The Man of Lawlessness and His Conqueror - Sermon for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

 Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
November 9^th, A+D 2025
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD
The Man of Lawlessness, and the His Conqueror
2 Thessalonians 2:1-17, Luke 20:27-40, Genesis 3:1-15

 Audio of the sermon is available HERE.

 

    Our texts this morning provide us with a remarkable array of meaty topics: mystery and promise and power and mercy.  We heard the Malach Yahweh, the Angel of the Lord, who, from within the mysteriously burning-but-not-consumed bush, speaks to Moses as God.  Now, ‘angel’ means, most basically, ‘messenger,’ so if the Angel of the Lord who speaks as God makes you think of the Word made flesh, the eternal Son, God’s very best Messenger, then you are in good company.  That God from the burning bush goes on to identify Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not two, nor four, but three patriarchs, offers us a foreshadowing of the Holy Trinity, the Three-in-One, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the glorious mystery which Jesus would later fully reveal. 

     As Moses tries to avoid God’s call to service, complaining that he doesn’t even know how to identify God to the Israelites, the Lord reveals that the essence of being is God; I AM who I AM, the One from whom all things exist, Yahweh Almighty.  And yet, this Almighty Existing Source of all things is also loving and merciful.  He is the God who hears the cries of His people, hears the cries of the Israelites, enslaved in Egypt.  And the Lord acts.  Good news!  The Creator, the all-powerful and all-knowing Source of all stuff, and life, and order, is also merciful and caring. 

     From Luke 20 we get a ringside seat to a political and religious debate, a bunch of inside baseball info on first century Jewish life.  We also hear the blasphemy of sarcasm from unbelieving priests.  We are shocked to hear from time to time of pastors in Christian churches today who admit they do not believe in the Christian God, but here we see this problem is ancient.  These priests, called Sadducees, had been taken in by Greek philosophies, which hate the material, created world, and so reject any physical resurrection.  These wise fools challenge the Lord of Life and Bridegroom of the Church, by mocking both the notion of eternal life, and levirate marriage as taught by Moses, in the Torah, the Law.  Levirate marriage meant that Israelite brothers were committed to marry their childless, widowed sister-in-law, in order to raise up offspring for their deceased brother.  The lawless Sadducees ignore Moses, and treat both Heaven and Holy Marriage like foolish fables, smugly thinking they can confound Jesus, who is the Wisdom of God made flesh, through Whom all things were created and ordered.   

     Jesus responds to the Sadducees with the proclamation of the resurrection of the dead, the promise that the Lord of Life will not leave His children moldering in the grave.  Those who believe in Christ Jesus have life, now, and forever and ever, Amen. 

    Lots of great stuff.  But I want to talk about the “man of lawlessness.”  Paul in his second letter to Thessalonica talks about the man of lawlessness, the “anthropos anomía,” in Greek, which sounds like a character from a science fiction novel.  But it’s way worse than that.  The man of lawlessness is the one who will take his seat in the temple of God, and exalt himself, to the point of claiming to be God himself.  

   Since for today’s sermon, I wanted us to reflect on the man of lawlessness and the end of this age, I added back in four verses that our appointed readings left out.  The suggestion for our Epistle today is 2^nd Thessalonians 2:1-8 and 13-17, skipping over verses 9 – 12.  The lectionary committee for the LSB hymnal, the group of pastors who picked our assigned readings for this morning, for reasons I do not know, thought we should skip over some of the most detailed explanation that Paul gives concerning the dynamics of these End Times, the struggle for souls between God and Satan.  According to their suggestion, we get to hear of the man of lawlessness, but not the details of the deeper reality unfolding in the spiritual realm.  For the lawless one, while frightening, is just a pawn in a much larger battle.  

   There are important truths in verses 9 – 12, so I added them back in.  The mystery of lawlessness is already at work, warns Paul, and in 9-12 he lays out how Satan works through lawlessness, and what the stakes are for souls.  This is uncomfortable teaching, but also important, for all people.  So, with the Spirit’s help, this morning we will grow in our understanding of these End Times. 

    And that is an important place to start: the reality that the End Times are not some future event.  Already in St. Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, and throughout the Book of Acts and rest of the New Testament, the Last Days or the End Times are not a future event, but a current reality.  To be sure, from Matthew to Revelation, the Holy Spirit teaches us that just before the Last Day there will be a heightening of conflict, a greater persecution of the true Church by the forces of Satan.  Paul in today’s epistle calls that the rebellion, and the revelation of the man of lawlessness seated in the Temple of God.  That is to say, the lawless one will be a church leader, who openly rejects Christ and His teaching, who denies God, and in the end sets himself up as God. 

    The reformers of the sixteenth century saw that the Pope, ruling over Church, but denying the Gospel, was displaying this spirit of lawlessness.  But just before the End, a worse man of lawlessness will be revealed.  And then Jesus will come visibly, one last time. 

      The End Times began at the bodily Ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God the Father, and they will end, the Last Day will come, when Jesus returns bodily, riding on the clouds, to slay the lawless one with the breath of His mouth, that is, with His mighty Word.  At that time the new heavens and the new earth will be revealed, and then all of God’s chosen, all those who have believed the truth of our utter sinfulness, but also trust in Jesus’ blood-bought forgiveness, all of them will be transformed and gathered into God’s eternal glory, forever and ever, Amen. 

     In the meantime, until that blessed Day, the dynamics that will be concluded on the Last Day, the struggle between dark and light, the battle for human souls, continues.  No one knows when the Last Day will be; stop listening, right away, to anyone who claims to know, for they are directly contradicting Jesus Himself, and are not on the side of God.  We don’t know when, but we do know how things will turn out.  Jesus wins, completely, and so do all who are joined to Him, all who long for and love His appearing, all who trust in Christ alone for forgiveness, life and salvation. 

      We have reason to rejoice about the End Times, because we know the final result.  But this does not mean they are not frightening.  Verses 9-12 also describe some activity by God during these End Times that we would prefer not to wrestle with.  This could be one reason they were left out of our appointed reading.  But Paul knows better what we need to hear. 

     Paul declares that Jesus, when He returns visibly, will slay and bring to nothing the lawless one.  In the end, God and His people win.  But in the meantime, the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, ^[10] and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

    As Jesus taught in the Gospels, false-christs will come, working great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if it were possible, even the elect, even God’s chosen children.  The Apostle John in his letters coins the term antichrist.  The beasts of Revelation, the man of lawlessness, various antichrists already at lose in the world, and the Antichrist, these are all part of the same satanic effort to separate sinners from God, forever.  The spirit of lawlessness already at work in the world and the lawless one who will be revealed right before the end reflect this same reality, worked by Satan. 

   And, the Lord Almighty allows the toothless dragon to continue spewing lies to deceive sinners.  That’s hard to swallow.  Why does God allow this? 

     We don’t know.  It is part of His overall good and gracious plan of salvation, we know that.  But the Holy Spirit in His Word never explains ‘why’ about a number of hard things, including this one.  I suspect our still-fallen minds would not be able to understand.  In any case, faith doesn’t demand an explanation to something God has left a mystery for now.  Faith instead clings to the clear promises of God in Christ Jesus, for in these we have life. 

     But Paul is not done saying hard things.  In verses 11 and 12 he writes that to the unbelievers, (those who refuse to love the truth) God sends a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, ^[12] in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  How can a loving God send a delusion to unbelievers, when He desires that all people turn from their sins and live?  Well, certainly one key point for us to remember is that God’s truth and His love cannot be separated.  Those who, for love of unrighteousness, for love of their favorite sins, refuse the truth are also cutting themselves off from God’s love.  Apart from the work of Christ Jesus, this would be everyone, all people, including you, and you, and me. 

    Paul is not teaching that God before time chose against some souls, that before the Creation He predestined some to damnation.  The Bible does not teach that.  Paul here is speaking of God’s actions in these End Times, in this sinful world, where every sinner, based on their own works and merit, deserves God’s present and eternal punishment.  God did not predestine anyone to damnation, and He continues to work to rescue more sinners from eternal death.  But tragically, many refuse.    

   To be sure, there is a strong warning in Paul’s words:  In this world where God has made known His existence and power, and has caused His Gospel of free forgiveness to be widely proclaimed, those who reject Him must beware.  Eventually, God will give the soul that continually rejects the His Word exactly what they are asking for, a delusion to firmly believe what is false.

     Do we see such a delusion, such a spirit of lawlessness at work in our world today?  Very much, and in many ways.  Remember that part of God’s Law is simply His ordering of the Creation, the way He has made things to be.  Sinful men and women have always been rebelling against God’s design for marriage, family, and sexuality.  Whether that is by treating Holy Marriage as a joke, like the Sadducees, or redefining it down to meet our basest desires, like no-fault divorce, under Satan’s influence, we humans have rejected God’s way, His ordering, His law, again and again. 

     In the Church, a lie called “Gospel reductionism” has gutted the proclamation of many formerly faithful churches, and led to the mass exodus of many souls.  Gospel reductionists pretend to be so Christ focused, they have discovered that the Law of God is no longer necessary, nor even helpful.  All we need to do, they say, is speak of Jesus and His love; there is no need to accuse people of sin. 

    But Jesus’ love is forgiving love.  The eternal Son dying on a Cross to pay for our sins makes no sense if God’s Law is not true and applicable and eternal.  And our sinful nature loves to hear that sin is not such a big deal anymore.  Gospel reductionist churches quickly evolve to sin-denying churches.  Blending your faith with pagan religions?  That’s o.k.  Choosing to end innocent lives in the womb, for the sake of the convenience of adults?  Who are we to judge?  Endorsing any and every possible lifestyle, regardless of God’s Word?  I mean, Jesus loves us, so how can our feelings be wrong?  That these and other lies have gained prominence within Christian churches makes it no surprise that in our broader culture, chaos and darkness and the celebration of depravity reign.  

     So, what are Christians to do?  First of all, give thanks to God, who has graciously chosen us as firstfruits to be saved, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, giving us faith, belief in the truth of Jesus, faith worked in us by the Word, including through the washing of water with the Word. 

     Give thanks to God for saving you, and also be wise to recognize that He did this through His Law and Gospel.  Christians are not lawless, but rather we uphold God’s Law and His ordering of creation and life, both for ourselves, and for others.  For we know that coming to believe in Jesus requires a recognition of our sins and sinfulness, which brings us to repent, and makes us ready to hear the Good News of the Savior. 

     Paul exhorts us to hold fast to the traditions, the Gospel truths handed down by Jesus through His Apostles: the tradition of proclaiming the whole counsel of God’s Word, the Creation, the Fall, Redemption in Christ, and the coming age.  Both God’s Law, to reveal the truth of our sin, and His Gospel, His Good News that in Christ there is free forgiveness for all who believe.  The super-abundant grace and wisdom of connecting this Gospel to physical means, water, wheat and wine, so that we fleshly, tangible creatures can also know God’s love through tangible, earthly things.  Though veiled in human voices, and hidden under water, bread and wine, Christ Jesus truly brings His Last Day victory to us, whenever we gather around His traditions.  So, of course we hold fast to these traditions of Jesus, which create new hearts in us, and lead us to also love others, as Jesus has loved us. 

     As we cling to Christ’s traditions by celebrating them, day by day and Sunday by Sunday, we are also proclaiming them to the unbelievers around us.  We do not know who God will convert through our holding fast to the traditions of Christ.  We do know that the blood of Jesus covers the sins of the whole world, of every man, woman and child ever conceived.  So, we are free to speak the truth, and we look forward to the perfect harvest.  For we know that in heaven, all the mysteries that trouble us now will be made clear, and nothing will disturb our joy and peace, ever again. 

     That the struggle of the End Times and the condemnation of sinners bother us is good and right.  God the Father takes no pleasure in condemning sinners, and gave His eternal Son into death in order to win forgiveness and new life for all.  And so, when we are troubled, let us pray to the Holy Spirit to move us to redouble our prayer and proclamation, knowing that God’s mission to save the lost is not over until the Last Trumpet sounds, and Christ appears, riding the clouds in glory. 

     We know that our Redeemer lives!  Our God is the God of life, the God of the living.  He is God of the living souls of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of all those who depart this life sharing the same faith they had, faith in God’s Promised Savior.  God grant that in the midst of trouble and struggle and death, which continue to define this visible, fallen world, our eyes be fixed where true joys are found, in the Crucified, Resurrected and Ascended Savior, Jesus Christ, who has opened the Way to Father for us, through His own Body, that Body into which we have been joined, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.