From the statement in 2Thes.2 I don't see anyone but Israel being saved. Adam Clarke, on this passage, states:
"Came out of great tribulation - Persecutions of every kind."
--The phrase means "great affliction." He saw a multitude who came out of every kind of affliction or persecution throughout the centuries. It was a heavenly scene, not necessarily having directly to do with The Great Tribulation.
I am impressed that you use Adam Clarke as a scholarly Christian reference.
I would urge you to actually read his commentary on 2 Thess. 2.
Not once does he say, “not necessarily having directly to do with The Great Tribulation.”
Those words are a fiction.
Rather, Clarke admits others before him have contributed greatly to the understanding of 2 Thess. 2. He therefore bows to the expertise of Bishop Newton who “has examined the whole prophecy with his usual skill and judgment”.
FYI, Bishop Newton argues the classic Reformation position flawlessly.
Clarke gives a brilliant summation.
(1) The ‘apostasy’ is the defection from the pure doctrines of Christianity by the Church of Rome.
(2) The Man of Sin is the head of that apostasy who advances idolatry.
(3) The Man of Sin was prophesied beforehand in Daniel under several descriptions.
(4) He is a succession of men represented by one man, as are the dynasties of kings similarly described in Daniel.
(5) By ‘Temple of God’ is understood the Christian Church in the Gospel dispensation “and the man of sin sitting implies this ruling and presiding there; and sitting there as God implies his claiming Divine authority in things spiritual as well as temporal; and showing himself that he is God, implies his doing it with ostentation.”
(6) The ‘let’ was the Pagan Roman Empire…..”if we may rely upon the concurrent testimony of the fathers, it was the Roman empire. Most probably it was somewhat relating to the higher powers, because the apostle observes such caution; he mentioned it in discourse, but would not commit it to writing.”
(7) Like Judas, the son of perdition, the Man of Sin is a false apostle.
Clarke then quotes a further summation by Bishop Newton:
Upon this survey there appears little room to doubt of the genuine
sense and meaning of the passage. The Thessalonians, as we have seen from some expressions in the former epistle, were alarmed as if the end of the world was at hand. The apostle, to correct their mistake and dissipate their fears, assures them that a great apostasy, or defection of the Christians from the true faith and worship, must happen before the coming of Christ. This apostasy all the concurrent marks and characters will justify us in charging upon the Church of Rome.
The true Christian worship is the worship of the one only God, through the one only Mediator, the man Christ Jesus; and from this worship the Church of Rome has most notoriously departed, by substituting other mediators, and invocating and adoring saints and angels, nothing is apostasy, if idolatry be not. And are not the members of the Church of Rome guilty of idolatry in the worship of images, in the adoration of the host, in the invocation of angels and saints, and in the oblation of prayers and praises to the Virgin Mary, as much or more than to God blessed for ever? This is the grand corruption of the Christian Church: this is the apostasy as it is emphatically called, and deserves to be called; which was not only predicted by St. Paul, but by the Prophet Daniel likewise.
If the apostasy be rightly charged upon the Church of Rome, it follows of consequence that the man of sin is the pope; not meaning any pope in particular, but the pope in general, as the chief head and supporter of this apostasy. He is properly the man of sin, not only on account of the scandalous lives of many popes, but by reason of their most scandalous doctrines and principles; dispensing with the most necessary duties; and granting, or rather selling, pardons and indulgences to the most abominable crimes. Or, if by sin be meant idolatry in particular, as in the Old Testament, it is evident how he has perverted the worship of God to superstition and idolatry of the grossest kind.
He also, like the false apostle, Judas, is the son of perdition; whether actively, as being the cause of destruction to others; or passively, as being devoted to destruction himself. He opposeth - he is the great adversary of God and man; persecuting and destroying, by croisades, inquisitions, and massacres, those Christians who prefer the word of God to the authority of men. The heathen emperor of Rome may have slain his thousands of innocent Christians; but the Christian bishop of Rome has slain his ten thousands.
He exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped - not only above inferior magistrates, but likewise above bishops and primates; not only above bishops and primates, but likewise above kings and emperors; deposing some, obliging them to kiss his toe, to hold his stirrup, treading even upon the neck of a king, and kicking off the imperial crown with his foot; nay, not only kings and emperors, but likewise above Christ and God himself; making even the word of God of none effect by his traditions - forbidding what God has commanded; as marriage, the use of the Scriptures, etc.; and also commanding or allowing what God has forbidden, as idolatry, persecution, etc.
So that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, etc.; he is therefore in profession a Christian, and a Christian bishop. His sitting in the temple of God implies plainly his having a seat or cathedra in the Christian Church; and he sitteth there as God, especially at his inauguration, when he sits upon the high altar in St. Peter's church, and makes the table of the Lord his footstool, and in that position receives adoration.
Clarke then cites the expert testimony of Dr. MacKnight who corroborates Bishop Newton’s interpretations.
(1) The restraining power was that of the Roman Emperors.
(2) Daniel’s little horn and willful king predicted the Man of Sin.
(3) Although the title, Man of Sin, is singular it denotes a succession of men.
"Now as, in the prophecies of Daniel, empires governed by a succession of kings are denoted by a single emblem; such as, by a part of an image, a single beast, a horn, etc., of a beast; so in Paul's prophecy, the man of sin, and son of perdition, and the lawless one, may denote an impious tyranny, exercised by a succession of men who cause great misery and ruin to others; and who, at length, shall be destroyed themselves. It is true, the papists contend that one person only is meant by these appellations, because they are in the singular number, and have the Greek article prefixed to them. But in Scripture we find other words in the singular number, with the article, used to denote a multitude of persons; for example, Romans 1:17; ὁ δικαιος, the just one, by faith, shall live; that is, all just persons whatever: Titus 1:7; ὁ επισκοπος, the bishop must be blameless; that is, all bishops must be so: 2 John 1:7; ὁ πλανος, the deceiver, signifies many deceivers, as is plain from the preceding clause, where many deceivers are said to have gone out. In like manner the false teachers, who deceived Christ's servants to commit fornication and idolatry, are called that woman Jezebel, Revelation 2:20, and the whore of Babylon, Revelation 17:5; and in this prophecy the Roman emperors, and magistrates under them, are called ὁ κατεχων, he who restraineth.
Farther, a succession of persons, arising one after another, is denoted by appellations in the singular number with the article; for example: the succession of the Jewish high priests is thus denoted in the laws concerning them, Leviticus 21:10, Leviticus 21:15; Numbers 35:25-28. As also the succession of the Jewish kings, Deuteronomy 17:14; 1 Samuel 8:11. From these examples, therefore, it is plain that the names, man of sin, son of perdition, lawless one, although in the singular number, and with the article prefixed, may, according to the Scripture idiom, denote a multitude, and even a succession of persons arising one after another.
Clarke then sums up his own personal view:
“With all this evidence before him, the intelligent reader will now be enabled to judge for himself, and to adopt for his own that opinion which appears to be the best supported by circumstances and facts. The labors of the above learned men have certainly narrowed the principal subjects of inquiry; and we may now safely state that, in this very obscure prophecy, the Spirit of God had in view either the Jewish or an apostate Christian Church, possessing great spiritual and secular influence and jurisdiction. That the words appear to apply best to the conduct of many of the popes, and the corruptions of the Romish Church, needs no proof; but to which of these Churches, or to what other Church or system, we should apply them, some men, as eminent for their piety as for their learning, hesitate to declare:
yet I must acknowledge, that the most pointed part of the evidence here adduced tends to fix the whole on the Romish Church, and on none other.”
Clarke’s commentary on Rev. 13 is also classic Reformed exegesis.
In short, Adam Clarke in no way, shape or form agrees with Dispensational Futurism….whether the traditional form or the unique modified version presented by DHK.
raying: