The last 3 1/2 years of the tribulation will be the great tribulation. Read verse 21 and you cannot deny it from the lips of Jesus. This is Satan‘s last gasp to stop the kingdom of heaven from Prevailing. Satan will fail. We see here that Satan even desires to set himself up through the anti-Christ in the holy of holies in Jerusalem, after Israel rebuilds the temple? God’s not in the temple, but that is a symbol of Gods throne, and Satan will setup an image of the Beast there. This is the great abomination that will lead to much desolation or the great tribulation. Satan will cause the antichrist to break his peace treaty which Israel enjoyed for the previous 3 1/2 years. What we see in verse 15 is the revelation of the lawless one. All the stops are pulled. “If I can’t have my kingdom, God can’t have his!” We need to connect this event of great lawlessness with the absolute lawlessness that we cannot understand today. Paul called it the mystery of lawlessness. Everything that you see happening that is so bizarre and evil is connected to this person. This event is the culmination and reason for all the lawlessness. This is why it is so important that we do not tolerate it. We do not give it ground. "For it is the mystery of lawlessness that is now operating, but only until the one now restraining goes out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord Jesus will slay by the breath of His mouth and bring to nothing by the manifestation of His coming), The coming of whom is according to Satan’s operation in all power and signs and wonders of a lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:7-9). May we confess with the apostle Paul,
"And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh, / Justified in the Spirit, / Seen by angels, / Preached among the nations, / Believed on in the world, / Taken up in glory." (1 Timothy 3:16). In opposition, there is a mystery of godliness on the earth today. And this is revealed through the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore, through his church. Get ready to stand up for this Christ in the face of increasing lawlessness, which is the manifestation of great godliness, the witness of Christ life in you!
