The Day of the Lord 2 nd Thessalonians 2:1-12 Introduction We continue this morning in our study of the 2 nd letter from Paul to the church in Thessalonica. Our series of studies is titled Stand Firm as Paul is writing to the Thessalonians to help them deal with some issues in the church including some false teachings that were causing problems in the church. He was attempting to get the church to Stand Firm in what they had been taught by Paul, Timothy, and Silvanus. The Man of Lawlessness 2 nd Thessalonians 2:1-12 You should recall that our series of study in 1 st Thessalonians had an overall context of the coming day of the Lord and we had a series title of Let s Get Ready to Rapture. Paul had taught them right from the beginning that Jesus would return and gather up His followers and then would return 7 years later victorious over Satan and his forces. The problem was false teaching had crept in to the church. There were those who had been teaching that Jesus also had returned and they had been missed or left. Even though the church was active in serving and active in evangelism they still had been led astray. This is what Paul addresses in this passage here in chapter 2. So let s dig into the text this morning. 1 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
2 Thessalonians 2:1 2 (ESV) 2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 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. If you remember we saw in 1 st Thessalonians that some of the Thessalonians feared that since some of their number had already died they would miss the rapture, that they would have less of a blessing because they had already died. Paul dealt with that issue but now it appears that the Thessalonians are again rattled concerning the teaching of the rapture and 2 nd coming. Notice what the problem was this time, there apparently was a teaching or belief that they had missed the rapture and the 2 nd coming. Paul said to the church to not be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed by a spirit or spoken word, or a letter which appears to be from us. Apparently, the false teachers were reporting that their teaching was coming from Paul, which was of course not true. Paul was saying that even if they say it was from Paul do not believe it if it conflicts what I had already told you. If they say we missed the rapture it is not true. That is not what we taught before and it s not true now. Don t be misled. 2 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
I love how Paul approaches this. He wanted them to think on their own and to compare what they had heard to what they were hearing and determine the truth. Quite frankly this what most pastors do not want you to do. They don t want you to test what they are saying against the known truth. They simply want you to believe that they are always right and you should not challenge them. But that is not the Biblical model that we see with the Apostle Paul. It is incumbent on every follower of Jesus to know the truth and know when they are being taught truth or not. So here Paul tells the church to no let anyone lead them astray or alarm them. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 4 (ESV) 3 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, 4 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. Paul s goal in these verses is to provide the Thessalonians with a way to know the rapture and day of the Lord had not yet occurred. He reminded them that a rebellion would have to happen first. The word rebellion is the Greek word ἀποστασία (apostasia) from where we get the English apostate or apostasy. 3 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
But wait I thought nothing had to happen before Jesus could return and as soon as he ascended they were looking for Him to come back. That is true, the Apostles were looking for Jesus to return just as soon as He ascended. That is called the doctrine of Imminent Return. Nothing has to occur prior to the rapture. But in truth, several things have to occur prior to day of the Lord occurs. The difficulty we have here is two different events are often conflated. The rapture is a separate event from the day of the Lord spoken of by Paul in verse 2. So let s look at a timeline of eschatological events. The rapture is separated from the Return of Christ or as Paul calls it here in verse 2 the Day of the Lord by at least 7 years, the tribulation. The Tribulation brings forth several events. We have a falling away of the church. Many scholars teach that what Paul is saying here that the church has apostasy prior to the rapture. The church has always had apostasy, even the early church. But I think what Paul is saying here is that the true church having been taken in the rapture the remaining church, those who are affiliated but were not actually believers remained and became the apostate church. In that way, Paul s prediction is fulfilled. Paul also says that the man of lawlessness will be revealed. The man of lawlessness is a reference to the antichrist. Paul further describes him as the son of destruction. After the rapture 4 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
occurs the world will be ripe for someone to come along and give an answer for the rapture and then consolidate power. The man who does that will be seen as a savior and will lead the world away from God. There is a lot of scholars who believe the antichrist will not be revealed until after the rapture while others believe that Paul is saying here that he will be revealed before the rapture. The reason I do not believe he will be revealed as the antichrist until after is that we do not know and cannot know when the rapture will occur. If we learn today the identity of the antichrist and can confirm his credentials as the antichrist, we will know the rapture would have to be within the natural lifetime of that person. But we will not have those indications, we will not know. It makes much more sense to believe that he is revealed after we have been taken in the rapture. Look how Paul describes the antichrist. A man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, who opposes everything of God and exalts himself as a god. In fact, he will take a seat in the holy of holies of the new temple exalting himself as a god. We start seeing someone like that on our news broadcasts and we should be very alarmed. It is likely that the Thessalonians were beginning to think of Nero in that way. He was making himself out to be god. 5 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
2 Thessalonians 2:5 6 (ESV) 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. There are a couple of important points in these two verses. First Paul had taught them all this already. I find this simply remarkable. He was with them for three weeks when the church was planted yet he still had taught them eschatological events. We saw this several times in 1 st Thessalonians that Paul properly prepared the church by teaching good consistent theology right from the beginning. There was no warm and fuzzy feel-good stuff because they were not ready. He hit them with the hard stuff making them ready for all of it. In verse 6 w have a very interesting statement that at first, I was not sure how to deal with. What is holding back the revelation of the antichrist? Nothing other than God s own timeline. The antichrist and his appearance on the scene of history is part of God s plan to deal with man. Satan does not determine the time, the antichrist does not determine the time, God does. God has all of this worked out and at the exact moment the antichrist is to come on the scene he will, not a moment before or a moment after. Right on time. In fact, look at verse 7. 6 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
2 Thessalonians 2:7 (ESV) 7 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. H who now restrains will do so until he is out of the way. Who is being referred to here? The Holy Spirit. Look closely at what is being said. The antichrist, or more properly Satan and his minions will be restrained until the Holy Spirit is removed. When does that happen, the rapture when the church which is indwelt by the Holy Spirit is removed. This verse is one of the verses that leads me to believe that maybe the Holy Spirit will not indwell new believers in the tribulation. Paul says that He will be removed which paves the way for the antichrist to be revealed. Jesus Coming 2 Thessalonians 2:8 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (ESV) 8 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 Holy Spirit is removed from the scene as the church is raptured. This sets in motion the tribulation in which the antichrist is revealed. The tribulation ends with Jesus riding to victory on the white horse in the battle of Armageddon. 7 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
Notice how Jesus defeats the antichrist. His word and His presence. Nothing can stand against Jesus. During the tribulation Satan and the antichrist have been consolidating power and I believe think they can even win until Jesus shows up and says one word. The battle is over they have fallen. The Work of the Antichrist 2:9-12 2 Thessalonians 2:9 10 (ESV) 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Satan is the power behind the antichrist. Satan is not omnipotent or omniscient. He is a created finite being. But, he is the greatest created finite being and has abilities and powers far greater than ours. Just as Pharoahs priests did false miracles in keeping up with Moses, the antichrist will be empowered to do signs and wonders that will make him appear to be god. Signs are tokens or deeds that are done to confirm his identity and power. He will do these things, and people will see them and accept him as god. Wonders are larger and more spectacular events or miracles that also serve to confirm his identity. His authority will be validated and he will be accepted by many as the true god of the age. 8 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
He will also be very adept at deception and will deceive the masses with his personality and his miracles. The grammar of this sentence suggests that Paul meant for us to understand there would be no limits to how the antichrist would deceive. Not a reign of terror but deception. He will deceive the masses to follow him. Now look at the last phrase of verse 10. those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and be saved. The world has chosen a path of destruction by refusing to accept the truth. Beginning in the Garden of Eden God has displayed and provided the truth to mankind. Adam and Eve rejected the truth going instead for the deception of Satan. Is that really what God said! Satan has continued to deceive the world, and the world has continued to refuse to accept the truth god has plainly given to them. So how does God deal with the refusal? 2 Thessalonians 2:11 (ESV) 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, I looked at this for awhile trying to make sense of what Paul was saying here. If God sends a delusion to those, who refuse to see the truth that makes no sense. If Paul had said that God sent a delusion and now they refuse to believe the truth it would make more sense. But clearly, Paul says God responds to their refusal by sending a delusion. I believe the delusion is to counteract what God has built into each one of us and that is natural 9 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
revelation. The truth is presented to the world, many in the world refuse to accept the truth, so God grants them a delusion and they are no longer conflicted in seeing the revealed truth but refusing to accept it. Now they no longer see it. That is why we sometimes get frustrated at people because the can t see what right in front of them is. It's not right in front of them because they have been deluded. Romans 1:24 (ESV) 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, God does not force Himself on us. If the world rejects Him, He does not keep pounding on them to accept Him. But the time is coming that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. 2 Thessalonians 2:12 (ESV) 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The end result for those who do not believe is condemnation. Failure to believe the truth will result in eternal condemnation. So what is the truth. The truth is the fact that God love us and created a plan for us to escape condemnation which all of us are owed because of our sin. But God provided for us salvation in 10 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,
the only name under heaven by which man can be saved, and that is Jesus Christ. Jesus sacrificed His life on the Roman cross to pay the penalty He did not owe, and we could not pay. It is not about how much you give or how often you go to church. It is only about trusting in God to save you and provide eternal life for you. I want to make sure that everyone here or in the sound of my voice has made that decision to trust God to save them and provide eternal life. If you have not but would like to I simply ask that you step out and talk to one of the elders or my self. While we are singing the final song come forward or step to the side and let us know you want to talk about your future. It is too important to leave for next week or later in life. It is something you must do now because you do not know what will happen the moment you leave here. If you are listening or watch online, please contact us on the information provided on the screen to talk with us. Make the commitment to trust Jesus today. Let s Pray! 11 Page Dr. Rich Schnieders,