V.2 “At hand” means “is already here.”
V.3 Many believers today are deceived by bad teaching, and not one knows he is being deceived — the deception is so clever. Only obedience to what we already know brings more spiritual intelligence. The “falling away” means a time when the great majority has given up belief in God and turned to total self-will. We are today seeing this developing everywhere, but worse is to come. Also, when the full development of this — called the “apostasy” which word means “abandonment of one’s religion” — has come, then the Antichrist, the agent of Satan, will appear, a real man on this earth — immediately after the Lord has caught away the believers.
V.4 He will sit in God’s place in the temple which will have been built in Jerusalem. The Jews would like to start building it, but are so preoccupied with their enemies, they haven’t the time or means today. But they will. This man will teach what Satan suggested to Eve in the Garden of Eden “ye shall be as gods” (Gen. 3:5).
V.6 God controls all, and while the believers are still here on earth, and the Holy Spirit in each of us, God will preserve from the power of Satan — great comfort to know this.
V.7 The mystery of this wickedness and even worse, lawlessness, is working now. We are seeing the mysterious powers of Spiritism spreading daily. It is becoming more difficult to distinguish between the work of God and the work of Satan. And these are the signs that we are in the last days.
V.8 A more exact word for this man (“that wicked”) is “lawless one.” This is worse. Evil first is wickedness, but as it becomes worse, it sets itself up in opposition to God and this is lawlessness. When the Lord Jesus comes at the close of the tribulation (“E” on chart) He will destroy this lawless one.