2 Thessalonians Chapter 2
Pastoral work of a true minister
2:1 Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, we ask you, brothers and sisters,
The Greek word for "arrival" is παρουσία (parousia), meaning the future coming of the owner who can take care of the situation when things go bad. When things go bad on the earth, when the Antichrist is attempting to exterminate all of the Jewish race so that they cannot call upon their Messiah, then the true owner of all of the earth, the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He will return, restore order, remove all evil, and establish His literal 1000 year Millennial Kingdom on earth.
2:2 not to be easily shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.
In the first letter, false teachers had entered Thessalonica and began falsely teaching a post-tribulation Rapture. Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians to counter this view and instead, teach the doctrine of the pre-tribulation Rapture.
In this letter, more false teachers have entered the city and falsely taught that the Thessalonians were currently living in the Day of the Lord. Another term for the Day of the Lord is the Great Tribulation. Paul is now going to correct this false teaching of post-millennialism and teach the correct pre-millennial view.
2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not arrive until the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.
"The day" is the seven year period called the Great Tribulation. Paul taught that the Great Tribulation was not upon the Thessalonians yet, because two major events must occur first. The church must enter apostasy and the Antichrist must be revealed. Since these two events had not yet happened, then the Thessalonians were not living in the Great Tribulation.
The Greek word for "rebellion" is ἀποστασία (apostasia), meaning a defection. rebellion, or departure. This Greek word is compound. ἀπο (apo) means away from. στασία (stasia) means standing. Together, the compound word means away from standing. The majority of Greek scholars interpret this verse to mean that the Antichrist will not come until the church enters into its apostate state. The minority Greek scholars teach that the Antichrist will not return until the departure, the lifting away from standing, or the Rapture. Therefore, the majority translate ἀποστασία (apostasy) as apostasy, while the minority interpret it as departure or rapture.
According to Daniel 9:27, the seven year tribulation will begin when the Antichrist signs a peace treaty with Israel. The Rapture may occur seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, or decades before this event. Between the Rapture and the signing of the peace treaty which begins the Great Tribulation, more believers will be raised up. These believers may recognize the Antichrist because of their prophetic understanding of Daniel 9:27, or they may recognize him from the 666 designation in his name. It is also possible that there may not be any believers during this in-between time of the Rapture and Great Tribulation. Many may not believe until after the Great Tribulation begins, mostly from the witness of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists of Revelation 7.
It is also important to note that the Antichrist will be revealed before the Day of the Lord. Scripture does not inform the believer in how he will be revealed. It could be the numbering of his name. The numbering of his name will add up to 666.
2:4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat in God’s temple, displaying himself as God.
Paul gave a description of the Antichrist who is to come. The Antichrist will be opposed to God and anything that exalts the Name of God. He will also rebuild the Jewish Temple, and at the exact middle of the Great Tribulation, he will step into the temple and declare that he is God himself in the flesh.
It is important to note that there are modern fund raisers who are raising money to build the third Jewish temple. They are actually raising money to build the Tribulation Temple of the Antichrist. There are modern Levites who are training themselves to perform these sacrifices.
2:5 Surely you recall that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you.
Paul had taught this Bible doctrine to the Thessalonians on his first visit, before he was run out of town. Many preachers do not like to teach eschatology to new believers, but Paul had no problem with it.
2:6 And so you know what holds him back, so that he will be revealed in his own time.
The Antichrist will not be able to take over the Jewish temple and declare himself to be God until the restrainer is removed. The Antichrist will not gain full control of world politics and religion until he goes to war against the ten kings of the ten regions of the one-world government. After the Antichrist kills three of the kings, the other seven kings will surrender and submit to the Antichrist. Therefore, the restrainer that must be removed is the ten-region government that will control the world during this future eschatological time. When the ten-region government is removed, there is no more restrainer, so the Antichrist will declare himself not only dictator, but God himself in the flesh. Many cults and religions are looking for a future coming Messiah. The Antichrist may make this claim as well.
2:7 For the hidden power of lawlessness is already at work. However, the one who holds him back will do so until he is taken out of the way,
Many claim that the Holy Spirit is the restrainer. However, the Holy Spirit was never given this responsibility in Scripture. The task of restraining evil was given to human government in Genesis 9:1-17 via the Noahic Covenant. This doctrinal truth was reinstated by Paul again in Romans 13:1-7, even though he was living under the dictatorial government of Nero. Ever since Noah, all pagan governments have been restraining evil, even though the governments are evil themselves. The ten-region government will restrain the Antichrist for a while. Eventually, he will remove this restrainer by killing three of its kings and subduing the other seven kings. They will exclaim, "who can make war against him".
2:8 and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy by the breath of his mouth and wipe out by the manifestation of his arrival.
There will be two revelations of the Antichrist. First, many of the believers will identify the Antichrist before he declares himself to be God. Second, many of the Jews will not recognize him until the midpoint of the Great Tribulation. When the Antichrist sets up the abomination of desolation in the Jewish Temple, then the Jews will recall Daniel's warning and recognize with whom they have made their treaty. Jesus mentioned this revelation in Matthew 24:15-22.
When Jesus returns at His Second Coming, He will destroy the Antichrist with one word from His mouth.
2:9 The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders,
The next miracle worker predicted in the Bible is not the charismatic miracle workers, but it is the Antichrist himself. The Greek word for "working" is ἐνέργειαν (energeian), meaning energize. Satan will be the one who energizes the Antichrist. Just as demons intermarried with human women before the flood, Satan will intermarry with a Roman woman. His son will become the Antichrist. Satan will use his supernatural powers to make it appear that the Antichrist has supernatural powers as well.
It is important to note that Satan will counterfeit the Trinity. Satan will be the Father, the Antichrist will be the son, and the False Prophet will be the Holy Spirit of this counterfeit trinity.
2:10 and with every kind of evil deception directed against those who are perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved.
During the Great Tribulation, the 144,000 witnesses will take the gospel all over the entire world. However, those who are perishing will not want to hear it. In fact, they will betray the locations of the Christian witnesses to the Antichrist for martyrdom.
2:11 Consequently God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.
Those who are perishing will reject the gospel, but they will accept the message of the Antichrist. They will reject the truth, but believe the lie. The Antichrist will somehow be able to explain away why millions of Christians have disappeared. He will convince those left behind to follow him and help him build a new Millennial Kingdom right here on earth. Multitudes will follow him, believing that they are following the Messiah into the Millennial Kingdom.
There is also a delusion influence today in our modern society. If one teaches someone the Word of God and they reject it, then they will believe the lies of the satanic world system. They may believe Hinduism, evolution, Mormonism, or one of the other cults and religions. They may believe that homosexuality is an appropriate alternate lifestyle. They may believe that all religions are the same. They may believe that man is basically good. The satanic influence is seductive to them, so they will embrace it.
Once a person hears the gospel and rejects it, then he becomes hardened. If he hears it again, then he will become hardened even more. Therefore, consider giving out the gospel only once to a person who rejects it. Then, leave him to God in prayer and seek out other opportunities. This includes family members. One certainly does not want to harden the members of one's own family.
2:12 And so all of them who have not believed the truth but have delighted in evil will be condemned.
If a believer shares the gospel with an unbeliever, then he is either a savior of life or a savior of death to him. If he believes it, then he has escaped the Lake of Fire and he becomes a brother-in-Christ. If he rejects it, then he will be condemned to the Lake of Fire forever. He becomes an enemy of all believers, because believers will constantly remind him of his final, eternal destination.
Call to Stand Firm
2:13 But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
The Greek word for "chose" is αἱρέω (aireo), meaning that God chose, or preferred them. This verb is Aorist middle indicative, meaning that God made this choice as a onetime completed action of the past. It is in the middle tense, meaning that God, not man, emphatically made the choice. It is in the indicative mood, meaning that this statement is a 100% statement of fact.
Notice that God chose some men for salvation. Man did not choose God. God chose man. Notice also that God chose them from the beginning. The beginning, according to Ephesians 1:4, was before the foundations of the world were created. God chose all believers before they were even born into the world. God chose believers before the earth was even created. God chose believers before the creation events in Genesis 1:1.
Salvation is 100% God and 0% man. At sometime in the believer's life, God will open up the elect's eyes and make an irresistible call to them. When man receives this irresistible call, he will believe on God and be saved. God was not surprised when some individual chose God. God had beaten him to the punch and already chosen the individual way back in eternity past.
Paul informed the Thessalonians that they should thank God for choosing them for salvation in the beginning, even before they did anything good or evil. Not only did God choose them for eternal salvation, but He also chose him to be sanctified, or to be made holy. While believers live in this satanic world system, the Holy Spirit is sanctifying, or purifying, or maturing, the believer through the study of the Word of God by gifted pastor-teachers.
Charles Spurgeon said, “I am glad God chose me before I got here, because if He had waited until I got here He never would have chosen me.”
This one little Greek word destroys the false doctrine of Arminianism, which teaches that man has enough good in him to choose God on his own. This false theory is a violation of Romans 3:10-11, which teaches that man is totally depraved and evil and he will never seek or choose God. Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, free-will Baptists, Nazarene, charismatic churches, and many cults and isms are Arminian. They are teaching their sheep false doctrine.
2:14 He called you to this salvation through our gospel, so that you may possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
According to Romans 10, the call comes from hearing the Word of God. God will send an evangelist to every one of His elect. The evangelist will share the gospel. The Holy Spirit will open up the mind, eyes, ears, and hearts so that he can hear it, understand it, and believe it. Once a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, then the believer is baptized into the body of Christ, never to lose his position of eternal life. Every believer lives inside the tent, or the Shekinah Glory, of Christ.
2:15 Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold on to the traditions that we taught you, whether by speech or by letter.
The Greek word for "stand firm" is στήκω (staykow), meaning to stand firm and persevere against conflict that will come against them. Believers are always in danger of being swept downstream by the culture of the satanic world system. Knowledge of Bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God is the only defense against the attacks of the mind that Satan orchestrates through the culture. Any believer who has not studied the entire counsel of the Word of God from gifted pastor teachers is currently being deceived by the culture, but they do not currently recognize it, meaning that they cannot admit it.
The Greek word for "traditions" is παράδοσις (paradises), meaning the traditions that Paul taught to the Thessalonians on his earlier visit.
2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope,
Paul closed this instruction with a prayer. Paul addressed the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father as one unity, meaning the first and second godheads of the divine Trinity. The Trinity loved the believers. The Trinity was kind to the Thessalonians, as He gave them eternal life and hope. The Greek word for "hope" is ἐλπίς (elpis), meaning to know for sure what is to come. Eternal life and the coming of Christ are sure hopes for all Christians.
2:17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good thing you do or say.
The Thessalonians were to encourage and strengthen each other by their words and actions. Many Christians say that they love Jesus and they cannot wait for Him to return, but they never study Scripture. This leaves them as weak soldiers in the angelic warfare that is now going on during this dispensation of time before Christ returns. The Christian is commanded to train as a soldier, stand firm in the faith, and to use the Word of God as a sword. The Bible is the training manual, but many believers are AWOL from the battle or they become causalities on the front line, simply because they daydream about Christ, but do not study Him through the Word of God. If a solider does not feed himself the Word of God daily, then he will be malnutritioned and easily defeated. Soldiers who starve themselves to death are not much use in battle, especially in a battle that involves supernatural and evil demons guided by Satan.