THE EVENTS PRIOR TO
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
2 Thessalonians
2:1-17
According to Christ Himself, prior to his second coming will
be the following;
Matthew 24:6-8
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it
that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to
come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There
will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the
beginning of birth pains.
When I consider what is happening around the world today,
including the US
see the birth pains that Christ foretold. It is no doubt,
that we are closer to Christ
second coming that the time of the writing of Matthew. It is
up to us to heed the
signs before us and be ready for Christ return.
The following is an
article about the end times from The Wiersbe's Expository
Outlines of 2
Thessalonians chapter 2. Because this is
an important subject
with lots of confusion, I thought it would be good for you
to see another
interpretation.
I. The Apostasy Must Take
Place (2:1-3)
The word "apostasy" means "a falling
away." Here it refers to a falling away from the truth of the Word of God.
While there were certainly false teachers in Paul's day, the church at large
was united on the truths of the Word of God. If you met another Christian, you
knew he believed in the Word of God, the deity of Christ, and the salvation by
faith in Christ. This is certainly not true today! We live in a day of
"Christian unbelief "; people say they are Christians, yet deny the
deity of Christ, the inspiration of the Bible, and so on.
This apostasy, or falling away from the truth, is promised
in 1 Timothy 4 and 2 Timothy 3. We are living in apostate days right now, which
indicates that the coming of the Lord is near. The professing church
(Christendom) has departed from the faith.
II. The Temple Must
Paul promises the rise of a world dictator, the "man of
sin ... son of perdition" (v. 3). He is not talking about a world system,
but a person who will head up a world system. This "man of sin"
contrasts with Christ, the Savior from sin. He is the son of perdition; Christ
is the Son of God. He is the liar; Christ is the Truth. We commonly call this
man "the Antichrist," which means both "against Christ" as
well as "instead of Christ." This world ruler will be energized by
the devil and will unite the nations of Europe in a
great federation (the ten horns of Daniel's image, Daniel 7). According to
Revelation 17, the Antichrist will cooperate with the apostate world church in
his rise to power, and then will destroy this religious system when he doesn't
need it anymore.
The program is as follows: (1) the church will be raptured;
(2) the Antichrist will begin his rise to power in a peaceful way; (3) he will
unite Europe and make a seven-year covenant with Israel to protect it (see
Daniel 9); (4) after three and one-half years he will break that covenant and
invade Israel; (5) he will abolish all religion and set himself up to be
worshiped (Revelation 13); (6) at the end of the seven-year tribulation period
(Day of the Lord), Christ will return to earth and destroy the Antichrist and
his system. Both the OT and NT predict the return of the Jews to Palestine
III. The Restrainer Must
Be Removed (2:6-12)
Satan's mystery of iniquity is already working in the world,
and we can see its godless activities increasing rapidly. What, then, holds
back Satan's evil program and the rise of the Antichrist? God has a
"restrainer" in the world, which we believe is the Holy Spirit
working in and through the church. God has "times and seasons" marked
out (1 Thessalonians 5:1), and even Satan cannot get God off schedule. The One
who hinders in v. 7 is the Spirit, and He will continue to hinder Satan's
activities until He is taken "out of the midst" when the church is
raptured. Of course, the Spirit will still work on earth, since people will
believe and be saved after the rapture; but His hindering ministry through the
body of Christ will end. This will give Satan free course to fill the cup of
iniquity to the full.
Satan will work through the Antichrist in miraculous powers
(vv. 9-10), just as the magicians in Egypt 2:22 ) and get the world to accept and worship
him. Men would rather believe a lie than the truth! Of course, true believers
who are saved after the rapture will not be deceived; it is the lost who will
be deluded and ultimately end up in hell. They will believe the lie, which is
worshiping and serving the creature instead of the Creator (Romans 1:25 ).
IV. The Church Must Be
Completed (2:13 -17)
The Day of the Lord applies to the Gentile nations and the
Jews, but not to the church. It is a day of wrath, and the church is not
destined for wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10 ;
5:9). The purpose of the Tribulation is the punishment of the Gentiles and the
purification of the Jewish nation, which by this time has returned to its own
land in unbelief. But Antichrist cannot begin his rise to power until Christ
has taken the church from the earth. What a contrast between the church and the
followers of Antichrist! We have been saved by believing the Truth; they will
be damned because they believe a lie. We have believed the good news of the
Gospel; they believe the false promises of the devil. We have been chosen for
glory; they are destined for hell.
Paul makes a wonderful application: stand fast! Don't be
moved by world convulsions, political upheavals, or religious apostasy. All
these things must take place, but God is still on the throne. As the end of the
age draws near, it will be more and more difficult to live for Christ and serve
Him. What should the Christian do? Hold on to the Word of God! Don't listen to
the ties of the devil - the teachings of the cults, the sugar-coated promises
of false teachers.
Hold to the Word of God! We have in Christ and His Word
eternal encouragement and good hope.
We must keep on working. "Every good word and
work" (v. 17) is a good motto to follow in these dark days. Keep on giving
out the Word; keep on working for Christ. As we win others to Christ, we are
building up the body. When the body is completed, it will be caught away to
glory. This is what Peter means by "hastening the coming of the day of
God" (2 Peter 3:11 -12). As long
as the church is in the world, Satan's program of wickedness is held back; but
once the church is gone, Satan will have more freedom. He will seek to destroy Israel
These are great and challenging days. May we be found
faithful when He comes!
(from Wiersbe's
Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Copyright © 1992 by Chariot Victor
Publishing, an imprint of Cook Communication Ministries. All rights
reserved.)
Rev. M. Mitchell
No comments:
Post a Comment