THE MAN OF
SIN
T.P.
Simmons
We have already touched
somewhat upon the Man of Sin in previous chapters, but now we come to study him
more closely. Before proceeding further, let the student turn and read the
following Scriptures: 2 Thess. 2:3-10; Rev. 11:1-7; 13; 16:13-16; 17; 19:17-20; Dan. 7:8-27; 8:8-25. These last two Scripture
passages have reference to Antioches Epiphanes, the type of the Man of Sin.
I. THE IDENTITY OF THE MAN OF
SIN
1. HE IS TO BE AN ACTUAL INDIVIDUAL
As stated before, we interpret
any passage of Scripture literally, unless there is something in the passage, or
in the context or in some other Scripture that indicates a figurative meaning.
We find absolutely no reason for taking the description of the Man of Sin otherwise than literally. No institution or agency
could sit in the temple of God. See 2 Thess. 2:4.
2.
HE AND THE BEAST OF REVELATION ARE TO BE THE SAME
INDIVIDUAL
We hold this conviction for
the following reasons:
(1) Both are to run their
course during the interim between the two phases of Christ's coming.
Below we show this to be true
of the Man of Sin. And in a previous chapter we have shown that the section of
the book in which is recorded the career of the Beast belongs to that period.
(2) Their
activities are similarly described.
2 Thess. 2:4-10; Rev. 13:6-8.
(3) Both are to be destroyed
at the final coming of Christ to the earth.
2 Thess. 2:8; Rev.
19:11-20.
3. HE IS TO BE A WORLD KING
WITH HIS SEAT OF POWER AT ROME
See Rev.
17:1-11. We hold the seven mountains (vs. 9) to be the seven celebrated hills of
Rome. The five fallen kings we hold to be Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, and
Greece. The one that then was we believe was pagan Rome. The one that was yet to
come was "Christian" Rome, or the so-called Holy Roman Empire. The former six
kingdoms (the term for kings meaning either kings or kingdoms) culminated in the seventh. The Beast is to be the eighth king
and his kingdom will combine all the power and evil of the seven. The deadly
wound on one of the heads of the Beast (Rev. 13:3) we take to represent the fall
of Rome, A. D. 476. We refer the healing of the wound to the reestablishment of
the Roman Empire with its capital at Rome under the reign of the Beast. The sea
out of which the Beast is seen to arise (Rev. 13:1; 17:1, 15)
we take as representing the seething, turbulent, revolutionary mass of humanity
to which the inhabitants of the earth will be reduced by the rapture of the
saints.
We find no satisfactory ground
for holding that the Man of Sin will be Judas reincarnated.
It is certain that God would not actively work such a reincarnation. And the
Devil has not the power to work it. He can possess and dominate men, but he
cannot actually incarnate himself, nor can he reincarnate his dead followers.
The basis of the notion that the Man of Sin will be Judas reincarnated, the fact
that he was called "a devil" (John 6:70), and "the son of perdition" (John
17:12), and is said to have gone to "his own place" (Acts
1:25), is insufficient to establish such a radical idea. We regard this and some
other notions concerning the Man of Sin as fanciful.
Nor is there scriptural ground
for referring to the Man of Sin as the Antichrist in any
exclusive sense. John alone, in his epistles, uses the term; and he applied it
to the false teachers of his day that denied the humanity of Christ (1 John
2:18,22; 4:3,4; 2 John 7). And he said there were many of them then in the
world. The prefix "anti" may signify against or it may signify instead of. There
is no evidence that John gave it the latter meaning. He used it exclusively as
applying to those who were against Christ; those who denied
that Jesus was the Christ.* There is no evidence that the false teachers
referred to by John tried to establish any one of their number as the Christ.
The Man of Sin will be an antichrist, but identifying him as "the Antichrist,"
in an exclusive sense, and then taking the prefix to mean instead of and
inferring that he will be a Jew that will pose as the Christ is unwarranted. The
Man of Sin will sit in the temple and demand worship, but he
could do that without posing as the Messiah. As a type of this, Antiochus
Epiphanes erected the statue of Jupiter Olyniphus on the altar of
burnt-offering. The seven forerunners of the Beast or Man of Sin were not Jews.
We hold that the Man of Sin will be a Roman (Italian).
1.
HE IS TO BE REVEALED IN THE INTERIM BETWEEN THE TWO PHASES OF CHRIST'S
COMING
As we have
pointed out previously, no individual that fulfilled the description of the Man
of Sin has yet been revealed on the earth. Some think that the papal line is the
Man of Sin. But no pope has ever sat in the temple of God. The Vatican is not
the temple of God. Apostate Christianity is not the temple of God. Instead it is
the habitation of devils (Rev. 18:2). The revelation of the Man of Sin is now
being hindered by some individual (2 Thess. 2:6,7). We
believe this hinderer is the Holy Spirit indwelling every true believer (1 Cor.
6:19) and every true New Testament church (1 Cor. 3:16). It is the Holy Spirit's
restraining influence exercised through believers that now prevents the
revelation of the Man of Sin. Thus believers are the salt of the earth (Matt.
5:13). The taking out of the way of the hinderer, then, will mean the removal of the Holy Spirit from the earth.** This will require the
taking
____________
*"This position was held in
two forms, (1) that Jesus Christ was not literal (5:2), and His humanity being
denied, the Messiahship was denied, since the former was necessary to the latter; (2) that Jesus and the Logos were only
temporarily and, as it were, mechanically connected; and as the Logos and the
Messiah were held to be essentially identical, so Jesus could not be the
Christ."
**We refer here only to the
removal of his special presence as abiding in believers and
the church, which began at Pentecost. This will mark the end of the special
dispensation of the Spirit. His ministry will then revert back to what it was
before Pentecost.
____________
out of the
earth of every true believer. Since this will occur at the first phase of
Christ's coming (1 Thess. 4:15-17), the revelation of the Man of Sin cannot come
about until after the first phase of Christ's coming. And since he is to be
consumed and destroyed at the second phase of Christ's coming (2 Thess. 2:8), he
must be revealed and run his course during the interim between the two phases of
Christ's coming.
2.
THE LENGTH OF HIS CAREER WILL BE FORTY-TWO MONTHS
Rev. 13:5. He is to be
revealed about the middle of the great tribulation period and to continue through the latter half of it. We interpret the
forty-two months literally because that seems most suitable in view of all other
indications of time. Three years and a half answers well to "a time, times, and
a half," during which he (evidently the man of sin, typified in Daniel) shall
"scatter the power of the holy people (the Jews)" (Dan. 7:25; 12:7), and during
which the woman (whom we take to represent the Jewish
nation) is to abide in the wilderness (Rev. 12:14).
III. HIS
ACTIVITIES
1.
HE WILL SIT IN THE TEMPLE, PRETENDING TO BE GOD
See 2 Thess. 2:4. The temple
that the Man of Sin will sit in is doubtless the restored Jewish temple, which
will be the center of worship during the millennium.
Every New Testament church is
a temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16). But this could not be what is
meant in 2 Thess. 2:4. To be seated in a local church would not be sufficient to
satisfy the ambition of this monster of iniquity. And surely the Scripture
indicates a more daring and far-reaching exaltation than this. The reference in
2 Thess. 2:4 could not be to apostate Christianity, for, as we have remarked
already, apostate Christianity is not the temple of God; but instead is the
habitation of devils (Rev. 18:2). The reference is certainly
to the Jewish temple that is to be restored by the Jews at Jerusalem some time
during the great tribulation period. This, it seems clear, is the temple that
comes into view in Rom. 11:1, 2.
We do not believe that the Man
of Sin will sit personally in the temple, but will be represented there by his image (Rev. 13:14-17). It is thus that
he will pretend to be God, and not by posing as the Messiah. If he desired to be
recognized as the Messiah, common sense would forbid the allowance of demanding
worship of his image.
2. HE WILL CAUSE INDUSTRY TO
PROSPER
Dan. 8:25. He will give the
world the newest of all "new deals"; will be a great industrial
leader.
3. HE WILL DO MANY PRESUMPTUOUS
THINGS
4.
HE WILL SUPPORT AND RECEIVE THE PATRONAGE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
Rev. 17:2-6. We take the great
whore to represent the Roman Catholic Church (Rev. 17:1-7). Her clothing and
ornaments picture the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church. The abominations are
her unscriptural doctrines and practices. Fornication represents her spiritual
adultery in being espoused to the Pope instead of to Christ.
The harlots of which she is the mother are Protestant denominations. Her being
"drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus" pictures her persecution against true believers (particularly Baptists)
through the dark and middle ages.
From Rev.
18:4 we find that even at the very hour of her destruction she will have some of
God's people in her, as she doubtless has at this time. And God's command now is
the same that it will be at the end: "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not her plagues." We say that the
Beast will support the Roman Catholic Church because we first see the whore
riding on the Beast (Rev. 17:1-12). We say the Beast will
receive the patronage of the Roman Catholic Church because we regard the second
Beast (Rev. 14:11-17) as the Pope. Note that this second Beast has the
appearance of a lamb. This represents the professed sanctity of the Pope. Note
also that, in contrast to the first Beast, the second Beast will arise out of
the earth (Rev. 13:11). The first Beast will arise out of (the sea) turmoil and revolution. The second one will have a
solid, compact, orderly source- the Roman Catholic system.
5.
BUT FINALLY HE AND HIS TEN KINGS WILL TURN AGAINST THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
DESTROY HER
Rev. 17:16, 17.
6.
HE WILL PERSECUTE THE JEWS
Dan. 7:25;
Rev. 11:7; 13:7. This will doubtless be occasioned by the refusal of the Jews to
bow to his authority and to worship his image.
7.
FINALLY HE WILL LEAD THE KINGS OF THE EARTH AND THEIR ARMIES AGAINST JERUSALEM
FOR THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON
Rev. 16:13-16; 19:17-21. We
regard the false prophet mentioned in these passages as being identical with the
second Beast- the pope, who, after the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church,
will remain in league with the Beast. The battle of Armageddon will engage our
attention in the next chapter.