Satan, the Lawless One
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
One going to a studio to have his portrait taken will probably suggest to
the photographer that he take it from one side or the other because the
individual is convinced that one side is better than the other. The
photographer may have a different viewpoint and come to a different
decision. The individual will select the picture he believes is the most
flattering to him.
But no matter from what direction you look at Satan, he has no good side.
He is a liar, he is a cheat, he is a deceiver, he is an imitator. We
would like to direct your attention to another facet of Satan's character
as we see in the Word of God that Satan is portrayed as the lawless one.
The Apostle Paul writing in 2 Thessalonians 2 reminds us that Satan will
consummate his program on the earth during the Tribulation period by
introducing to the world one who is called the Man of Sin, the Son of
Perdition, or as the phrase might better be translated, the Lawless One.
That lawless one who enters so much into the prophetic program is only a
manifestation of the basic character of Satan and his program. We will
not understand the nature of the warfare in which we are engaged day by
day, nor will we understand many of the events unfolding around us in the
world today, unless we recognize the fact that the one who is a
slanderer, a deceiver, a liar, is also lawless.
Satan was created by an act of God along with the rest of the angelic
creation. He came into existence because God spoke. By virtue of the fact
that he is a creature, an obligation rested upon him to submit to the
authority of the Creator. The Apostle Paul makes it very clear in Romans
9:20, concerning the perplexing doctrine of election, that the created
being has no right to say to the Creator, "Why did you make me thus?" For
a long time, just how long we do not know, Lucifer abode in the state in
which he was placed by creation. As the highest of the created angelic
beings, he was an executor of the will of God and an administrator in the
realm of angelic beings. As he exercised the power of God, clothed with
the glory and brightness as the most beautiful of all created beings, he
was superior to all other angels. But as long as there was one who was
over him, he was restless. He coveted the authority that belonged to God
but, more, he coveted God's independence.
When Lucifer saw the independence of God, and he contrasted his
obligation to remain in submission to God, within his heart he said, (as
is recorded in Isaiah 14:14), "I will be like the most High." And that
phase is the epitome of Lucifer's rebellion against God. He never could
be like God the Creator, because he was a created being. He never could
be like God having eternal life, because he possessed created life. He
could be like God in only one way, that is to be responsible to no one
other than himself. Thus in his lust for independence, he led a revolt of
innumerable host of angels against the authority of God. God comments on
the effect of this.
They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee,
saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake
kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities
thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? (Isaiah 14:16, 17).
To understand that which Isaiah writes, it is necessary for us to remind
ourselves again of the subtlety of Satan's solicitation of Eve to evil.
Satan came to her and questioned her knowledge of the revelation of God.
He questioned God's love and accused God of being jealous in that He did
not want to share His position with anyone; therefore He withheld from
Eve that which would be for her good and blessing. And he accused God of
imperfection in His character. As a result of this enticement, "when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did
eat."
The first sin of Eve was the sin of doubt, a sin that questioned the
character of God. Doubt produced rebellion; and Eve became a rebel
against God, the first rebel in this earthly sphere. Adam immediately
joined in her rebellion so that there were two rebels. And when Adam and
Eve begat children, the children born into their family were born rebels.
When they grew this rebelliousness manifested itself as Cain slew his
brother, Abel. That was a sin of lawlessness.
Early in the Book of Genesis we find that the whole earth had become so
corrupt and so wicked and so rebellious that God saw that the "wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he
had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. And the Lord
said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth:
both man and beast and the creeping things, and the fowl of the air; for
it repented me that I have made them" (Genesis 6:5-7).
Now we can begin to understand what Isaiah said when he addressed Satan
and asked, "Is this the one that shakes the nations, that causes them to
tremble, that turns the earth into a wilderness?" He was speaking of the
convulsion of the human race in their espousal of lawlessness and
rebellion that caused them to repudiate all law and order, and to rebel
against authority. The human race became a rebellious race, rebellious
against God. It became a lawless race. God had to send a flood that swept
across the face of the earth, to destroy man from the face of it, because
Satan had done his work of causing the earth to tremble and to shake and
had made the wilderness a desolation in their rebellion against God.
But it was God's purpose to populate the earth again. He used Noah and
his wife, and their children, a small family who had been brought to
faith in God because God had revealed Himself to them. The earth was
repopulated after the flood, and to prevent the shaking of the earth by
lawlessness, we find in the ninth chapter of Genesis that God instituted
human government. And human government was given power up to and
including death over the individual so that lawlessness should be curbed
and that men might have justice and righteousness on the earth. The
principle laid down in Genesis 9:6 is: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by
man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man."
The Apostle Paul comments on the prerogatives and the purpose of
government in the epistle to the Romans, chapter thirteen. Paul commands:
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power
but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to
good works but to the evil.
Wilt thou, then, not be afraid of the power? do that which is good and
thou shalt have praise of the same for he is the minister of God to thee
for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he [that is
the governor], beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of
God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." In this
passage, the Apostle very, very, clearly tells us that rulers and
authorities in the civil realm are appointed by God; they are called by
God his ministers. They are not ministers of the Gospel, but they are
administrators of law and order, of right and justice. They are raised up
to administer God's judgment upon evil doers, to punish the evildoers and
to preserve those that do well. Lest you think this is an isolated
passage notice, in 1 Peter 2:13, where the Apostle says we are to submit
ourselves ". to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be
to the king as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by
him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do
well."
In Titus we have the same teaching given to us by the Apostle Paul once
again. Paul was concerned that these who had been brought to freedom in
Jesus Christ should recognize that they were under the authority of
government and were to submit to it because government was a divine
institution necessitated by the rebellion of Satan and by Satan's program
to produce utter lawlessness upon the face of the earth. We remind you
that the Apostle Paul was living under one of the most corrupt, one of
the most authoritarian governments that the world had ever seen. Yet Paul
never took it upon himself to criticize the form of the government but
said that believers had a responsibility to submit to that government.
This leads us to the conclusion that any form of government that fulfills
the divine purpose for government, that is, any government that maintains
law and order, that curbs lawlessness and prevents riot, is a government
that has divine approval. And the believer is responsible to submit to
it. We are trying to impress upon you that God had a purpose for human
government. Human government was necessitated because Satan is lawless,
is a rebel, and it is his purpose to turn men to lawlessness, to
rebellion against society, against God, against God's law. And to prevent
the work of the one who causes the nations to tremble, God has instituted
human government.
Satan has quite a different purpose. We saw it in Genesis chapter six
concerning the flood. Satan's purpose is to turn the whole world into a
lawless chaos. It is his purpose to cause men and nations to rebel
against the rule of God, against the moral standards of the Word of God
and the character of God so that lawlessness results. We have a passage
in which Paul describes the character of society in the last days when
Satan's work is unrestrained. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 in the Amplified
translation reads:
But understand this, that in the last days there will set in perilous
times of great stress and trouble - hard to deal with and hard to bear.
For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of
money and aroused by an inordinate (greedy) desire for wealth, proud and
arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous,
scoffers), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane. [They
will be] without natural (human) affection (callous and inhuman),
relentless - admitting of no truce or appeasement. [They will be]
slanderers - false accusers, trouble makers; intemperate and loose in
morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good. [They will
be] treacherous (betrayers), rash [and] inflated with selfconceit. [They
will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and
rather than lovers of God. For [although] they hold a form of piety (true
religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it -
their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession. Avoid [all]
such people - turn away from them.
Such is the picture of lawlessness as Satan seeks to promote it in the
earth in these last days. The believer is confronted with this work of
Satan in the world around him. He also experiences the work of Satan in
his own heart, for Satan can produce lawlessness in society as a whole
only by producing lawlessness in individuals in that society. And so
Satan's method is to cause the nation to stumble, to catapult society
into lawlessness and rebellion against authority by leading individuals
into that same state of lawlessness and riot.
When an individual is born into this world, he is born with a lawless,
rebellious nature. That was your nature and mine before we were saved.
When we were saved, God brought us under authority to Himself and put us
under control of Jesus Christ. But we still retain all of the old
rebelliousness against the rule of God and against the holiness and
righteousness of God that we had before we were saved. And unless the
Spirit of God brings us into subjection, rebelliousness will manifest
itself later.
We little realize the extent of the unrestrained lawlessness that is
abroad in the world today and more specifically that is abroad in our own
nation today. This development of lawlessness is an indication that we
are in the endtimes before the appearing of the Lord of Glory who will
bring this earth into subjection to Himself. It is also a danger signal
for our nation.
No nation in the history of the world has ever been founded without a
regard for law and order at its inception. And no nation has been
destroyed until that regard for law and order was first destroyed. Think
of Babylon, the great nation that overshadowed all the other nations in
Old Testament history. Out of Babylon came some of the greatest codified
law that became a standard for all other nations. But as you turn to the
prophecy of Daniel on the eve of Babylon's destruction, what do you find?
You find the king in a great banqueting hall riotously drinking and
repudiating all gods. That nation that had been founded on law
disregarded law, and in one night it was swept away and its power broken.
What was the greatness of Rome? It was the Lex Romana, Roman Law. The
legal system that Rome developed became the foundation of the Roman
Empire. But read Gibbons Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire and what do
you find? At the period of Rome's decline citizens had repudiated law and
its right to rule over them, and nationally and individually, they did as
they pleased. They were swept away by invaders from the North. When they
repudiated law they went into decline and decay.
Our nation was founded upon the Word of God, upon respect for the
authority of God, upon respect for a legitimate government. We recently
have entered into a period when lawlessness has become the accepted
practice of the day. When marches designed to defy the law of the land
are organized to show open rebellion, it is an indication of how far
along the path of lawlessness we as a nation have gone. And councils of
churches and so-called Christian organizations join in with this godless,
Satanic movement, and seek to overthrow the law of the land and the rule
by law. Churches have contributed to the Satanic program seeking to
destroy that which is the primary function of government. This is far
more than individual rebellion. It is organized lawlessness against the
authority of state. Civil disobedience as an instrument to change
governments or compel governments to do the will of the people is a part
of a Satanic system that seeks to disregard law. Lawlessness does not
become legitimate because it is organized.
When those in high office say that it is ridiculous to expect a man to
obey a law that he does not like, they are advocating lawlessness. And
when one whose office it is to uphold law and order advocates rebellion
because the law does not suit him, he is promoting Satan's great purpose
in the world today, to destroy nations by producing lawlessness. It is to
be questioned whether Rome ever went any further in lawlessness than we
have already gone. And for Rome there could be nothing but dissolution.
It is to be questioned whether we have gone any further in our
godlessness than Babylon had gone. We are where Belshazzar was when he
"drank wine and praised the gods of gold ." (Daniel 5:4). God judged and
overthrew that nation! This same lawlessness has pervaded the warp and
woof of the fabric of our society. And that is what Isaiah meant when he
said Satan would shake the nations by producing national disregard for
law.
Now in order to keep the individual from falling onto this purpose of
Satan, God has placed authority in several realms. The believer is
charged to be in submission to that authority. The area of government, to
which the believer is to be in subjection, is only one area of authority
that we are called upon to respect. There is authority in the home. And
God by divine appointment has constituted the husband as the head of the
home. Those in the home are to recognize that the authority of the
husband and the father is a God-given authority. Authority was given to
the husband and the father to curb lawlessness. The husband, himself
lawless, must be in absolute subjection to Christ. Children are naturally
lawless; they are to be in submission to their parents. And the wife is
to be in subjection to her husband to curb lawlessness. Satan will seek
to produce rebellion in the home. This might be prevented through the
exercise of authority.
The Word tells us that God has constituted authority in the church. That
authority has been placed in elders, and the believers in the assembly
are commanded to be in subjection to the elders (1 Peter 5:5). Why?
Because believers can be just as rebellious and lawless as anyone else.
And God, who has given authority in the state, and who has given
authority in the home, has also set up authority in the church. You will
notice these are the three spheres in which a man lives; the sphere of
society or the state, the sphere of church, and the sphere of home. There
is no area in which we live in which God has not provided authority,
authority which was necessary because our adversary is a lawless one, and
we are lawless by nature. And lest Satan get an advantage over us and
bring us into subjection to himself, God has imposed this authority upon
us.
There is yet another authority, the authority that belongs to one whose
name is to be King of kings, and Lord of lords. God has given Jesus
Christ not only to be Saviour but God has given Him to be our Lord. And
when you use the term Lord in connection with Jesus Christ, you are
confessing that God has given Him to you to be your authority, the One
who will rule over you, who will control you. For what purpose? To
prevent the lawlessness of Satan from being reproduced in you.
The believer who is in subjection to Jesus Christ will be in subjection
in the state, in the home, and in the church. But God's method of
assuring subjection in each of these areas is to bring us into
subjection, first of all, to Jesus Christ. The child who is in subjection
to Jesus Christ will be in subjection to parents, because the parent is
the channel through whom Christ operates. The child of God who is in
subjection to Christ will be in subjection to the state because he
recognizes the state is a channel through which Christ exercises His
authority. The child of God who is in subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ
will be in subjection to the elders because he recognizes the elders are
one channel through which Christ operates.
The child of God must make a decision concerning whose authority he will
recognize over him. Satan bids for that authority. Over against that
Jesus Christ stretches forth a nail-pierced hand and invites you to take
His yoke upon you. He invites you to take up your cross and follow Him as
the Lord who has the right to rule over you. You have no power to combat
the lawlessness of Satan and, your voice raised against the lawlessness
of the land will be a tiny voice. But you can prevent Satan from ruling
over you individually. You can prevent it only by turning your life over
completely to Jesus Christ so that He might exercise His sovereign
authority over you as the Lord over his servant. The deceiver will blind
you to the truth, the liar will deny the truth, the lawless rebel will
seek to cause you to revolt against the truth. Only as you put yourself
in the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ can you be delivered from this evil
one.
Pentecost, J. D. (1997). Your adversary, the Devil. Originally published:
Grand Rapids, MI : Zondervan, 1969. (76). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel.
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