II Thessalonians
Chp. 2
Vs.1,2 Paul tells them, not to be troubled and worried about the second coming of Jesus.
It seems that Paul’s first letter and maybe what other people had said made some of them worry.
Some of them thought Jesus might return within the next weeks or months.
Some of them worried that those believers who had died would miss going to heaven.
So Paul is writing again to explain more about Jesus’ coming again.
Vs. 3 Paul says Do not worry. Before that day happens——first there will be many, many people who will stop believing in God.
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There are countries in the world who have never worshipped the Christian God.
It seems, what Paul is saying, that in countries where many people did worship the Christian God, that they will stop worshipping God.
We see that happening in the U.S. Years ago most people went to church and even evil bad people believed in God.
Now we see so many do not go to church. Their children have never gone to church. They do not know much about God. They do not want to know about God. They do not care what God thinks. To them if there is a God then he is far, far away and they do not think about him.
We see more and more people who are against evangelical Christians. They feel that these “evangelicals” should be “taken out, put away, destroyed”.
In truth, some day the evangelical Christians will be “taken out” by Jesus Himself.
It will be a shocking event for the world, but soon they will rejoice that these people are gone from the world, and will feel that is was a very good thing.
As more and more people are against Christians the time for Jesus coming again will be closer.
Then Paul says that the “man of sin” will be shown (revealed).
This “man of sin” will be the “anti-Christ”. He will be a leader who will rise in power and influence. He will be over many nations. It seems that these nations may lose their national borders and new borders will be made.
At first, this leader will seem to be just a smart, clever leader.
But after 3 and ½ years, he will become very demanding. His evil “heart” will show.
Vs. 4 He will be against the Christian God. This is why he is called “anti” (against) “Christ”.
He will be against every god of every religion.
He will lift himself up as “god”. He will put himself in the temple (church) of God. This means the Jewish temple or church.
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Vs. 6, 7 Paul says When I was there in your church with you, I told you about this.
The Holy Spirit that has come into the world —–this happened after Jesus went up into heaven in the clouds———the Holy Spirit is still here working in people’s hearts. This is the reason it is not time yet for these things to happen.
When the Holy Spirit is taken up out of the world then it will be time for these things to happen and for the man of sin to show himself.
Paul wrote these things about 2000 years ago. The world has waited 2000 years for Jesus to come back again.
Vs. 8 In God’s time, this man of sin will be destroyed by God.
Vs. 9 This man will do the work of Satan. He will have power to do signs, wonders. The KJV version of the Bible, says “lying wonders”. He will deceive (fool, trick) the people.
These people who would not believe God or His word will be fooled and deceived by this man.
These people will be punished by God for not believing in God or Jesus His son.
Vs. 10-17 Paul tells them how thankful he is for the faith in God.
He encourages them to “hold fast” “hold on to” “do not give up or stop believing in the truth that Paul taught them.
To keep faith in God and not stop not give up is so important.
In our world today, we are so busy working, taking care of family, and so on. We do not take the time to read the Bible and pray.
Many do not go to church. They are not teaching their children the things of the Lord.
People do not know what the Bible says. They have not memorized important Bible verses.
It will be hard to stay true to God if you do not know what God’s word says or you do not pray.
Jesus told the disciples when they were in the garden with him before the soldiers came to take Jesus—-”Watch and pray, so you are not led into temptation. The Spirit is willing (to do right) but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41