Last week, in our study of 1 Thessalonians,
we learned that Jesus will one day gather all His believers from the earth,
raising us to meet Him in the clouds, along with those believers who have died
before us. We call that event The
Rapture. Today, in our study of 2
Thessalonians which Paul wrote just a short time afterwards, we will learn
about an event that will happen after The Rapture of the church.
Paul begins his letter by, once again,
encouraging the church at Thessalonica, letting them know that he had heard of
their great love for each other and the strength of their faith during persecution
and hardship. He assured them that God
was aware of what they were going through, that they were being strengthened by
their hardships, and that God would deal justly with those who were persecuting
them. We can take assurance, in the same
way, that God sees what is happening to Christians today, that our faith is
being strengthened by what we see happening all over the world, and that God
will deal justly with those who are persecuting, torturing, and murdering those
who call on the name of Jesus:
And God will use this persecution to show
his justice and to make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering.
In his justice he will pay back those who persecute you (2
Thess. 1:5-6)
How will God punish them? We can be assured that His punishment will be
swift, severe, and eternal:
They will be punished with eternal
destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power (2
Thess. 1:9).
The Christians of Paul’s day were just like us today. All through history, Christians have been
persecuted, marginalized, ridiculed, and killed (more so at some times than at
other times), and all through history, Christians have asked the same question,
“How long, Lord, will you allow this to happen to your people?” I must admit, I have asked that question many
times in the last several months. His
answer is here, in 2 Thessalonians 1:7a, “And God will provide
rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus
appears from heaven.” And
just as we were reminded in our study last week, no one knows the hour or the
day when Jesus will appear. What we do
know, however, is that God is in control.
He tells us in the second chapter of this book what must happen first. Before Jesus comes to rule the earth, there
will be a great rebellion, led by “the man of lawlessness,” or the Antichrist:
For that day will not come until there is a
great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who
brings destruction (2 Thess. 2:3).
The last several months we have seen a
great rebellion against God in the Middle East, as well as in Boston, Paris,
and Copenhagen. But this is only a
foretaste of the rebellion and persecution that is to come, birth pangs, if you
will. Remember, the church in
Thessalonica was under the impression that the persecution they were experiencing
was what was going to usher in the reign of Christ.
So if the Antichrist must lead his
rebellion before Jesus comes to stop him, when will he come on the world
scene? Is he already here? Is the violence we are seeing in the news
today evidence of his work? I don’t
think so. God tells us in his word that
something is holding him back from his evil scheme:
Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by
those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them,
even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter
supposedly from us (2 Thess. 2:2).
Don’t you remember that I told you about
all this when I was with you? And you know what
is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes.
For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will
remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way.
Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed (2 Thess.
2:5-8a).
So if something is holding him back, what is
that? Jesus said, in Matthew 16:18, “Upon
this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer
it.” Think again about our study last
week about the Rapture. Once the church
is taken out of the world, reunited with Jesus in the clouds, then the powers
of hell will be free to reign on earth.
What a dreadful time! That time
period is called The Tribulation, and that will be the time of lawlessness, led
by the man of lawlessness.
What will happen during that time of
lawlessness? God tells us very clearly
what will happen:
He will exalt himself and
defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even
sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God (2 Thess. 2:4).
This man will come to do the work of Satan
with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He
will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to
destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save
them. So God will cause them to be greatly
deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then
they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth (2
Thess. 2:9-12).
The time of lawlessness will come to an end
just as abruptly as it began. Jesus will
return with his angel armies, in power and in glory. He will come to judge and condemn to death
the evil one and all his followers:
He will come with his mighty angels,
in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God
and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus (2 Thess.
1:7b-8).
But the Lord Jesus will kill him with the
breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming (2 Thess.
2:8b).
Paul ends his letter by repeating some of
the things he wrote in his first letter.
He told the faithful members of the church to disassociate themselves
from those who refused to work to support their families, those who were depending
on handouts from others. Even though
they were to live in anticipation of Christ’s return, they were not to neglect
their daily responsibilities to provide for themselves and their families. We need to take the same advice. We need to live in anticipation, but in such a
way that would be respected by those who do not know Jesus. Knowing what we know about what is to come,
we need to do all we can to warn those who do not know. We also need to remember that no one knows
the time that all this will unfold on the pages of unwritten history. Only God knows. Read these words of respected pastor and
Bible teacher, Dr. Warren Wiersbe:
The purpose of Bible prophecy is not for us
to make a calendar, but to build character. Paul emphasized this fact in both
of his Thessalonian letters, and our Lord warned us not to set dates for His
coming (Matthew 24:36,
42).
Date-setters are usually upsetters, and that is exactly what happened in the
Thessalonican assembly.
My prayer for you and for me this week is
that we will not be upsetters, but rather, bearers of the Good News and peace
makers, adapted from 2 Thess. 1:11-12a, 3:1, 16 --
I keep on praying, asking our God to enable
(us) to live a life worthy of his call. May he give (us) the power to accomplish
all the good things (our) faith prompts (us) to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way
(we) live, and (we) will be honored along with him . . . I Pray that the Lord’s message will
spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to (us). .
. Now may the Lord of
peace himself give (us) his peace at all times and in every situation.
All Scripture references are from the New
Living Translation.
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