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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1) An Introduction to this Bible book of Second Thessalonians2) The coming apostasy 3) Warning about the anti-christ 4) Beware of the activities of the devil |
Who wrote this book?
What are some things that we know about the church at Thessalonica?
When and where was this book written?
Why was this book written?
What was the historical setting in those days when this book was written?
In Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians he emphasizes the return of Christ in the
rapture. This is also called the "blessed hope" of the church
2) Chapter 2
3) Chapter 3
The theme of this book:
Jesus Christ is our Returning Lord.
"...in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer..."
As we follow the footprints of the devil through the pages of the bible we realize that he has been consistent in persecuting those individuals who love God. Does he do that to us today? Yes. His job is to torment true Christians today- and, unfortunately, he is pretty good at his job.
And how many times does Satan try to discourage you and I today? He tries to rob us of our joy, our peace, our presence of mind, and our security in Christ. He tries to get us to believe that God will not see us when we sin and that He will not judge us for our sin(s). Satan lies to us telling us that God has forsaken us, God does NOT love us anymore, and that God has abandoned us. Why worship God any more? Why not turn away from God? This is his strategy but the bible tells us that we are not ignorant of his strategies (devices) to bring us down. He tried a similar strategy on Eve in the Garden of Eden
One of Satan's biggest weapons is fear. He had some in the Thessalonian church fearful that they had missed the rapture of the church. How are you and I to respond to this kind of trickery from Satan? We must look upon all of his attempts to deceive us as a challenge to overcome- we have a BIG GOD but a little problem. We need not believe his lies in his attempts to deceive us.
How do we reign in fear when it threatens to overwhelm us? How do we handle stress? We must go to the Word of God for comfort. The Thessalonian believers were tormented. How? Evidently, an unsigned phoney letter from Paul had been sent to the Thessalonian church stating that Christ had already gathered the church to Himself- that He had already come in the rapture and all the Thessalonian believers were left behind to face the Day of the Lord. They were left because the Lord had rejected them. Now, they were entering the Great Tribulation Period of suffering for another 7 years. They were already suffering present persecution and they did not need any more stress. These lies from Satan kept them from getting any comfort and hope from the Lord. Remember, that Christ told us that Satan is a liar and the father of it (the originator of it)
What will the Man of Sin of the future be like? Among other things, he will have spiritual pride and
rebellious arrogance. He will wallow in spiritual rebellion and insubordination to
God. He will be another demon possessed Son of Perdition like Judas Iscariot
Like Judas Iscariot, the Man of Sin will chose to worship Satan rather
than God- one might say that in such a condition he is born to be lost. His
evil nature and ultimate destiny will characterize his life. These wrong choices
of his are what is reflected in this title for him by God: the Man of Sin.
The Man of Sin will be the devil incarnate:
The lawless one or antichrist will have absolute power on this earth- but only for a
limited time. After the church is raptured from this earth, God will turn His attention
to His people under covenant, the Israelites. The Israelites will be under the oppression
of this man like they were in the days of old when they were under the oppression of the
Pharoah of Egypt. I believe this will be a close parallel as history repeats itself.
The only one who can deliver God's people is God. As God delivered His people out of
Egypt, so also Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah, will deliver His people out of the hands of the antichrist
"...it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you,
and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and
from the glory of His power..."
God will repay those who harm us in any way because we are the apple of His eye.
We belong to God. We are the elect of God. We are King's Kids. The Law of Sowing and
Reaping also applies here- one will reap what they sow. Our enemies- to the degree that
they say or do anything against one of God's true children- to that same degree they will
receive back from God in full recompense. And if our enemies do not repent by the time they
die, they will suffer the consequences of eternal damnation.
"Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together
to Him..."
One of the devil's jobs is to cause confusion with Christian doctrine.
God had Paul write this letter to give them the truth and to give them hope once again.
He used Paul to allay their fears. They had not missed the rapture of the church.
They were not rejected by God but were loved and accepted by Him. They were the victims
of false teachers used by the devil to torment them with lies spawned from the pit of hell.
Did that kind of thing ever happen again? Yes. Later, Hymenaeus and Philetus
tried to confuse the true doctrine of the ultimate resurrection of the just by teaching
that it was already past
"...we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by
word or by letter, as if from us, as though the Day of Christ had come.
Let no one deceive you by any means; for That Day will not come unless the falling
away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition..."
The Day of Christ can also be translated as the Day of the Lord.
The statement "That Day" refers to the Day of the Lord, not the rapture.
The Day of the Lord is at hand refers to the the Great Tribulation period of 7 years.
The Day of the Lord is also taught elsewhere in the bible:
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me"
..."the falling away"...
What is the falling away? The word "falling" here is the Greek word
apostasia that means "defection from truth" or to "forsake" in
English. In English this word is translated "apostasy".
What are we talking about here? The departure of what? In this verse the Apostle
Paul is talking about the departure of the universal church from sound doctrine and
responsible leadership. The church will embrace apostasy and it will break God's heart.
This may be happening now to some degree and will also happen sometime in the future.
..."the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself
above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God"...
The Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, refers to the future evil dictator of the world.
He is also called the antichrist. Some folks think that the devil will use the antichrist
to cause the apostasy. Some folks in the early church thought that Emperor Nero was the Man of Sin and that
early Gnostic teachings were leading to the apostasy. However, Nero may have been a
type of antichrist but he was not the same person as the Man of Sin of our future yet to come.
In other words the Man of Sin will lead an attack against the universal church. One weapon
he will use is false teaching that leads to apostasy. When will he come on the scene?
Not until the time is right according to God's time table.
..."For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way"...
The mystery of lawlessness refers to how Satan works and to how sin works when combined
with our human depravity. How can evil walk on two legs? This spiritual lawlessness against
God shows itself in total rebellion in a variety of ways. God the Holy Spirit in this
passage is revealing to us the fact that this mystery of lawlessness is active in world politics in our future.
Mr. Rice, I have a question. Go ahead and ask it. In your Revelation outline you have the
Tribulation wife placed under Christ's New Testament bride.
Christ's New Testament bride is the church and, it appears to me, that His Tribulation
wife is also the church. So my question is, do you see the church in the Tribulation?
Also, you stated that
"Christ's wife will not cease to exist but will simply visit her Husband for
awhile in Heaven in the Rapture and then return to earth". I am curious how you handle the verse in
In the near future there will be a great world wide departure from original and
true Christianity called the apostasy. Many believe that this will happen after the rapture
of the true church. Many refer to this as the Apostate Religion (Church) that has full world
wide influence before the second advent of Christ takes place. Many also refer to all of this as
spiritual Babylon that is described in
"The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs,
and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they
did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness"
Folks who will not receive the truth of the word of God are open to believe a lie.
It's the same reason why God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Pharaoh did not want to let
the Hebrew slaves go free. God forced him to make a stand and come to a decision.
This decision revealed what was already in his heart. When folks reject God (and His
word), they have to replace Him with something else. And Satan is always
standing there with a shiny lure hoping he can catch the fish that he has deceived.
God is not the author of the lie but He does allow the populace on planet earth to
believe a lie that the Man of Sin is god incarnate and the long anticipated Messiah
of the Jews. The nationalistic Jews rejected
their real Messiah, Jesus Christ, so now they will be allowed to accept a counterfeit
Messiah. How can God allow that? God allows this only after the world's populace has
freely rejected God, His love, and His truth. If they want to believe that lie so bad
then God will allow them to do it to their own detriment.
Let me illustrate this point. When I was in the U.S. Navy I was dropped from officer's
school for not passing all of my studies in the short time allowed. Then I was ordered
to enlisted men's boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois. I was placed in charge of a
"prior service company" of approximately 30 men under my command. One day I received my
orders to have my men clean up our living space of several different rooms. I ordered my
men to their tasks. Most of the men worked hard but there were about 5 or so who refused
to do any work at all. I encouraged them to start working, and, later, gave them a
warning. They rejected everything I said. They were content to believe the lie that
they could get away with anything that they wanted to. I could not get them to be
obedient to me because my authority over them was limited. They each had free will and
could make their own choices. So, I let them alone and let them believe their lie.
Then the person in overall authority came to check on our progress. He was pleased with
me and with all those who were working hard. He caught the ones who refused to work.
They were called "skaters" or "gold bricks". He ordered them away for punishment.
Later, when we stood in the chow line to get our meal we watched those who had believed
a lie get their punishment. Each of them had to get down on their back and then arch
their back until only their head and feet were touching the floor. Then they had to
push themselves along the floor. They did this instead of eating their meal. We watched
them do this as we ate our meal. We could see each of them was in a lot of pain. This was the price they paid for
believing the lie that they could "loaf off" and not get punished (while others were working). They were made an example of for the rest of us.
So, the point is, it does not pay to believe a lie and act upon it in unbelief.
There is a separation between the sheep and the goats. One lie mentioned here is that
Christ is not God and not the only way to Heaven. The evil world dictator will
deceive them into believing that he is Christ and the only way to Heaven. Satan always
wants worship. He gets it when "lawless ones" worship idols and he gets it
when "lawless ones" worship a man (the antichrist) as a god.
"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will
sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a
stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you
came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed
You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?
Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? And the King will answer and say to them, Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did
it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me. Then He will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into the
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;
I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and
in prison and you did not visit Me. Then they also will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You? Then He will answer them, saying, Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not
do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life"
Some additional Scriptures:
How are we as true Christians to prove to others that we believe in Christ? We should
show it in our walk and our work for Christ.
"Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your
calling, for you have been called by God"
"Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives.
Confront your neighbors directly so you will not be held guilty for their crimes.
Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the Lord"
"Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands
what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need"...
"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do
not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are
of the household of faith"
"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what
we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we
shall see Him as He is"
"To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory"
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been
grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious
than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor,
and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ"...
And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you.
For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many.
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all
these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be
famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all
nations for My name's sake.
And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all
the nations, and then the end will come.
Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation (the antichrist), spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand),
then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of
the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake
those days will be shortened.
Then if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ! or There! do not believe it.
For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to
deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.
Therefore if they say to you, Look, He is in the desert! do not go out; or Look, He is
in the inner rooms! do not believe it"...
Please read Romans chapter one
"He (the antichrist) will defy the Most High and wear down the holy people of the Most High. He will
try to change their sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under his
control for a time, times, and half a time"
"...a fierce king (the antichrist), a master of intrigue, will rise to power. He will become very strong,
but not by his own power. He will cause a shocking amount of destruction and succeed
in everything he does. He will destroy powerful leaders and devastate the holy people.
He will be a master of deception, defeating many by catching them off guard. Without
warning he will destroy them. He will even take on the Prince of princes in battle,
but he will be broken, though not by human power"
"The king (the antichrist) will do as he pleases, exalting himself and claiming to be greater than
every god there is, even blaspheming the God of gods. He will succeed- until the
time of wrath is completed. For what has been determined will surely take place.
He will have no regard for the gods of his ancestors, or for the god beloved of women,
or for any other god, for he will boast that he is greater than them all. Instead of
these, he will worship the god of fortresses- a god his ancestors never knew- and
lavish on him gold, silver, precious stones, and costly gifts. Claiming this
foreign god's help, he will attack the strongest fortresses. He will honor those
who submit to him, appointing them to positions of authority and dividing the
land among them as their reward"
Keep looking up. Jesus Christ may split the clouds of glory at any minute!
Paul the Apostle wrote this bible book as his second letter to the church at Thessalonica.
The church at Thessalonica was located in Greece. Today, it is the city of
Saloniki. It was the chief city of Macedonia in the first century A.D.
This city was on the great Northern Military Highway on which Roman legions marched
from Rome to their garrisons in the eastern part of their empire.
Mount Olympus, abode of many Greek gods, was nearby.
This church was started by God through the Apostle Paul about 51 A.D., on Paul's
second missionary journey. You can read about this in the bible book of
Acts 17:1-9. This church did have some problems but it was not one of the churches mentioned by the Apostle John in
the bible book of
Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians was written a few months after his first
letter to them. It was probably written in 52 or 53 A.D. at the end
of Paul's second missionary journey when he was in Corinth
(Acts 18:1-5).
This letter was written in response to a lie that was going around at the time
that the rapture of the church had already taken place. Paul writes to them about
the end times (escatology)- that the Day of the Lord (His world wide judgments on
the unbelieving and disobedient) will not happen until after
the antichrist takes power as a world wide dictator and the great apostasy has begun:
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the
falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed
(2 Thessalonians 2:3).
Paul was persecuted out of the city of Thessalonica and went to Berea. Berea was located
about 100 kilometers or so to the west. Paul was persecuted out of Berea but left
Timothy and Silas there to continue his work. Paul traveled to Athens, Greece, about
400 kilometers to the south, and, a little later, Timothy and Silas joined him there
(Acts 17:14-15). The growing church in Thessalonica had some questions that only Paul
could answer, so Paul sent Timothy to them with some verbal teachings- and then Paul
moved to Corinth. Timothy met up with Paul in Corinth and gave him a report that some
members of the church in Thessalonica needed to have their questions answered in regards
to the end times. So Paul wrote this letter to them with the teachings they needed.
(1 Thessalonians 4:16 & 17). Many refer to this event as Christ's first advent or coming. However, in
Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians he emphasizes the the return of Christ to the
earth the 2nd time. Many refer to this event as Christ's second advent or coming. When this
happens, Christ sets up His kingdom here upon this earth to rule for one thousand years.
The time period between these 2 advents is 7 years called by many "the Great
Tribulation Period" or "Daniel's 70th Week."
It is also called in the bible "the Day of the Lord." Jesus said:
"For that will be a time of greater horror than anything the world has ever seen
or will ever see again"
(Matthew 24:21).
1) Chapter 1
Paul's personal concern (1:1-2)
Punishment for the unbelieving and disobedient (then, now, and in
the future) including the law of sowing and reaping and
eternal punishment as a consequence for the wrong choice of unbelief (1:3-10)
God will be glorified by our (their) steadfastness in Christ (1:11-12)
The apostasy and Day of the Lord (2:3)
The man of sin (2:3-6)
The devil is at work (2:7-12)
True Christians should stand firm (2:13-17)
The Thessalonians have love for Paul and his friends (3:1-3)
Paul and his friends have love for them (3:4-5)
True Christians are to be industrious (3:6-18)
(2 Thessalonians 1:4-5).
(Genesis 3:1-6), and on Christ in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11).
"...lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices..."
(2 Corinthians 2:11).
"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it..."
(1 Corinthians 10:13).
"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you..."
(James 4:7).
(John 8:44). So, we can do just like the saved saints in the Old Testament times did:
"...When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him"
(Isaiah 59:19).
In other words when Satan threatens to overwhelm us like a flood we lift up the blood stained banner of Jesus Christ against him and gain the victory. How do we do that? By speaking these words to Satan "in the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you. I plead the blood of Jesus Christ over me. Be gone, Satan". Satan cannot stand against the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ defeated him at the cross. And this is one way that we resist him.
"While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me
I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture
might be fulfilled"
(John 17:12). "For I, the Son of Man, must die, as the Scriptures declared long
ago. But how terrible it will be for My betrayer. Far better for him if he had never been born!"
(Matthew 26:24).
"How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been
thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. For you
said to yourself, I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God's stars. I
will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. I will climb to
the highest heavens and be like the Most High"
(Isaiah 14:12-14).
(Exodus chapters 3-11).
(2 Thessalonians 1:6-9). (Modern KJV)
(2 Thessalonians 2:1).
(2 Timothy 2:17-18).
(2 Thessalonians 2:2-3).
Joel chapter 2; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 6:17
(Matthew 10:34-40).
(2 Thessalonians 2:3).
(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
(2 Thessalonians 2:7).
"But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light
that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"
(Matthew 6:23-24). "But Jesus...knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify
of man, for He knew what was in man"...
(John 2:24-25).
2 Thessalonians 2:7 where it states, "...for the secret of evil is even now
at work- but there is One who is
keeping back the evil till He is taken out of the way."
Well, that is a good question and here is my answer. There can be some confusion
of semantics here.
I see the present church going in the Rapture before the Great Tribulation begins.
You might say that Christ is coming to get His bride to take her on a Heavenly
honeymoon. That is why I say she will not cease to exist but will simply visit
her Husband for awhile in Heaven in the Rapture and then return to earth.
Christ, as the head of the church (the He in that verse) will be taken out of the
way, temporarily, as He takes His bride on their Heavenly honeymoon at the time of
the Rapture. When she returns, she will be Christ's
Tribulation wife. Some folks call her the Tribulation church.
But, what happens after the Rapture? Satan and plagues hit this world like never before.
We see that, especially, in Revelation chapter nine.
A worldwide political governing system will be instituted that is hostile to Christ.
Many folks will be saved during the Tribulation by the blood of the Lamb. What will
those folks be called? I call them Christ's Saintly Ones but some folks like
to call them the church because they are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, the
same method of salvation as the church uses. But Christ does not call them the church
even though they are His spiritual Tribulation wife. The word, church, is not used
in Revelation after chapter three. So, my answer to you is no, I do not see the
pre-Rapture church in the Tribulation period of time. I hope that answers your question.
Revelation chapter 17.
...when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?
(Luke 18:8).
The church's original doctrines and beliefs will be discarded for false ones. Is this the first time this has ever happened? No. I believe
this happened in the days of Noah. The genuine and true worship of God was contaminated
by deceitful and evil folks who wanted their own sinful ways. When the light of the
gospel was extinguished, the world became very immoral and violent. All mankind
had corrupted themselves to where they were reprobate (beyond the hope of salvation).
Those folks declared war on God. God protected the righteous (Noah and his family) and destroyed the rest
(Genesis chapter 6). Lot and his family were also saved before certain destruction came
(Genesis chapter 19). The same thing will happen at the time of the rapture- the righteous in
Christ will be taken to safety and the rest put to judgment.
The tares and phonies who are leading folks in false worship to God are described in
John 15:18-27. It is not a very pretty picture. Also, in the
4th chapter of the bible book of Revelation, I conclude that the church has been removed from the earth.
(2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).
(Matthew 25:31-46).
(Ephesians 4:1).
(Leviticus 19:17-18).
(Ephesians 4:28).
(Galatians 6:9-10).
(1 John 3:2).
(Colossians 1:27).
(1 Peter 1:6-7).
(Matthew 24:4-26).
(Daniel 7:25).
(Daniel 8:23-25).
(Daniel 11:36-39).
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As of September 13, 2011