03 - The Apostasy And The Apocalypse 2011

Last time we closed with Jesus as our Prophet, Priest, and King. We also saw that His full name—Lord Jesus Christ—is packed with powerful meaning. LORD is His sovereign name and speaks of His ownership. JESUS is His saving name. And CHRIST is His sufficient name. In the name “Christ” all of our needs are met.

Keep in mind that between 1 and 2 Thessalonians, some teachers had arisen in the church at Thessalonica who were advocating a false doctrine. Their teaching was that the Day of the Lord had come and that the church was already in the Great Tribulation.

The fact that the church was experiencing such a high level of persecution probably added weight to their claims. If so, these false teachers failed to distinguish between “tribulation,” which Jesus said would be the common experience of believers in this world (John 16:33), and the “Great Tribulation” spoken of in Matthew 24:21.

The Great Tribulation will be a special period when the Jews and believing Gentiles in particular will be persecuted by the Antichrist (Rev.7). Paul sets the record straight in verses 1 & 2:

2:1-2 “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled…”

The word “coming” here is parousia (par-oo-see'-ah), which refers to the time period between the Rapture and the final return of Christ. It refers to the time when the church will be with the Lord in the air, appearing before the judgment seat of Christ, and participating in the marriage supper of the Lamb. The root meaning of the word is “to be near.” It refers to the Lord’s physical presence.

Our interest in the use of parousia in this chapter is because it is used in three different contexts: for the presence of Christ in the air (2:1), for the presence of the Antichrist (2:9), and for the presence of Christ on earth (2:8).

Verse 1 also uses the phrase “by our gathering together unto Him.” This phrase is only used twice in the N.T. Here and in Hebrews 10:25 where we are told not to forsake “the assembling of yourselves together”, and so much more as we see the day of the Lord’s return approaching.

We are gathered together unto Him now (Matt.18:20); we shall be gathered together with Him then. His presence in our midst is invisible now; it will be visible then.

Paul beseeches his Thessalonian brothers not to be so easily swayed by wrong teaching. “Don’t be soon shaken in mind, or be troubled…” The word soon can be translated quickly. The subversion of the Thessalonians had happened quickly.

The word “shaken” means “to shake,” or “to move to and fro,” “to agitate.” This is Satan’s plan—to shake us from our foundations in sound doctrine. Everything else follows from that.

The word “troubled” means “to cry aloud” or “to wail.” This pictures a person who is frightened. Again, Satan’s plan is to move the Christian from peace to fear, confidence to insecurity, thus paralyzing the church.

Paul pinpoints the source of their deception. “…either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.” John warned the church, “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God…” (1 John 4:1). A lying spirit had deceived the Thessalonians.

Demon spirits are revealed in Scripture as entities that seek to teach through false doctrine. Paul warned, “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons” (1 Tim.4:1).

They had been told that “the day of the Lord” had come. It is important to understand the difference between “the day of Christ” and “the day of the Lord.”

The “day of Christ” refers to the parousia, the day when the Lord Jesus will come for His church at the time of the Rapture (1 Thes.4:16). Peter calls it “the day” (2 Pet 1:19), and says that Jesus is “the day star.”

As the morning star in the sky heralds the dawn of a new day, so Christ as the daystar, the light bearer, heralds the dawn of a new day for the church.

But the Day of the Lord refers to the time when God will overthrow Israel’s foes. It will be a time of darkness and judgment. It will climax in the setting up of the millennial kingdom and will end, a thousand years later, with the dissolution of the heavens themselves.

The Thessalonians were being told that this day had already come! But Paul clarifies the issue by saying that it had not come and will not come until certain other things have happened.

Let’s be clear for our own understanding: The “day of Christ” is imminent; the “day of the Lord” can come only after numerous other things have prepared the way. The “day of Christ” is for the church; the “day of the Lord” is for the world. The “day of Christ” is primarily a day of joy; the “day of the Lord” is primarily a day of judgment. The “day of Christ” is the church’s; the “day of the Lord” is the world’s horror.

Everything that Paul is now about to reveal is true for the “day of the Lord;” none of it is true for the “day of Christ.” He writes in verse 3:

2:3 “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first,”

There are seven different words for “deceive” in the N.T. This one means, “to deceive wholly,” or “to delude thoroughly.” The Thessalonians had almost swallowed Satan’s lies hook, line, and sinker.

First, there must come a “falling away.” The word used here is apostasia. The last days, says Paul, will be marked by a falling away from the truth, a turning away from God, abandonment of the Christian faith and the Judeo-Christian ethic.

It would appear that we are seeing this prediction unfold right before our eyes. The rise of atheism, communism, and secularism, situational ethics and Political Correctness, along with the spread of false, oriental religions has sent our culture into a moral death spiral.

Pornography and perversion are now championed. Bible reading and prayer have been banned, while the vilest displays of moral degradation are spotlighted. The soul-destroying philosophy of evolution is accepted as a matter of course, even though it has never been proven.

Satanism is on the rise. The courts have become corrupted through their toleration of abortion and lifestyles that God calls abhorrent. And tragically, as Paul predicted, many churches have become liberal, cold, and spiritually dead.

And mark it down; our current media have become the tool and ally of all those subversive forces in our society that favor unbridled permissiveness and godlessness. The media have disgraced their profession, having become champions of the very philosophies and world-views that are corrupting us.

On the national level there really isn’t much news any more. There are instead propaganda pieces that are agenda-driven toward the goal of secularizing and de-Christianizing America.

Paul says that the apostasy will climax in the revelation of a person called “the man of sin,” or “the son of perdition.” He writes:

“…and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,”

The word “revealed” means “to uncover” or “unveil.” As Jesus Christ was “unveiled” to be God’s true Messiah, the Antichrist will be “unveiled” in imitation of Christ Jesus. Satan always tried to mimic God and His works and His ways.

The Antichrist will be “the man of sin.” The idea is that this terrible human being will be the incarnation of all wickedness. Sin will be his meat and drink, the very breath of life to him. He will encourage sin. Pornography, perversion, drugs, murders, lies, deceptions, gambling, and violence will all be grain for his mill.

Think of Christ Jesus—all of His goodness, kindness, healing, love, and grace. Now think of just the opposite and you have the Antichrist. His personal charisma will doubtless be huge. No wickedness is so insidious as that which is cloaked by a magnetic, attractive, and forceful personality.

The Antichrist will undoubtedly possess a vast intellect. He will also, according to Daniel (Daniel 7), be a wily politician. He will be thoroughly bad, evil through and through, Satan’s spawn, demon inspired, the seed of the serpent, a man of sin.

Those who stay in prayer and are watchful as our Lord told us to be are fully aware that our world is moving rapidly to meet him. The world is riding the wave of a breathtaking moral decline, combined with political and economic chaos that begs for “a man” to take charge and deliver us.

That man will one day be Antichrist. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, each generation has been worse than the last. What was outrageous sin to one generation is the norm of the next generation. The generation of the Antichrist is coming into focus and will soon be ready to rule the earth.

Antichrist is also called “the son of perdition.” The word “perdition” means “destruction,” or “ruin.” The word is used of all those who reject Christ (2 Peter 3:7). It depicts the terrible loss that all of the unsaved will suffer.

It suggests that all that they had, or might have had, is now gone forever. It refers to the destruction of body, soul, and spirit, to an utter and complete ruin that will not be reversed.

This is the same word that Paul now uses to describe the Antichrist. It depicts his character, who he is to the core—a destroyer.

The Antichrist, in mimicry of Christ Jesus, will also be a resurrected man. The Book of Revelation describes him as “he that was, that is not (he died), and that will ascend out of the bottomless pit (Rev.17:8).

In John’s Revelation, the Antichrist has two comings; the Devil always mimics God. When he first appears, he will be an ordinary man, brilliant, persuasive, attractive, powerful, and possessed by Satan.

He will be killed. John reveals that he receives a “deadly wound” that is healed (Rev.13:3), and is brought back to life again. Thus, Satan imitates the resurrection of Christ.

When this “resurrection” takes place, John writes that, “3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast,” (Rev. 13: 3-4).

This is the “great delusion” Paul will mention later in the chapter. Next time we will look more at this diabolical individual who may very well be alive on earth today.

In light of these things, may we focus more than ever before on sharing the good news of the Gospel of Christ to as many as we can, by all the means that we can, as fast as we can.