The Gathering Together Unto Him

2 Thessalonians

Verses 1-2.......This church was a good church. Increased in love and faith.....Their reliance on the truth of Christ above persecutions increased more and more........Their love for one another increased in the midst of intense pressure.

There was an issue, however........Their eschatological view (their understanding of future events) was skewed and they were all over the place.

With regard to the Day of the Lord, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.........This church was under immense persecution, therefore some believed that being that these things was happening, they were in the midst of the tribulation period and as such, missed the gathering away of the saints.

Someone was teaching them this and doing either saying that they got from special revelation or someone either saying that they were speaking for the true apostles or by a forged letter with Paul’s forged signature.

This happens all the time, every time troubled times start, we start saying well we are close to the end...........How many folks have you thought might be the anti-christ? I have thought of a few.

Here is the reality that Paul will set straight in a moment......from least important to the greatest.....

There are going to be certain events that will be a sign that you are in the tribulation period.

Meaning, if you are not seeing these things taking place then you will not that the rapture has not happened.

The rapture is an unsigned event.

Next, and this is the most important, when Christ comes, that is glorious to the believer!

Jesus telling John in Revelation 22:20 “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

Down in verse 16, Paul reinforces this truth, Jesus Christ has given us eternal comfort and a good hope through His Grace.

eternal comfort and a good hope.

Nevertheless, these were being told different and the were shaken and troubled......their hope had took a blow and they were troubled with thought of having to go through all that is to come concerning the 7 year tribulation period.

Verse 3-5.....Paul is going to set the record straight again....vs 5 “I have told you this before, remember?”....He will detail what the tribualtion period will look like and who will be on the scene.

Do not be misled/deceived, (KJV adds “that day shall not come”) which explains the “except”.....

Falling away first......after the rapture of the church, the earth will be completely void of True Biblical teaching and will be left to a man of lawlessness that basically swoops in to save the day. He comes in a creates a false peace, so much so, that the Jews make a pact with him.

Daniel 9:27 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

The anti-christ makes a 7 year (weeks of years) with Israel and breaks it half way through.

He will build the temple again in Jerusalem, only to make it desolate........

Ok, let’s go back to the falling away.......At this point there is no sound Gospel teaching, the saints are gone, starting from scratch and this supposed hero comes on the scene and makes a pact with Israel and rebuilds the temple and when that happens what starts up again?????

Sacrifices and offerings..........How about that! We are not far away now from calling Judaism a legitimate religion, in which in everyway denies the deity of Christ and the atoning work of Christ!

We heard a rabbi last night state that if we live a righteous life, we are graded on that life and if we have a passing score then we are in! He didn’t know what the passing grade is but it didn’t have to be completely perfect!

A true teacher of God’s Word, stated when asked about God’s justice said: “We don’t want justice, with God’s justice everyone goes to hell, what we want, what we need is GRACE! Only found in Jesus Christ!

The world will be enamored with this anti-christ and also begin to believe in the sacrifices and offerings for salvation! This is part of the falling away!

Hebrews 10:10 “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

So, this man of sin, makes this pact, breaks it 3 1/2 years into the tribulation.....goes into the temple and desecrates it.....that is what is called the abomination of desolation.......exactly what verse 4 states........

Exalts himself above God.....Daniel 7:8 “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”

Daniel 9:26 “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”

I heard a preacher say that all of this will pull the trigger on the Great Tribulation, which is God’s wrath poured onto the world!

Matthew 24:15 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)”

Some say that this will be the actual revealing of the anti-christ, at the mid way point.

Daniel 11:31 “And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.”

Revelation 13:2–5 “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”

He will have 42 months to bring all sorts of evil in the world, evil that has not been seen, because it has been restrained......However, he has it only for a time and eventually he will be destroyed, Jesus triumphs......Gabriel answered Daniel’s prayer this way......In the midst of captivity Daniel was concerned for Israel and prayed for a while and Gabriel cam and answered him with these truths that Paul is sharing and had already shared with this church.

One other thing before we leave this verses........There is a similar event, but not quite the same that happened in 167 BC......Daniel’s prophecies about the abomination of desolation seemed to have at least a partial fulfillment in 167 BC when a Greek ruler by the name of Antiochus IV desecrated the temple in Jerusalem. Antiochus called himself “Epiphanies” (“illustrious one” or “god manifest”). He set up an altar to Zeus over the altar of burnt offering, and he sacrificed a pig on the altar. Antiochus went even further in his atrocities, slaughtering a great number of the Jews and selling others into slavery. And he issued decrees forbidding circumcision and requiring Jews to sacrifice to pagan gods and eat pig meat.

One thing to point out: Antiochus set an altar to Zeus, the anti-christ does not he desires to be worshipped as God!

What Antiochus did certainly qualifies as an abomination, but it was not a complete fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. Antiochus Epiphanies did not enter a covenant with Israel for seven years, for example. And in Matthew 24 Jesus, speaking some 200 years after Antiochus’s evil actions, spoke of Daniel’s prophecy as having a still future fulfillment.

Verse 6-9.......We have talked about this alot......

The anti-christ spirit is already at work today, but it is restrained. It cannot do it’s full evil because of the restrainer.

1 John 2:18 “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”

What is the restrainer? John Macarthur notes several views from scholars:

Preaching of the Gospel

Binding of satan

The Jewish state

The church

Human government

This is what has been taught by some, there is something of these things mentioned here that they have in common, which renders them helpless against evil?????? These are all human! Humanity cannot defeat wicked! There is some teaching that says we have to get the world better in order to initiate the coming of Jesus Christ!

Scripture does not prove that out....2 Timothy 3:13 “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”

Now there are other views.....

The providence of God

Michael the archangel

The Holy Spirit

Michael is not omnipresent, the Holy Spirit is.....God the Spirit......At work in believers and even in the world...holding back this powerful demonic, wicked, evil, force!

Evil is present, but not wide open!

Powered with all of whatever satan has supernaturally..........As long as the presence of the Holy Spirit is in the world, it will never be able to come to what the anti-christ will be.

Some say that the Holy Spirit will be removed, that the text is not suggesting that the Holy Spirit is removed when the saints are raptured...

You can make that argument, they state that this will happen when he desecrates the temple, midway through the tribulation.

I don’t agree, but just as it says it is a “mystery of iniquity”, i believe that some of this is so supernatural that we have a hard time sorting out all of this.

When this anti-christ comes to power it will be with the devil’s power, using signs and wonders.

Matthew 24:24 “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”

Let’s pause for a moment and get some details about this anti-christ.....he oppose Jesus and God in everyway! 1 John 4:3 “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

Daniel 11:32 “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

He gains power by flattery, smooth speech.....

Daniel 11:37 “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.”

It could be that he is homosexual or back in that day women in Israel would desire to be the mother of the Messiah as prophesied of, but the text could mean that no one would want to be his mother.

Most think homosexual.

From the statue of Nebuchenezzars dream the “little horn” will come out of the feet part of the statue which is iron and clay and will be a future kingdom/empire in Rome.

Daniel 7:8 “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”

Verse 10.........Received not the love of the truth.......Where is that love at?......It is found in Christ, through His Spirit!.....We do not come upon that love for the truth of Christ on our own!

John 12:42–43 “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”

Romans 3:11 “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”

Knowing this what Grace, that is yet I still find myself infatuated with the world, at times!

Loving God’s truth is Spirit driven, no doubt!

Verse 11-12.......Now the results of this willful unbelief are devastating, verse 11, "And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false."  This is powerful.  Because of their willful unbelief, because of their willful refusal to love and obey the truth and be saved, there is a severe, divine recompense.  He says at the end time when the Antichrist comes, those people who have willfully not believed are going to suffer consequences of that unbelief, severe consequences.  What are the consequences?  Verse 11, "God will send upon them..." Folks, that's divine judgment.  That is divine judgment.  God will send upon them.  What a thought. The sovereign power of God is going to act on unbelievers to seal their fate, to seal their fate.

What's He going to send on them?  A deluding influence so that they might believe what is false.  Wow!  God's going to send on them literally a force of delusion or a force of deception so that they might believe what is false.  If you read the book of Revelation and you remember when Antichrist comes it says the whole world worships him, do you know why?  Because God takes those who have been willfully unbelieving and sends on them a deluding force that causes them to believe that lie.

So, in the last days, God will sovereignly seal the fate of those who persist in following satan.

God is in control of this entire event!

Verses13-17......God’s power has saved you and it is God Who holds you....stand fast in His Eternal Grip, not waivering

He has done the work, we trust Him!

And then a final word, and in this final word he adds one more exhortation, don't be weak. Don't be weak.  With everything I've given you, "So then, brethren," verse 15, "stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by letter from us."  And this is just a sort of a summation, direct exhortation to the Thessalonians.  So then, brethren, stand firm.  Don't be weak.  Don't be vacillating.  Hold your ground. Stay upright, don't waver. Don't be fearful. Don't be doubtful. Don't be insecure. Don't be agitated.  Stand firm and hold.  That simply means to exert strength with your grip so something can't be pulled away from you.  Hold on.  To what?  To the traditions which you were taught, whether by word...word of mouth, or by letter from us.

Now when we hear the word "traditions" we might get a little confused here.  What's he mean?  He means the message from God, divine revelation. The word “tradition” has come to mean a lot to us, it usually means a whole lot of stuff that's concocted in some kind of culture, religious or social, that gets passed down from generation to generation. And in our vernacular that's usually what the word “tradition’ means.  We talk about tradition as something that's no revelatory. We say on the one hand there's the Bible, on the other hand there's tradition. And so maybe we see those two juxtaposed when they shouldn't be. The word tradition in the Greek means literally “things handed down.”  That's all it means.  Things handed down.  And what he is saying then in that sense is this, stand firm and hold onto the things handed down, the things handed down through teaching by word and letter from us.  That's divine revelation, my friend.  In the Pauline letters and the revelation God gave him which he preached to them, the oral things and the written things. The oral things, by the way, that God inspired have been recorded for us in the gospels and in the book of Acts.  The written are in all the epistles.

The Work of Christ is sufficient! Do not be shaken and troubled by all of this!!!!!!!!!

You know I don’t want to sound like I have a hold on things, but every time the world gets shaky, this thing with Israel and all the other things....I get aggravated but the ultimate truth is we have an everlasting comfort and a good hope that cannot be prevailed against! I am in the faithful hands of Jesus Christ!

This faith does away with the power that death even seems to hold on us!

That is what we are supposed to do here, when we come together and even in between.....To bring truth in our life through Jesus Christ Who comforts us and stablishes us!

You know I heard a preacher say yesterday, that a pastor is to serve the people, to feed His flock.....This is what the church gathering is about the ministry of the Word of God, prayer! Devoting ourselves to that.....we put a lot of things on the church, but the greatest comfort is from what God has said and done through Jesus Christ!

I heard this hymn sung by 5000 men, there is a lead singer and then the whole congregation answers.....

Do you feel the world is broken? (We do) Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do) But do you know that all the dark won't Stop the light from getting through? (We do) Do you wish that you could see it all made new? We do)Is all creation groaning? (It is) Is a new creation coming? (It is) Is the glory of the Lord to be the light within our midst? (It is) Is it good that we remind ourselves of this? (It is)Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole? Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll? The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave He was David's root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slaveIs He worthy? Is He worthy? Of all blessing and honor and glory Is He worthy of this? He isDoes the Father truly love us? (He does) Does the Spirit move among us? (He does) And does Jesus, our Messiah hold forever those He loves? (He does) Does our God intend to dwell again with us? (He does)Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole? Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll? The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave He is David's root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave From every people and tribe Every nation and tongue He has made us a kingdom and priests to God To reign with the SonIs He worthy? Is He worthy? Of all blessing and honor and glory Is He worthy? Is He worthy? Is He worthy of this?He is! Is He worthy? Is He worthy? He is! He is!