Monday of the First Week of Advent
1. Now to turn to the passage in question, which I shall examine by arguments drawn from Scripture, without being solicitous to agree, or to say why I disagree, from modern commentators: "That Day shall not come, except there come a falling away first." Here it is said that a certain frightful apostasy, and the appearing of the Man of sin, the son of perdition, i.e. as is commonly called, Antichrist, shall precede the coming of CHRIST. Our SAVIOUR seems to add, that it will immediately precede Him, or that His coming will follow close upon it; for, after speaking of "false prophets" and "false Christs," "showing signs and wonders," "iniquity abounding," and "love waxing cold," and the like, He adds, "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Again He says, "When ye shall see the abomination of desolation . . . stand in the holy place then let them that be in Judea flee into the mountains." Indeed, St. Paul implies this also, when he says that Antichrist shall be destroyed by the brightness of CHRIST'S coming.
Antichrist is YET to come
If, then, Antichrist is to come immediately before CHRIST, and to be the sign of His coming, it is manifest that he is not come yet, but is still to be expected.
Further, it appears that the time of Antichrist's tyranny will be three years and a half, which is an additional reason for believing he is not come; for, if so he must have come quite lately, his time being altogether so short; and this we cannot say he has.
Besides, there are two other attendants on his appearance, which have not been fulfilled. First, a time of unexampled trouble. "Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be; and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved." This has not come. Next, the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world-"And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
Now it may be objected to this conclusion, that St. Paul says, in the passage before us, that "the mystery of iniquity doth already work," i.e. even in his day, as if Antichrist had in fact come even then. But he would seem to mean merely this, that in his day there were shadows and forebodings, earnests and operating elements of that which was one day to come in its fullness. Just as the types of CHRIST went before CHRIST, so the shadows of Antichrist precede him. In truth, every event in this world is a type of those that follow, history proceeding forward as a circle ever enlarging.
Musical Selection (Shall Tribulation or Distress; lyrics in video)
COLLECT