Stand Firm And Hold Fast Series

Have you read something or heard something that really alarmed you? Does everything going on around you these days make you unsettled? Probably you have been alarmed and unsettled. It is that way now, and it was the case for the Christians in first century Thessalonica. Paul is writing them in the midst of some very unsettling circumstances and calling them to stand firm and hold fast. He is writing us too, because this message is timeless, and we also need to stand firm and hold fast in our own unsettling times.

There was all kinds of alarming news circulating in Thessalonica. These new Christians were hearing and reading misinformation about the second coming of Christ. But Paul is giving them something solid they can hear and read that will counter all the misinformation. He gives them this letter to help them stand firm in Christ.

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting 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. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)

The news and letters that were causing the alarm for the church at Thessalonica was that they missed Jesus coming again. Someone came in and told them that Jesus already returned and they missed out. They also told them that this was a teaching coming from Paul. This was not the case. This is one of the best churches in the New Testament, but they were recently started, all new believers and they were fragile.

Have you ever had a bird nest in your yard where you can watch to see if the eggs hatch and then watch the young birds grow and fly from the nest. That recently happened for us and we were always checking to see if the eggs were hatched and then if the birds would live to fly away. They did. But soon more eggs were in the nest. These eggs hatched but this time the vulnerable birds were killed by predator birds. That is the worry when they are that vulnerable. At Thessalonica the new church was vulnerable and the predators were causing alarm. Paul is trying to protect them.

Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2:5-12)

When Paul was with them, he told them some things that would happen so they would know, if these had not happened, the Lord had not yet come. The man of lawlessness would first set himself up as God in the temple. Not only that but he needs to explain to these believers who were so knew in the faith that the second coming of Christ is so cataclysmic that there would be no way anyone could miss it. It will all be part of the splendor of the second coming of Christ.

This will be a dramatic event for all believers, but a day of judgement for the unbelievers. The man of lawlessness will himself be overthrown by Jesus. Just the breath of Jesus will destroy the man of lawlessness. Those who are not saved by faith in Jesus Christ will be destroyed. They have believed the lie of Satan. In contrast there is no condemnation for all who have believed in Jesus Christ.