Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our being gathered together to him, we
ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in
mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to
the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 2
Thessalonians 2:1-2
The false teachers had already started with their sensational
stories that the Church was in the great tribulation. Someone had made
prophetic utterance (by a spirit). Someone had brought a message (a spoken
teaching). Worst of all, someone had produced a forged letter, claiming it to
be from Paul, and stating that the day of the Lord had come. I suspect Paul was
pretty short-fused. I can imagine how he wanted to deal with that person, after
all the work he had put into preparing these believers for what to expect.
A blatant lie is bad enough. A lie attributed to ME is despicable.
There are Christians who are fascinated and excited by
constantly looking for “signs,” even though Jesus and the apostles have told us
repeatedly that there are no signs for the end of the Church age. There are
even some Bible teachers today who will acknowledge this principle, and then go
ahead and talk about the “signs of the end-times,” even though whatever social
and political signs we see are simply common to the degeneration of society,
and are not an indication of Jesus’ imminent return. In periods of great
adversity we wish it were so, but the fact is, we won’t know until we’re
face-to-face with Jesus that the rapture has occurred. It’ll be swift and
sudden, with no warning. Whoosh! And we’re gone.
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not
come, unless the rebellion comes first, and
the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself
against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in
the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these
things? 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5
Time for a refresher course. You know what you’ve been
taught. Don’t let these usurpers confuse you. What you got from Paul is the way
it is and will be. Anything that contradicts that teaching is a lie.
“That day”---the tribulation--- WILL NOT COME until after
the Church has been “gathered unto Him” in the rapture. Then begins the period
of world-wide apostasy, “the rebellion,” on a grand scale. The “man of
lawlessness,” called “man of sin” in other translations, will then exalt
himself above every god or object of worship. He will install himself as God in
the rebuilt temple at Jerusalem, demanding to be worshipped. This is another “sign”
we tend to be watchful for, though he will not appear in this position until
after the Church is gone. One thing that makes this so intriguing to us is that
there always seems to be at least one evil dictator on the world stage who
could easily slip into this office. It figures, since to become really rich,
famous and powerful in the world, one must “sell one’s soul” for the riches,
fame and power; meaning those things take priority over everything else in life, even truth and obedience to God. Satan is the ruler of this world, and when the time is right,
it won’t take much enticement for the man he has chosen to step onto that
throne in the Temple of God. He’ll be ready, but there are certain other
elements that are not in place yet. The world won’t see this man as evil,
though. He will be beautiful, intellectual and present himself as the savior of
mankind. He’s got the fool-proof plan for a perfect environment, and it’ll
work, now that all those pesky Christians are gone. They were haters, anyway.
The earth is well rid of them.
And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be
revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now
restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed,
whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to
nothing by the appearance of his coming. The
coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and
wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they
refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so
that they may believe what is false, in order
that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2
Thessalonians 2:6-12
You Thessalonians know , because I Paul told you, what is
restraining this person’s rise to global power now. Not the innate goodness of
mankind. There is no such thing. The lawless one would already be in control if
not for the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit. He, the Holy Spirit will
continue to keep the mystery of lawlessness under submission until He, the Holy
Spirit is out of the way. That, brethren, is why we don’t see evil at maximum capacity
in the world. We think it’s bad sometimes, but we haven’t seen bad until there
is no Spirit of holiness in the world, who keeps check on the demonic forces at
work. Why, then, will He leave? Because He indwells us, the Church, to protect
and nurture us as long as we are in the world. When we go, He goes. Then the
barriers are down.
The unbelievers who are left on earth will be without
restraint, too, and anything goes for their deceived souls, who chose not to
believe God’s truth and be saved. Those who reject the truth will believe
anything else, and the unbelieving population of the earth will embrace the lie
of the Antichrist. He will perform signs and wonders by Satan’s power, and the
lost souls will be awed by his abilities. They hated truth and loved unrighteousness.
Their time will be short, for all their revellings and delusion. Jesus will
return in about seven years after the rapture, and will destroy them with the
fire out of His mouth.
Paul had instructed the Thessalonian Church regarding these
future events, and because of their need for reinforcing repetition, we now
have these eschatalogical teachings in writing, along with others in the Old
Testament and New. There is detailed teaching about the rapture and the day of
the Lord, and we need not be confused or disturbed by what goes on around us,
or what may be alarming to others regarding current trends.
We are seeing more evil on a large scale in our society,
and there seems to be a general rejection of God’s Word among our people and
our leaders. That proves that mankind is not basically good, and it proves that
mankind is actually degenerating, spiritually and morally. But, brethren, we
are still here! THAT is our proof that the tribulation has not come. Anything
can happen, and it can happen on a dime, when it comes to God’s power and
provision. Paul’s message to the
Thessalonians and to us is just that: if we’re still here, the tribulation is
not yet. Remain calm. The Holy Spirit is still in charge here.
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