2 Thessalonians 2

2 Thessalonians 2:1

But, having attempted to comfort you under your present tribulations with the certain prospect of Christ’s appearance to judge the world. I must now, in the most solemn manner, entreat and adjure you, by your belief, expectations, and desire, of that awful event, and by your hopes of being gathered along with us and other saints to his right hand, and of being for ever with the Lord

2 Thessalonians 2:2

That ye take heed that none, pretending to a spirit of prophecy or misconstruing our words, or appealing to spurious writings which pass in our name, or any old tradition, mislead and perplex your mind, or stagger your faith, by insinuations that the coming of Christ to the last judgment is instantly to take place; the failure of which, if believed, might tempt you to disbelieve his coming at all, or even the whole truth of the gospel

2 Thessalonians 2:3

Let no pretences whatever decoy you into this pernicious notion; for, by revelations from God, I can assure you that the last judgment shall not happen till there has been a remarkable general apostasy from the faith, worship, and holiness, of the gospel; and an Antichristian succession of impious men, Romish Popes, and their agents, has manifestly appeared in the church; countenancing and propagating the vilest corruptions in doctrine, worship, and practice; and, by seduction and persecution, destroying the souls and bodies of multitudes, till they themselves at last sink into everlasting destruction: 4. Who also, by pretended claims to civil and ecclesiastical authority, shall proudly assume a sovereign power over magistrates, ministers, or even angels, good or bad; a power in heaven, earth and hell, superior to what had ever been ascribed to Heathen gods;—and shall set themselves in opposition to Christ in his mediatorial offices and members,—and even pretend a power equal to, or above, the Most High,—in disposing of his worship to other objects, dispensing with his laws, nullifying or establishing his ordinances at pleasure; and, sitting in the church, shall assume titles, and exercise authority to confer gifts and graces, pardons and salvations, as if they were God himself. 5, 6. And, as ye know I warned you that Christ would not appear to judgment till after this dreadful apostasy, I now inform you that it is the subsistence of the Roman empire under one political head, which, at present restrains the complete revelation of that Antichristian empire which I have just mentioned

2 Thessalonians 2:7

For that apostasy, which includes an unsearchable depth of error and wickedness, is already, in a secret manner, spreading its malignant influence, in the pride, worldly mindedness, will worship, and corruption of the doctrine of free justification before God, which take place among Christian professors, and would quickly appear in all its extent, power, pomp, and grandeur, were it not that the present imperial Pagan government of Rome will prevent and restrain it till God, in his appointed time, remove the seat of the emperors from Rome, and even abolish the present form of the empire: 8. And then, through the growing ambition and luxury of church rulers under the protection and indulgence of the Christian emperors, and the division of the empire into ten kingdoms, all submitting to the delusion, shall that wicked and lawless system of the Papacy appear in its full power and pomp, and continue, till the Lord Jesus, by the pure preaching of the gospel, and the zealous opposition of the Reformers, and by his fearful judgments, when he comes to fill the whole earth with his glory, shall utterly destroy it

2 Thessalonians 2:9

The introduction and maintenance of which papal system, will, in imitation, and by the special influence and craft, of Satan, be effected, by high pretences of authority from Christ to work miraculous and wonderful operations for its honour

2 Thessalonians 2:10

And, at his instigation, will be carried on, by every subtle and deceitful artifice, managed in the most unrighteous manner, so as to delude those into eternal perdition who, through the influence of Satan and their own corrupt lusts, did not heartily receive the truths of the gospel, and Christ therein, as the only means of their salvation: 11. To punish which dislike and rejection of the truth as it is in Jesus, God shall deliver them up to the hardening, blinding, and delusive, influence of their own hearts, that, by means thereof, they may consent to the merest forgeries, and the most absurd errors, vile idolatries, and gross superstitions

2 Thessalonians 2:12

That thus being left to the foolish and perverse influences of their own hearts, all of them may be condemned and punished with everlasting destruction who rejected Christ and his gospel truths, and took pleasure in perverting his word, corrupting his worship, violating his laws, and persecuting his people

2 Thessalonians 2:13

But, in both duty and affection, we must bless and thank God that he has secured you against such ruinous apostasy; having, in his peculiar distinguishing love, chosen you to complete and eternal salvation, to which he has determined to bring you, through the universal and gradual renovation of your nature in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, wrought in you by the Holy Ghost, and through a fiducial trust in God, and faithful adherence to him, as manifested and offered in the gospel, as God’s appointed means of eternal happiness

2 Thessalonians 2:14

To which complete and eternal salvation, in consequence of his own electing purpose, he has effectually called you by the gospel which we preached unto you, that, through the attending operation of the Holy Ghost, ye might be fully entitled to, prepared for, and at last introduced into, the eternal enjoyment of that glorious blessedness which our Lord Jesus Christ has purchased and prepared, taken possession of, promised to, and bestows upon, his ransomed people

2 Thessalonians 2:15

In consideration therefore of the secret and subtle operations of Antichrist to draw men from the faith, and of what God has done for and promised to you, we earnestly beseech you to stand fast in the faith, hope, comfort, and holiness of the gospel,—stedfastly maintaining all those important points of truth and duty, in which ye have been instructed by me and my fellow ministers of Christ, by word or writing

2 Thessalonians 2:16

And, for this purpose, may the Lord Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us by his blood, and purchased eternal glory for us, and will at last, confer it upon us;—and God, his and our Father, who has loved us with an everlasting love, and often revived our souls by those everlasting consolations which flow from and are founded on it,—and given us a solid, scriptural, and well grounded, hope of eternal life, confirmed by his Holy Spirit dwelling and working in our hearts

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Fill your souls yet more and more with all joy and peace in believing, and effectually comfort your hearts under all your troubles, fears, and dangers,—and more and more establish your faith in, and adherence to, the truths of the gospel, and enable you constantly to speak and act for God, and for one another’s edification

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. II.—It is dangerous to fix the periods which God has concealed. Disappointment of the events expected may tempt us to discredit the whole gospel. That Christ will come is certain: our business is not to inquire when, but to be always ready to meet him. Happy will be the time when all the ransomed millions shall be gathered to, and be for ever with, him!—By what strange wickedness of men does God punish obstinate and haughty professors, and carry on the designs of his glory! The most fearful lengths in wickedness will seducers go when left to their own heart’s lusts. But the triumphing of the wicked is short. Vengeance from above overtakes them in due time. And, when God has accomplished his purposes for the trial of his saints and the punishment of his enemies, he casts the wicked into the fire of his wrath.—But there is great ground of thanksgiving that nothing can defeat his electing purpose; nothing can defeat his saving call and sanctifying influence; nothing can separate from his love; nothing can rob us of his comforts; nothing can undermine the faith or hope which is founded on his word.—Stand fast, my soul! cleave to his precious truths, and give thyself unto prayer; so shalt thou be comforted and established in every good word and work