Concerning the Coming of Our Lord
2 Thessalonians 2:1–17 – … to Serve the Living & True God
Baptism of the Lord – January 17, 2021 (am)
Over the last 120 years or so in American Church History, the ordering of the end times events revealed in Scripture has become one of the most contentious and divisive discussions among all the categories of theological study.
Now, there’s been a fascination with ordering the end times in every generation of the NC community, and even prior. Several OT prophets had much to say about final judgment and blessing that’s still informative today. But charting and diagraming the end times has taken on a new life in the church of the western world over past two centuries and so have debates about the overall concept and the finer points of end times study.
As a result, for many this category of systematic theology has become a test for orthodoxy, often even ahead of the nature of God as Trinity or the deity of Christ or His death on the cross as our substitute sin-Bearer.
Churches have been left, friendships lost, and reputations marred, all due to one’s beliefs about the chronology of the last days and how we should understand the biblical witness regarding the return of Christ.
This is a doctrine that’s supposed to comfort (17) and reassure all genuine [believers] as their growing faith in Christ places them increasingly at odds with the world around them. They’re destined for salvation and Christ is going to return for them, deliver it fully and finally, and set right all that has gone wrong in this world. He’ll come in judgment of the wicked; that’s usually what’s meant by the day of the Lord (2). And He’ll come to gather His people to Himself; that’s what’s usually referred to as His coming or [appearing], His παρουσία (1, 8) (Martin 227). 1Th.5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is our blessed hope (Tit.2:13), our great comfort (17).
So, I want to talk a bit first about how to discuss the end times in an attempt to return it, at least among us here at GCD, to a doctrine that refreshes, reassures, and [comforts]. Let’s approach today’s message into two parts.
Reflections on Discussing the End Times
I’d like to identify three things here that we must be careful to do when reading about or discussing the end times. There are others we could consider, but only three today.
We must be careful to let Scripture speak and not mute it with our systems. Systems aren’t bad in and of themselves. Systematic theology is an important and helpful pursuit, studying Scripture under topical headings—God, Christ, Spirit, church, end times, etc. But we can become so committed to our system that our ears can be deadened to the clear voice of Scripture. This caution just calls us to listen to each passage first. Listen as it’s being read and taught. Follow the train of thought. Hear the A/author’s intent. And only then begin to work it into your system. And next time you come to that passage, do the same thing again. Don’t go straight to your system-interpretation, listen to it afresh, just for what it says. How often do we revisit a familiar passage of Scripture and hear something entirely new that we missed last time? It’s right there, we just missed it! Commitment to our system can deafen us to these new insights from God’s Word.
One example is an often referred to passage in Mat.24 where Jesus says: 34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. This is a passage that we hear as Jesus’ teaching on the end times. And He does turn toward the end times at some point. But at an unusual point late in this sermon, when it could sound to us like He’s already made that transition, He makes this statement. And it surely sounds like His meaning is clear. But, because we don’t believe all those signs He just listed could possibly have taken place while the generation He was talking to was still alive, we decide that Jesus must’ve meant something different. So, we begin to work the problem to find out what else He could’ve meant.
However, I think the answer really must be that Jesus meant just what it sounded like He meant and, therefore, He must’ve been talking more about the foreseeable future in that day than we often think. And that can actually move us on to our second caution.
We must be careful to remember that biblical prophecies can point to more than one future event. This is amazingly helpful when we get stuck wondering what a prophetic passage means, what’s it’s pointing to or promising. And this is especially helpful when studying the end times, when we’re just not sure how to understand some prophecy or promise.
There are a couple of good examples in Matthew’s Christmas narrative. When the angel is telling Joseph that Mary will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus (Mat.1:22), Matthew comments on that statement saying: Mat.1:22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (… God with us). But when we read Isa.7, it seems like there must’ve been an immediate fulfillment to this promise as well, in the days of King Ahaz as a sign of God coming to Judah in judgment. And it seems like that may’ve been in the birth of Isaiah’s own son (Isa.8:3).
Another example comes in Mat.2 as he is telling the story of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus being sent to Egypt for safety when Herod issued the decree to kill the male children age two and under. Matthew reported that this new family Mat.2:14 … departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Matthew is quoting Hos.11:1 where God Himself is referencing His loving and merciful call of Israel out of bondage in Egypt through the exodus. But who knew at that time that God would have a greater Son Who’d also shelter in Egypt for a while, then be called forth in love to fulfill His mission?
The same is true regarding Jesus’ words that this generation will not pass away until all these things take place (Mat.24:34). In this passage He’s actually answering a couple of questions His disciples asked after he told them that the temple there in Jerusalem was going to be destroyed (Mat.24:2). They asked: When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age (Mat.24:3). So, we know that Jesus will be addressing the destruction of the temple, which did happen in that generation (some forty years later). And we know He’s going to be addressing the sign of His coming at the end of the age. But what we often fail to keep in mind is that Jesus could well have been talking about both of these at once, and surely seems to have been doing just that.
But beyond even that, once we factor in the now and not yet principle we’ve be talking about, and recognize that it applies not just to the blessings of God but to His judgments as well, we begin to see that His judgment falling on the temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 was not really separate from His judgment that will fall on the entire creation on the last day. Rather, the judgment that fell in that day is part and parcel of the judgment that will fall on the last day. It was the AD 70 now of the end times not yet.
This second caution is so helpful when it comes to understanding biblical prophecy, especially end times prophecy. We need to keep it in mind.
We must be careful to hear what the passage is telling us to do with what it teaches us. And I don’t believe we’re ever told to chart and synchronize or harmonize the signs we’ve been given. It’s not all bad to do so. And in some ways it can be quite helpful. But I’ve rarely seen a situation in which hard work has been put into making such a chart where the chart doesn’t then turn around and become the framework for interpreting challenging passages, and often even the muzzle that mutes them or the hammer and chisel that reshape them. But what we want to emphasize today is to resist the impulse to do that and rather listen for what we’re told to do. That’s what I was meaning to communicate last week when I called us to be ready (1Th.5:4-11), to stay awake (Mar.13:35-37), to live in such a way that says: Perhaps today! The intent is not to ignore the signs that Scripture teaches us will come first. But to hear and obey what Scripture repeatedly tells us should be our response to those signs. And we see that again in our passage today. So, let’s turn there now.
Reflections on the Contribution of Today’s Text
1 Now concerning the coming (same word [παρουσία] as in 1Th.4:15) of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him (same activity apparently as in 1Th.4:16-17, surely same word as in Mat.24:31), we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind (shaken from your mind) or alarmed (same word as in Mat.24:6; Paul is anchoring to that sermon), either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us (someone may have forged Paul’s name to a letter [cf.3:17]), to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Here’s the problem that had alarmed and shaken them. The day of the Lord had come and somehow it hadn’t included them! That would be unsettling! So, Paul needed to remind them of the things he’d taught them while he was there (5)—amazing that he got all the way to matters like these! End times teaching is not unimportant!
The heart of the matter is here in vv.3-4. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first (something bigger than their present persecution, so they’d recognize it, but still something that somehow comes stealthily [1Th.5:2-3; cf. Mat.24:24]), and the man of lawlessness is revealed (no doubt the leader of this rebellion), the son of destruction (like Judas [Joh.17:12]), 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship (not just the true God and true worship [Morris 127]), so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God (tries to displace God).
This reminds us of Daniel’s fourth beast (Dan.7:25 [Morris 127]), but it’s different. And it’s hard to miss the similarities to Antiochus Epiphanes, who placed an altar to Zeus in the [Jerusalem temple] in the mid-second century BC, or Pompey, in the mid-first century, who defiled the sanctuary by entering it [even thought he didn’t] 237 assert himself to be God or change the character of Jewish worship (Martin 236-237). It surely sounds like the antichrist (1Jo.2:18, 22; 4:3; 2Jo.7) or the dragon, that was identified as Satan (Rev.12:9), or either of the two beasts (Rev.13:1-10, 11-18).
And surely this man of lawlessness is in league with these enemies of God (9). But we still don’t know who he is.
And we also don’t know who or what [restrains] him (6, 7). I believe the best thought is the hand of God Himself, by His Spirit. And surely just withdrawing His hand of [restraint] (7) would be all that’s needed for this man of lawlessness to run amok. But the fact remains that this whole description is a rather awkward way to refer to the work of God. So, this may be one of those places where we resist the urge to read our system into the text. Leon Morris wrote about this restraining force (6) and person (7), saying, the plain fact is that we do not know. It is best honestly to admit this and not to try to force the passage into conformity with some theory we have evolved on the basis of imperfect knowledge (Morris 129). God does it, but how?
Regardless, we do know Who slays him! After the [restrainer] is out of the way (7), 8 … then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming (παρουσία). It sounds like he has a pretty short career.
But now, what else does Paul tell the Thessalonians/us here? He tells us just what we most want to know. Who’s vulnerable to the deception of this man of lawlessness? How do we escape his clutches, his scheme, his delusion?
The ones who fall prey to him are 8 … those who… refused to love the truth and so be saved. … 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The vulnerability comes in what you love, and don’t love. These folk [refuse] to love the truth (10) and [love] unrighteousness (12) instead. They take pleasure in it and that is their downfall.
13 But, and here’s the contrast, we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers [loved] by the Lord (again love makes the difference), (but it doesn’t depend on human ability to love) because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. God enables this work in them. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. 15 So then, brothers, and here’s the charge; here’s what we’re called to do, to obey; this is our response to what we’re taught here, and it’s not to chart the chronology of the man of lawlessness or determine who he is; our charge is to stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
Conclusion
That’s what we’re called to do: to love the truth, to enjoy [righteousness], to take pleasure in it, and to stand firm in the love and [salvation] and sanctification of our God, clinging to them without swerving to the right or to the left no matter what opposition arises before us in this fallen world.
And the blessing of God comes to us in that—comfort, hope, preservation, and meaningful service here and now (17).
Paul describes all this himself in his closing benediction: 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
Difficult days still await us in this world. But when our faith is fixed in our Lord Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, there is nothing to fear. There is no reason to be shaken in mind or alarmed with regard to the return of the Lord. Whether it is at hand or far off, we belong to Him. Whether we live or die, we’re in His hands, both in time and in [eternity].
When it comes to our vulnerabilities in this scene Paul describes, but also our surety in the midst of it, I’m reminded of his words to the Romans, even though in a bit different context: 8 … if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
Next Sunday: Do Not Grow Weary in Doing Good, 2 Thessalonians 3:1–18