In accordance with the prophecies in the Bible, the generation preceding the second coming of the Lord Jesus to earth will witness extraordinary events.

First, the church will be caught up into heaven to meet the Lord “in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18). Believers will be supernaturally lifted from the earth, to the amazement of those left behind. Then a diabolical figure known as the Beast or the Antichrist will, with God’s permission, rule the entire world and impose a dictatorial world order, supported by a surveillance system aided by modern technology.

No one knows exactly when this will happen, but the Lord Jesus urges us to be vigilant. In the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus urges us to prepare for His coming: “Watch, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Understand this: If the master of the house had known at what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and not let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him” (Matthew 24:42–44).

The Apostle Paul offers some clarification regarding this future event. He wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica about an issue that was troubling them: “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in your minds or alarmed by any spirit, or by any word, or by any letter supposedly from us, as though the Day of the Lord had already come” (2 Thessalonians 2:1–2). The phrase “the Day of the Lord” refers to the entire period of God’s direct intervention in human history, beginning with the Rapture of the Church and continuing until the end of the world, when the Lord Jesus will create a new heaven and a new earth (2 Peter 3:8–13).

The Apostle Paul had already told them in his first epistle about the Rapture of the Church: “Behold, this is what we tell you by the Word of the Lord: we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself, with a cry, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17).

The Apostle Paul shows that this event will take place suddenly, without any warning, when “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night,” which is why we must be ready at any moment for the Lord’s coming: “Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us stay awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But we, who are children of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God did not destine us for wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him (1 Thessalonians 5:6–10).

From the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, we gather that some in the church had begun to believe that they were in the Great Tribulation and that they had missed the rapture of the church. It seems they had also received a written message that appeared to come from him and which suggested that the rapture of the church had already taken place. But the Apostle Paul assures them that “let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, the adversary who exalts himself above everything that is called ‘God’ or that is worthy of worship. Thus he will sit in the Temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3–4).

Therefore, “the Day of the Lord” has not come because neither the “apostasy” nor the “falling away” has yet taken place, nor has the “Man of Lawlessness” been revealed. The Apostle Paul speaks to them about something or someone who restrains the Antichrist. And now you know well what is restraining him so that he will not be revealed until his time comes. For the mystery of lawlessness has already begun to work; it is only a matter of the one who is now holding it back being taken out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:6–7). But who is the one who is holding back the Antichrist from revealing himself? The unanimously accepted view is that the one who is holding back the Antichrist from revealing himself is the Lord’s church, filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the church that prevents the Antichrist from appearing, but when it is taken away—that is, raptured into heaven—he will be able to carry out his work on earth.

The Apostle Paul then gives us more information about the “Man of Sin,” who is also known as the Antichrist (1 John 2:18) and the Beast (Revelation 13). “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of His mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of His coming. His appearance will be through the power of Satan, with all kinds of miracles, signs, and false powers, and with all the deceptions of wickedness for those who are headed for destruction, because they did not accept the love of the truth so that they might be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe a lie—so that all who have not believed the truth but have taken pleasure in wickedness may be condemned” (2 Thessalonians 2:8–12).

What are the characteristics of the Man of Lawlessness that are also found in other prophetic passages of the Bible? First of all, he will exalt himself above all gods, above the true God, and will demand that the world worship him as God,  the ultimate blasphemy (Daniel 11:36–37), (Revelation 13:1–8, 14–15). Then the Antichrist will receive Satan’s power to deceive people with false signs and wonders. Those who refuse to repent and believe the Gospel will be deceived and will begin to believe “a lie.” Those who allow themselves to be deceived and choose to believe a lie are condemned for eternity. (Revelation 13:1–8, 14–18; 14:9–11).

However, the Antichrist will be destroyed at the Lord’s coming to earth, when He “will strike the earth with the rod of His word and with the breath of His lips will slay the wicked,” and he will be cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Isaiah 11:4, Daniel 7:11, Revelation 19:19–20).

Throughout history, the spirit of the Antichrist has taken hold of many dictators or deceivers (1 John 2:18). However, the Antichrist is a figure of the future who will come to power during the seven years of tribulation, before the coming of the Lord Jesus to earth. Then, the Lord Jesus will destroy the Antichrist’s system and global Babylon and establish the Messianic kingdom: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And He will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

The identity of the Antichrist is not yet known, but we know the characteristics of his reign, as we have seen above. He will come with the power of Satan and perform false signs and wonders, imitating the divine power of the Lord Jesus. Instead of leading people to walk in the truth, as the Lord Jesus does, the Antichrist will lead humanity through cunning, injustice, and deception toward the destruction of their souls, so that people may die in their sins. Those deceived by him reject the truth of the gospel and salvation through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. Instead of following the truth that leads to salvation, most people choose the lie. That is why they will be condemned for having rejected the truth and finding pleasure in injustice.

We may ask ourselves: What is the Antichrist’s lie? First of all, any religious or philosophical system that rejects the Gospel—which affirms that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah who died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day. Second, the fact that the Antichrist will proclaim himself to be God—“who exalts himself above everything that is called ‘God’ or that is worthy of worship. “So he will sit in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

This is the ultimate blasphemy, which will bring about the famous “abomination of desolation” (Daniel 11:31, Matthew 24:15)—that is, the setting up of an icon, a speaking image. The false prophet will urge people to worship him: “And he deceived the inhabitants of the earth by the signs that he was allowed to perform in the presence of the beast. He told the inhabitants of the earth to make an image of the beast, which had the sword wound and yet lived. It was given power to breathe life into the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might speak and cause all who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Revelation 13:14–15)

The devil will deceive those who have practiced falsehood throughout their lives and whose hearts have been shaped by the new wave of ideas spread through modern technologies. Supernatural forces will be set in motion, for Satan will empower the Antichrist to perform false signs and wonders to deceive those who reject the truth of the Gospel. If we do not want to fall prey to this great deception, we must repent and turn to God through faith in the true Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The good news is that the rapture of the church will take place before the Great Tribulation. Therefore, faithful Christians today will be taken from the earth before the seven-year period (the Great Tribulation) and the reign of the Antichrist. The Rapture of the Church is the event that triggers the Antichrist’s rise to power. As for all the other so-called believers who have rejected God’s truth in the Bible and have lived in rebellion against God, they have formed “a church without biblical truth”—that is, apostates— God Himself will send them a delusion so that they may believe a lie: “For this reason, God sends them a delusion, so that they may believe a lie: so that all who have not believed the truth but have taken pleasure in wickedness may be condemned” (2 Thessalonians 2:11–12).

Who are those who have rejected the faith? They are those who undermine the authority of God’s Word through their liberal theologies. Those who promote ecumenism, claiming that all faiths are true and all lead to God. We have certain deceptive practices, such as yoga and New Age mysticism, infiltrating Christian spirituality. Then there are the so-called “new revelations”—strange teachings that come through a supposed movement of the Holy Spirit but which, in reality, contradict the teaching of the Gospel. There are those Christians who do not live holy lives and are slaves to sins of every kind: “But as for the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur—that is, the second death.” (Revelation 21:8). All of these will not be raptured and will be led to believe a lie. All sorts of news stories and tall tales about people being abducted by aliens are already circulating on the internet. Could this not be the lie prepared by the Antichrist and his servants to continue deceiving those who have not been raptured? If only a minority of believers who live godly lives are raptured, as is indeed the case in our day, won’t the other believers be tempted to think that the Rapture has not come and to continue living in the bondage of sin instead of repenting of it?

In light of this revelation, we must be prepared for the rapture of the church and live in the fear of God for the rest of the days we have left: “For the grace of God, which brings salvation to all people, has been revealed, and it teaches usbreak away from idolatry and worldly desires and to live in this present age with self-control, righteousness, and godliness, looking forward to our blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. “He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:11–14).

It is a great encouragement to us that, if we live blamelessly as we await the Lord’s coming, we will be caught up to meet Him at His coming: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and what we will be has not yet been revealed, but we know that when He is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2–3). Maranatha—Come, Lord Jesus!