Rev. David Holwick Q
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
May 6, 2012
2 Thessalonians 2:1-8
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I. Few topics excite - and confuse - people like the Second Coming.
A. Sales figures give a good idea.
1) "Left Behind" series - 16 books, 5 on the New York Times
bestseller list simultaneously, 65 million copies sold.
2) "Late Great Planet Earth" - 1 book, 28 million copies sold.
B. Excitement can lead to false hopes and crushing disappointment.
1) Harold Camping fiasco on false date-setting, three times.
2) His final comment - I was wrong, but at least it got a lot
of people to read the Bible!
C. The early Christians sometimes got it wrong, too.
1) Prophecy forms a big part of these two small letters.
2) Here, Paul can sense something is very wrong.
a) Even worse, somehow Paul is getting the blame for it.
b) They have misinterpreted him, or someone has twisted
what he taught.
c) The whole church was upset, and he has to set them
straight.
II. What they got wrong.
A. They had the misunderstanding that the Day of the Lord had come.
1) What is the Day of the Lord exactly?
a) Verse 1 explains it as the coming (parousia) of Jesus
and the gathering of Christians to him.
1> This gathering is often called the Rapture.
b) Many Christians, like the writers of the "Left Behind"
books, assume there is 7 years between these events.
1> Christians are taken up in the rapture, the
Antichrist rules the earth for 7 years, then
Jesus returns to the earth.
2> I believe this passage shows they are wrong.
3> The rapture occurs in association with the
appearance of Jesus, not seven years before.
A> Otherwise, why would Paul warn them that the
Antichrist has to come first?
B> Since they would already be raptured, his
appearance wouldn't mean anything to them.
2) What did they think had happened?
a) Jesus had come (spiritually?) and they missed it?
1> Jesus himself taught that false teachers would
say that the Messiah had returned to a secret
place, but they would be wrong. Matt 24:26
2> Jesus also taught that his second coming would be
visible to everyone.
3> It is obvious that this kind of coming had not
occurred, but perhaps the false teachers were
pointing to a secret coming.
b) The rapture had happened, and they weren't included?
c) The persecution they were experiencing caused some
Christians to think they were in the Tribulation,
and the Rapture was imminent.
1> This would explain why some of them had stopped
going to their jobs in 3:6.
B. Paul lays out a sequence of events that must happen first.
1) The rebellion must occur.
a) Literally, departure or falling away. (Gr: apostasy)
b) Some see this as the rapture: Christians depart from
the earth to be with Jesus.
c) More likely, it is the Tribulation.
1> There will be a great turning against God.
2) The man of lawlessness must appear.
a) This is the Antichrist.
b) He is the focus of today's passage.
C. Instead of being unsettled, Christians should be educated.
1) It is a complicated topic, but it was important to Paul
and to Jesus, so it should be important to us.
2) If you know what you believe, and why you believe it, you
are far less likely to get unnerved by deviant teachings.
III. The infamous Antichrist.
A. Biblical background.
1) The prophet Daniel (around 600 BC) lays the foundation.
a) A future king called "The Little Horn." Daniel 8
9 Out of one of them came another horn, which started
small but grew in power to the south and to the east
and toward the Beautiful Land.
10 It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and
it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and
trampled on them.
11 It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the
host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and
the place of his sanctuary was brought low.
12 Because of rebellion, the host of the saints and the
daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in
everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.
b) Abomination of desolation. Daniel 9
26 After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will
be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the
ruler who will come will destroy the city and the
sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will
continue until the end, and desolations have been
decreed.
27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.'
In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to
sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple
he will set up an abomination that causes desolation,
until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."
2) Jesus taught that Daniel's prophecy as still future.
a) (Some believe it was fulfilled by a Syrian king in
160 B.C.).
b) Jesus appears to interpret it as a person who will stand
in the Jerusalem temple, desecrating it.
Matthew 24:15
"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the
abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of
through the prophet Daniel -- let the reader
understand -- ..."
3) Other New Testament passages.
a) 1 John is the only book that uses the term "antichrist."
1 John 2:18-19
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you
have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now
many antichrists have come. ...
19 They went out from us, but they did not really
belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they
would have remained with us; but their going
showed that none of them belonged to us.
1> Notice how John sees multiple examples around him,
but points to a unique individual in the future.
2> One feature is that the antichrists come out of the
church -- they are apostates.
b) Revelation 13 describes him as a beast.
Revelation 13
3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a
fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.
The whole world was astonished and followed the
beast.
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and
blasphemies and to exercise his authority for
forty-two months.
6 He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander
his name and his dwelling place and those who live
in heaven.
7 He was given power to make war against the saints
and to conquer them. And he was given authority
over every tribe, people, language and nation.
8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--
all whose names have not been written in the book
of life belonging to the Lamb...
1> The beast seems to be a political and religious
leader, who comes out of a larger organization.
2> He demands worship, and elsewhere we find he rules
from a city with seven hills (i.e., Rome).
3> He will be a great persecutor of Christians.
B. The nature of the Antichrist, according to 2 Thessalonians.
1) He is doomed before he even starts. 2:3
a) He starts only when God allows him to. 2:6
2) He will oppose God and try to replace him. 2:4
a) He wants to be worshipped.
b) He will desecrate the temple.
1> Jerusalem temple? It no longer exists, but many
Christians expect it to be rebuilt for this.
2> The Christian church? Paul makes this
identification sometimes.
3) The power behind him is already at work. 2:7
4) He is in league with Satan. 2:9
a) He has supernatural powers.
b) But Jesus will defeat him with just a word. 2:8
IV. What is holding him back?
A. The Thessalonians already knew what this was.
1) We can only guess.
2) The Antichrist's appearance is according to God's plan.
a) He will be "revealed" - same word used of Jesus.
B. Common interpretations.
1) Holy Spirit in church, taken out at pre-trib rapture.
a) Variation by Harold Camping - the Spirit is
removed from churches before the tribulation
(it has already happened).
b) Against this, people will still be saved in tribulation.
c) Without the Spirit, you cannot become a Christian.
2) Roman government.
a) Anarchy is the best environment for Satan.
1> Look at riots in American cities in the past.
b) Note that Antichrist is called man of lawlessness.
3) God or an angel he assigns.
a) This is probably the best interpretation.
C. His doom is certain.
1) There is an appointed time for his coming, and his demise.
a) The reign of the Antichrist gets no mention.
2) Jesus will do him in.
a) The breath of his mouth is all it will take.
b) Interestingly, in Revelation 19, Jesus defeats the
Antichrist with a sword that comes out of his mouth.
That sword is the Word of God.
c) Martin Luther's great hymn "A Mighty Fortress is our God"
says "One little word shall fell him."
V. Would you be taken in?
A. There is a long history of conjecture.
1) Who is the Antichrist going to be? Is he here now?
a) People have identified him as Hitler, Stalin, Mao...
b) Others prefer Reagan, Bush, Obama...
c) Every guess so far has been wrong.
2) Scholar F.F. Bruce thinks we have it all wrong.
a) The only proper approach is for us to be like the
disciples at the Last Supper.
b) When Jesus told them one of them would be his betrayer,
they all asked, "Lord, is it me?" Matt 26:22
B. What do you really worship? Who do you really follow?
1) Many, like the Antichrist, make bold claims for themselves.
a) They want to be considered treated like a god, but
they are not God.
b) Following them is the ultimate dead-end.
2) Jesus is the only valid choice for our worship.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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