Transcript

During the Middle Ages, a curvature of the spine that created a hunched back was considered a mark of psychic powers. People who suffered from this were supposed to be able to see into the future. Well, as medicine advanced, the world came to understand that a hunched back had nothing to do with psychic powers.

But that myth is reflected in an expression that lingers to this day in the English world, where we still call a sense of some future event a “hunch.”[1] So, we say, “You know, I have a hunch something is going to happen.”  

Beloved, the only valid source of information about the future is God’s Word. And as we set sail into the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul is not telling us he has a hunch about the future; he is revealing inspired truth from God.

First, Paul has to clear up some confusion among his readers concerning future events he has already discussed. His readers’ confusion is reported here in verses 1-2:

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, 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.

You might remember from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians that he described the rapture. That is the Lord’s coming in the clouds to raise the bodies of deceased believers first—reuniting them with their spirits, which have been with the Lord—and then rapturing, or snatching upward, believers who are still alive. All will be taken up and away by Christ to heaven before the time of tribulation.

Now Paul assures them that these two events—the rapture of the church and then the tribulation period—are still in the future. And to this day, these two events have not happened.

Here is the problem. Since Paul’s first letter, the Thessalonians have been influenced by those who were teaching that the “day of the Lord has come”—that the trials they are currently experiencing mean the tribulation has arrived.

Paul says that this false teaching might have come “by a spirit or a spoken word”—that is, from somebody claiming some word from God. Or, he says here in verse 2, this teaching might have come from “a letter seeming to be from us.” Perhaps somebody wrote a letter and claimed it was from Paul, saying the tribulation had already begun.

As you can imagine, Paul was not too happy about that. So, he begins to offer inspired correction. First, he emphatically declares that this is deceptive teaching. He then explains why the tribulation has not yet begun.

It may be helpful at this point to review what Paul taught in his first letter—1 Thessalonians—in chapters 4 and 5. First, he taught that the rapture comes before the tribulation and will deliver believers from the wrath of God.

Second, the “day of the Lord” is a phrase used for the tribulation, not for suffering in general. Yes, the Thessalonians are suffering, but it’s not the end-times judgment of God. In the book of Revelation, beginning with chapter 6, John the apostle describes global terror, global war, global pandemics, water turning into blood that kills a third of the earth’s population. That kind of suffering by divine judgment has not occurred yet on Planet Earth.

Now here in the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, Paul gives some proofs why the day of the Lord—the tribulation—has not yet begun.

The first proof is that before the arrival of the day of the Lord, “the rebellion comes” (verse 3). The Greek word for “rebellion” is apostasia, from which comes the word apostasy. It refers to a falling away from the faith.

While every generation has seen professing Christians walk away from Christ, revealing they were not Christians after all, Paul refers here to a massive apostasy that will take place around the time of the rapture and open the door to the introduction of “the man of lawlessness … the son of destruction,” the one we call the Antichrist.

Paul describes him in verse 4:

[He] 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.

You will notice that the Antichrist is going to declare his deity in “the temple of God.” There is no temple in Jerusalem today, but a temple will be rebuilt during the tribulation. We know that because Scripture reveals that the Antichrist defiles the temple as he declares himself to be God. Paul writes that he is going to take his seat in the temple, declaring his deity. This act is referred to as the “abomination of desolation” in both Daniel and the Gospel of Matthew.[2]

Paul writes in verse 5, “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” He is giving the Thessalonians a mild rebuke here—they should have held on to his sermon notes.

Here is what Paul is proving: These believers cannot be experiencing the tribulation because the Antichrist has not been revealed. And he is not going to be revealed until the tribulation begins and the church is gone. Any preacher who claims to know who the Antichrist is, is either a false teacher or a misguided teacher who is trying to sell more books.

Paul then explains why the Antichrist has not been revealed yet. He is being restrained “so that he may be revealed in his time” (verse 6). It is not time yet, according to God’s plan.

But in the meantime, Paul writes, “The mystery of lawlessness is already at work” (verse 7). Yes, wickedness is at work now, but the final representative of wickedness, the Antichrist, is not yet revealed. There is restraint of evil taking place on earth today.

That raises an obvious question: Who or what is the restrainer? There are a lot of opinions out there, but I only have space to give you the right one. Since the one who restrains the Antichrist must be more powerful than him and Satan, who empowers him, the simplest answer is that the restrainer is the Spirit of God. But in what sense is the Holy Spirit, as Paul writes, taken “out of the way” (verse 7)? At the rapture the church is removed from the earth. That means all believers, who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, will be taken out of the way.

This does not mean the Holy Spirit will be removed from the earth—the Spirit of God is omnipresent. But the Spirit’s unique, restraining influence through Christians will be removed.

It will be like a power outage in a major city today. Looting, burning, killing, and all manner of wickedness will explode within a matter of hours.

“Then,” Paul writes in verse 8, “the lawless one will be revealed.” So, here is the timeline: the church is raptured, the tribulation begins, and the Antichrist is revealed with great power “and false signs and wonders” (verse 9). He is going to perform miracles, and the world will fall at his feet. And on those who accept him, God will send “a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false [and] be condemned” (verses 11-12).

None of these events had yet occurred for the Thessalonians, or for you and me today. And that is good news if you have not yet believed in Christ. You have been given just a little more time to be saved. I encourage you to ask Christ to save you right now. Why wait and risk everything? Run to the safety of salvation today, through Christ alone.