2Thessalonians 2:1-12
The Future Is Now
The chapter that we are looking at is end time. If you are a student
of the Bible, you already know that when God reveals end time
prophecy He does it cryptically. The book of Revelation is an example.
Much of that book is end time prophecy, but the facts are cloaked in
symbols so that the meaning of the passage is very difficult to
understand. That book, along with the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel,
Zechariah, and Daniel, have lead me to a conclusion. God wants us to
know what will happen in the future, but He wants us to work to
understand it.
I believe that is also true of what Paul wrote in this chapter. For
us to understand what this chapter contains, we are going to have to
work for it. So let’s get started.
I. \\#1-2\\ Paul was speaking about two completely different days.
A. \\#1\\ Paul was speaking about the rapture of the church. How
do I know that?
1. Paul said it was time or day marked by "the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ."
2. "by our gathering together unto him." These two phrases
together, leave us no room for misunderstanding what day
Paul meant.
B. \\#2\\ Paul spoke about the second of those two days, "the day
of Christ" or "the day of the Lord."
1. The phrase, "the day of the Lord" was used 24 times in the
Old Testament and refers to the day Jesus Himself returns
to the earth to pour God’s wrath upon the earth.
2. It is always portrayed as a day of sorrow, gloom, death,
destruction, and judgment.
3. In our text, Paul acknowledged that the Day of the Lord is
a day which would a person to be "shaken in mind" and
"troubled in spirit," but in 1Thess 5:13, Paul said that
the rapture of the church is a day that should give
comfort to the believer.
4. These are not the same days. Paul was speaking of two
completely different days.
C. Why was Paul referring to two different days in two different
verses which sit directly beside one another?
1. I think perhaps in part it was to make it more difficult
to understand. The Holy Spirit was making it harder—not
impossible but harder—to see the truth so that only those
who would dig for it would find it.
2. I think also because these two days are very close
together in time.
a. These two days are only seven years apart.
b. The next event on God’s calendar that we know about is
the Rapture of the church.
(1) It could happen any moment, literally any moment.
(2) If you are not saved when the rapture takes
place, you will go into the tribulation, which
in itself is a period of seven years of awful
judgment on the earth and the wicked.
c. Then there will be seven years of tribulation where
God judges the wicked upon the earth with both
natural and supernatural judgments.
d. That seven years of judgment will end with the Day of
the Lord. That is the day when Jesus physically
returns with the church to execute wrath (largely
suffering and painful death) upon those who have
not obeyed Him.
e. So these two days are very close together.
3. And I think it is because these two days very close
together in association. They are the bookends for the
seven years of tribulation.
II. There are four major events mentioned:
A. \\#3\\ There is "a falling away."
B. "that man of sin be revealed…." He is also called "the son
of perdition" or the son of the devil.
C. \\#6-7\\ "what withholdeth… until he be taken out of the
way" - A withholder will be taken out of the way.
D. \\#11\\ God will send A "strong delusion."
III. The order of three of those events is also given:
A. Paul told us what was to happen first:
2Thess 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means:
for that day shall not come, except there come
a falling away first….
1. Something is going to fall away.
a. What is the "something?"
b. I know of nothing else it can be but the church.
c. The church is going to fall away from whom?
d. I know of no one else it could fall away from but
Jesus.
2. This is a not a new interpretation of this verse.
a. I have been preaching for more than 40 years and this
interpretation was preached to me back then.
b. However in the light of what is happening today in the
"church," even if today was the first time anyone had
ever proclaimed it, it would be a valid
interpretation.
3. You see, the church is not going to fall away from Christ,
it has fallen away from Christ.
a. We have "churches" ordaining gays, boycotting the
Jewish nation, using the most worldly entertainment
possible to get a crowd, refusing to preach on sin
and repentance, and mutilating their own weak
translations of the Bible.
b. There is not enough holiness left within most
congregations today to convict a lost person of any
type of sin. In fact, most churches go out of their
way to make sure that does NOT happen.
4. However, for all of what is happening to the "church" at
large, that really does not bother me.
a. This pulpit does not reach around the world or even
very far outside the doors of this building. I
cannot control what takes place out there and, for
the most part, my voice will never be heard out
there.
b. What does concern me is what happens to the Green Pond
Baptist Church.
(1) A church does not have to fall all the way out of
Christianity to fall away from Christ, and no
church will ever fall away unless its members
fall away first.
(2) When the GPBC quits standing against sin—all
sin—we have fallen away.
(3) When the GPBC quits using the altar—we have
fallen away.
(4) When the GPBC stops telling others about Jesus—
we have fallen away.
(5) When the GPBC slacks in their public worship—we
have fallen away.
(6) When the GPBC stops believing in prayer—we have
fallen away.
(7) When the GPBC stops giving to the cause of
Jesus—we have fallen away.
c. These are the very things that I am concerned with
because these are the things that we—both you and
I—can control.
B. \\#7-8\\ The "withholder" must be removed THEN the wicked one
will be revealed.
2Thess 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work: only he who now letteth will let,
until he be taken out of the way.
8 And THEN shall that Wicked be revealed….
1. The wicked one will not be revealed until the withholder
is removed.
2. In all honesty, this text does not tell us who the
withholder or the evil one actually are.
a. We know that the withholder is holding the evil one
back, which in itself is pretty impressive.
b. Because the evil one is the son of the devil \\#3\\,
who opposes everything that is even called God
\\#4\\.
c. Even though their identities are not named in this
text, I believe it is pretty obvious to those who
have studied the Bible who they are.
(1) The Withholder is the Holy Ghost.
(2) The evil one is the anti-Christ.
3. The second event is the Holy Ghost will be taken out of
the anti-Christ’s way.
a. Presently, the Holy Ghost abides within the believer.
b. All of the believers make up the one true church or
body of Christ.
c. When God removes the true believers from this world
by the rapture, He will also be removing the Holy
Ghost.
d. Don’t get too concerned about the Holy Ghost’s absence
because He really won’t be gone.
(1) The Holy Ghost is God, and God is both everywhere
and every when.
(2) There is no time or place where God is not.
(3) However in the church age the Holy Ghost works
through the church.
(a) The church, the believers, are the light and
salt of this world.
(b) To remove the church is to end the Holy
Ghost’s present ministry of working through
the church.
(c) The Holy Ghost will still be here, but He
will work like He did in the Old Testament,
though a few individuals at a time instead
of like He has done in the New Testament,
work through a whole body at once.
4. However, the second event is the removal of the Holy Ghost
or the rapture of the church. Both happen at the same
time.
C. \\#8\\ Then the anti-Christ will be revealed.
2Thess 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth,
1. Again, I do not believe there is any doubt who the "evil
one" is. It is the anti-Christ.
2. He is described in this text:
a. \\#3\\ "the son of perdition" (Devil)
b. \\#4\\ He opposes all that is called God or is
worshipped.
c. He exalts himself against all that is called God or is
worshipped.
d. He will sit in God’s temple and attempt to show that
he is god.
e. \\#8\\ God Himself will have to return to destroy him.
3. The anti-Christ will be revealed or made known sometime
after the rapture of the church.
a. However, that does not mean he is not already here.
b. The Bible describes this person in the Old Testament
as well.
(1) He is a slick talker, a flatterer.
(2) He is not—at least at first—given to out-and-
out violence. Instead, he will get what he
wants by his ability to speak. He will be a
diplomat, a negotiator.
(3) He will be a politician which more than likely
means he will be voted into his place of
authority.
(4) He will start on some national level and work his
way up to a world leader, ever increasing in his
authority.
c. Over the years, I have been asked if "so-n-so" could
be the anti-Christ.
(1) My answer is that almost anyone could. About the
only one you can rule out is Donald Trump. That
man is no flatterer.
(2) The best type or image of the anti-Christ that I
have ever seen is Barak Obama. By the way, he
COULD still be the anti-Christ. He is
relatively young and his career is far from
over.
IV. Then there is the last event: the Great Delusion.
2Thess 2:11 And for this cause God shall send
them strong delusion, that they should believe a
lie:
A. Many in the fundamental circle have preached that this only
pertains to those who had heard the gospel, rejected it, and
were lost at the rapture.
B. I no longer think that.
1. Notice that the verse gives us a fact, an effect, and a
cause, but not a time.
a. The fact is that God will send a strong delusion.
b. The effect is that all will be damned.
c. The cause is that they believed not the truth.
2Thess 2:10 …because they received not the love
of the truth, that they might be saved.
d. Yet, the verse does not give us the exact time of this
event.
2. Just as I see the falling away already happening, so I
see the strong delusion already taking hold.
3. Sadly, there are so many strong delusions today:
a. For the last 70 to 80 years, there has been the strong
delusion that there is no God.
b. For the last 40 to 50 years, there has been the strong
delusion that there are many ways to god.
c. For the last 20 to 30 years, there has been the strong
delusion that sin—as defined by God—does not exist.
d. In the last few years, there has grown the strong
delusion that man can decide what is right and wrong.
e. There is no question that the LAST of the strong
delusion will be the anti-Christ is god, but that is
only the last in a long series which have taken hold
on our world today to insure that all who refuse the
gospel of Jesus Christ will be cast into the Lake of
Fire.
C. What is sad is that it is highly possible that some sitting
within these church walls will soon be deceived by some
strong delusion.
1. The only inoculation that anyone person has against this
spirit of delusion is to accept Jesus as their Savior.
2. The future is now. Are you sure you are ready for it?
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