Jesus the Conqueror

Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.
–2 Thessalonians 2:8

British novelist H. G. Wells is known for science fiction classics such as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds. You may not know that Wells was a pacifist. He believed war should be avoided. However, as he watched the rise of Germany at the beginning of the twentieth century, he became a proponent of World War I. He believed Germany’s military-industrial complex needed to be defeated, and therefore the war was justified. He wrote, “This is . . . a war for peace. It aims straight at disarmament. It aims at a settlement that shall stop this sort of thing for ever. Every soldier who fights against Germany now is a crusader against war. This, the greatest of all wars, is not just another war–it is the last war!” He collected his articles about World War I into a book titled The War That Will End War.

But World War I didn’t end all wars, did it? Twenty years later, Adolf Hitler lit the fuse that began World War II, in which tens of millions of men and women were killed around the world. Then came the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Since then, there has been war around the globe, including in more recent years the invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in Israel. There seems to be no end to war.

But one day there will be an end to war. There will be one final war that ends all wars because it will culminate in the return of Jesus the Conqueror.

As we continue to study Jesus’ roles in the end times, we’re going to talk about His second coming, when He will return to earth as the ultimate Conqueror. But before the ultimate Conqueror returns, a false conqueror, a false Christ, will rise to power in the world.

We call this false conqueror the Antichrist. Paul referred to him as the “man of lawlessness” and “that lawless one” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 8). The Antichrist will be a powerful, charismatic figure. He will cause great destruction during the final seven years before Jesus’ second coming. But as we will see this week, the power of the Antichrist is no match for the power of Jesus Christ.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Jesus the Prophet,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2024.

H. G. Wells, The War That Will End War (Duffield, 1914), 14.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.