THEOSISCyrill of Alexandria
He also stated: "When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and take possession of it and dwell there, and you say, I will set a king over me like the other nations around me, then you shall set over you a king whom the Lord your God will choose; from among your brethren you shall set a king over you; you must not appoint a foreigner over you, who is not your brother." Therefore, we must distance ourselves as much as we can from serving created beings apart from our Creator God, turn toward the words of truth, and call to the sacred promise of God through faith in Christ. This action sets over us the prince and judge, the Son of God, who, while He took on human form, declared, "I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain; I will proclaim the decree" (Ps.
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2:6-7). Certainly, we shall accept no one but Him, nor will we be burdened by the yoke of outsiders: “Christ is your only Teacher” (Matthew 23:8). However, the sorrowful Jews remain outside due to their lack of faith and did not receive Christ as their sovereign and judge, despite His descent from heaven at the pleasure of God the Father, and instead they chose a foreign ruler—a man of destruction, the Antichrist—who is neither from Israel nor of their lineage, even though the law explicitly states: “You cannot make a foreigner king over you who is not your brother.” Moreover, they heard Christ declare: “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not accept Me; but if another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (John 5:43). Christ came bearing the glory of God the Father. Yet, the man of lawlessness will come in due time, not in God the Father’s glory; I believe this is what is meant by being “in the Father’s name”—for this wretched man will assume a title of divinity, sitting in the house of God, "claiming to be God" (2 Thess. 2:4). Nevertheless, the Jews would never have worshiped him or acknowledged him as the Messiah if they had upheld the law, which clearly foretold that Christ would arise from the lineage of Israel. They chose to disregard even this truth, as if it were no longer valid, in favor of accepting someone who is a stranger and foreigner.