1 and 2 Thessalonians

2nd Thessalonians 2

• 2Thessalonians 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
• 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

The day of Christ must certainly be the wrath that is to be poured out upon those that persecute God's people and refuse to acknowledge God:

Here is the verse referring to it from chapter 1.

• 2Thessalonians 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

People seemingly were fearful that this day was at hand. Paul wrote for them to be comforted. Now surely if we are ready to meet the Lord, the day of His coming for us would not make us afraid, so this is talking about the coming of the Lord to bring judgment upon the earth, not to take His people to be with Him. There has to be two separate events, at least that what is appears when we study these passages. They are either two appearances of Christ or it happens in succession, first the catching away of believers and next the wrath of God at the second half of the tribulation.

Some believe these passages prove that no rapture occurs before the revealing of the antichrist. They think the day of the Christ is the coming or rapture. If that is the case then the antichrist is revealed before the church is taken away. If the day of Christ refers only to the judgment or tribulation then the antichrist can't be revealed until the church is taken away. I believe His coming for the saints to be different than the day of Christ which is the day of judgment.

• 2Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

This is a sad picture here. Before the day of Christ or the wrath of God is poured out on the earth there is to be a great falling away or apostasy. It looks as if that is happening right in this day and age.

The man of sin or antichrist is not revealed until there is such apostasy among the church that nothing is holding back the powers of darkness and they can then take over. As long as there is strong true believers in Christ upon the earth full of the Holy Spirit and full of power, evil is held back.

Sinners can't be in apostasy because they are already lost. False religion is already lost. Only ones who once knew God but have fallen into spiritual sleep can be apostate. So the backslidden church is what allows the antichrist power to come. That is a sad state to be in. What are signs of apostasy?

1. Watering down the word, ignoring the word or counting it light and not judging prophecy, preaching or teaching by the whole word, not just a few scriptures taken out of context to proof text. Also not taking the word of God literally or seriously.
2. Emphasizing attendance to the point of watering down the message to be attractive to unbelievers.
3. Failing to warn against sin.
4. Becoming worldly minded.
5. Concerned with business, money making, and riches and use part of the scripture to justify it. This is the ungodly prosperity doctrine.
6. Taking away from or covering up the truth of the gospel of repentance and being born again by the spirit of God to be saved.
7. Calling for unity at the expense of the truth of the gospel.
8. Using the word love one another to justify compromise. If we really love each other, we will tell the truth.
9. Putting curses on people who reject their message. Jesus at this time wants to save not destroy. He will decide when to bring in the wrath, we are to preach His gospel.
10. Forsaking the assembling of ourselves in a place of true worship.
11. Letting someone else do our praying for us instead of praying ourselves. Taking the word of the preacher instead of checking out what he says by the word. (Do this in love though) Sometimes we may be the ones in the wrong.
12. Getting into politics that the gospel become secondary.
13. Leaving our first love which is Jesus and not spreading the true gospel that will save the lost.
14. Misuse the gifts of the spirit or the pretense of the gifts to fleece the flock of God.
15. Judging other believers without checking the facts and pleading for them in prayer before God.
16. Not receiving the gifts of the Spirit but relying on our own programs, plans and rituals.

Beware of the teaching that to gain or accumulate riches is a sign of being blessed by God. God's blessings are spiritual. Some have plenty but others do not have much in this world. The prosperity doctrine is wrong. Are those that are sitting in prisons for preaching the gospel, prospering? Are those that have their homes taken away and some even killed because of their faith in Jesus prospering materially? The gospel should be the same to those in all parts of the world and the prosperity doctrine would seem silly to those who are suffering for the cause of Christ.

If we tell people that God will bless them if they give to our organization, we may be lying.

We do not know everyone's situation. Some may be living in adultery, cheating their customers, or doing things that God cannot bless. Are we going to say to them that if they give to our ministry, God will bless them overtop of their sin?

Apostasy will lead to allowing evil to continue. It may look good on the surface but it is deadly and evil.

• 2Thessalonians 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

This man will use religion at first to gain power but in the end he will attempt to replace God. Some religious leaders have already done that.

To name only a few:

Jim Jones, Some of the Popes, Joseph Smith came very close, and any religious leader that puffs himself up high above those he is controlling.

Any spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ did not come into the flesh is antichrist. Jesus is the Son of God who came into human flesh. He was born into the human race temporarily leaving Heaven. He died for our sins and arose from the dead returning to the Father thereby ushering in a plan of salvation to all who would believe in Him.

After He returned to the Father He sent the promise of the Holy Spirit given to all who obey Him. The Holy Spirit is the comforter, the teacher, the one who convicts of sin and the one who leads us into all truth. To neglect this one is to have a religion with no love and no power. To misuse the gifts of the spirit to gain financially or to gain the praises of men, is wrong. Yet to avoid these gifts from God because it is being misused is to rob ourselves of what we need to spread the gospel and convince people that what we say is true.

Signs follow believers confirming the word.

Yet we must not trust in signs above the written the word. Some signs may not be of God. There are many things going on that is not edifying the church or leading people to repent and believe the gospel. Yet even if there is a fake or pretense that doesn't mean we cast away the real gifts of the spirit and say they were for the early church only. They were given by God and not taken back at any time.

• 2Thessalonians 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
• 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
• 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

Something hinders the mystery of iniquity from being revealed or being allowed power in full. This is either the true body of believers or the Holy Spirit. Perhaps since true believers are filled with the Holy Spirit, it could be both.

• 2Thessalonians 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
  

He will be allowed to continue for a short period before Jesus returns with His saints that He previously came for (the rapture) and destroys the antichrist and the kingdom of the beast.

At some point either before the 7 years tribulation, during the tribulation or immediately following the tribulation believers are caught up to be with the Lord and brought back with Him at His second coming to judge the world and set up His kingdom.

I do believe in the pre-tribulation rapture and I do hope that is the way it is to be. However, to argue on this is pointless because we need to be ready spiritually whatever the case may turn out to be. One thing we know is that we must not be asleep spiritually but alert. We must watch and pray and we do not know the day nor the hour.

• 2Thessalonians 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

This is a touchy subject here. There is already and will continue to be false signs and lying wonders to deceive. Yet we must not deny the real power of God that Jesus told us to have and do His works until He comes again.

True signs will always glorify Jesus Christ, not the person doing the signs. True gifts of the spirit will lead people to repent of sins, live in holiness and love God with all their hearts.

True gifts of the spirit will not be used to get control over people and cause them to follow a certain religious leader.

Even if the name of Jesus is used, we must watch for the true fruits of the spirit along with the gifts giving all glory to Jesus Christ. If something occurs that does not make us love God and want to live holy, then we can suspect something wrong. When a miracle makes us think we can still sin and make heaven, we better be very careful not to trust in it. When a miracle is associated with compelling people to give to a ministry, we very leery of such.

Some ministries come very close to promising healing for those who send in an offering to their ministry. Remember Simon the sorcerer. The gifts of God cannot be bought with money.

• 2Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

We see that the wrath of God is against those that refuse the way of truth. What is the way of truth. You will find it in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Revelation, Jude, Peter, Romans, and many other books of the bible that show us the way of salvation.

There many prophecies of the coming Messiah in Isaiah and other prophets including Moses. The Old testament leads to the way of salvation through Jesus that is revealed in the New Testament. Jesus came though to free us from the rituals of the Old Testament that were indeed holy but were only temporary until the perfect one that was the perfect sacrifice was to come. What Jesus came to free us from, some religions put back.

We no longer need earthly priests, high priests and those who do our praying for us. We have an advocate with the Father through our only intercessor, Jesus Christ. We are not to pray to Mary or any saint but to God only through the name or authority of Jesus Christ. Sin separated us from God. Jesus came and provided the way for us to be cleansed and forgiven of our sins. Now we can go straight to God without any man or woman to intercede for us. We now can worship God in spirit and in truth. We do not need to be in a certain place or face a certain city or join a certain religion. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. No person can ever get to the Father except through Jesus Christ.

• 2Thessalonians 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

After we continue to reject the truth of God, we will start to believe a lie. That is why so many are in darkness and believe they are right.

Some get so caught up worrying about which religion is right or which church is the right one. My answer is. Jesus is right and Jesus is the only way.

If you find a church, Messianic congregation or group of believers that still preach the gospel of Jesus Christ uncluttered by the doctrines and commandments of men that are not in the New Testament, that is the place to go if they are teaching truth according to God's word and living by what they teach.

God provided the written word as our guide. We must not just read it but study it. We must love our pastors, support them and show them kindness but we must not trust them so much that we fail to check out what they teach by the written word God preserved for us by the shed blood of many brave men throughout the Middle ages.

• 2Thessalonians 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Unbelief in the truth will cause us to be deceived and lost. The wrath of God is only for those that have shook their fist in the face of God and rejected His free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

• 2Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Our faith in Christ not only brings us the salvation of our souls and grants us eternal life but we are made clean or sanctified by the same Spirit that draws us to Christ. These are good things and great gifts of God. Why would we even think of seeking the things of this life that will perish with the using.

• 2Thessalonians 2:14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Jude speaks of this also that we are to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.
• 16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
•  17 Comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work.

What a joy to be part of the spreading of the gospel, to teach true holy living that makes us content with what we have and not get into covetousness. What a treasure of wealth that comes from God that can't even be compared to what the world calls wealth. True wealth is salvation, sanctification, being baptized in the Holy Spirit and then being used of God to spread the gospel to the whole world. What love, what joy and what peace it is to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. There is true victory in Jesus my savior forever. He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood. That song is in many church hymnals but is seldom sung. It is on page 120 in some books and 240 in others. It tells the gospel in three verses. DC