Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] All right, you guys can turn to Second Thessalonians.
[00:00:08] We're in Chapter two this week.
[00:00:12] Second Thessalonians two.
[00:00:16] When I was in, I think probably like eighth grade or so, so the same age as some of you guys in the room, I got to do something pretty fun with my family.
[00:00:28] I got to go to Mexico for spring break. And while we were there, we did something that at the time I thought, oh, I've always wanted to do this. Whether or not I actually always wanted to do it. Maybe not. I probably wanted to do it for like a few months. But I was really excited to go deep sea fishing. Has anyone ever been deep sea fishing? Yeah, it's fun. If you like fishing. It is. Can be very difficult. But I loved the ocean. I was ready for the experience.
[00:00:57] It was wonderful day, pretty good weather. It was a bit windy, which ended up being a problem because these, I don't know, four to five foot waves, which are not really all that big, however big they were, they began to do a work down on my. On my gut. And I managed, even amidst this, you know, shakiness. I reeled in a red snapper, which is fun. But before long, I was useless.
[00:01:27] I was helping other people catch fish by, you know, freshening up the water for the fish, releasing some bait because I was horribly seasick by these waves. I was so excited, yet I was seasick. Now, I had never experienced anything like this. So I didn't know what do you do? I guess you just suffer until you get back to land. You can't go lay down, really, because that doesn't help. So I thought I was just going to have to suffer through this. Fortunately for me, my dad was not inexperienced. He grew up in the Bahamas. He's been on many boats and he knew one trick. And he told me, what you do, son, you got to look at the horizon. Told me to look at the horizon. The reason you would do this doesn't always work. Sometimes it helps. But the reason you do this is because your brain and everything gets all thrown off and is wavy and disoriented. But when you look at the horizon, you're looking at the one thing that's not moving. And so in that way, it kind of levels you. It can orient you and cause you to not be so dizzy, cause you to be more steady. I think what Paul does in second Thessalonians 2 is just like that. He gives these Christians a horizon, something fixed that they can set their eyes on, that orients them, that gives them direction and steadiness now, even though Paul has addressed the issue he's going to address, which is the day of the Lord, the Thessalonians think it's already come. He addressed it in his first letter. He's writing to remind them to keep their eyes on the horizon.
[00:03:07] He wants them to keep their eyes on the truth, which does not shift and change and go up and down. They need to be oriented on something firm, namely on the Word and what he says are the traditions of the apostles.
[00:03:22] Now, as a reminder, last week we read at the end of that first chapter, Paul said, to this end, we always pray for you so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him. And we said by using that term, glorified, Paul was prepping us to think of the glorification of Christ and his people when he would come again on the day of the Lord. And so this flows right along with the theme of the two letters. It's very connected to the first again. And remember, the theme is to excel still more in faithfulness, for this is God's will. This is something, no matter what. And in this area in particular, they need to more and more be faithful and have hope and be steady. They have been faithful. They've been holy through so much persecution. And so it would be quite a shame if, because of false beliefs about the coming of the Lord already come, that they would then fall away and be shaken.
[00:04:22] So Paul does not want that to happen. He wants to set the record straight and set before this young congregation the horizon, the fixed point upon which they should lock their eyes. The main idea of second Thessalonians 2 is, stand firm on the word.
[00:04:40] Stand firm on the word so that you may not be shaken.
[00:04:45] Stand firm on the word, so that you may not be shaken by false signs of the return of the Lord.
[00:04:52] Now, the three points I have from this chapter are all commands that Paul issues them so. The first is, do not be shaken. Point number one. Do not be shaken.
[00:05:07] Now, let's read. We'll read the first 12 verses of the chapter.
[00:05:12] 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 fact that the day of the Lord has already 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 a 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 that, or you know what? Sorry. 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 refuse 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.
[00:06:45] So the key command here is do not be shaken. Don't be shaken quickly in mind, don't be alarmed. And to the reader is this word shaken probably would have made them think of ships in the ocean. That was kind of the connotation of, was the sort of shaking a ship would experience in big waves and in storms.
[00:07:11] It's the type of shaking that 8th grade Austin dealt with when he was deep sea fishing. This is what he's talking about. And think a little further with this image. Those whose minds are so suddenly shaken, they lack something, namely a sufficient anchor or a horizon. They need something to hold them down, to steady them, to orient themselves.
[00:07:37] But before we talk about how to not be so quickly shaken, there are a lot of details that typically get most of the attention in this text, but kind of really are treated as side points by Paul. There's a lot of details about what's going to happen before the day of the Lord and all that. So let's kind of talk about what exactly is happening now, Paul and the missionaries, first, they don't know exactly, or at least they're not revealing that they know exactly how the Thessalonians are being misled, right? He says, you know, whether it's a letter seeming to be from us or, you know, a false prophet or a spirit or a false teacher or whatever it might be, it doesn't. It doesn't matter. And that's not the point. The point is that at least some in the church are believing yet again, or still that the day of the Lord has already come and they've missed it. To use modern lingo, they've been left behind.
[00:08:32] They've missed it.
[00:08:34] And again, that is a familiar problem, because first Thessalonians, in that letter, Paul tried to quash the exact same belief. Evidently, it didn't work.
[00:08:45] Now, if you're like me, you read this and may have been a little surprised, or just as you're thinking about it, you're surprised. I can't believe these two letters, which weren't written that far apart, are dealing with the exact same issue.
[00:08:59] Did they not get it? Was it not clear before?
[00:09:04] But then I remember that I, too, maybe you, maybe you can relate, have been taught something over and over and over before it clicks, before I really understand. I think maybe that's happening. Maybe this is just Paul and the missionaries being patient and loving towards these people and continuing to press on and to teach them the fundamental truths that they need to believe in order to press on as Christians.
[00:09:33] Because it's important that these Christians be confident that the day of the Lord hasn't come. They have not missed it. They can continue in the faith.
[00:09:43] They haven't missed the day, which if they did, it would be a terrible thing, but they haven't missed it for a number of reasons, namely two. He gives us two reasons. Did you notice them? First, the rebellion has not happened. And second, the man of lawlessness has not been revealed.
[00:10:03] So those are the two things they're supposed to happen.
[00:10:06] It appears as though we would know if they had happened and they hadn't happened. They still haven't happened. And so the day of the Lord has not come.
[00:10:18] Now, because these two things are listed together, I think we should understand them as happening at the same time. There's a little debate about this, but I think it seems pretty clear from the context that these happen together.
[00:10:31] The rebellion will probably be led by this man of lawlessness, or some of your Bibles might say the man of sin.
[00:10:40] Evidently, when the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness emerges its leader, we should expect that this is the end when this occurs. You know, I guess if you remember from a few weeks ago, buckle your seatbelts, get ready. Now. What exactly is being explained in verses 3 through 7 can be a little confusing because there's a lot of assumed knowledge. You know, you might look through and have a number of questions that Paul doesn't answer here because he has taught these things to them before. So he's using language and arguments and stories that they've heard. And so he's not necessarily giving us the full details because, again, that's not necessarily the main point.
[00:11:30] So here's kind of a summary based on what I've studied to kind of summarize, you know, what. What exactly is being said? So the mystery of lawlessness is at work. That's in verse seven. Now, what does that mean? What is this mystery of lawlessness? Well, really, this means that the peoples of the earth are already rebelling against their Creator. There's already lawlessness. There's already this rebellion, but not the rebellion, but there's a rebellion going on against God, to which you probably say, yeah, obviously, however, the rebellion, it's not occurred because it and the man of lawlessness are what they are being. Verse 6, restrained.
[00:12:15] There's something restraining that event and that man from emerging.
[00:12:21] Now, this passage has a lot of parallels with Daniel, chapters 10 through 12. And according to those parallels, it's probable, though not necessarily the case, but probable, that the restrainer is the archangel. Remember, the archangel who shouts on the day of the Lord. Michael is his name. But even he operates through God's power. So Michael might be restraining, but ultimately it's God's power restraining the rebellion and the man of lawlessness. And eventually, at God's will, the restrainer will stop restraining and these two things will occur. The rebellion, which I think is rebellion of creatures against their Creator. This rebellion will intensify and their leader will emerge and in some way declare himself to be God by proclaiming worship and power and authority.
[00:13:16] And the point of this is that Christians, even though this sounds dire and intense, Christians ought not be afraid. We cannot be afraid of this because Paul tells us in verse 8, so quickly the Lord Jesus will kill the man of lawlessness with the breath of his mouth and bring him to nothing. By the appearance of his coming, Jesus will win, and he will win instantaneously. He will thwart the man of lawlessness. Even the appearance of Christ when he comes from the heavens with his angels in flaming fire with the shout of the archangel and the trumpet of heaven blasting, will melt the man of lawlessness away.
[00:14:03] It won't be a battle at all.
[00:14:08] In fact, it'll be like, you know, the. The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which I recently read and I had not read since I was a small child. And I realized when I was reading this book that the big battle at the end, which I'm thinking, I was thinking of the movie it is. So it's nowhere near as prominent in the book as it is in the movie. I found that interesting.
[00:14:34] And if I, you know, I had to guess. You know, movies that they want to play on, the battle scene, you know, that's gonna get eyes. People are gonna want to watch that. But what the book reminded me is that the battle is a side point. It doesn't matter, because Aslan's already won. When he breaks the stone table, it's already over. So at the appearance of the Lord, the battle is over. The man of lawlessness is nothing. The rebellion is nothing.
[00:15:03] That's the type of routing that occurs at his coming.
[00:15:07] That's why this man of lawlessness is called the son of. Some might read the Son of perdition or the Son of destruction.
[00:15:18] This is a Hebrew idiom, and basically we could say it means the Son who is doomed.
[00:15:26] His whole identity is the one who is to be doomed. His destiny is the destruction by the Lord.
[00:15:36] Now look in this text and see who is susceptible to this man of lawlessness.
[00:15:41] Well, the deception is for those who are perishing, those people who are perishing, those people who are on the wide path to destruction that Jesus talks about in Matthew 7.
[00:15:55] Not those on the narrow path that leads to life. Those who are on the wide and easy path to destruction, those who are perishing, those who at least with their actions have hated the truth.
[00:16:08] They are perishing. When these events occur, it's too late to turn and finally come to Christ.
[00:16:17] Right? Because he says there will be a delusion sent upon them. It is too late. The restraining is over. God will send that delusion and the restraining of the man of lawlessness, and the rebellion is over.
[00:16:34] This is why I say you cannot delay. We don't know when these things will occur. They can occur rapidly. You won't see it coming. It'll be like a thief in the night, the last letter says. And so don't delay. If you haven't given your life to Christ, there is no time to wait. We don't have any guarantee of another day, another. I think that's what we're realizing here. That's actually why the Thessalonians were in such great despair at the thought that the day of the Lord had already come. They thought they'd missed the boat, which was seriously horrible, if true. But of course it is not true. We are still waiting today.
[00:17:15] But if you're living in sin because you haven't turned from your sin to Christ, then don't delay. Turn to him now. Today.
[00:17:26] Now. How can we avoid, as Christians, being shaken? What's the key to avoid being shaken. What needs to be your anchor? What needs to be your horizon? The Thessalonians were told in verse five that they had been told about these things. So they had a direct apostolic teaching.
[00:17:44] And God has given us that same teaching. He has preserved it in the New Testament. You ever think about Paul is talking about the teachings that they need to hold on to. Well, we're reading it. We're reading the exact same letter that they read.
[00:17:58] It has been preserved, these teachings that we need to hold onto. So, students, the way to not be shaken is to love the truth, to love the Bible, and to find pleasure in righteousness.
[00:18:10] So trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and zealously love the Bible. That means passionately love the Bible.
[00:18:19] So maybe start by really trying to systematically read your Bible, finding the time to do it, because it's that important. The Word and the traditions of the apostles, which is the Bible, are exactly what we need to not be shaken.
[00:18:39] So do not be shaken. Point number two, stand firm. Look at verse 13 now.
[00:18:46] But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits 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.
[00:19:02] So then, brother, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you are taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
[00:19:13] So as an application, Paul turns his attention back to the Thessalonians. And again, we've seen this a number of times. He gives thanks to God for them.
[00:19:22] And here's what drives Paul's thankfulness. These brothers are beloved by God.
[00:19:29] They are beloved by God and are brothers. And they are brothers because they're beloved by God. This word beloved is a word repeated often in the New Testament, and it's typically associated with other believers. So it's associated with God's saving grace.
[00:19:47] So Christians are God's children because they are beloved by him and called by him and saved by him and kept safe by Him.
[00:19:59] So they are beloved. And this is something to be thankful for when we see other people that are beloved by God.
[00:20:06] This goes right along with the next descriptor, the first fruits to be saved.
[00:20:12] Some translations might say from the beginning, say from the beginning, which is possible, though I don't think it fits the context as well.
[00:20:22] I think what we're seeing is the word first fruits. See, Paul comforted these Christians by reminding them that God had chosen them to be the first fruits of not the only Christians, but the first ones to then reap more fruit in the city of Thessalonica. That's what we do as Christians. You are the first fruits in the area. You reap more. They are intended to bring others into the church, and Paul seemed confident that this would happen.
[00:20:53] And yet this term first fruits, might have a different meaning.
[00:20:58] It might mean something more about their quality.
[00:21:02] So if we're talking about sacrifices and you think so, and so gave the first fruits on the altar to God, well, we're talking about the best of what he had he offered. And so Paul might be using it like this. He might be saying that these are among the best. You are exemplary Christians, and they are considered the first fruits. So they might be. I don't know which of these is whether it's about quality or about how they should continue to reap or sow the gospel and reap more fruit in the city. But whatever the case, they are the first fruits of those to be saved, and they are first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. So sanctification, to repeat, means to be made holy. And they're made holy, at least in eternity, through the Spirit.
[00:21:57] And they believed in the truth. They believed in the Gospel to be gathered as Christians in the first place.
[00:22:03] So these two things, sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, are true of all Christians. They're true of every single Christian from then till today, still true of every single Christian.
[00:22:19] So through the power of the Spirit and faith in the Word, you too can be considered the first fruits of the saved.
[00:22:28] You can live a holy life with the Spirit and be exemplary like the Thessalonians, and you can proclaim the truth that you believe so that more fruit, more Christians, are produced through your labor.
[00:22:42] And they should be comforted because it's not their own will. It wasn't their merits, it wasn't their exertion, it wasn't their works that made them these types of Christians. Paul tells us that they were called by God.
[00:22:58] They were this because they were called by God and because they were called by God. Now, for their part, what do they do? What does Paul tell them? He tells them to stand firm hold to the traditions that they were taught.
[00:23:11] These traditions are the teachings, the apostolic teachings that they received from Paul, at least in these two letters, first and second Thessalonians. So these apostolic teachings and traditions that Paul taught that he says you need to hold These to stand firm have been passed down. We still have them.
[00:23:32] Therefore, if God has chosen you and called you and saved you, stand firm because God has chosen you, called you and saved you.
[00:23:43] Standing firm is crucial for the Christian life.
[00:23:48] Now, I want us to remember that a big theme in these letters is working. Not working for salvation, but doing the work of a Christian. Not being lazy, not being idle.
[00:24:00] So as we say stand firm, I want us to remember that standing firm entails moving forward. It doesn't mean being stagnant. It just means to stand firm in trial, but to continue to journey onward.
[00:24:13] Because that's what Christians do. We journey toward heaven.
[00:24:18] This language is used by Jonathan Edwards.
[00:24:23] He once spoke about how the Christian life is a pilgrimage to heaven, and he gave four directions for Christian pilgrims. First, he said, to labor. That means to work at labor, to get a sense of the vanity of the world.
[00:24:40] So look at the world and think about it, how empty it is. All is empty without Christ.
[00:24:47] Second, a Christian needs to labor to be much acquainted with heaven. So think about heaven, be a student of the Bible, sit at the feet of the Savior in prayer, and reflect on the truths of eternity with the Lord.
[00:25:04] Third, he said, seek heaven only by Jesus Christ so we can observe the vanity of the world. Know what heaven is like, but you cannot get there by any other path but through Jesus Christ.
[00:25:21] You can't do it. No matter how hard you hike and climb and try and travel, you will not get there but through that one path.
[00:25:29] And then finally, he says, let Christians help one another in going this journey.
[00:25:35] So if you know Jesus in heaven and see the vanity of the world, then you must not go alone, but join with other Christians. And we do this because the church is there to pull you forward or to pick you up when you stumble, fall behind, or whatever it might be. Just as you as part of the church, can do the same for others.
[00:25:55] We get to heaven through Christ, with each other in the church.
[00:26:01] So together in Jesus Christ, we can stand firm, just like the Thessalonians.
[00:26:11] The third point, the third command is, be comforted, so do not be shaken. Stand firm and be comforted.
[00:26:22] Look at verse 16.
[00:26:25] Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comforts and good hope through grace.
[00:26:34] Comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
[00:26:42] So the first kind of part of this takes up verse 16 through even the first few words of verse 17.
[00:26:53] And so here Paul is concluding this part of the letter by reminding them again of the comfort available to them in God. They should take comfort in what he has written. And this comfort should be realized for what it is. Not just any comfort, not something trivial, but an eternal comfort, something that lasts.
[00:27:17] Jesus talks about this in Matthew 11:28 30.
[00:27:24] He says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
[00:27:32] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
[00:27:45] Jesus provides rest and comfort for weary souls.
[00:27:53] And when I say weary souls, I believe that some of you know exactly what that means.
[00:28:01] Personally, you know what a weary soul is, what it means to have a weary soul, a soul that is tired and anxious, that is worn out by daily trials that you have to endure, that go on and on.
[00:28:18] But if you've come to Jesus in faith, or you already have, then Paul says that God gives you eternal comfort, eternal rest in him.
[00:28:30] Not. Not a rest that's temporary that you eventually wake up from, but something that continues.
[00:28:37] Isaiah 40, verse 11 foretells of how God, through Christ, will comfort us.
[00:28:45] Isaiah 40 says, He God will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are young.
[00:29:00] Now, the niv, I think, says more clearly, is that a bosom? It says, God will. He carries them close to his heart.
[00:29:09] That's the sense here.
[00:29:11] Christ will carry his lambs close to his heart.
[00:29:16] If you start following the good shepherd, he will pull you close to his heart. It doesn't matter what you have done or not done. A lamb is a lamb in the eyes of God.
[00:29:29] So be comforted through this eternal comfort that is offered by Christ. And also have good hope through grace, hope in the return of the Lord through the grace that is given to those who have faith. Now, hope is something that these Christians really struggled to grasp. If you've noticed, it's a consistent theme in these letters. And I think you would too, if you thought you had missed the return of the Lord.
[00:29:57] A Baptist pastor named Charles Spurgeon once spoke about how he could not understand anyone who could live without the hope of eternal life.
[00:30:07] But since we know that there is life after death, we should consider what that life might be like now. Talking about this, he says, especially, their life is for you who are troubled, downcast, almost wishing you were not alive at all, but fearing that when life came to an end, it might be worse for you than ever. For you have the dread of something after death. Oh, that you were reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ. That being done, he would encourage your hearts and you would be led into every good work and word through gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. His grace would save you and preserve you to the end. May this be the very moment when you shall seek and find the Lord. If you seek him, he will be found by you. God grant it for his dear Son's sake.
[00:31:03] So if you're despairing like this of life and life after death, then consider, if you only place your trust in Christ, you can be reconciled to him and comforted and brought in close to his heart and preserved for eternity.
[00:31:23] You can be rescued and then destined for heaven.
[00:31:28] Knowing Christ and what he has done for the Christian is essential for Christians to know if we want to live faithfully.
[00:31:38] So knowing these truths, Paul then kind of transitions in that last part of verse 17 to the. Really, the topic of chapter three kind of gets ahead into chapter three, which the topic will be laziness, rebellious idleness.
[00:31:58] So Paul, talking about hope and the Gospel, recognizes that hope in Christ is actually a catalyst for an active and holy Christian life.
[00:32:10] Thus he prays that God would establish or strengthen the Thessalonians in every good work and word, everything they say and do. So even this week, I want you to think about the hope you can have in Christ. And if you are in Christ, you can begin to consider how everything you do and everything you say should reflect the reality that God the Father through the Son has given you eternal hope and comfort.
[00:32:40] Stand firm on the Word so that you may not be shaken by false signs of the return of the Lord and be comforted by the grace of of Christ and believe in the truth. Today, if you haven't, let's pray.
[00:32:57] Father, we thank you for your word. God, we ask that you would help us to be anchored and strong in the Word. Lord, give us strength as we study your word tonight in our groups that we may not be shaken, that we can stand firm. God, grow our hearts for the church, that we may look, lock arms and stand firm together. And also God, for those of us that are struggling in various ways. We ask and pray that you would comfort them. Tonight we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.
