2 Thessalonians 2

CHAPTER 2THEME: The program for the world in connection with Christ’s comingBack in 1 Thessalonians, beginning at verse 1Th_4:13 of chapter 1Th_4:4, we called attention to the rapture of the church; we also spoke of the Day of the Lord, the Great Tribulation, and the coming of Christ in glory to this earth. In this epistle the emphasis is going to be on the Great Tribulation period, but we are also going to find one of the finest passages on the rapture of the church.

2 Thessalonians 2:1

THE RAPTURE OCCURS FIRST"Our gathering together unto him" is the rapture of the church. The first aspect of Christ’s coming is in view in this verse. There is no judgment at this time.

2 Thessalonians 2:2

THE DAY OF THE LORD FOLLOWS THE RAPTUREIn many good Bibles with notes you will find the note in the marginif it has not already been changed in the textthat this should read “the day of the Lord is at hand” rather than “the day of Christ is at hand.” The Day of the Lord has no reference to the church. After the Rapture, the day of Christ, or the age of grace, comes to an end and the Day of the Lord begins. The Day of the Lord is a subject which is often mentioned in the Old Testament, whereas the Rapture is not. The Day of the Lord begins with night. Joel tells us it is darkness and not light. It is a time of judgment. It opens with night just like every Hebrew day opens: “the evening and the morning were the first day” (Gen_1:5, italics mine). “Nor by word, nor by letter"apparently someone had been circulating a letter or an oral word among the Thessalonians that the Day of the Lord had come. It is interesting that there is always a group of super-duper saints who seem to think they get direct information from the Lord. They don’t think they need to study the Word of God; they imagine they get their information directly through dreams or visions or special revelations. Now, friend, I admit that it is much easier to pick up all your information in a telephone conversation than it is to go to school or take up the Bible and study it, but it won’t be coming straight from God. So there was circulating in Thessalonica a word that had come to them, and it was a special “revelation,” something that Brother Paul had not told them. “Nor by letter” would indicate that a spurious letter had been circulating. Or perhaps someone simply said they had seen such a letter. “Nor by letter as from us” would mean that they said the letter supposedly came from Paul, Timothy, and Silas. The word they circulated was that “the day of the Lord is at hand.” This had caused a problem with the Thessalonian believers, and we can see why. They were enduring persecution. Because they were having trouble, it was very easy for someone to say, “Well, this is the Great Tribulation that we are in. The Day of the Lord has come, and we are already in it.” The Day of the Lord is a technical phrase that speaks of the period beginning with the Great Tribulation and continuing through the Millennium. It is a day that begins with judgment. Joel describes the Day of the Lord in some detail in chapter 2 of his prophecy, and Peter quoted him on the Day of Pentecost. His listeners knew that there was a day coming when the Spirit of God would be poured outbut it was the coming Day of the Lord of which they knew. In Act_2:20 Peter says, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.” Certainly that had not happened at Pentecost. At the crucifixion of Christ there had been an earthquake and darkness, but on the Day of Pentecost there was nothing like that at all.

There was a rushing sound like a mighty wind, and it had the appearance of tongues of fire as it rested upon each of those present. There was no wind, but it sounded like a hurricane when it hit the town, and it caused everybody to rush up to the temple area to see what had happened. Peter is saying that the Day of Pentecost was similar to the day Joel described: “You think these men are drunk? They are not; they are filled with the Holy Spirit.” Because of Joel’s prophecy, the orthodox Jews in that day believed there was a day coming when God would pour out His Spirit on all fleshbut on the Day of Pentecost it was not poured out on all flesh. The Day of the Lord is yet future. Peter refers to the Day of the Lord again in his epistle: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” We have already seen that for the church He will not come as a thief in the night (1 Thess. 5). The church is to be awake and waiting for Him. It is to the sleepy world that He will come as a thief in the night. Peter goes on to say, “…in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2Pe_3:10). Again, this did not happen on the Day of Pentecost. Another Scripture which shows that the Day of the Lord has no reference to the church is Rev_6:17: “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” That is not for the church. The church is to look for Hima Personto come, because we are identified with Him.

2 Thessalonians 2:3

“Let no man deceive you by any means.” If we are not to be deceived, then let’s listen to Paul. “For that day shall not come.” Which day? The Day of the Lordnot the Rapture. The Day of the Lord shall not come except there be the fulfilling of two conditions: (1) “There come a falling away first” and (2) “that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” Both of these things must take place before the Day of the Lord can begin, and neither one of them has taken place as yet. There must be “a falling away first.” Many have interpreted this to mean the apostasy, and I agree that it does refer to that. But I think it means more than that, as a careful examination of the word will reveal. The Greek word that is here translated as “falling away” is apostasia. The root word actually means “departure or removal from.” Paul says that before the Day of the Lord begins there must first come a removing. There are two kinds of removing that are going to take place. First, the organized church will depart from the faiththat is what we call apostasy. But there will be total apostasy when the Lord comes, and that cannot take place until the true church is removed. The Lord asked, “…when the Son of man cometh [to the earth], shall he find [the] faith …?” (Luk_18:8). When He says “the faith,” He means that body of truth which He left here.

The answer to His question is no, He will not find the faith here when He returns. There will be total apostasy because of two things: (1) the organization of the church has departed from the faithit has apostatized and (2) there has been another departure, the departure of the true church from the earth. The departure of the true church leads into the total apostatizing of the organized church. The Day of the Lord cannot beginnor the Great Tribulation perioduntil the departure of the true church has taken place. Paul is not going into detail about the rapture of the church because he has already written about that in his first epistle: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1Th_4:16-17). That is the departure, the removal, of the church. The organized church which is left down here will totally depart from the faith. We see it pictured as the great harlot in Revelation 17. The Laodicean church, which is the seventh and last church described in the Book of Revelation, is in sad condition. I think that is the period we are in right now. When the true believers are gone, it will get even worse. It will finally end in total apostasy. From the viewpoint of the earth the removal of believers is a departure. From the viewpoint of heaven, it is a rapture, a snatching or catching up. I think the world is going to say at that time, “Oh, boy, they are gone!” They think that fellow McGee and other Bible teachers are a nuisance, and they will be glad when they are gone. The world will rejoice. They do not realize that it will be a sad day for them. They think they will be entering into the blessing of the Millennium, not realizing they are actually entering into the Great Tribulation period, which will be a time of toruble such as the world has never before seen. Sometime ago Mrs. McGee and I were at the Los Angeles airport to take a morning flight to Florida. We always go early to have breakfast at the airport. While we were waiting, a big 747 was getting ready to go to the Hawaiian Islands. There was a fine-looking Marine Corps fellow there with his pretty wife and a precious little baby. But they looked so sad. A few minutes later when it came time to board the plane, they stood up. The father put his arms around them both, and they just wept. Then he picked up his bag and disappeared through the gate. It was a departure. It was an apostasia, a removal. The young wife picked up the baby and slowly walked back to the escalator, tears running down her face. My heart went out to her. Life would be hard for her now. I couldn’t help but think that that is the way it will be for the world. When the church departs, many people will be glad to see us go. The liberals will be glad to get rid of us. There will be rejoicing. But they do not realize how hard it will be for them. They are going to enter the Great Tribulation period. The second thing which must happen is that the “man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” When he is revealed the Great Tribulation period has already begun. Here he is called “the man of sin.” John calls him “the antichrist.” John is the only one who uses that term, by the way. The Antichrist has about thirty different titles in the Bible. He is a subject of the Old Testament. He is going to be Satan’s man. This is the man who will put the Roman Empire back together again, and he will finally become a world dictator. He is going to deceive the world. He could be in our midst today, but he won’t be able to appear in power or reveal who he is until after the Great Tribulation period begins. Paul tells us more about him

2 Thessalonians 2:4

One of his claims will be that he is God. In Revelation 13 we find that the beast out of the sea (the Antichrist) brings together western Europe, and he will put it back together again. When he does this, he will show himself as God. The world will think that he is Christ. That is the big lie.

2 Thessalonians 2:5

Paul hadn’t hesitated to talk about these things. Some say that a preacher shouldn’t dwell on these topics. Well, Paul did. Paul says, “When I was with you, I told you about him.”

2 Thessalonians 2:6

MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS WORKING TODAY, RESTRAINED BY THE HOLY SPIRITWhat can withhold evil in the world? The only One I know who can do that is the Holy Spirit. Governments can’t do itthey are not doing it. The Roman Empire couldn’t do it; it was an evil force itself.

2 Thessalonians 2:7

Let me give you a clearer translation of this verse: “For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only he who now hinders will hinder, until he be taken out of the way.” “The mystery of lawlessness” had begun to work already in Paul’s day, and it continues to work. The Lord Jesus gave a parable in Matthew 13 which reveals the condition of the world today. These are the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, and they explain the condition of the world and of the church in the world today. The Word of God is being sown out in the field of the world, but an enemy has come in and has sown tares. The tares and the wheat are growing togetherthe Word of God and lawlessness grow together today. The world is getting worse and, in a sense, the world is getting better, because I think the Word of God is going out more than it ever has in the history of the world. The doors are openthe Word is growing, the wheat is growing. But the tares are growing also. Lawlessness will continue to get worse and worse, but the Holy Spirit will not let Satan go all the way in this age. When the Holy Spirit will be removed, it will be like taking the stopper out of the bottlethe liquid of lawlessness will pour out all over the world in that day. When will the Holy Spirit be taken out? He will be taken out with the church. Won’t the Holy Spirit be in the world during the Great Tribulation? Yes. Wasn’t He in the world before Pentecost? He surely was.

He was present in the days of the Old Testament, but He was on a different mission. And He will be on a different mission after the church is removed. Now the Spirit of God is sealing us until the day of redemption when He will present us and deliver us to the Lord Jesus. If He didn’t do that, we would never make it. After He does that, I believe He will come back to the earth to resume His former mission down here. But He will not hinder evilHe will let the Devil have his day for a while.

Believe me, I don’t want to be on the earth when the Devil has it! It looks bad enough to me as it is today; so I don’t want to be here when it is turned over to him.

2 Thessalonians 2:8

“That Wicked"the Antichrist, the Man of Sinwill be a world dictator. Nobody can stop him. No power on earthonly the coming of Christ will stop him. As God’s people in Egypt were helpless and hopeless until God delivered them, so the believers during the Tribulation will be helpless under the power of the Antichrist until the Lord Jesus comes to the earth to establish His Kingdom. “The Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth,” that is, the Word of God which is the two-edged sword that proceeds from His mouth shall consume the Antichrist. It was the Word of God that created this universe. All God had to do was to speak.

God said, “Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen_1:3). The Lord Jesus Christ is the living Word of God. Today we have the Bible, which is the written Word of God. The written Word is about the living Word, and it is alive and potent. When the Lord Jesus returns, He comes as the living Word of God. “And shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” “Brightness” is the Greek word epiphaneia or “epiphany” in English, and it refers to the shining forth of His coming. When the Lord Jesus came to Bethlehem, it was His first epiphany. Tit_2:11 uses that word epiphaneia when it says, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (italics mine). That was the gracious appearing of His coming. As George Macdonald put it: “Thou cam’st, a little baby thing, That made a woman cry.” When He comes again it will be another epiphany. He will take His church out of the world, and then He is coming to the earth to establish His Kingdom. His first coming had two episodes of coming, if you want to look at it that way. He came to Bethlehem as a little baby, and then later He began His ministry at the age of thirty years when He walked into the temple and cleansed it. His second coming also has two phases. He calls for His church to meet Him in the air, and then He comes down to the earth to establish His Kingdom. At that time the Antichrist shall be consumed and destroyed with the brightness of His coming.

2 Thessalonians 2:9

LAWLESS ONE TO APPEAR IN GREAT TRIBULATIONThis is the Antichrist, Satan’s man, the Man of Sin, the lawless one. He will come “after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” “Power” here is dunamis in the Greek. It means a physical power whose source is supernatural. He will be quite a healer and a miracle worker. I think he will be able to walk on water. I think he might be able to control the wind. Remember that Satan at one time let a wind destroy the sons and daughters of Job. I am always afraid when anyone tells me of someone who is performing miracles today, because the next miracle worker predicted by the Bible is the one whose coming is after the working of Satan. I am always afraid that miracle workers have not come from heaven. The Devil will send this man with power and signs and lying wonders. That is the reason it is so important for us to get our eyes off men and to get them on Christ, to walk by faith in Him. “Signs” means tokens. They have the purpose of appealing to the understanding. This man will have signs which will appeal to the scientific world of that day as well as to politicians and the religious world. I am amazed how even today people are taken in by the phoniest kinds of things. Someone has asked me, “Why do you think that happens?” I believe the answer can be expressed like this, “Those who do not stand for something will fall for anything.” People who are not rooted and grounded in the Word of God will fall for all kinds of signs. “Lying wonders” will produce an effect upon observers. In that day, people all over the world will be talking about the Man of Sin, saying, “My, this world ruler we have is a great fellow. Look at what he can do!” Who is it that will fall for his lying wonders? Those who would not believe the gospel

2 Thessalonians 2:10

He will do this “with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.” Why?“because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” I do believe that the gospel is going to go out to the ends of the earth. It may even be the church that accomplishes this. I think it is penetrating pretty well today by radio into areas where individuals cannot go. But there will be those who hear and refuse to receive the truth.

2 Thessalonians 2:11

God will let the world believe a lie. Why does He do that? Isn’t that a little unfair? No, it is just like it was when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh wasn’t weeping for the children of Israel, longing to let them go free, being held back from his good intentions by God! If you think that, you are entirely wrong.

Pharaoh did not want to let them go, and what God did was to force him to make a stand and come to a decision. God forced him into a situation which revealed what was already in his heart. We see a lot of people pussy-footing around today. They won’t take a stand for God. They won’t listen to the gospel. They are closed to it.

God graciously gives them His Word, but they don’t want it. After they have heard the Word of God but have refused to accept it, God will send them “strong delusion.” Why? Because they would not receive the truth. Then they are open to believe the lie. People who have stopped going to churches where they heard the gospel are wide open to the cults and the “isms” of our day. That is why so many of the cultists go around on Sunday morning, knocking at doors. They know that the weak people will not be in church on Sunday morning. They are not interested enough in the Word of God to be in church. The cults know that they can get those people, because if they will not receive the truth, they are open for anything else that comes along. I have been simply amazed at some intelligent people who have sat in church, heard the gospel, rejected it, and then turned to the wildest cult imaginable. They will follow some individual who is absolutely a phonynot giving out the Word of God at all. Why? Because God says that is the way it is: When people reject the truth, they will believe the lie. God is separating the sheep from the goats. God uses the best way in the world to do it. If people will not receive the love of the truth, then God sends them a “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” What is the “lie”? The lie of Antichrist is that Jesus Christ is not the Lord, that He is not who He says He is. He will tell people that they are really smart in not becoming religious nuts who believe in Jesus. He’ll have some good explanation for the departure of the saints from the earth at the Rapture and will congratulate the people on having waited to build a kingdom on earth with him.

The people will believe him and will believe that Antichrist will bring them the Millennium. They will not realize that they are entering into the Great Tribulation. That is the lie, and people will believe it because they believed not the truth.

2 Thessalonians 2:12

God is going to judge those who have rejected the truth. I have said this many times, and I am going to say it again: If you can sit and read the Word of God in this book and continue to reject Jesus Christ, then you are wide open for anything that comes along to delude and deceive you. You will never be able to go into the presence of God and say, “I never heard the gospel.” If you turn your back on the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are wide open for delusion and you are a subject for judgment. As a believer giving out the gospel, I am a savor of life to those that are saved and a savor of death to those that perish (see 2Co_2:15-16). I have really put you out on a limb, because you cannot say you have never heard the gospel. You have heard it, and you have probably heard it in several different places.

If you reject Jesus Christ, then I am the savor of death to you. If you accept Jesus Christ as your own Lord and Savior, then I am the savor of life to you.

2 Thessalonians 2:13

PRACTICALITY OF CHRIST’S COMINGNow Paul moves into the practical side of this epistle. In the light of the knowledge of future events, the believer should live a life that demonstrates that he believes in the coming of Christ. Believing in the coming of Christ doesn’t mean to run out and look up into the sky and say, “Oh, I wish Jesus would come!” That is just pious nonsense. It will be manifest in three different ways if a person believes in the coming of Christ: it will affect his attitude toward the Word, his walk, and his work. BELIEVERS SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED IN THE WORDI believe these two verses give the total spectrum of salvation. In other words, they give you salvation “from Dan to Beer-sheba"all the way from the past, the present, and down into the future.

1. “Chosen you to salvation.” This is so clearly taught in Romans 8: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. [Dr. R. A. Torrey used to say that this verse was a soft pillow for a tired heart. It surely is that.] For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom_8:28-31). That is exactly what Paul is writing here in 2 Thessalonians: “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation.” That looks back to the past. All I know is what it says, and I believe it. Do you mean to tell me that God chose us before we even got here? Spurgeon used to put it something like this: “I am glad God chose me before I got here, because if He had waited until I got here He never would have chosen me.” It simply means that you do not surprise God when you trust Christ. But there is another side of the coin: “Whosoever will may come.” The “whosoever wills” are the chosen ones, and the “whosoever won’ts” are the nonelect. Jesus said, “…If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (Joh_7:37).

That is a legitimate offer of salvationa sincere, definite offer with no complications attached. If you don’t come, the reason is not because you are not elected. Not at all. The reason you don’t come is that you’re not thirsty; that is, you don’t think you need a Savior. If you are thirsty, then come to Christ. 2. “Through sanctification of the Spirit.” “Chosen you to salvation” looked back to the past, and now sanctification by the Spirit looks to the present. You are sanctified both as to position and as to practice. When you accept Jesus Christ as your own Savior, you are in Christthat is positional sanctification; that is the past tense of salvation. Then there is also the practical side of sanctification which concerns your life. Through the Spirit of God you are to grow in grace. 3. “Belief of the truth.” That means that a believer is going to study the Word of God. That is the way he is going to grow and develop. 4. “To the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is future. This refers to the Rapture. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jn_3:2). Then there is the statement in Col_1:27, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” That looks forward to the future. What a glorious, wonderful prospect we have before us! We see that these two verses have given us the full spectrum of salvation: we have been saved, we are being saved, we shall be saved. It is all the work of God.

2 Thessalonians 2:15

Paul is referring to what he had taught them when he was with them. It is the Word which enables the believer to stand and be stable.

2 Thessalonians 2:16

The Lord Jesus Christ brings comfort and consolation to our hearts. He does this through His Word. That will establish us in every good word and work. The study of the Word of God will lead to the work of the Lord. Not only will the Word of God “comfort” us, but it will also edify us. “Stablish you” means we are to be rooted and grounded in the Word of God so that we are not carried away by every wind of doctrine. Our minds and hearts will be centered on Him. That will keep us from going out after every fad of the day and reading every new book that comes off the press. Nor will we be running to little study courses here and there to be built up for the moment. We need to be established in the faith. It is the Word of God then that will lead you to do the work of God. In chapter 3we will see that believers should also be established in their walk and in their work down here. You see, it is rather deceitful (to yourself and others) to talk about how much you love the coming of the Lord if you do not study His Word. Then your belief does not manifest itself in your life and it doesn’t make you work. If you really believe Christ is coming, you’re going to be busy working for Him. You are going to give account to Him someday.

If He is going to be here tomorrow, we want to be busy today. We shouldn’t have our noses pressed against the window looking for Him to come, or to be always looking up into heaven for Him. Instead, we should be looking around doing the work of the Lord down here. That is the greatest proof that we believe in His coming.