The Mystery of Lawlessness

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” 2 Thess. 2:7.

What is the mystery behind the progress and success of lawlessness, which makes it possible for the “man of sin,” the lawless one, to be revealed and gain power over all mankind? The mystery is that the new covenant in Jesus’ blood is explained away. This mystery was already active in Paul’s time and it has been at work relentlessly ever since then. It has never been as active as in these days, and soon people will have matured to receive the man of sin.

Everybody can examine himself now and see to what extent he has been defiled by lawlessness. When you read, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins,” have you read something about a covenant that binds two parties? I wonder if you haven’t read it like this: “This is My blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”? It is the mystery of lawlessness that has affected you so much that you are totally ignorant of the covenant. Only after the corruption comes from the sanctuary does it gain such power that all the people are destroyed. That is why the prophet was to set his face toward Jerusalem and preach against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel. Ezek. 21:2. When God set out to punish, He began at the sanctuary; and He began with the elders, for they were responsible for the younger generation. Ezek. 9:4-10. Nevertheless, He put a mark upon the foreheads of those who sighed and groaned over all the lawless abominations, and spared them.

“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude 3-4.

Here we see how and where the mystery of lawless began. Ungodly men crept into the apostolic assemblies and began their destructive work. When we read the letters to the seven churches we see that the corruption had already become widespread in the days of the apostles. How are things then today?

Notice how cunning and deceptive their work was: “. . . ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness.” God has given us an inexpressibly great grace in and by His Son, Jesus Christ. Indeed, those ungodly preachers preached about this great grace, but they simply kept quiet about the condition for receiving this grace—that they needed to repent! They spoke warmly about the love of Jesus for a fallen world, about His death for sinners. Now the worst sinners could come as they were and receive salvation without works. All this was indeed true, and they glorified both Jesus and God, but not many people noticed the things that they kept quiet about.

The apostle calls them “ungodly.” Yes, those who have sins on their conscience are quite capable of explaining that “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” But Paul opposed lawlessness vigorously, and he wrote: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” But then these ungodly people came along, preaching how wonderful it was that Jesus had fulfilled the law in our stead and redeemed us from the curse of the law, so that we are no longer under the law but under grace. They simply kept quiet about the conditions! But Paul saw through all that, and he wrote: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” Read Rom. 6:1-2 and 15. Then he proceeds to explain the new covenant.

It was easy for Paul to see what all this was leading to, and he made it plain that after his departure wolves would arise from among them, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Acts 20:29-31. Do you have an ear to hear? Can you recognize these preachers of lawlessness, who speak so glowingly about God’s promises, about His grace and about the blood, yet say nothing about the conditions? Where are they who are supposed to restrain the mystery of lawlessness?

Those who crept in during the time of the apostles have now become large, officially recognized and accepted denominations, “organized according to the biblical pattern.” In fact, they have organized things so well that those who would restrain lawlessness are not given any liberty to speak. In apostolic times there was no such thing as church enrollment, so they had no need of membership cards. Since then Satan has done a thorough work of organizing. Jesus’ words in this regard are very fitting: “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”