2 Thessalonians 2:1-5 Remember the Things you were Told

2 Thessalonians, New Testament, Sermons

Good morning, everyone! Earlier this year, I finished the book of 1 Thessalonians. Also, I gave a message on 2 Thessalonians 1. I would like to go to 2 Thessalonians 2 today. One of the main themes of the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians is the end times, or theologically speaking eschatology. It’s an epistle that talks about last days. This second chapter is the heart and the core of this letter. It’s one of the great prophecy chapters in the Bible. The book of Second Thessalonians is such a relevant book for the times in which we live. Especially, when we hear about many wars going on around the world and natural disasters, like the flash floods in Texas. Many people have this sense that our world is getting near closing time. Let’s see what kind of spiritual crisis the Thessalonians believers were going through. Paul wrote to them to help and comfort them in their time of confusion about the day of the Lord. He told them about four events that must occur before that final day.

Remember the Things you were Told

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5

Key Verse:5:

“Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?”

  1. The first event before the day of the Lord is the rapture (1-2)

Look at verse 1. “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,[a]” In 1 Thessalonians 4, I expounded on the difference between “the coming of the Lord” and “the day of the Lord.” The former being the rapture and the latter being Jesus’ Second Coming. Paul had to remind them because there was a spiritual crisis in the young church. The Thessalonian believers were facing the thought that the rapture had happened without them. They thought they were left behind to face the great tribulation on their own. Remember these believers were undergoing a lot of persecution. We had read about this in chapter one. Second Thessalonians 1:4, “Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.” In their mind they were thinking, “we are in the tribulation and we are undergoing a lot of great persecution.” It wasn’t that far-fetched for them to believe this. They were confused about the order of events in the end times. This had thrown them into a state of confusion and crisis and really into a state of panic and fear.

Let me briefly here summarize the three views of the end times. The first main view is the pre-Trib view, which I had already explained in a previous message. Jesus would come to snatch his church before the great tribulation. The second main view is the mid-Trib view and that is the rapture occurs at the middle of the tribulation. We go through the first half and then the church is caught up and evacuated from the earth. Probably the main view among scholars is called the post-Trib view. That is at the end of the tribulation when Christ comes again. In this view, all believers will go through the seven-year period of this time of tribulation.  I happened to believe in the pre-Trib rapture after studying 1 Thessalonians and other passages in the Bible. I believe that Paul had taught the Thessalonian believers the pre-Trib view. This is why they were in a state of confusion and panic. What had caused them to be in this state?

Look at verse 2. “…not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.” Long after Paul writes the letter of First Thessalonians some false teachers rose up. They were advocating a false doctrine. The gist of their false doctrine was that the day of the Lord had come. These believers were taught that they were already in the tribulation period. The day of the Lord’s coming at that the end times had arrived. Notice the end of verse 2. “A spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.” It was, what we would call today, fake news. All of this was a satanic attack to confuse these believers. It caused them to tremble in their hearts. It says in verse two they were shaken in mind and were alarmed. The word shaken here was used like being shaken in a storm or tottering in an earthquake. The word disturbed here means frightened or alarmed so these believers were shocked. They now have been told that they were living in the tribulation period. They needed spiritual help from Paul with clear reasoning.

According to Paul, there are some things that have to precede the day of the lord. None of those things have happened yet. He puts some key end time events in chronological order. He gives them kind of a prophetic timetable or an end time chronology. He wants them to understand the day of the Lord can’t come until some other things come first. He’s appealing to them based upon the Lord’s coming not to be afraid or not to be in panic. God’s people will need to be gathered together and caught up to meet Christ when the rapture comes someday. Those who died in Jesus were going to be rejoined with their perfected spirits that have been with the Lord. Those living are going to be caught up in a moment of time to receive a perfected spirit and a glorified immortal, imperishable, and incorruptible body. It’s all going to happen in a moment of time. In the time it takes to blink your eye. Paul says it’s going to be our gathering together to him. Next, Paul explains the second reason the tribulation had not come yet.

II. The second event that has to occur before the tribulation comes is the apostasy or rebellion (3a)

Look at verse 3a. “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first…” In the NASV, the word rebellion is apostasy. The rebellion here is literally the Greek word apostasia, which we get the word apostasy. In classical Greek the word apostasia was used to denote a political or a military rebellion. What kind of rebellion is this going to be? It’s a wholesale spiritual, cultural, and social rebellion against God and against God’s truth. There has always been rebellion against God but in the end times it’s going to crest, peak, and reach its zenith. This will be the final apostasy when there’s a worldwide rebellion against God. Apostasy will not just be in one country, but engulf the world. Bible teachers often call this the great apostasy or the great falling away. It makes sense because after the rapture with all believers whisked away to heaven chaos will rule. All that’s left are unbelievers and there’s going to just be a total falling away. Remember Jesus called Christians as the salt and light of the earth. It will be like opening the doors of a maximum prison. Satan is going to throw all of his forces into one final despairing effort and rebellion against God.

We can see the foreshadows of this on every front in our culture today. We see a surging apostasy around us that’s paving the way for the final apostasy. We see religious rebellion today as people are casting aside and jettisoning essential biblical truth about who Jesus is. People will deny many truths taught in the Bible. People will deny the Lord’s return. They will deny basic and sound doctrine. They will deny living a holy life and morality. They will deny authority. They won’t know the definition of a woman. Even in some seminaries today across America there’s a landslide of apostasy. People are being trained to go out and lead churches who don’t believe the Bible is God’s word. They don’t believe Jesus is the only way to God. It’s tragic what’s happening. An American pastor Ray Stedman said, “When men lose God, they lose themselves.” [Pic 1] If people don’t have God as a north star in the journey of life, people just lose themselves. There’s going to be this aggressive global revolt and rebellion against God and the truth. We have had a preview of what the world of apostasy looks like in the time of Noah. There were millions of people on earth and society was described as violent and full of evil. Their minds were full of evil plans and schemes. Only 8 people were saved on the ark. After the apostasy, something worse will happen.

III. The third thing that must proceed the day of the Lord is the revelation of the man of lawlessness (3b)

Look at verse 3b. “…and the man of lawlessness[b] is revealed, the son of destruction,[c]” The tribulation can’t come until the man of lawlessness is revealed. This man is also known as the antichrist. The order goes from the apostasy to the antichrist. The apostasy will pave the way for this antichrist. This is one of the key New Testament passages about the coming antichrist. It says in verse 3 that he will be revealed. He’s going to be unveiled so he’ll already be on the scene. But before the beginning of the tribulation, he won’t be disclosed. He is going to be Satan’s counterfeit Christ. The world’s going to be looking for somebody with a plan. Think of the chaos in the world after the rapture. People are going to be looking for somebody to bring order out of all the confusion and chaos. This man will emerge after the rapture probably to calm the chaotic waters troubled by the unexplained departure of so many Christians.  He will be primed and ready to speak. He’ll stand before not only a nation but the world. He will emerge on a scene of such political and economic chaos that the people will see him as a man with vision. A man with pragmatic answers and power to unite the world. That’s the antichrist who is coming. He is going to come on the scene as a great peacemaker. Probably be Times magazine man of the year. Maybe he will win the Nobel peace prize but eventually the mask will come off. He is identified here as the man of lawlessness or literally the man of sin. He is deceptive and evil to the core. He’s going to be the incarnation of evil. Human history began with the sin of man and it’s going to end with the man of sin. With this superhuman personality he will be hidden until the right moment. When God allows Satan to bring him on the scene. He is called here as the son of destruction. This was Judas Iscariot’s name also. It’s just simply saying the son of destruction’s final destiny is to be destroyed. There are a lot of aliases for this person in the New Testament. In the scriptures he’s called the little horn or the king who does as he pleases. Satan is seeking to give the world a ruler in place of Christ who will be in opposition to Christ. He can rule over the world in the new world order.

 

The antichrist is going to come and bring some temporary solution. But still he’ll bring some kind of solution. Think about the globalism today.  We have a global economy. Think about all the technology that allows somebody to control people’s lives and it’s happening today. In China 1.5 billion people are controlled through facial recognition. The government can know where they are every moment of every day and so that that’s where the world is heading. Where they’ll have means to track and control people’s lives. At O’Hare airport recently, they also have facial recognition and can identify international travelers. And probably if cash is eliminated at some point, they’ll know every economic transaction that someone engages. We already know how computer sites can track what we look at. This is the kind of control and au/tho/ri/tar/ianism we see in our world today that’s paving the way for this world ruler. In BS this week, some brought up the possibility of AI as the anti-Christ who controls what people think and do. Today, millions, if not billions of people are using some form of AI. Then, Paul explains here the fourth event before the day of the Lord.

IV. The fourth event is a rebuilt temple (4)

Look at verse 4. “…who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.” We see here the pinnacle of his rebellion. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship. He takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God. In other words, he’s going to sit in the temple of God in Jerusalem. In a rebuilt temple there he’s going to proclaim he’s God and demand worldwide worship. That’s when the mark of the beast is going to be instituted. In fact, in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel and Jesus himself referred, to this as the abomination of desolation. The antichrist is going to go sit in the temple of God. Actually, the word used for temple is not the word for the whole temple, it’s the word for the holy of holies. He’s going to go sit in the holy of holies and he’s going to sit there and declare he’s God. When he leaves there, he’ll have an image placed there of him that can actually speak. A speaking image that the whole world will have to bow down and worship. As mentioned earlier, if it’s AI it may have a hologram as a speaking image. Of course, this is just speculation and we don’t know this for sure.

If the antichrist is going to sit in the temple of God and declare he’s God. Then it means there has to be a temple. Since 70 A.D. on the temple mount in Israel there has not been a temple standing there. If one is built this is going to be a third Jewish temple. The first temple that was built in Israel and was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians. Then after 70 years they rebuilt the temple in 516 BC. It was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans. The temples in 586 BC and then in 70 A.D. were destroyed. It was God who was sending them a message and he’s the one who was doing these things. But today when you go to Israel, on the area of the temple mount it’s one of the most fascinating places in the world. That’s where Abraham took Isaac when he was going to offer him to God and of course God stepped in. But on the dome of the rocks the Al-Aqsa Mosque is there, which is the third most holy site in Islam. People wonder how in the world is a Jewish temple going to get rebuilt there on the temple mount. But according to God’s word, it’s going to happen. About a hundred years ago people were saying God’s going to regather the Jewish people to their land. In Israel people said it’s impossible. But now there’s approximately 7 million Jews in Israel today. If God says there’s going to be a rebuilt temple, then somehow it will come to pass.

The antichrist is going to sit in this rebuilt temple. He’s going to do the same thing that Antiochus Epiphanes did back in 164 B.C. He was a gentile leader who slaughtered a pig, an unclean animal, and put it on the altar. He went in and made a statue of Zeus to put in the holy of holies in the temple that looked just like him. [Pic 2] The people had to worship. This was a preview of what the ultimate antichrist will do. This abomination of desolation.  It’s interesting in Israel today there are movements preparing for the construction. There are preparations for the operation of the temple once it’s rebuilt. So far, we have learned from Paul that for the day of the lord to come: (i.) you have to have the rapture (ii.); you have to have this rebellion; (iii.) you have to have the revelation of the antichrist; (iv.) at some point there has to be a rebuilt temple. Paul was reassuring the Thessalonians that they weren’t in the tribulation period. [Pic 3] On the left of the slide is the Thessalonians’ misunderstanding of the order. Paul explained, as I understand, the correct order on the right side. None of the prerequisites had happened. It didn’t happen in Paul’s time and it hasn’t happened in our time. We’re still waiting today for the rapture to trigger all the events of the end times. It’s the next event on God’s prophetic calendar. But one thing can be assuring. We don’t want to be on earth during the day of the Lord. We don’t want to be here when the apostasy comes and when the antichrist is unveiled. Someone pointed out that in an earthquake the safest place to be is in the air. When the earthquake of God’s judgment sweeps over the earth and the coming tribulation, there’s only one safe place. In the air with our Lord Jesus.  I don’t know about you, but that’s where I want to be. We don’t want to miss the rapture. We don’t want to be left behind to endure the day of the lord. Finally, Paul encouraged the Thessalonian believers not to listen to false teachings, but remember what he had taught them.

Look at verse 5 our key verse. “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” Paul wanted them to discard the fake newsletter that they had received. He told them to go back to the first letter that he had written them. They had to review and accept the inspired word that he had received from God. In our confusing and godless times, we also need to remember God’s promises. We need to make sure that we are ready for the rapture. The signs of the times are lining up like runway lights lighting up preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ. [Pic 4] We have to make sure we’re ready all the time.  Because Christ can come at any time. We don’t want to miss the plane. We call this Christ’s imminent return. Jesus himself said in Matthew 24:36, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” If you haven’t yet accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Don’t wait until the tribulation comes. Because if you are here when the tribulation comes you missed the train.  Jesus gave his life for our sins on the cross. We accept by faith his forgiveness and promise eternal life through his resurrection from the dead. Jesus is coming for those who’ve come to him. If you know him live in light of his coming. Live with a sense of expectancy. With prayer and urgency think about the people around you. Those you love who don’t know Christ.  We should have an urgency about sharing the gospel with the people around us who need to hear it. God wants us to know his timetable for the future so that we’ll live hopefully, faithfully, expectantly, and urgently in the present time he’s given to us.

I thank God for his words of promises that we can rely on in our times of confusion and turmoil. Ecclesiastes 12:1-2a reads, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened.”  Because we are sinners, we are forgetful creatures of God’s grace and mercy upon our lives. The Bible is clear that evil days will come. If we are not careful and not ready, we can become confused and panic like the Thessalonian believers. But we must always do our best by reading God’s word daily and remember what he has done in the past, what he is doing in the present, and what he will do in the future. Amen.

Let’s pray: Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your faithfulness and hope for your people in the future. There is evil in the world now and there will be evil in the future. But help us not to become fearful or panic but remember all your wonderful promises. Especially, your promise that Jesus will come and save us from the wrath to come. Your promise that you will take us from this evil world and bring us to heavenly kingdom when our Lord Jesus comes again. Amen.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Thessalonians 2:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 13, 15
  2. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Some manuscripts sin
  3. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Greek the son of perdition (a Hebrew idiom)

2 Thessalonians 2 1-5 presentation

Bible Study Questions:

Remember the Things you were Told

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5

Key Verse: 5:

Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

 

  1. **Understanding the Gathering**: Read 2 Thess. 2:1. What was Paul reminding the Thessalonian believers by mentioning the “coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” and our “gathering together to Him”? (1 Thess. 4:17) How does it relate to Christian hope? (1 Thess. 1:10)

 

2.**Concern About Deception**: Read 2 Thess. 2:2. Paul warns the Thessalonians not to be easily shaken or alarmed by false teachings. What specific false claims were they facing, and how can we identify and respond to similar deceptions today?

 

  1. **The Day of the Lord**: What does Paul mean by “the day of the Lord” in verse 2? How does understanding this term shape our perspective on future events and our current lives as believers? (Mt. 25:10-13; 1 Thess. 5:9)

 

  1. **The Apostasy**: Read 2 Thess. 2:3. Paul mentions a “falling away” or apostasy. What is the significance of this concept within the context for the faith of the Thessalonian believers? How can we recognize signs of apostasy in our own context?

 

  1. **The Man of Lawlessness**: In verse 3, Paul introduces the “man of lawlessness.” What does this title imply about his character and actions? Read 2 Thess. 2:4. How do you think this figure reflects the broader theme of rebellion against God? (Dan. 9:26; 8:23)

 

  1. **The Importance of Remembrance**: In verse 5, Paul reminds the Thessalonians that he had previously told them about these things. Why do you think he emphasizes this point? How can remembering past teachings help us in our faith journey?

 

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5:

 

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,[a] 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness[b] is revealed, the son of destruction,[c] 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

Footnotes

  1. 2 Thessalonians 2:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 13, 15
  2. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Some manuscripts sin
  3. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Greek the son of perdition (a Hebrew idiom)

 

Number of Views: 985