III. Post-millennialism Refuted.
The post-millennial position rests largely
upon a mis-translation. In Matt. 13:39 we read "The harvest is the end
of the world," and again in Matt. 24:3 - "And as He sat upon the Mount of
Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall
these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end
of the world?" Now the Greek word which is used in the above
passages is entirely different from the one found in John 3:16 - "God so loved
the Kosmos." In the verses quoted above the word is not "Kosmos" but
aion and ought to have been rendered "age" - "the harvest is the end of
the age." In the marginal rendering of the R. V. Matt. 13:39 reads "The harvest
is the consummation of the age." Both of the Greek words which are
translated "world" in the King James Version occur in Heb. 9:26 - "For then
must He often have suffered since the foundation of the Kosmos: but now once in
the end of the aion hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself." Here it is evident that "aion" cannot mean "world." The Lord Jesus
was offered as a sacrifice for sin more than eighteen hundred years ago, and
the end of the "world" has not come yet. It was at the consummation or end of
the Mosaic age that our Lord appeared and died upon the cross in order
to effect our salvation. So, in the above instances read, "The harvest is the
end of the age," the present age and not the end of time, for just as
the Mosaic age was followed by the Christian age, so the present Dispensation
shall be followed by the Millennium. That the "harvest" referred to by our
Lord in the Parable of the Tares takes place at the end of this age
rather than at the end of the "world," is further seen by a comparison of
Joel 3:13-17 and Rev. 14:14-20 which refer to the same "harvest" and where this
harvest is definitely placed at the commencement and not at the consummation of
Messiah's reign. That our Lord will return before the Millennium
rather than at its close is clear from many considerations.
God's Word makes known the exact conditions
which are to obtain here immediately preceding the Redeemer's Return. The Holy
Spirit has given a number of graphic portrayals of the world as it will exist
when our Lord comes back to it. One of these pictures is to be found in Isaiah
2 - "For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and
lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And
upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the
oaks of Bashan. And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that
are lifted up. And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon
all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness
of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols He shall utterly
abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of
the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He
ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of
silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship,
to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, for fear of
the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly
the earth." Do these verses picture a world ready to receive a returning
Christ? No; they tell us that in "the Day of the Lord" - that which
immediately follows the present "Day of Salvation" - men will be "proud and
lofty;" it intimates that idolatry shall prevail universally; it tells us that
instead of men coming forward to welcome the Lord Jesus, they shall flee from
Him in terror.
Another passage which describes the conditions
which are to prevail on earth at the time of our Lord's Return is found in 2
Thess. 1:7-9 - "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with His might angels, in flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be
glorified in His Saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." Observe
that here we are expressly told that our Lord comes back again to take
vengeance on "them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel." It is
utterly impossible to make this statement harmonize with the concept of Christ
returning to a world which had previously been won to Him by the
Gospel.
Again, in 2 Pet. 3:3,4 we read, "Knowing this
first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after
their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of." Observe that the
apostle is describing conditions that are to obtain in "the last days," i.e.,
the last days of this present dispensation. Here again we learn then, that
instead of this Age closing with the universal acceptation of the Gospel,
instead of the last days witnessing a world reconciled to God, instead of the
Christian era closing with earth-wide prayer for the Coming of the King, we are
told that, "there shall come in the last days scoffers," a class of people who
have no concern for God's glory but who walk after their own lusts; and
further, we are told that these "scoffers" shall mock at those who are
looking for the appearing of our Saviour and that the "ignorance" of these
scoffers is due to a wilful and deliberate rejection of God's revealed
truth.
Putting together the above pictures we learn that
in the days which precede Christ's Second Advent the earth will be filled with
proud idolaters, with those that know not God and obey not the Gospel, and with
those who mock and scoff at the prospect of a speedily returning Redeemer.
Further; we learn that the actual return of Christ is introduced not by Gospel
successes but by Divine judgments. Thus we say that the condition of the world
when our Lord comes back to it proves that His Second Advent occurs not at the
close of an era of Millennial blessedness, but at the end of a dispensation
wherein God has dealt with infinite long-sufferance with a race of rebels, and
that at His coming He takes "vengeance" on His enemies ere setting up His
Messianic Kingdom.
In Matt. 13 we have the record of seven
parables - the number of completeness - which our Lord uttered
consecutively. These parables are prophetic in their significance and
scope. They deal with conditions which are to obtain here during the time of
our Lord's absence. They are concerned with the visible profession of
Christianity and they look forward to the closing scenes of the present
dispensation. As there is much in them upon which we cannot now comment at
length we shall content ourselves with singling out only that which bears upon
our present inquiry.
The chapter opens with the well-known Parable of
the Sower who went forth to sow. It pictures the broad-cast sowing of the good
Seed by the Saviour Himself, and in His interpretation of the parable we learn
that the "Seed" is the Word of God. The parable sets before us the beginning
of the Christian dispensation and makes known to us the manner and extent of
the reception of the Redeemer's mission and message. It gives us the ratio of
the Gospel's success and forewarns us that all men are not going to receive
God's Word, that the majority will not, that only a fractional minority
will. It shows us that the proclamation of the Word is to encounter
Satanic opposition, yea, that the world, the flesh, and the Devil, will combine
in their efforts to prevent it bringing forth fruit.
The result of the sowing is plainly
stated. Three castings out of four were fruitless! Most of the seed fell upon
barren ground. The greater part of the field which, in our Lord's
interpretation, we learn is "the world," completely failed to bring forth any
increase. Some of the seed fell by the wayside and the fowls of the air picked
it up; some fell upon the rocks and the sun burnt it up; some fell among thorns
and it was choked. Only one fourth of it fell upon "good ground" and even
there the fruitage varied and decreased in its yield from a hundred-fold to
thirty-fold (see vs. 23). In His interpretation, the Lord tells us that the
different kinds of ground on which the Seed fell represent various classes of
people who hear the Word.
Now what light does the above parable throw upon
our present inquiry? I throws a clear light and in its light we discover the
fallacy of the post-millennial position. There is no hint whatever in this
parable that a time was to come when the whole of the field would be
covered with waving wheat, instead, the only possible inference which can be
drawn from it flatly repudiates such a conception. Who would dare to suggest
that the Divine Sower Himself, the "Lord of the harvest" would be
followed by other sowers who should prove more successful than He? The results
of our Lord's own sowing were prophetic of the history of the entire Christian
dispensation. In no period of this Age has the whole field - the world - been
receptive to the Seed, in no period have more than a fractional minority
received the Word and brought forth fruit unto perfection. In every
generation, from the time when our Lord walked the earth in the days of His
flesh until now, the emissaries of Satan and the cares and riches of the world
have combined to choke and make unfruitful the Word of God. From this parable
then it is impossible to deduce any promise of a world ultimately converted by
the Gospel.
The second of the parables found in Matt. 13 -
that of the Wheat and the Tares - brings out even more forcibly than the
previous one the fact that there can be no Millennium of earth-wide blessedness
before our Lord's return. The Parable of the Tares is also prophetic in
its bearing. It makes known to us that which succeeded our Lord's own
ministry. Immediately following the Divine Sower's scattering of the good
Seed, an Enemy was "the Wicked One" and it is to be particularly noted that he
sowed neither thorns nor thistles but "tares" - a bastard wheat - which
so closely resembles the genuine article that the one cannot be distinguished
from the other until the time of harvest. Here then is seen the efforts of the
Evil One to neutralize the gracious work of the Son of God. The interpretation
of this parable was supplied by the Lord Himself: just as the wheat represents
the "children of the Kingdom," so the tares symbolize the "children of the
Wicked One." Let it be noted, however, that the "tares" do not represent
wicked men as such, but "the ministers of Satan," "false apostles, deceitful
workers" (2 Cor. 11:13) who were secretly introduced by the Enemy amongst God's
people just as the tares were sown among the wheat.
Part of this parable began to be fulfilled in the
days when the New Testament was written. In the false teachers who
harassed the early disciples we may see the mingling of the tares with the
wheat. The "children of the Wicked One" were the Judaizers who entered in
among the churches of Galatia and who taught that salvation could not be
secured by faith alone, that Circumcision was also necessary. The "tares" may
be seen in Hymeneus and Philetus of whom we read, "who concerning the Truth
have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the
faith of some" (2 Tim. 2:17, 18). The apostle Peter referred to the same class
when he wrote, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as
there shall be false teachers among you, who privily ("secretly")
shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and
bring upon themselves swift destruction" (2 Pet. 2:1). Jude, likewise, had
reference to such when he declared, "For there are certain men crept in
unawares (as the "tares" were sown secretly among the wheat), who were
before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of
our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord
Jesus Christ" (Jude 4). Thus we see that at a very early date the tares were
mingled with the wheat.
Again we ask, What light does this parable throw
upon the point now under discussion? And once more the answer is, much every
way. In our Lord's declaration that the tares should grow together with the
wheat until the time of harvest, which He expressly declares is the end
of the age, we discover how preposterous, erroneous, and unscriptural is
the teaching that the Gospel will yet win the world to Christ. At the time of
harvest the world is still a mixed field, and this fact cuts away all
ground for supposing that before our Lord returns the tares will be all rooted
up or changed into wheat. Instead of the tares being transformed into wheat
before the Millennium is ushered in, we are told that at the time of harvest
the tares are bound into bunches and afterward cast into the fire - a very
different picture that from the children of the Wicked One being reconciled to
God! In the words "Let both grow together till the harvest" two solemn facts
are revealed - first, Satan shall continue to hinder the success of the Gospel
without interruption till the end of the age; and second, the Christian
profession once corrupted shall continue thus to the close of the
dispensation. And thus it has proven. Finally, be it observed, that in the
casting of the tares - the children of the Wicked One - into the furnace of
fire, we learn once more that the Age closes not with the universal reception
of the Gospel but with Divine judgment upon the wicked!
The third parable of Matt. 13 - that of the
Mustard-seed - differs from the former ones in that it was not interpreted by
our Lord. Post-millennialists have taken advantage of this fact and have made
it teach that which gives countenance to their own pre-conceived theories. In
this parable they see the promise of a world conquered by the Gospel. Now,
whatever this parable may or may not signify, it certainly must not be made to
contradict the teaching of the two which have gone before it. As
already stated, the seven parables recorded in Matt. 13 form part of one
connected discourse by our Lord and are so many prophetic representations of
the development of the Christian profession during the time of His absence.
This third parable then cannot set forth the universal diffusion of the
Truth because the previous ones show that this is prevented by the opposition
of Satan, which opposition is to continue until the end of the age. What then
does this third parable teach?
The position which this parable occupies
in the series is one of the keys to its interpretation. The first parable is
concerned with the beginning of this dispensation, the time when our
Lord was here upon the earth. The second deals, prophetically, with conditions
that obtained in the lifetime of the apostles, showing us the false teachers -
the children of the Wicked One - who crept in among God's people in their day.
This third parable then looks forward to a later period and presents a
prophetic picture which saw its materialization in the fourth century of our
era. The growth of the little mustard-seed into a great tree represents the
development of the Christian profession from an insignificant commencement into
a system of imposing proportions. In the fourth century A. D., Christianity
was popularized by Constantine who adopted it as the State religion and
compelled more than a million of his subjects to be baptized at the point of
the sword. The parable of the Tares shows us Christianity corrupted by the
insidious introduction of the children of the Wicked One among the children of
God: the parable of the mustard-seed forecasted the growth and spread of a
corrupted Christianity. This assertion of ours may easily be verified by
the details of the parable itself.
The mustard-seed developed into a great tree - an
abnormal thing in itself, nay, a monstrosity - so the popularization of
Christianity in the days of Constantine produced an unnatural and ungainly
system which was foreign to its spirit and nature. Observe that the "fowls of
the air" came and lodged in the branches of the great tree. In the first
parable of the series the Lord Himself tells us that the birds of the air
represent the emissaries of Satan. The great tree then, stands for a nominal
and national Christianity, a monstrous, world-system, that which in our day is
the aggregate of the so-called "Christian nations." In a word, the great tree
symbolizes Christendom which in Rev. 18 is said to be the "hold of every
foul spirit and a cage for every hateful bird."
Further confirmation of our assertion above,that
the great tree which issued from the mustard-seed represents the abnormal
growth of a corrupted Christianity is furnished in Daniel 4 where we have
recorded a dream which came to the first head of the Gentile powers. In this
dream Nebuchadnezzar also saw a "great tree," and in the fate which it met with
we learn the end which is appointed to the tree of our parable. To quote - "I
saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was
great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto
heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: The leaves thereof
were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts
of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the
boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my
head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven;
He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his
branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away
from under it, and the fowls from his branches" (Dan. 4:10-14).
To sum up our comments upon this parable.
Instead of lending favor to the position of post-millennialism, its teaching -
viewed in the light of Daniel 4 - absolutely shatters the foundation of that
system. Instead of teaching that the professing Church shall conquer the
world, it shows that the world has conquered the professing Church. The
mustard-seed symbolizes the outward character of the Christian profession at
the beginning of this dispensation, when its devotees were few in number, poor
in this world's goods, and despised by the great ones of the earth. In the
third century A. D., the professing Church was like unto a humble little seed,
unpretentious in appearance and insignificant in its dimensions. But in the
fourth century there was a dramatic change. Constantine became a nominal
Christian and adopted Christianity as the State religion. Then it was that
the "tree" grew and became strong in the earth, putting out its branches in all
directions. But then it was, also, that the fowls of Satan found shelter
within its imposing boughs. However, great as the tree has become, its end is
sure. Just as we learnt in the previous parable that the tares shall yet be
consigned to the fire, so shall this great "tree" yet be cut down and
brought to nought.
We turn now to the fourth parable of Matt. 13 -
the parable of the Leaven, the leaven which a woman took and hid in three
measures of meal till the whole was leavened. This parable is one of the
foundation passages of post-millennialists. In it they see clear proof that
the Reign of Righteousness, the Golden Age, is to be brought about by the
efforts of the Church. The woman, we are told, symbolizes the Church, the
three measures of meal the human race, and the leaven the Gospel, which,
working silently but surely shall yet permeate the whole of humanity and
influence all men Godward and heavenward. But the assumption that the leaven
here signifies the influence and power of the Gospel will not stand the test of
the Scriptures, for in the Word of God "leaven" is uniformly employed as a
figure of that which is evil. The Israelites in Egypt were commanded to
put away all leaven from their houses on the night of the Passover, and to eat
the lamb with un-leavened bread. Leaven was rigidly excluded from every
one of the Levitical offerings which typified Christ. When our Lord was here
upon earth He bade His disciples "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees" (Matt. 16:11). Writing to the Corinthians the apostle
exhorted them to "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a
new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for
us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the
leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth" (1 Cor. 5:7, 8). Thus we see that, in harmony with its nature,
leaven, is uniformly used as a figure of evil. How strange then that sober
expositions should ever have regarded sour dough - a form of incipient
putrefaction - as a symbol of the unadulterated Word of God working in the
hearts of men!
What then is the meaning of the parable of the
Leaven? We answer that just as the former one brings before us the external
development of a corrupted Christianity, so this one shows us the
internal working of corruption within the Christian profession. The
third parable brings us, historically, to the time of Constantine; the fourth
carries us forward to the time of the rise and growth of the Roman Catholic
Church. The "woman" in our parable figures the "mother of harlots and
abominations of the earth" (Rev. 17:5) - "that woman Jezebel, which
calleth herself a prophetess' (Rev. 2:20). Her act in "hiding" the
leaven comports well with the secrecy and stealth which has ever characterized
the methods of the Roman hierarchy. The action of the woman is further
evidence that the post-millennial interpretation of this parable is erroneous,
for there is nothing secret about the proclamation and spread of the
Gospel. Said our Lord to His disciples, "What I tell you in darkness, that
speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the
housetops" (Matt. 10:27); and wrote the apostle, "But having renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, not handling the
Word of God deceitfully" (2 Cor. 4:2). But both "craftiness" and "deceit"
did mark this woman's action. She stealthily introduced into the
meal a corrupting element, and though the resulting bread might be rendered
more palatable, nevertheless it had been polluted. The three measures of meal
stand for the whole of Christendom, and as Dr. Haldeman has pointed out, it is
very remarkable that there are just three great divisions in
Christendom, namely, the Roman Catholic, the Greek, and the Protestant
Churches. And how true it is that these three divisions of the meal have each
and all been thoroughly corrupted by the leaven introduced by the "woman"!
Everywhere there are relics of Romanism, even in all the so-called Protestant
churches.
To say that this parable teaches that the Gospel
is to win the whole world to Christ is to put light for darkness and is to make
error equal truth. If the leaven represents the Gospel, the woman the church,
and the meal the entire human race,then we have to confess that our Lord erred
in His judgment and entirely over-estimated the power of the Gospel to find a
response in the hearts of men, for after eighteen centuries of Gospel preaching
we cannot point to a single country where all its subjects make even a
profession of Christianity; nay, the world over, we cannot find a single city,
town, or hamlet where everyone of its inhabitants is a believer in the
Lord Jesus. No; this parable shows us the secret working of a putrefying
element which spreads nought but corruption, - Can then the Millennium be
introduced by the universal diffusion of a corrupted Christianity!
In these four parables we discover the methods
used by Satan to hinder the work of true Christianity. At the
beginning he sought to oppose by catching away the Seed, which method was
pursued throughout the first century when the Devil endeavored to exterminate
and annihilate the Word of God by means of the sword and the bonfire. In the
second parable we see him changing his tactics aiming to destroy Christianity
by mingling his own children among the people of God. In the third we see how
by a master-stroke of the Enemy the Christian profession was Paganized
and as the result the world was won over by dazzling the eyes of men with a
gorgeous ritual, with imposing architecture, and with the sanction and approval
of the Roman Emperors themselves. In the fourth we discover how he succeeded
in corrupting the doctrines and practices of Christianity by introducing
into its midst a foreign and putrefying element which has resulted in the
leavening of the entire mass.
We shall not tarry long with the last three
parables of this series. There is nothing at all in them, any more than in
those already considered, which confirms and establishes the post-millennial
teaching. A treasure buried in the field (which is "the world") can
scarcely figure the universal success of the Gospel. A "pearl" - which
is an object taken out of the "sea" (symbol of the nations) is no
picture of a world won to Christ. While the Drag-net - the last
of the series - enclosing as it does "every kind" of fish, the "bad"
as well as the good, surely refutes the assertion that at the close of time
Christ will return to find all men reconciled to Himself.
The Olivet Discourse of our Lord is recorded
in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. We cannot now attempt a detailed
exposition of these highly interesting and important chapters, but would simply
single our from them a few things which throw light upon our present inquiry.
At the beginning of Matt. 24 we find that three of His disciples asked our
Lord, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy
coming, and of the end of the age?" (vs. 3). What then was the answer which
our Saviour returned to these questions? Did He reply saying that the Age
would end with the universal triumph of the Gospel? Did He tell them that the
Sign of His coming would be a converted world that would be eagerly awaiting
His return to it? If so, this clearly decides the issue once for all, for
there can be no appeal against the declarations of the One who was truth
incarnate.
As we read the verses which record our Lord's
reply to the questions of His disciples we find that instead of Him painting a
picture in bright and attractive colors, He portrayed a set of conditions which
were pathetic and tragic in their bearing and nature. Instead of intimating
that things on earth would improve during the time of His absence, He showed
that they would get worse and worse. Instead of promising an era of peace and
prosperity, He predicted a time of blood-shed and famine. Instead of telling
the disciples that truth would be universally diffused and received, He
forewarned them of the coming of false prophets who should deceive many.
Instead of teaching that His followers would grow more zealous and faithful to
Him, He announced that because iniquity should abound the love of many would
"wax cold." Instead of saying that He should come back here to be received
with an open-armed welcome, He predicted that on His return "all the tribes of
the earth shall mourn." It is true that He said, "This Gospel of the Kingdom
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations," yet
a little further down in the same chapter He very plainly intimated that it
should meet with an almost universal rejection - "For as the days of
Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be," proves
this.
It is therefore well nigh impossible for us to
imagine anything more directly opposed to the post-millennial theory than what
we find here in this address of our Lord's. It would appear from His
utterances as if He, with omniscient vision, foresaw the very teaching which is
so common in our day and that He designedly and deliberately anticipated and
repudiated it. In verses 29 and 30 of Matt. 24 we read, "Immediately after
the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the
heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of
Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall
see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."
The "tribulation" here spoken of is described in verses 21 and 22 of
this same chapter - "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was
not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And
except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved." How
different this from the glowing pictures painted by the post-millennialists!
That the things here mentioned cannot possibly have reference to the
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus is evident from the fact that
"immediately after the tribulation" of those days the sun was not
"darkened," the moon did not "cease to give her light," and the Son
of Man was not seen "coming in the clouds of heaven." No; these verses
describe conditions which are to prevail at "the end of the Age."
Observe particularly that it is said, "Immediately after the tribulation
of those days shall the sun be darkened" etc., and that "then shall
all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in
the clouds of heaven." The conditions then which are to immediately precede
the Second Advent of Christ are not those of Millennial blessedness but those
of unparalleled tribulation.
"Let no man deceive you by any means: for
that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that Man of
Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition" (2 Thess. 2:3). In the first Epistle to
the Thessalonians the apostle makes mention of the Second Coming of Christ in
every chapter, and in the first chapter of the second Epistle he recurs again
to the same theme - "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His
mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (vss. 7,8). Then, at the
opening of chapter two in the Second Epistle he further says, "Now we beseech
you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither
by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is
at hand." Observe that here the apostle speaks of "The Day of Christ"
which is different from "The Coming of Christ." The "day of Christ"
signifies the Millennium and is used in contrast with "Man's day" (1 Cor. 4:3,
margin) which denominates the dispensation in which we are now living. Here
then the apostle expressly states that "that day (the Day of Christ) shall
not come except there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be
revealed, the Son of Perdition."
The "Man of Sin" is the Antichrist who at
the very close of this Age will 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, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:4). In the seventh verse of
this same chapter the apostle tells us "For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work: only He who now letteth (hindereth) will let (hinder), until He
be taken out of the way." Notice that the "Mystery of Iniquity" was said to
"work" referring to the action of the leaven which was
corrupting the meal even in the apostle's own lifetime. That which has
"hindered" the full development of the Mystery of Iniquity" and which
now prevents the revelation of the Antichrist is the presence on earth of
God the Holy Spirit. But He is to be "taken out of the way" - removed
from the earth when the saints are raptured to heaven. Then will the Devil be
allowed "free rein" and the Son of Perdition will be publicly manifested. In
the days of Antichrist God will send men strong delusion "that they should
believe a lie: that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness" (vs. 12). The career of the Antichrist will
be cut short by the return of our Redeemer to the earth - "whom the Lord shall
consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of
His coming" (vs. 8). The "Mystery of Iniquity" then, will be brought to a
conclusion only by the Return of Christ in judgment which is another proof that
there can be no Millennium before the Second Coming of Christ.
To sum up the teaching of 2 Thess. 1:6
-2:12. The testimony of this passage is in perfect accord with the
declarations of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24. Instead of teaching that before
Christ returns all men will be converted by the Gospel, it distinctly affirms
that the Day of Christ (the Millennium shall not come "except there come a
falling away first" (Greek "apostasy"). Instead of teaching that this
Age will close by witnessing a universal turning unto the Truth it explicitly
states that it will terminate with God giving up multitudes "that they should
believe a lie." Instead of teaching that this Dispensation will end with
Christ exalted in the hearts of all, it declares that it will close with the
manifestation and exaltation of the Antichrist and with the Lord coming back in
judgment to destroy the Wicked One and to take vengeance on those that know not
God and have scorned the Gospel of His Son.