The End is Coming? Chicken Little? No, Jesus

2 Thessalonians 2:1–17 ESV

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. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who 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. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Christ is Surely Coming

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

We have entered that time of the Church year where we focus first on the blessed dead. We did that last week on All Saints Sunday. Now, for the next three weeks the Church embraces the hope that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. That on this “Day of the Lord” the dead will be raised. Those who have rejected Christ and live under the reign of Satan, the anti-Christ, and False Prophet will be eternally separated from God, suffering the never-ending-fire of hell created for the devil and his angels. Those who are covered by Jesus’ blood and righteousness through Baptism and Faith in Him as the only way to the Father will be welcomed into the everlasting courts of heaven where they will forever sing the New Song of the Lamb before the throne of God. Everyone who ever lived or are still alive will be there on that Last Day. Every eye will see Him. Every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every knee will bow. Those who are His own rejoice at the coming of this day. Those who hate Him will see Him coming in the clouds, and will bow their knees and confess that He, indeed, is real, and is the Lord, and is the judge, and will receive His condemnation.

This is a doctrine rejected by the world. They don’t believe that there will be a judgment. They don’t believe in any kind of standard outside of their own opinions and lifestyles. To the world there are no commandments, no right and wrong, no good and evil, and no accountability. This has always been as Peter reminds us,

2 Peter 3:3–4 ESV

knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Nothing new here. They refuse to accept the mercy of the Father. He so desperately wants them to return to Him before it is too late. But to most, what I think, what I feel, is truth for me. Proverbs warns about this kind of thinking: “There is a way that seems right to a man but it ends in death.” In this case, eternal death.

For those who know Jesus, for those who confess that He will come again to judge the living and the dead, however, this Epistle gives wonderful hope to which our Epistle lesson speaks.

The Church at Thessalonica was in a city founded and named after the sister of Alexander the Great. In AD 50 the Holy Spirit uses Paul to establish a church there. The church comes alive in Christ and lives with the urgency that Jesus could come at any moment. And the Bible tells us that this should be our attitude as well. But, is it?

Most spend their lives not giving Jesus second coming a second chance. We live our lives as if it were not going to be today. That’s really a form of unbelief. Waiting for the Lord is what defined the Church at Thessalonica.

A few problems arose within the Church at Thessalonica. First, because they believed in the imminent coming of Jesus, some stopped working and spent all of their time in prayer, and in literal watching and waiting, neglecting their gifts and doing the work that the Lord calls the Church to do: To make disciples of all nations.

This issue has arisen over time within Christianity. For instance, in the 19th century an upstate New York Baptist preacher turned 7th Day Adventist predicted the world would end in 1844. Followers sold their homes and businesses in preparation for this day. They stopped interacting with society. They went up the mountains surrounding Hampton, NY and waited but Jesus didn’t come. More recently, Harold Camping of Family Radio fame, predicted that the world would end around September 6, 1994. Some of his followers did the same thing. They sold their properties and stopped engaging in human life. Camping formed a new church for those followers that he called “Bible Churches” But the date came and went. No Jesus. He then stated that he had miscalculated the date and came up with May 21, 2011. Not only did many disengage themselves from the world, but Camping encouraged them to leave their churches as well because in his mind “all Christianity has become apostate. Many did. Instead of worshiping, his followers were asked to stay home on Sunday mornings, and listen to Family Radio during the time that they normally would go to church. They did by the hundreds. But again, no return of Jesus.

Of course, these are aberrations of the faith. “Date setting” is expressly forbidden by Jesus. He tells us that even He, according to His human nature does not know the day or the hour. Nor do the angels. Only the Father. To claim we have figured it out means we are arrogantly saying we know more than Christ Himself.

These abuses, notwithstanding, do not take away from the urgency that Jesus gives. Nonetheless, Paul goes after those who separate out of the world. This is the only time that God has afforded us to engage the world with the Gospel. That work, that Mission of the Church is not to end until Jesus comes.

The second issue in the Church at Thessalonica is that some were losing faith. This was do to the fact that the Christians there thought that Jesus would return before any of them died. Before any persecution against Christians would begin. But here’s the thing: People were dying, and the Church was being persecuted. Had Jesus forgotten His promise to return? And so, just like when we make promises and break them, the saints there thought that Jesus had let them down.

Paul stands against this type of thinking with a word of hope:

Bringing His Reward

While Jesus’ return is imminent, and it can come at any time, that He does not come is not an indicator of the fact that He forgot His promise, or that He was incapable of delivering on it. As a matter of fact, the Scriptures tell us that the delay of the end is an act of mercy. Through Paul the Holy Spirit tells us, “God desires that no one perish but come the knowledge of the truth.” Thats the Gospel of Jesus. Further, listen to what Peter tells us:

2 Peter 3:1–7 ESV

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

There are times, especially in this day and age when I wish that Jesus would come quickly! People celebrating abortion. People mutilating themselves because they “feel” like the opposite sex. Lawlessness and hatred for all things just, pure, and true permeates our land. Governmental overstepping in matters that seem no longer protected by a constitution that many feel is outdated and outmoded so they disregard it. How low can it get? Pretty low. Alas, our issues are not new at all. The Church in Thessalonica faced all of the same issues then. There is nothing new under the sun.

In this text, Paul tells the Church that there is a process by which things take place that is defined by God.

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. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who 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. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

Jesus comes only on the Day that the Father appoints by His own authority. And that Day will come in the perfect time. The fullness of time in the truest sense of the word. But until that Day comes the world will deteriorate in all ways, and sin will predominate. God restrains the anti-Christ until such time that he is revealed, and then is decimated by the cross of Jesus and Jesus’ victory over his greatest tool, death and hell. This must first take place our text declares.

When it comes to our faith, these are the things that the Lord commands.

Know that Jesus is coming, and that His coming may be today.

Understand that no one knows when it will be, not even Jesus Himself.

When He comes it will not be secret. Every eye will see Him. There will be no missing it.

Until He comes, remember He is already here in Word and Sacrament, reigning on earth in the forgiveness of sins that come in His means of grace.

Until He comes you are to occupy the time by using your gifts to serve Him, your money to support His Work, and your lips to sing His praises.

Until Jesus comes the Mission of the Church has not changed: Make disciples, make disciples, make disciples. And when you’re done with that, make disciples.

A word of caution: There are many teachers out there who monopolize on end time theology. Most are extremely wrong in their assessments and predictions. Be careful what you read or listen to. While spectacular, most is false doctrine. If you’re really interested, we still have plenty of seats open in our class on Revelation here.

...we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.