true God and slaughter God’s faithful, and he will enjoy widespread, unprecedented popularity around the sinful world. Daniel, 1 John, and Revelation describe this coming king as well. And this is no mere myth; he is still yet to come, and the church’s faith will be tested like never before.
But as Paul warns, even though the man of lawlessness has not yet come, lawlessness is already at work. Beware its power today! It is a disorder and chaos that directly contradicts everything about God’s goodness. It turns creation away from the perfect will of the creator and lulls everything into its own destruction. But the worst part is that it feels so good to us. It scratches those deep itches of the flesh. But beware! Lawlessness is a deceptive and cunning wolf in disguise, and is already powerfully working against us.
And yet God will conquer. Though lawlessness abounds now and will only increase, God’s plan is not undone. God will conquer. The same breath that sculpted life at the beginning will one day gloriously topple Earth’s mightiest ever king and restore life to its perfect design. What a beautiful hope we have, that our fight against lawlessness is certainly not in vain! Things will get really bad but then get infinitely good. So stand firm in your faith. Stand strong and armored against Satan’s mightiest weapons. We have nothing to fear, because our God will certainly conquer.
