THE
THESSALONIAN EPISTLES: DIRECTION FOR THE LAST DAYS
IX. Overcoming The
Error That The Church Faces The Tribulation
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-17)
I.
Introduction
A.
Paul's
epistles to the believers at Thessalonica addressed new converts out of raw paganism
who faced persecution and false teaching, a recipe for spiritual defeat if they
failed to get adequate spiritual insight.
B.
The main aim of Paul in this second epistle to
the Thessalonians was to counter his readers' fear that they were then experiencing
the Tribulation. Paul handled this issue
in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17, so we view it for insight:
II.
Overcoming The Error That The Church Faces The
Tribulation, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17.
A.
Paul's
readers had heard that they were already experiencing the "day of the Lord,"
2 Thessalonians 2:2. Though the KJV
reads "day of Christ" in this verse, the better Greek manuscripts
read "day of the Lord," the era that begins with the Tribulation
Period and includes Christ's Second Coming, the Millennial Kingdom and the creation
of the new universe, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftns. to 2 Thess. 2:2
and 1 Thess. 5:2.
B.
Since
the "day of the Lord" begins with the Tribulation Period and life
under the antichrist, Paul's readers were shaken and alarmed by what they had
heard, so Paul wrote to counter this error by urging his readers NOT to be upset, and he appealed to the rapture in 2 Thessalonians 2:1. Thus, if the rapture, the believers'
gathering together unto Christ at His coming as Paul predicted in 1
Thessalonians 4:13-18, was the cause for such believers to be at peace concerning the Tribulation, the rapture must occur BEFORE the Tribulation!
C.
Paul
then clarified this PREtribulation rapture
truth in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-17
(as follows):
1.
To
preface his remarks about the events that must occur before the Tribulation
Period starts, Paul told his readers not to let anyone deceive them into
thinking that they were facing the Tribulation, 2 Thess. 2:3a.
2.
Paul then
named three events [not necessarily in order] that occur before the Tribulation, 2 Thess. 2:3-5:
a. There will be "'the falling away,' he apostasia," from which we get the word "apostasy"
(2 Thess. 2:3a), B. K. C., N. T., p. 718. There will be a greatly accelerated growth in
depth of theological error.
b. Also, the "man of sin," the antichrist,
will be revealed as exalting himself above all that is called God or that is
worshipped so that he sits in the Hebrew temple trying to present himself as
God, 2 Thess. 2:3b-5.
c. In addition, an Entity that restrains all this
lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:6-9) is removed so the lawlessness can be revealed, and
this Entity is the Holy Spirit in believers in the Church Who is removed at the
rapture:
i.
Though
there is wickedness in the world, much of it is still hidden as a
"mystery" until a Restrainer Who is holding back the revelation of this intense wickedness is removed, 2 Thess. 2:6-7 ESV.
ii.
That
Restrainer is not Satan, for he cannot oppose himself (Matt. 12:25-26), nor
could it be human governments, for they will not end before the antichrist is
unveiled, Ibid., p. 719. The sole Entity
strong enough to restrain Satan who empowers the antichrist (2 Thess. 2:9) is
God the Holy Spirit Who indwells and seals believers in Christ and Who is
removed with them at the rapture! (Ibid.)
iii.
So, the rapture comes before the antichrist is revealed to be the antichrist, and he is revealed as such at the start of the seven-year Tribulation by his making
a seven-year treaty with Israel as predicted
in Daniel 9:27! The
rapture thus occurs before the start of the seven-year Tribulation!
iv.
[Also,
the mid-tribulation rapture view that the Church is raptured after antichrist
has been revealed in the first half of the Tribulation errs, for the rapture occurs
before the antichrist is revealed!]
3.
Paul wrote
that God will punish the world in the seven-year Great Tribulation by letting
them believe that antichrist is God to condemn those who rejected Christ in the
previous Church era, 2 Thess. 2:10-12.
4.
However,
in sharp contrast to this destiny of a Christ-rejecting world, since Paul's
readers had believed in Christ to be saved, God had chosen them unto the
salvation of the rapture and the reception of the glory of Christ through
sanctification of the Holy Spirit and belief in the truth of Christ's Gospel, 2
Thess. 2:13-14.
5.
Thus,
Paul's readers were to stand fast in the comforting belief in the
pretribulation rapture that they might not become unproductive in living in
fear, but flourish in every good word and work, 2 Thess. 2:15-17.
Lesson: There
will be a strong apostacy and the removal of the Holy Spirit Who restrains the revelation
of the antichrist to be the antichrist when the rapture of the Church occurs before
the start of the seven-year Tribulation.
God will use the Tribulation to punish a Christ-rejecting world with the
antichrist's deception. Since we believers
in Christ are raptured before the Tribulation, we are to be comforted that we
might produce good words and works.
Application:
May we rest in the hope of the pretribulation rapture and thus abound in good
words and works.