2 Thessalonians - Chapter 2
1-5:
(Remember what you know)
We come now to the most profound portion of the two letters to the church at Thessalonica, the direct and revealing teaching of Paul on the signs of the end of times.
We should be careful to first note the last portion of these verses. Paul reminds the church that he had taught them these things when he was with them and he asks the clear question “Do you not remember...”?
All of history has had its evil leaders. The first century saw the horrible persecutions of Nero in Paul's day and Domitian in John's later years. The next 1900 years has brought within each century someone who has seemed to be filled with evil, violence, & destruction. Inside of the past two generations of our lives and our parents we saw the rise of Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, and others who brought horrors upon millions of people.
But scripture tells us that one is coming who will far surpass all previous evil men and will be the most evil man ever to walk the earth. We see in scripture that he has been called by many names:
Gog of the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal (Eze 38:2)
The little horn (Daniel 7:8 & 24 & 8:9)
The prince who is to come (Daniel 9:26)
The king who does as he pleases (Daniel 11:36)
The foolish worthless shepherd (Zech 11:15-17)
The beast (Rev 11-13-14-19)
The man of sin (2nd Thess 2:3)
The son of perdition (2nd Thess 2:3)
Him whose coming is after the work of Satan (2nd Thess 2:9)
Antichrist (1 John 2:18)
(In the Greek, “anti” can mean against” & “in the place of”)
Anyone who opposes the work or person of Jesus Christ has the spirit of the Antichrist. This is why John teaches in 1st John that there are many antichrists (small a) but the true Antichrist (large A) will be the final example and the most evil of all those who came before.
The spirit of evil, to fill the one who will come, has been with us since the garden. His evil had filled the world bringing the flood of wrath. It was this spirit that gave Pharoh the idea to kill all Hebrew male children just as this spirit also gave Herod a similar thought. Jesus heard this voice from the lips of Peter and this spirit actually implemented the will of God at Calvary.
Now Paul writes to the church to deal with the apparent loss of hope and joy that had come over them confusing them about the end times. Paul must refute the false teachers who have appeared to mislead the church and he carefully does so. His proof to them is that God has fixed a date in the future for the end and there are specific events that must occur before that last time may arrive.
He provides three events that must transpire in order for the plan of the Lord to end human time to bring on His Day:
There must be a falling away. Paul's words in the Greek meant apostasy, which is a revolt or rebellion against God. The only other time this word is found in the NT is Acts 21:21, teaching of forsaking the Law of Moses. In the OT Greek format, we find this word three times (Joshua 22:22 & 2nd Chron 29:19 & Jer 2:19), all describing rebellion against God.
Paul seems not to be describing overall problems within specific churches but rather a specific and horrible act of rebellion connected to the man who is named next in the same verse.
That man of sin must be revealed. Of all the billions of godless evil, lawless sinners in history, none will compare to this depraved and wicked one who will try to command the whole world. Notice that this character is NOT Satan, for he is described as a man. Paul describes him as “the son of perdition”. To assure us of his true state of evil, we see in all of scripture only one other man described by this title, Judas in John 17:12.
This Antichrist must also oppose God and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped. Rev 13:15 teaches us that he will cause the death of all who refuse to worship him or his beast. Paul tells us that he will actually sit in the temple of God, showing himself to be God.
This act, energized by Satan (his father), is of the apostasy Paul describes. It was called the abomination by Jesus in Matt 24:15 and is shown in prophecy in Daniel 9:27 to occur at the midpoint of the Tribulation as the Antichrist shows his true nature after preaching peace and harmony for the first 3 ½ years.
Paul's point is that since these events have not happened the Day of The Lord has not arrived. He had preached this fact to the church but it had been forgotten. Paul comforts these believers (and all since including us) that this Day will never arrive for those who are in Christ for all who are in Him, dead or living will be caught away before this horrible time falls upon the earth.
6-17:
(Be strong and courageous to be ready for the end time)
Paul had as his goal the comforting of the members of the church in their confusion and concern. He outlines six factors that these believers must NOT be as they consider his teaching:
Deceived / Forgetful / Ignorant / Unbelieving / Insecure/ Weak
In an effort to overcome all these possible issues, Paul now grants wisdom to these members concerning how the man of sin will be revealed.
In verses 6-8 Paul opens the curtain of God's plan and explains that the Holy Spirit has protected believers through time by restraining the evil that works against mankind. Some have taught that this verse and revelation refers to the preaching of the gospel, or the nation of Israel, or believers who are the salt & light of the world, or the church itself, or the Pope. But we should note that all those other possibilities are from man, not from God. It seems likely that man's efforts cannot restrain the supernatural evil of Satan or the one who springs from him. Only the Lord can do so. So it has been generally accepted that the Holy Spirit does the restraining.
Now this portion of God will step away from His restraint and allow the man of evil to be revealed and to go forward with his plan. Some have said that this verse means the Holy Spirit will be removed from the world at this time. If so, how will souls be saved during the tribulation? But Jesus has taught that the Spirit will abide with us always, and we as believers are removed by Rapture. But God is omnipresent so there is no mystery here.
Paul further teaches that this “Wicked” will be consumed by the Lord with the spirit of His mouth and Revelation 19:20 teaches that he will go into the lake of everlasting fire.
Verse 13 assures the church members that they were chosen from the beginning to salvation and verse 14 assures them they have been called to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord.
Unbelievers will be deceived and deluded, accepting a lie, and will be damned.
But for these church believers, the salvation is secure. They will not suffer wrath as God loved them, chose them, redeemed them, and will glorify them, all through His grace. They must therefore be strong and courageous and remain “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).