Son of Destruction

Many saints will apostatize when the Lawless One, the Son of Destruction, seats himself in the Sanctuary of God.

As the Apostle Paul explained, the “Day of the Lord” will not arrive until the “Apostasy” occurs and the “Man of Lawlessness,” is unveiled. He will seat himself “in the Sanctuary of God.” Paul also calls him the “Son of Destruction.” Is there any additional significance to this second designation? – (2 Thessalonians 2:3-9).

In presenting the “Man of Lawlessness,” Paul uses language from the Book of Daniel describing the ruler called the “Little Horn.” This is demonstrated by multiple and clear verbal links between the books of 2 Thessalonians and Daniel.

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The phrase “Son of Destruction” occurs only in this passage in Paul's letters. The English noun “destruction” translates the Greek term ‘apôleia’ (απωλεια), meaning “destruction, ruin, loss” (Strong’s Concordance — #G684).

The phrase could refer to this man’s final fate when he is destroyed at the “arrival” or ‘Parousia’ (παρουσια) of Jesus. That possibility fits with Paul’s description of this deceiver’s demise:

• “Whom the Lord will consume with the spirit of his mouth and destroy with the manifestation of his presence” – (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

If this is so, “Son of Destruction” would be a Hebraic way of referring to someone destined for destruction – (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

However, the English term “destroy” in verse 8 translates a different Greek word than ‘apôleia’, namely, 'katargeô' (καταργεω), which more correctly means “disable, disarm, bring to nothing, paralyze.” The force of the clause’s genitive construction, “son of destruction,” is that destruction characterizes him. It identifies what the “Man of Lawlessness” does. His goal is to destroy the saints, the people of God.

The scriptural source for the term is the Book of Daniel, especially the passage in its eleventh chapter describing an evil ruler of Greek descent:

• “And the king will do according to his will. And he will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and speak marvelous things against the God of gods. And he will prosper until the indignation is accomplished; for that which is determined will be done” – (Daniel 11:36).

• “He opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he seats himself in the Sanctuary of God, presenting himself as God” - (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

This ancient ruler is prominent in several of Daniel’s visions. He is called the “Little Horn,” the “King of fierce countenance,” and the “contemptible person.” He originated from the “fourth beast” of Chapter 7 and “waged war against the saints and prevailed over them,” though only for the time allotted by the “Ancient of Days.”

This creature’s “war” included the desecration of the “Sanctuary,” the cessation of the daily burnt offerings, and the erection of the “Abomination of Desolation” in the “Sanctuary.” The “Little Horn” did everything imaginable to destroy the religion and people of Israel – (Daniel 7:21-25, 8:9-13, 8:23-26, 9:26-27, 11:30-36).

THE SANCTUARY

This background explains Paul’s warning that the “Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Destruction,” will “take his seat in the Sanctuary.” Did he mean he would enter a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem?

In 2 Thessalonians, Paul uses the Greek term for the inner sanctum or ‘naos’ (ναος), the “holy of holies,” not the word normally applied to the entire Temple complex (‘hieron’ - ιερον).

The Apostle shows no interest in the Jerusalem Temple. However, he applies the same term “Sanctuary of God” to the Church (along with other temple language and imagery).

Since the topic in the present passage revolves around the “Apostasy,” the context makes it probable Paul is referring to the unveiling of this figure in the Church:

• “We are a sanctuary of the living God (‘naos theou’), even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people”– (2 Corinthians 6:16).

• “So then you are no more strangers and sojourners but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom each several building, fitly framed together, is growing into a holy temple of the Lord; in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit” – (Ephesians 2:19-22).

In the eighth chapter of the Book of Daniel, the “Little Horn” is a “king” from one of the four Greek kingdoms that succeeded the empire of Alexander the Great. This same “Little Horn” waged war against the “saints” in the seventh chapter of the Book - (Daniel 7:21, 8:8-13, 8:21-25, 11:1-4).

The only historical figure that fits the descriptions of Daniel’s visions is Antiochus IV, the ruler of the Seleucid kingdom who persecuted the Jewish people for over three years (168 B.C. to 165 B.C.), the “indignation” that endured for the “season, seasons, and part of a season.” His oppression of the Jews caused the Maccabean Revolt.

This king’s campaign of destruction included the corruption of Jewish leaders, the banning of religious rites such as circumcision, burning copies of the Hebrew scriptures, the end of the daily burnt offerings, and the erection of an altar to his god, Zeus Olympias, on the altar of burnt offerings, the “Abomination that Desolates.”

Antiochus IV portrayed himself as the son of Zeus and therefore demanded appropriate veneration, even labeling himself Antiochus Epiphanes or “god manifest.” It may be more than coincidence that Paul tells us the “Man of Lawlessness” will be “paralyzed” by the “manifestation” of the true Son of God, using the noun form of ‘epiphanes’ or ‘epiphaneia’ for “manifestation” (επιφανεια - 2 Thessalonians 2:8).

According to the Book of Daniel, this “king of fierce countenance… corrupted the holy people… and magnified himself in his heart, and he stood for the destruction of many” of the people of the covenant. Through “flattery,” he would cause “deceit to prosper in his hands.” He “stood against the Prince of princes,” though in the end, “he was broken in piece without hand” – (“Such as do wickedly against the covenant will he pervert by flatteries” - Daniel 8:23-28, 11:32).

In the Greek Septuagint version of Daniel, the term translated as “destruction” in Daniel 8:25 is the same one used by Paul for the “Son of destruction,” ‘apôleia’. This is the Apostle’s source for the term (“he stood for the destruction of many”).

The Apostle Paul employed Daniel’s “Little Horn” and the historical figure of Antiochus IV as the model for the final Master Deceiver who will manifest himself in the Church, deceive many saints, and cause them to abandon the Apostolic Faith, using “all power and signs and lying wonders” to do so.

Just as the “Little Horn” caused many in Israel to desert the national religion, so this man will destroy many men and women in the Body of Christ with his deceptive activities before his demise at the “arrival” of Jesus. He is, therefore, aptly named the “Son of Destruction.”

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SEE ALSO:

• Disinformation - (Rumors about the Day of the Lord caused alarm and confusion in the Thessalonian congregation – 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)

• Two Pivotal Events - (Two events must occur before the Day of the Lord begins - The Apostasy and the unveiling of the Man of Lawlessness)

• The Apostasy - (Paul warned the Thessalonians of a future apostasy and linked it to the unveiling of the Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Destruction)

• L'Apostasie Finale - (Paul a mis en garde contre l'Apostasie future et l'a liée au dévoilement de l'Homme de l'Anarchie, le Fils de la Destruction)