The Man of Sin in the Temple

The story of the temple has an enemy, and the Scriptures do not show him all at once. He appears first as a shadow, and only later in full light.

The First Shadow: Hanukkah

In 167 BC the army of a foreign king, Antiochus IV, seized Jerusalem. The second temple was defiled, the daily offering was stopped, swine were offered on the altar, the people were forced to eat pork, and an idolatrous abomination was set up on the altar. Daniel had seen it coming centuries before:

Daniel 11:31 And arms shall stand from him, and they shall profane the sanctuary, the stronghold, and take away the continual, and set up the detestable thing that desolates.

Daniel 8:13-14 And I heard one holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, "Until when is the vision of the continual, and the transgression that desolates, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled?" And he said to me, "Until two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be justified."

Afterward the sanctuary was cleansed and dedicated again, and the feast that remembers it is Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication. Yeshua was in the temple at that feast:

John 10:22-23 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem; it was winter, and Yeshua was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.

Yet, though those events were long past, Yeshua spoke of the abomination of desolation as something still to come:

Matthew 24:15-16 Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place — let the reader understand — then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

Matthew 24:21 For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

The first desolation, then, was a foreshadowing; the full reality was still ahead.

The Second Shadow: AD 70

In AD 70, Jerusalem was surrounded by armies and trampled by the nations. Yeshua had foretold it:

Luke 21:20 But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near.

Luke 21:24 and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the ethne(nations); and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the ethne(Gentiles) until the kairos καιρός kahee-ros'(appointed-times) of the ethne(Gentiles) are fulfilled.

He set a limit on it: “until the kairos(appointed-times) of the ethne(Gentiles) are fulfilled.” And John sees the holy city trampled again at the end, for forty-two months:

Revelation 11:1-2 And a reed like a rod was given to me, saying, "Rise and measure the naos ναός nah-os'(sanctuary-temple) of God and the altar and those worshiping in it. And the outer court of the naos(sanctuary-temple) — leave it out and do not measure it, because it has been given to the ethne(nations, Gentiles), and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

So there are two shadows, Hanukkah and AD 70, and both point toward something that is still to come.

The Reality: A Temple, and a Man in It

Paul describes it without hesitation:

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasia ἀποστασία ap-os-tas-ee'-ah(falling-away) comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat as God in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

“He takes his seat as God in the temple of God.” Since AD 70 there has been no temple in Jerusalem, so for this word to be fulfilled, the temple of God must be standing again at that time. People often call it the third temple. In Revelation 11, John measures a temple of God, with an altar and with worshipers. And Daniel speaks of the daily offering being taken away:

Daniel 12:11 And from the time the continual is taken away, and the detestable thing that desolates is set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

If the daily offering can be taken away, there must be an altar on which it is offered.

In the Byzantine Majority Text (Robinson–Pierpont 2018), the reference text of the YLV, Paul calls this figure “the man of sin.” Some of the oldest Greek manuscripts read “the man of lawlessness” at this point, the man of anomia ἀνομία an-om-ee'-ah, which is why many English Bibles have “man of lawlessness” here. Either way, a few verses later Paul himself names the force behind this man:

2 Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of anomia(Torah-lessness) is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

Then he calls him “that lawless one.” John shows what connects those words: “sin is anomia(Torah-lessness)” (1 John 3:4). The man of sin is the man of anomia, the man of Torah-lessness.

Unrighteousness, lawbreaking, lawlessness, sin: every one of these words describes rebellion against God’s Torah. At the root of all that rebellion lies anomia, which is to set God’s Torah aside and live as though there were none. That is why God gave the Torah:

1 Timothy 1:9 realizing the fact that nomos νόμος nom'-os(law) is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers

The man who sits in God’s seat is that root grown to its full shape.

How He Ends

His end is certain, and it comes quickly:

2 Thessalonians 2:8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His parousia παρουσία par-oo-see'-ah(presence-coming);

Revelation 19:15 And out of His mouth a sharp double-edged sword comes out so that He might strike the ethne(nations, Gentiles) with it, and He will shepherd them with an iron rod, and He treads the winepress of the wine of the fury of the orge ὀργή or-gay'(wrath) of God the Almighty.

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was seized, and with it the false prophet who performed the signs before it by which he led astray those who received the mark of the beast and those worshiping its image — the two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

Paul writes of “the breath of His mouth.” John sees “a sharp double-edged sword” coming from His mouth. It is the sword of His word. The false king who tried to take God’s house is undone by a word from the true King.

An Old Ambition

This rebellion did not begin at the end. It reaches far back. Isaiah heard the king of Babylon say this in his heart:

Isaiah 14:13-15 And you said in your heart: "I will ascend to the heavens, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mountain of appointed time (moed מוֹעֵד mo-ade'), in the uttermost parts of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the cloud; I will make myself like the Most High (Elyon)." But you are brought down to Sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit.

“I will sit on the mountain of appointed time (moed).” He wanted to seize the very place and the very times that God had appointed, and his end was Sheol.

Daniel saw the last king do the same:

Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak words against the Most High (Elyon), and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High (Elyon); and he shall think to change times (zimnin זִמְנִין zem-awn', Aramaic) and decree (dat). And they shall be given into his hand until an appointed time (iddan, Aramaic) and appointed times (iddanin, Aramaic) and half a time.

“He shall think to change times (zimnin, Aramaic) and decree (dat).” The times he wants to change are the ones God set at creation and calls His own:

Genesis 1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens, to divide between the day and between the night; and let them be for signs (ot) and for appointed times (moadim מוֹעֵד mo-ade'), and for days and years;

Leviticus 23:2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them: The appointed times (moadim) of the LORD, which you shall proclaim them holy convocations (miqra-qodesh מִקְרָא־קֹדֶשׁ mik-raw'), these are My appointed times (moadim).

The Old Habit of the Nations

The same rebellion takes one more form, and Paul warned the believers in Galatia about it:

Galatians 4:8-11 However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless stoicheia(elementary principles), to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You are paratereo παρατηρέω par-at-ay-reh'-o(observe with hostile intent) days and months and kairos(appointed-times: Moedim) and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

Verse 8 tells us what the Galatians were in danger of turning back to: being “slaves to those which by nature are no gods,” the idols they served before they knew God. That is not a return to the Torah. It is a return to their old pagan habits.

The verb in verse 10 is not tereo τηρέω tay-reh'-o, “keep.” It is paratereo. Outside this verse the New Testament uses it five times, and each time it means to watch with hostile intent, to look for an accusation, or to plot against someone:

Mark 3:2 They were paratereo(observing with hostile intent) Him to see if He would heal him on the sabbatons(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23), so that they might accuse Him.

Luke 6:7 The scribes and Pharisees were paratereo(observing with hostile intent) Him to see if He would heal on the sabbaton σάββατον sab'-bat-on(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23), so that they might find a charge against Him.

Luke 14:1 And it came about when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on a sabbaton(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23) to eat bread, that they were paratereo(observing with hostile intent) Him.

Luke 20:20 And they paratereo(observed with hostile intent) Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement, so that they could deliver Him to the rule and exousia ἐξουσία ex-oo-see'-ah(authority) of the governor.

Acts 9:24 but their plot became known to Saul; and they were also paratereo(observing with hostile intent) the gates day and night so that they might put him to death.

Three of the five describe people watching Yeshua on the sabbaton in the hope of accusing Him. And the list in Galatians 4:10, “days and months and kairos(appointed-times: Moedim) and years,” matches the list in Genesis 1:14, “appointed times (moadim), and for days and years,” with only months added. In that very verse, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures used kairos for moed.

Galatians 4:10, then, is not a rebuke for keeping God’s appointed times. It is a rebuke for going back to the old pagan habit of watching God’s appointed times with hostility. Paul himself kept the feasts, and he told a church of believers from the nations, “let us celebrate the feast” (Chapter 7).

All Pointing the Same Way

The king of Babylon wanted to sit on the mountain of appointed time. The last king will think to change times and decree. The man of anomia will sit in the temple of God. And the old habit of the nations watches God’s appointed times with hostility. All four point in the same direction.

A believer who looks toward the restoration of worship and the fulfillment of the Torah does not stand in that place.

Nor does the story end with the enemy. The prophets give us a surprisingly detailed picture of the day the King comes, and it begins with an earthquake and with a temple so large that it could not possibly fit on the mountain where the old one stood.