Even him whose coming is after the working of
Satan
That is, as a deceiver, a liar, and a murderer; for such was the
working of Satan with our first parents; he seduced Eve, not only
by subtlety, but by lying; he abode not in the truth, is the
father of lies, and a murderer from the beginning: and such is
the working of antichrist his firstborn; he comes in a deceitful
way, under a profession of Christ, and a pretension of faith in
him, and love to him; but speaks lies in hypocrisy, for such are
his doctrines and tenets; and is not only a murderer of the
bodies of the saints, but of the souls of men; which are the
wares the whore of Babylon deals in:
with all power;
not omnipotence, for that is peculiar to God, and is not in Satan
nor in antichrist, though the latter assumes to himself all power
in heaven and in earth, and claims a jurisdiction both temporal
and spiritual over men; but rather this means great power, or all
kind of power of doing miracles, as follows:
and signs, and lying wonders;
that is, such signs and miracles as are not real, but reigned,
only in appearance, not in truth, like those that were done by
the magicians of Egypt; and these were done to countenance lies,
and to induce persons to believe them; and how many miracles and
lying wonders the church of Rome pretends to, everybody knows.