Not Forgotten!
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5 1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?
Intro: Have you ever been forgotten or left somewhere by your parents or by someone else who was responsible for you in some way? I can only think of 1 time at a little mall in Ontario, OR. I can also say that I’ve both accidentally and intentionally left kids/teens behind when we were on road trips – but I always went back for them. Reminds me of the guy who said, “My family moved a lot when I was little, but I always found them.”
-Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever worried that you might be left behind when the Lord returns, but it appears that some of the Christians in Thessalonica did. See, they were being persecuted for their faith and were going through tribulation. That in itself may not have been enough to make them think they’d missed the bus, however. Apparently, someone in their group had spoken a prophecy (supposedly from God, by the Spirit of God – or sent a letter with Paul’s name on it), saying that they were living in the Day of the Lord, and that the Great Tribulation was upon them. They were no strangers to tribulation, but what caused them to become unsettled or alarmed was the fact that the wrath of God was going to be poured out on the earth. Now whether 1 Thess. was written first or not, Paul had already taught them that believers would not face the wrath of God: 1 Thessalonians 1:10 “…and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-- Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” 1 Thessalonians 5:9 “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul had also taught them that the Lord could return at any moment. The early church believed that the Lord’s coming was near, the Judge was at the door, and that Jesus would return like a thief in the night. We call this the imminent return of Jesus because it could happen at any time.
-So, Paul writes to encourage the believers that Christ had not returned yet. They had not been left behind because if the Day of the Lord had begun, certain things would have happened already. I believe he was giving them some signs of the Day of the Lord, not so they could expect to see those signs before Jesus came back, but by the absence of those signs, they would know that Jesus had not forgotten them or abandoned them to suffer through the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord!
-Just to be clear, I do believe that the people of God will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and that this will take place right before the Day of the Lord begins. We call this the rapture, when Jesus comes for His followers. He will return on a white horse with His followers to claim His kingdom and rule this earth for 1000 years.
-As we look at these verses, I’d like to make a few observations along the way that I believe will bring encouragement to those whose hope and trust are in Jesus!
1. Jesus is coming to gather His people to Himself
-We read about this in several places:
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Matthew 24:36-42 36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
-Now I know that it is becoming less and less popular to believe in the rapture of the church. In fact, there is often some backlash against those who hold the view that Jesus is going to snatch His church away before the 7 years of tribulation. Some call it escapism, that we just don’t want to suffer. Some say that the idea of the rapture was the result of John Darby’s dispensational theology in the 1800s.
-But from my studies I believe the most compelling issue surrounding either the removal of the rapture, or placing it during the tribulation, is the problem of imminence. If there is no rapture, then Jesus really could not return at any time and His coming would not be imminent. If there is no rapture, then we have to wait until all the signs found in Revelation and all the judgments of God are poured out before we can expect Jesus to come back for us. Same for a mid-Tribulation view: it requires certain things to happen before Jesus can come back.
-Bottom line is this: Jesus is coming back for those who are ready to meet Him through faith in Him! If I’m wrong, then we’ve got some hard days ahead of us. And even if I’m not wrong, we may still have some pretty hard days ahead of us. The point is that Jesus will keep His promise and come back for His people!
2. Paul reassures his readers that they haven’t missed the ingathering
-They needed to know they weren’t living in the Day of the Lord. They were suffering terribly and thought maybe they were in line for God’s judgments that would be poured out all over the earth in the last days.
-So Paul says, “we ask you, brothers, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.”
-This is really a call to discernment. I am pretty naïve about people sometimes. I just can’t fathom how someone could or would knowingly mislead someone. What do they hope to gain? Why would someone possibly send a false letter to these Christians, signing Paul’s name in order to get them to believe that the Day of the Lord has come? I don’t get it!
-But we do have an enemy who uses people to perpetuate his lies. And sometimes those people even think they are doing something noble in the process. The enemy will appeal to our pride, our desire to win an argument, our need for recognition, and many other weaknesses just to get us to move in the wrong direction.
-Regardless, Paul assures the Thessalonians that the Day of the Lord isn’t here yet, despite their suffering and tribulation. Then he goes on to give them evidence to support his claim.
3. The Day of the Lord will be marked by at least 2 signs
A. A great rebellion or apostasy
“The rebellion” is some sort of massive organized revolt against God that goes beyond anything we’ve ever experienced. The word here means “to rise up in open defiance of authority, with the…intention to overthrow it” (Louw and Nida 39.34). Paul doesn’t say anything else about this rebellion because he assumes that his readers know exactly what he’s talking about.
-Many believe there must be a final, sweeping revival that will usher millions into the Kingdom before Jesus can return. This would be wonderful, and we have every right to pray for and work toward that end.
-But Scripture seems to speak about a great falling away more than it promises a vast revival immediately preceding the coming of the Lord. Several passages show that a great falling away will mark the time just prior to Jesus’ appearance (Matthew 24:10–12,22,36–41; 25:1–13; Luke 18:8; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1–9; 2 Peter 3:3,4; Jude 18,19). (Adapted from The Imminent Return of Christ: Do We Really Believe It? By Wave Nunnally, http://agchurches.org/Sitefiles/Default/RSS/IValue/Resources/Second%20Coming/Articles/DoWeReallyBelieve.pdf )
B. The appearance of the Antichrist (man of lawlessness)
1. He will oppose all religion but himself
2. He will set himself up as god in God’s temple
-This appears to be a reference to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, which was intact when Paul wrote this, but was destroyed in AD 70. Scripture seems to indicate that the temple will be rebuilt in the last days and that sacrifices will resume during the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation. But after signing a treaty/covenant with many (Dan. 9:27), to allow the temple and its sacrifices, he will break it and stop all sacrifices. He will set up what the Bible calls an abomination that causes desolation (foreshadowed by Antiochus Epiphanes sacrificing a pig on altar, but whatever the antichrist does will be to draw worship to himself).
Conclusion: Be ready! Be discerning! Warn others! Keep trusting Jesus! He will never leave you or forsake you! His promises are sure! He is coming back for you, if your faith is in Him! Next week we will talk about what is keeping this evil man from being revealed. Are you ready for Jesus to come back any moment? Have you trusted Him?
