(Chapter 2)
Paul now undertakes to correct the misunderstanding that had arisen among the Thessalonians regarding “the day of the Lord.” They had been told that the persecutions they were suffering under were part of the judgments of the Day of the Lord which Christians must go through before the Lord comes. Many Christians today have similar ideas, and therefore, would do well to heed Paul’s instruction in this chapter.
Vss. 1-2—To meet this error Paul says, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is present.” It may be asked, “Which aspect of the Lord’s coming is Paul referring to here—the Rapture or the Appearing?” Since it has to do with the saints being gathered together unto the Lord, it is therefore, unmistakably the Rapture. Hence, Paul besought them not to heed the error that was circulating among them based on what he had taught them in the first epistle concerning the Rapture, for it takes place before the day of the Lord (1 Thess. 5:1-3). How then could they be found on earth when its judgments take place? Since this couldn’t happen, there was no need for them to be troubled by this false doctrine.
We might wonder why Paul would bring in the Rapture here when the subject in discussion in chapters 1-2 is the Appearing of Christ. It’s true that Paul has been speaking of the saints needing to wait for the Appearing of Christ, when God will intervene to set this world right. However, knowing that judgment will be executed on evil doers at the Appearing of Christ hardly ministers comfort to the saints. Paul, therefore, brings in the Rapture as a means of comforting their troubled hearts and minds. If they could grasp the fact that they would be caught up to be with the Lord in heaven, and thus, would be delivered from the coming wrath (1 Thess. 1:10), their fears would vanish.
Even though those who were propounding this doctrine seemed to have verification for what they were teaching, the Thessalonians were to dismiss it completely because Paul had taught them otherwise. He mentions three main methods which the false teachers were using to convince the saints of their erroneous doctrine:
• “By spirit”—They professed to have gotten the teaching through a spiritual revelation from God. They may well have received it through a spirit (1 Tim. 4:1; 1 John 4:1), but it was not the Holy Spirit, and therefore, Paul uses a small “s” in identifying this false source.
• “By word”—They professed to have gotten it from the oral ministry of brethren who were also teaching it, and thus, it was something that was commonly taught among the saints.
• “By letter as from us”—Apparently, they had even gone so far as to forge a letter which they said Paul had written stating these erroneous ideas.
As a practical word of caution, we need to realize that what had happened to the Thessalonians could also happen to us. That is, to imbibe bad teaching unawares. It shows us that Christians need to be careful of receiving things from unqualified sources, and especially so in this day of ruin in the Christian testimony when there are many teaching erroneous things (1 Tim. 4:1). There is a plethora of Christian ministry being presented today through various mediums: radio, television, video, literature, internet, etc. Gifted teachers in Christendom are vying for our attention through these mediums, but sadly, many of them are not clear as to the truth, and are, therefore, unreliable—even though they may claim to have gotten their teaching from the Lord. Where many Christians are deceived is in mistakenly thinking that since a man is gifted, he is, therefore, well-grounded in the truth. However, gift and knowledge of the truth are two different things. Paul said to the Thessalonians, “Let no man deceive you by any means.” They were not to allow themselves to be deceived by anyone, regardless of how gifted and persuasive that person might have been. This is a needed exhortation for us today.
The Church Will Not Go Through the Tribulation
These false teachers claimed “that the day of the Lord was present.” (The KJV says “the day of Christ,” but it is a faulty rendering.) The Thessalonians were not afraid that the Lord had come, but rather, that they were going to go through certain judgments of the Lord before He came. Apparently they had been taught that there were certain things that had to happen before the Rapture occurred. The truth is, while Scripture indicates that there are certain events that will take place before the Appearing of Christ, there are no signs or events that need to occur before the Rapture. The hymn writer put it rightly when he said,
“No sign to be looked for; the Star’s in the sky.”
(L.F. #168)
The idea that the Church must go through a time of judgment on earth before the Lord comes (the Rapture) is prevalent in Christendom today. Many teach that “the day of the Lord” is the time immediately following the Rapture—i.e. the Tribulation period. However, 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and 2 Peter 3:10, clearly state that it begins when the Lord comes “as a Thief in the night,” which is at His Appearing. This confusion has largely resulted from not distinguishing the two phases of the Lord’s coming––the Rapture and the Appearing. For example, if a person thought that “the coming of the Son of Man” was referring to the Rapture (as many do), he would naturally conclude from Matthew 24:29-30 and Mark 13:24-26, that the Rapture would occur “after the Tribulation.” As a result, many believe that the Church will go through that terrible time. However, the coming of the Son of Man is a term always used in reference to the Appearing of Christ (Matt. 4:27, 30, 37, 39, 44, etc.).
By Paul mentioning “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him (the Rapture) before going on to speak of “the day of the Lord,” it is clear that he understood that the Church would be caught up to heaven before that day of judgment.
There are eight main passages in Scripture that directly speak of the Tribulation period (Matthew 24:3-29; Mark 13:4-24; Revelation 3:10; 7:14-17; Deuteronomy 4:30-31; Jeremiah 14:8; 30:4-7; Daniel 12:1). We would think that if the Church is to go through the Tribulation, at least one of these passages would speak of it, but there is not one reference to the Church going through that terrible time! This fact alone should be enough to convince any willing mind that the Church will not be in, or go through, the Tribulation period.
By having a simple outline of the book of Revelation, we learn that the Church will not be on earth when the Tribulation judgments are poured out. There are three divisions to the book of Revelation given in chapter 1:19:
"The things which thou hast seen"—referring to what the Apostle John saw in chapter 1.
"The things which are"—referring to chapters 2 and 3, which contain the Lord's addresses to the seven churches, and are a moral history of the professing Church on earth from just after the apostles' time to its last days.
"The things which shall be hereafter"—referring to chapters 4 to 22, wherein the Tribulation woes are described. This third division is called "hereafter" (Rev. 4:1) because it deals with things which will take place after the Church has finished its history on earth.
It is instructive to see that after chapters 2 and 3, a door in heaven opens and John is called "up hither" (Rev. 4:1). This is a little picture of the Church being called away to heaven after it has finished its course on earth, by the coming of the Lord (the Rapture). Then, from chapter 4 to the end of the book, wherein the Tribulation judgments are described, the Church is not seen on earth again. This shows that the Church will not go through the Tribulation.
When false doctrines are worked out practically, they often don’t make sense. This very point concerning the Church and the Tribulation is an example. If all the saints are taken by the Lord to heaven after the Tribulation (as many teach), then who will be left to populate the millennial earth? With the wicked sent away into everlasting punishment, the earth would be left unpopulated! (The saints caught up to be with the Lord in the air will not come back to live on earth; they will reign over it with Christ in "the high places" – Dan. 7:18, 22, 27; 2 Cor. 5:1).
Three Things That Must Happen Before the Day of the Lord
Vss. 3-12—Having identified the sources of the false notions concerning “the day of the Lord,” Paul proceeds to correct the Thessalonians’ misunderstandings. He shows that that day could not be “present” because certain things must take place before it comes—and those things clearly hadn’t happened. He touches on three things in particular—but not in their chronological order:
“The Falling Away [Apostasy]”
Firstly, there must be “the falling away [apostasy]” of Christendom. This refers to the false church (the faithless professors who will be left behind on earth at the time of the Rapture) abandoning the Christian faith and turning to worship the Beast and its image—“the abomination of desolation” (Rev. 13:11-18; Matt. 24:15). This will occur in the middle of the seventieth week of Daniel (Dan. 9:27; 12:11). The apostasy has already begun in the Christian profession (1 Tim. 4:1 – “apostatize from the faith”), but in that coming day, it will reach its culmination in the widespread worship of the Beast.
“The Man of Sin” Revealed
Secondly, “the man of sin,” “the son of perdition” (the “Antichrist” – 1 John 2:18) must be revealed. Most Christians think that this man is the Roman “Beast” who will rule over the revived Roman Empire (Rev. 13:1-8)—also known as “the little horn” (Dan. 7:8, 20-21, 24-25) and “the prince” (Dan. 9:26-27). However, these are two different men: the Roman Beast is a Gentile man, whereas the Antichrist is a Jew (Dan. 11:37). The Antichrist is the second “beast” in Revelation 13:11-21 who will rise up in the land of Israel and be received by them as their messiah (John 5:43). This beast is said to have “two horns” denoting his two offices: as the Jews’ “king” (Isa. 8:21; 30:33, 57:9; Dan. 11:36) and as the Jews’ spiritual leader, “the false prophet” (Rev. 16:13; 19:20; 20:10). The Antichrist will be a direct representative of Satan on earth and will be used by Satan to bring the apostasy to a head in the worship of the Beast. In fact, He will enforce the worship of the Beast and its image (Rev. 13:15).
Vs. 4—Paul then tells us that this man will get carried away with his own importance and will not be satisfied with being the Jews’ king and prophet. He will seek the worship of his subjects, “showing himself that he is God!” He will sit in “the temple” in Jerusalem as an object of worship. This shows that there will be a literal temple in use at that time; the image of the Roman Beast will be placed there (Matt. 24:15), and this wicked man will also sit there. (This temple will eventually be destroyed by the armies of the King of the North – Psa. 74:3-7.)
Vs. 5—Paul then asks the Thessalonians to “remember” that he had taught them these things when he was there with them. Since he was only there three Sabbath days, they definitely were still babes in Christ at that time, yet he did not consider prophecy to be too deep a subject for them. Some have the idea that prophetic subjects shouldn’t be taken up by new converts, but it is clear that Paul didn’t feel that way.
“Lawlessness”
Vss. 6-7—A third thing that he mentions that will occur before “the day of the Lord” is the removal of the restraints against “lawlessness”—particularly in the kingdom of the Beast. This restraint is being exercised today on earth through two restrainers:
“That which restrains” (vs. 6).
“He who restrains” (vs. 7).
“That which restrains” refers to the principle of law and order in human government which God put into man’s hand to exercise after the flood to restrain evil (Gen. 9:5-6; Eccl. 5:8; Rom. 13:1-7). J. N. Darby said, “‘That which hinders,’ therefore, is the power of God acting in government here below as authorized by Him. The grossest abuse of power still bears this last character. Christ could say to Pilate, ‘Thou couldest have no power against Me, except it were given thee from above.’ Wicked as he might be, his power is owned as coming from God” (Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, on 2 Thessalonians 2). Mr. Darby also said, “‘That which restrains,’ in the Greek, means a thing. What is it? God has not told us what it is, and this, doubtless, because the thing which restrained then is not that which restrains now. Then it was, in one sense, the Roman Empire, as the fathers thought, who saw in the power of the Roman Empire a hindrance to the revelation of the man of sin, and thus prayed for the prosperity of that empire. At present the hindrance is the existence of the governments established by God in the world.” (Collected Writings, vol. 27, pp. 302-303)
“He who restrains,” refers to the Holy Spirit residing on earth in the Church and acting to restrain evil in various spheres. The Apostle Paul says that the Spirit will engage in this work “until He be taken out of the way [be gone].” Thus, there is a time coming when the Holy Spirit will no longer reside on earth. Since the Spirit will dwell in the Church “forever” (John 14:16), when the Church is called away from the earth by the Lord at the Rapture, the Spirit will go from the earth at that time as well. E. Dennett said, “What Paul teaches in 2 Thessalonians 2, is that the thing which restrains the manifestation of this monster of iniquity at the present moment is the presence of the Holy Ghost on earth in the Church” (Christ as the Morning Star and the Sun of Righteousness, p. 46). The Spirit being “gone” from the earth does not mean that the Spirit will cease to work on earth. He will continue to work here, but it will be from heaven, as He did in Old Testament times.
Paul said that the “mystery of iniquity [lawlessness] doth already work.” It is called a “mystery” because it has to do with the secret working of the spirit of disobedience in the world opposing the will of God in all things, divine and secular, through the influence of the devil. As an opened secret, we know now that there will be an end to the working of lawlessness in the judgments of the Lord executed at His Appearing (vs. 8). The restraint of lawlessness by the governments of the nations in the West has been eroding since the apostles’ day. This is why he said that it “doth already work.” As a result, lawlessness is increasing, and will continue to do so until the coming day when law and order will completely break down when “he” (the Antichrist) is “revealed in his time.” Likewise, the second Restrainer (the Holy Spirit) is not restraining evil as He once did, because He is becoming more and more grieved with those in the house of God where He dwells (2 Tim. 3:13). But when the Holy Spirit is “taken out of the way” at the Rapture, evil will flood in at an accelerated pace.
The Attack of the Assyrian
There is actually a fourth thing that will happen just before “the day of the Lord” which Paul does not mention. It is the attack of the Assyrian, the King of the North (Dan. 11:40-43). When his armies enter into and devastate the land of Israel, it will be a signal that the Day of the Lord is “nigh at hand”—that is, about to happen (Joel 1:15; 2:1). The Lord will appear out of heaven in judgment some 18 days after the attack. This is calculated from the close of the 1260 days (Rev. 11:3; 12:6), which is the period of the Great Tribulation, to the 1278 days, which is a reference to the end of the last 3½ years of Daniel’s seventieth week—when the Lord appears out of heaven (Dan. 9:27).
Since none of these things have happened, it is clear that the Church in that day couldn’t have been going through the judgments connected with “the day of the Lord.”
Vss. 8-9—Paul hastens to tell us that while “the wicked [lawless one]” (the Antichrist) will be revealed in those days after the Spirit of God is removed, his tenure will be short. It will last only through the latter half of the prophetic week (3½ years), at which time the Lord will “consume” him “with the spirit of His mouth” and “the brightness [appearing] of His coming.” He will be cast alive into the lake of fire (Hell) along with the Roman Beast (Rev. 19:20; Isa. 30:33).
The 9th verse tells us that the energy of Satan will propel this wicked man on in his work of deceiving the masses in the West with his “signs and lying wonders.” He will be the personification of Satanic evil.
Vss. 10-12—A special class of sinners will be taken by his deceptions—those who “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” Paul has already identified them as “those who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (chap. 1:8). These people know the gospel of God’s grace, but have no use for it. Being an enlightened people makes them very responsible, for God holds men accountable in relation to the degree of light that they have been given (Luke 12:47-48). With these people, “It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them” (2 Peter 2:21).
As a divine retribution for rejecting “the love of the truth” presented in the gospel, these people who “believe not” will be given over to believe the Antichrist’s “lie.” This is to turn away from the Christian faith and to worship the Beast and its image—which is apostasy. God had sent these people the gospel, but they would not have it. So in retribution, He will “send” them “a strong delusion” through the work of the Antichrist, and they will accept his “lie.” Revelation 9:1-11, speaks of the Antichrist’s evil work in the land of Israel, deceiving the unsealed mass of Jews and causing them to abandon Judaism for the worship of the Beast. Here in this passage, his evil work is in connection with deceiving the apostate masses in Christendom.
His Thanksgiving
Vss. 13-14—Paul turns to give thanks to God that the Thessalonian saints were not of that class of rejecters of the gospel, and thus, they would not be overtaken by the deceptions of Antichrist and the ensuing judgments of the Day of the Lord. He says, “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In giving thanks to God for this, it is clear that Paul desired that they would see their salvation from the side of God’s sovereignty. In eternity past, He had “chosen” them unto “salvation.” Thus, it was a sure and completed thing, as far as God’s purpose is concerned, even before He laid the foundation of the world! This, Paul says, had been effected through a special operation of the Holy Spirit called the “sanctification of the Spirit.” This has to do with the Spirit’s initial work in a person of imparting divine life to him, whereby he is set apart positionally from the mass of mankind as being one of God’s children (1 Peter 1:2; Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13). The result of this sovereign action of the Spirit will be seen in the person’s “belief of the truth” of the gospel, whereby he is saved. (The “sanctification of the Spirit” does not refer to the progressive work of the Spirit in believers’ lives whereby they perfect holiness in their walk and ways.)
But this is not all, for Paul goes on to speak of the hope of the gospel which they had believed, which is “the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This has to do with the final aspect of our salvation which we do not have yet, but it is as sure as the salvation of our souls. It refers to our being glorified as Christ is glorified. This will happen when He comes at the Rapture (Rom. 5:9; 13:11; Phil. 3:20-21; Heb. 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5).
We see in this that God had “begun a good work” in the Thessalonians, and He would “complete” it in that coming day with their glorification (Phil. 1:6). Thus, the possibility of them ever coming under the judgments of “the day of the Lord” is never in question when it is viewed from God’s side. Seeing it from God’s perspective was sure to comfort the Thessalonians and give them peace about coming judgments.
His Exhortation
Vs. 15—Based on the above mentioned things, Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians was twofold:
• To “stand fast.”
• To “hold fast.”
Standing fast seems to be more connected with doctrinal truth which they had been taught as touching the foundations of Christianity. They were to be careful not to give up one point of it (Prov. 23:23). The ever-present danger for the Christian is the surrender of the truth that God has given him. The Philadelphians were exhorted, “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Rev. 3:11). Similarly, Timothy was exhorted, “Keep, by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted” (2 Tim. 1:14). Yet, sad to say, this is exactly what has happened throughout Church history. We are, therefore, especially thankful for the recovery of the truth in the 1800s.
Holding fast had more to do with continuing in the practical “instructions [directions]” concerning their walk and ways: These instructions had come to them through oral ministry (“by word”) and through a letter written by the Apostle (“our epistle”—a reference to the first epistle). Since there are no apostles on earth today to teach us these things in person, we have to get them solely through Paul’s epistles which have been preserved to us by the mercy of God.
The Thessalonians, in general, were going on well; they just needed to continue on in those things, and not turn back. The word “retreat” was not in the Apostle’s vocabulary. Turning back was not viewed as an option and he wanted to instill that mindset in the Thessalonians.
His Prayer
Vss. 16-17—Paul then reiterates the contents of his prayers for them. Essentially, it was this: since God had given them love, consolation, hope, and grace in starting them out on the Christian path, Paul prayed that they would have the strength from God to carry on in that path and become established Christians. This would involve not only knowing the truth and being able to teach it to others in “word,” but also to have it demonstrated in their lives in “work.” The KJV translates it, “word and work,” but it should be translated, “work and word.” This shows that people are to see the evidence of the truth in our lives before we speak of it with our mouths. We can condemn ourselves in the eyes of others when they see inconsistency in our lives in connection with the truth we teach.