WWUTT 536 Quickly Shaken in Mind?

Some false teachers had tried to shake the faith of the Thessalonians by telling them that the day of Christ's return had already happened, just as there are false teachers today saying false things about the return of Christ, and we've been warned about them when we understand the text.

Program Introduction and the Warning Against False Claims About Christ’s Return

You're listening to When We Understand the Text, committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. And don't forget our website, www .tt .com.

Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of 2 Thessalonians, moving into Chapter 2, where we'll read about the Son of Destruction, or the Son of Perdition, as he's also described in some translations.

This is one of those chapters that's kind of essential to formulating a doctrine of the Antichrist, when we think about the Antichrist who will be revealed. So 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, Paul writes, Lawlessness is revealed, the Son of Destruction, 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.

Do you not remember that when I was with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now, so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So this section that we're looking at here is the whole reason why Paul has written this next letter to the Thessalonians.

What has happened, or what is believed to have happened, is that the Thessalonians received a letter, seeming to be from the Apostle Paul himself. And that letter claimed that the return of Christ had already happened.

Now this could have been from some false Jewish teachers. It could have been from some false teachers who claimed to preach the Lord Jesus Christ, but actually did not. Or it could have been from some opponents, even within Thessalonica, who just hated the Christian church.

And so they were trying to frazzle them somehow. Maybe they were making fun of the things that they taught. And maybe somebody was spying on them and kind of got some tidbits on things that they believed regarding the return of Christ.

And so somebody penned this letter, forged it as being from the Apostle Paul, and claimed that Christ had already returned. I mean, just think about the angst that the Thessalonians felt when Paul wrote his first letter to them.

To the point that he had to soothe them about those who had preceded them in death. Your brothers and sisters in Christ who have already died have not missed out on the day of the Lord. In fact, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are left will be caught up together with them in the air, and then we will forever be with the Lord.

So he gave them such words of kindness and encouragement and informed them that those who die before Christ returns are not missing out on the day of the Lord. We all get to be participants in that day.

And the Thessalonians were greatly distressed about this. They thought that they had that Greco-Roman understanding when a person died that the soul just ceased to be. So did they miss out on that day?

Only those who are still alive and present on this earth are going to get to be a part of the day of the Lord. So because this was such a stress for the Thessalonians, it's possible that somebody wishing to cause them trouble was writing a letter claiming to be from Paul or maybe another apostle and told them that the day of the Lord had already taken place.

They were trying to shake the faith of the Thessalonians. They wanted them to give up. We missed it. So much for all of that. I mean, what was Paul talking to us about? If Christ is already returning to here, we still are.

We didn't even get to go with him. And so how many how many Christians would have just abandoned their faith after that saying, well, that was our hope. We were looking forward to the return of Christ when he eliminates all evil and delivers us into his imperishable kingdom.

And apparently we missed the boat. So somebody has tried to rattle the Thessalonians. And has apparently succeeded at it, at least to the degree that Paul had to write a letter to them and say, OK, let's let's go back through the things that I taught you regarding what will happen first before the day of Christ.

And remember, when we were in First Thessalonians, chapter five, right at the start of that chapter, Paul said now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers related to Christ's return, you have no need to have anything written to you.

For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. It'll be unannounced and it'll be unexpected, at least to those who are not looking forward to the day of Christ.

But we who are children of the day, that day is not going to take us by surprise. We're going to be ready to go. We're looking for that day. But those who are not in Christ, that day is going to come like a thief.

And what's going to be stolen from the unbelievers is not going to be the Christians. It's not going to be that Christians have been raptured away and then everybody's going to be standing around going, oh, what happened?

Where did a large number of people go now? What's going to be robbed from them is their very lives. They will they will be destroyed in the judgment and wrath of God that is going to come with Christ when he returns.

This is all the same event. He comes and rescues his church and brings judgment on the world. All of this is going to be happening at the same time. So Paul says that to the Thessalonians, you don't have any need to have anything written to you about the times and the seasons for you.

Yourselves are fully aware. OK, and I mentioned that when we were looking at that, when we were in first Thessalonians chapter five, that if you if you know the story a little bit more, if you know what's coming in second Thessalonians, then that statement there at the start of chapter five is kind of ironic when it turns out that Paul did need to remind them about what to expect concerning the times and the seasons, because then when somebody came along and said, oh, the day of Christ has already happened, some of the Thessalonians apparently believed or at least they were confused enough.

It doesn't seem like the Thessalonians response was, um, no, the day of Christ hasn't happened yet because we're still here. You know, that doesn't seem to be their response. So Paul fills up that first chapter.

And again, when when the letter was delivered to the Thessalonians, there weren't chapter and verse markers, but he fills up that first chapter the way that we have the first chapter with all of these references to the coming and the judgment of God, that Christ is going to destroy those who did not obey the gospel with flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on them, returning with his angels, and he is going to glorify his saints and he will be marveled at among all who have believed.

So Paul fills up this extended intro to this letter, which is like a third of the length of the letter talking about what the day of the Lord will be like. So he is, he's kind of enlivening the hearts of the Thessalonians again.

You still have something to look forward to. It hasn't happened yet. And I'm confident that because you believe the gospel that I preach to you, you're going to be participants on that day. You haven't missed out yet.

None of us have missed out. Christ is coming back. And we even have the reference here to the lawless one whom Christ is going to obliterate by the breath of his mouth, like Christ has such power and such authority that this lawless one who is yet to be revealed is not even going to be able to stand against him.

Jesus is going to take him out just like that, just, and he's gone. That's how much sovereign power belongs to our Lord God. So again, Paul is realizing here in writing this letter that he does indeed have to remind the Thessalonians about some of these things so that they will not be shaken by those who try to say that the day of the Lord is already happened.

The Day of the Lord Has Not Yet Come

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being together, our being gathered together to him, which again, that was first Thessalonians four and five. We ask you brothers 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.

It hasn't come yet. Let no one deceive you in any way for that day will not come unless, and then he gives the things to look forward to look forward to things to look for. These things are going to happen first prior to Christ's return.

Now we're going to talk about that tomorrow. So the rebellion and the man of lawlessness talked about there in verse three, we'll get to that tomorrow. But just as there were these antagonists who rattled the Thessalonians leading them astray to believe that Christ had already returned.

So there are false teachers doing the same thing today. Now they may not necessarily claim that Jesus has already come back, although some do make that claim. So back in 2011 there was the whole thing with Harold camping who predicted that Jesus was going to return.

The rapture was going to happen on May 21st of 2011 and then when that day came and went on May 23rd, I think it was like a couple of days after that day, camping came out again. He even addressed the media and he said, well, Jesus has come back, but it was a spiritual return.

There was a spiritual judgment day. The actual rapture won't happen until October 21st. And then October 21st came and went once again. Camping was reminded that nobody knows the hour or the day and he apologized.

He said that he was wrong and he was going to kind of shrink back from the limelight and go back to his scriptures again. So in that sense, camping did claim that Jesus returned sort of that there was like a spiritual judgment day, but the actual rapture wouldn't happen until later on.

Now the Jehovah's Witnesses did that same thing, although they did it like, I don't know, over a hundred years before. There was this whole thing about the return of Christ, his second coming that was going to be in 1914 and this was an updated prediction because the first one was actually in 1874.

There is a long line of failed prophecies among the Jehovah's Witnesses and they will make these claims and then the dates will come and go and then they'll just reinterpret it somehow. So that way they can say that they've never been wrong on any of these predictions.

But they were claiming an actual visible return of Christ was going to happen in 1914. And then when the year came and went and nobody saw Jesus, well, they just redefined their claim a little bit. They said that Jesus had come and he was present on that date in 1914.

But it was it was something that was invisible, like it's really happening. It's going on all around us, but it's you just can't see it. It's invisible. It was in heaven. If you were in heaven, you would have seen it.

So in that sense, it was visible, but we can't see it because we're still here on earth. So that's just to say there have been false teachers that have made that claim in the past. They have said that Jesus has returned and that really isn't true.

You also have the preterists to to a certain degree. There are some preterists out there who have claimed that everything in the book of Revelation has already happened, including the return of Christ.

I have met some preterists who have actually made that claim before. Jesus has already come back. So I said, so what's what's supposed to happen next? Well, we go meet him when we die. And then and then what we see when we die is going to be like the equivalent of Christ returning.

It's not going to look any different to us one way or the other anyway. Not all preterists believe that. But this was that particular group that I was talking to. So you do have these claims that Christ has already returned.

And Paul put people out of the church for making such statements. In Second Timothy, chapter two, Paul warned Timothy about Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have served swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened.

They are upsetting the faith of some. And so Paul had removed them from the church because they were teaching falsely about the day of the Lord. And so here he is talking about that same thing with the Thessalonians.

These guys who have upset the Thessalonians. I wonder if it was Hymenaeus and Philetus. Maybe they just kind of had a thing going on where they were going around to churches and rattling people over the return of Christ.

And they had gotten a hold of the Thessalonians and had done the same thing. So Paul is is meaning to comfort them in their belief and their understanding about the day of Christ. They have not missed that day.

It's still coming. And you're going to be among those who will be with the Lord. You will marvel at Christ with the saints among all who have believed. That was in chapter one, verse 10, because our testimony to you was believed.

That's your assurance. That's how you can know. Did you believe the gospel that we preached? Then you're going to be there. You don't have to fret about these fanciful tales about Christ having already returned.

And then Paul reminds them of the signs to look forward to, which you can tell in the language. He says to them, do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? So he's told them once.

He's just reminding them of it again so they wouldn't be so distressed. Now, while there are not many claims today about Christ having already returned, what we do get a lot of are these fanciful notions of Christ coming back like tomorrow or at the next eclipse.

Every time we have an eclipse, this gets talked about, whether it's a lunar eclipse or a solar eclipse. You've got guys like Mark Blitz and Jonathan Cahn, both of whom have claimed that a lunar eclipse is a sign of judgment upon Israel, whereas a solar eclipse is a sign of judgment upon the Gentiles.

The Bible doesn't say any such thing. I don't know where they get that from. I don't think they made it up. I'm sure there's some tradition somewhere that goes way back when and they revised it and keep repeating it because they've got to get people shaken to buy their books or so they can appear at conferences or be on Jim Baker's TV show, you know, whatever reason it is that they keep repeating these things, which are clearly not in the Bible.

And don't think that that people don't listen to them and it doesn't affect people very much does. In fact, I just had a conversation with a woman in a parking lot a couple of weeks ago, not quite two weeks ago now, but she was going on about how there was the earthquake that just I'm sorry, the hurricane that just blew through Puerto Rico, the earthquake that affected Mexico City, and then, of course, Hurricane Harvey that devastated the southeastern coast of Texas.

And she said this just happened to be right after the solar eclipse that we had in August showing to us genuine conclusive proof that the end is about to happen. Those are not the signs that we're supposed to be looking for.

That's not what the Apostle Paul tells the Thessalonians here. He doesn't say, hey, guys, we haven't had any typhoons or earthquakes. Those things have to happen yet before the end comes. That's not what he says.

The signs that he gives are the rebellion and the man of lawlessness. But there are people out there using all different kinds of signs, stock market crashes. And I mean, they'll even predict that there's a big stock market crash coming.

So be sure that you stock up on your gold bullion and your bottled water, because you're not going to be able to buy anything once the stock market crashes. We got fear mongers all the time that are that are trying to push these things on us and get people to pay attention to them, get people to doubt their faith.

That's the that's the strategy of the enemy anyway, that he would try to draw us away from our hope and peace, who is Christ Jesus. But we should have nothing to fear of any of these claims, nor should we be rattled, nor should we be panicking.

Don't even develop a nail chewing habit out of all of this. We have nothing to be distressed about because we are safely in the care of our Lord Christ. Do you believe the gospel? Then you are going to be with Christ on that day.

God is going to come back and he is going to bring vengeance in flaming fire upon those who do not know God and on those who did not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we are going to be among those who are going to marvel at him on that day.

And we are going to rejoice together with the saints in the mighty power of God on that day because we believe the testimony of the gospel of Christ that was delivered by the apostles to the world. So you don't have any reason to be concerned or worried about any of these false signs and wonders that are being pointed to by these false prophets.

Don't listen to them. You know what? Maybe something hugely catastrophic will happen tomorrow. Maybe the supreme leader of North Korea does launch a nuclear missile at the United States and maybe our nuclear missile deterrence don't stop it and it hits the western coast and that causes massive loss of life in addition to a huge economic collapse that affects the entire country.

Maybe those things do happen tomorrow. You don't know and I don't know. We will indeed mourn over the evils of this world and yet our faith will not be shaken because we know bad comes to worse. The world goes to pot.

We are going to be in heaven with our Lord forever. He will rescue us out of this plight. I hope that the way that I go out is going to be fast instead of slow, but I have nothing to fear of anything in this world because I have Christ and I know that I am going to be with him forever in glory because I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which told me so.

Prayer for Steadfast Faith in the Word Alone

All right, let's pray. Our Lord God, I pray that you would keep our hearts steadfast and you would fill up our minds so much with the promises of God that we won't be easily led astray or frazzled or even led to believe false teachings and false doctrines because somebody comes with false message concerning the day of Christ.

We have such a comfort and a peace in our heart that you are going to deliver us from even the worst of the worst in this world that we won't be led astray by any of these panicky types of sermons, any reason to try to disrupt our hearts or shake our faith.

Our faith is solid in the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and the perfecter, the finisher of our faith who began a good work in us that he will be faithful to complete on the day of his return. We cling to the promises of God that have been given to us in the word of God, not the word of any false teacher, but solo scriptura, the word alone, scripture alone.

This is our authority. This is our guide in every measure of faith and practice. So we cling to these things, listening to the true word of God that was delivered by Christ to his apostles to us now in the Bible.

We pray and ask for a continued guidance and comfort in our Lord. In his name we pray.

Amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.