2 Thessalonians 2:3-12
Can you imagine the arrival of a world leader who rose to prominence with powerful signs and wonders, bringing peace to rival nations and establishing his own universal religion? Surely the church of Jesus Christ would have a little something to say about that! The church is the very thing that holds something, or someone, like that from coming to pass. With the seal of the Holy Spirit and the power of the name of Jesus, the church is the great dam that holds back so many powerful tricks of the enemy.
Someday, we will be removed, taken away to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), while those left here on earth will suffer beneath that “Wicked” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Prior to this verse, Paul told the church that “only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way”. The word “letteth” is the word “hinder” in the Greek, showing us that something is hindering the arrival of the Wicked One of verse 8. That someone is the Holy Spirit within the church. When we are gone, the floodwaters can come.
The Tribulation of this world is God’s wrath coming down on a world that has long rejected the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. You and I cannot experience this wrath because we are spared from that wrath by the blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1, 9). Paul’s confirms this in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 when he tells us that “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”. We are not appointed to undergo the testing of this earth; we cannot be, for Jesus has already endured wrath for us.
The Wicked One is also called the Anti-Christ, and he will deceive many by using great powers of darkness (verse 9). Notice the terminology of verses 10-12, with all references to believing being in the past tense. Paul is writing of a time when people “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (verse 10). He does NOT say, “They will not receive the love of the truth”, for he is speaking of people who have already had their chance. Many people will be left behind when Christ raptures out His church, and most of them will still not accept Christ because they will live under a strong delusion, believing a lie (2:11).
We have no reason to fear this time period, for we must be removed by God in order for Him to maintain His justice. Paul wrote that in order for God to show forth how righteous that He is, He must justify all of those who place faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:26). If He leaves us here and kills us wholesale with plagues and diseases, then He is punishing us along with the lost souls of this world, ignoring our faith in Christ and His finished work, and punishing us twice for all of our sins. Our God is bigger than that, and He is better than that. Pray that He come quickly and take us out of the way!
Can you imagine the arrival of a world leader who rose to prominence with powerful signs and wonders, bringing peace to rival nations and establishing his own universal religion? Surely the church of Jesus Christ would have a little something to say about that! The church is the very thing that holds something, or someone, like that from coming to pass. With the seal of the Holy Spirit and the power of the name of Jesus, the church is the great dam that holds back so many powerful tricks of the enemy.
Someday, we will be removed, taken away to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), while those left here on earth will suffer beneath that “Wicked” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Prior to this verse, Paul told the church that “only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way”. The word “letteth” is the word “hinder” in the Greek, showing us that something is hindering the arrival of the Wicked One of verse 8. That someone is the Holy Spirit within the church. When we are gone, the floodwaters can come.
The Tribulation of this world is God’s wrath coming down on a world that has long rejected the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. You and I cannot experience this wrath because we are spared from that wrath by the blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1, 9). Paul’s confirms this in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 when he tells us that “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”. We are not appointed to undergo the testing of this earth; we cannot be, for Jesus has already endured wrath for us.
The Wicked One is also called the Anti-Christ, and he will deceive many by using great powers of darkness (verse 9). Notice the terminology of verses 10-12, with all references to believing being in the past tense. Paul is writing of a time when people “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (verse 10). He does NOT say, “They will not receive the love of the truth”, for he is speaking of people who have already had their chance. Many people will be left behind when Christ raptures out His church, and most of them will still not accept Christ because they will live under a strong delusion, believing a lie (2:11).
We have no reason to fear this time period, for we must be removed by God in order for Him to maintain His justice. Paul wrote that in order for God to show forth how righteous that He is, He must justify all of those who place faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:26). If He leaves us here and kills us wholesale with plagues and diseases, then He is punishing us along with the lost souls of this world, ignoring our faith in Christ and His finished work, and punishing us twice for all of our sins. Our God is bigger than that, and He is better than that. Pray that He come quickly and take us out of the way!
No comments:
Post a Comment