HANDLING FEARS OF THE END TIMES

II. God’s Edifying End Times Timeline

(2 Thessalonians 2:3b-9)

I. Introduction

A. As in the case of the new believers in Thessalonica of the Apostle Paul’s era, many Christians today live in fear of the end times due to their exposure to errant teachings on Bible prophecy.

B. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 was written to address this issue, and we study 2 Thessalonians 2:3b-9 on the subject of God’s edifying end times timeline for our insight, application and edification (as follows):

II. God’s Edifying End Times Timeline, 2 Thessalonians 2:3b-9.

A. After Paul had urged his Christian readers not to fear the “day of the Lord,” what includes the Tribulation Period that begins this future end time era in human history, Paul described the timeline of events that would occur relevant to this future end time in 2 Thessalonians 2:3b-9 (as follows):

1. First, “the falling away” (apostasia) must occur as follows (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 718):

a. “Some interpreters have taken this ‘departure’ as a reference to the Rapture of the church” (Ibid.), but a related word, apostasion means “divorce, repudiation, a bill of divorce” and a native Greek writing used it of a defection of a freedman from his patron (Thayer’s Grk.-Eng. Lex., 1963, p. 67).

b. Thus, the “falling away” is better rendered as a spiritual apostasy, 2 Thessalonians 2:3b.

c. Apostasy has affected the church for centuries, but “Paul referred to a specific distinguishable apostasy that will come in the future” (op. cit. B. K. C., N. T.; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 2 Thess. 2:3)

2. The apostasy will clear the way for the “man of sin,” the antichrist, to be revealed, 2 Thessalonians 2:3c.

a. The word rendered “revealed” is in the aorist tense (apokaluphthe, aorist subjunctive passive of apokalupto, “reveal” (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 715; The Analyt. Grk. Lex. (Zon.), 1972, p. 42).

b. This grammatical tense indicates “that this revelation will be a decisive act that will take place at a definite moment in history . . . He will be fully associated with and characterized by ‘lawlessness’ (or ‘sin,’ as some mss. and the KJV have it.)” (op. cit., Bible Know. Com., N. T.).

3. The antichrist will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he will sit in the temple of God presenting himself to be God, what Paul had already taught his readers, v. 4-5.

4. However, Paul had also told his Thessalonian readers that an Entity was restraining the appearance of the antichrist so that the antichrist might be revealed in his proper time in God’s timeline, 2 Thessalonians 2:6.

5. This Restrainer is the Holy Spirit Who currently resides in the true Church, and we explain:

a. The word “withholdeth” (v. 6 KJV) renders katech[o]n [“o” is an Omicron], the sing. neuter pres. act. participle of katecho, “restrain” (op cit., U. B. S. Grk. N. T., p. 716; op. cit., The Analyt. Grk. Lex., p. 224)

b. Yet, “he who now letteth” (v. 7 KJV) renders ho katech[o]n [“o” is an Omega], the sing. masculine article ho with the sing. masculine pres. act. participle of katecho (Ibid.; op. cit., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.).

c. The Holy Spirit at times is mentioned in the neuter gender since the noun “spirit” in Greek is neuter (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13-14; op. cit., B. K. C., N. T., p. 719), but often He is mentioned in the masculine to refer to His Person, so the shift in gender for the Holy Spirit in 2 Thessalonians 2 would not be unusual!

d. Also, the Entity Who would be able to restrain the appearance of the antichrist who in turn is empowered by Satan, would have to be more powerful than Satan, and only God could be that Entity.

e. Though the Holy Spirit is omnipresent in the Tribulation Period and will minister then, the sealing of the Holy Spirit in the Church ceases on earth as Christians are taken to heaven in the Rapture, likewise ending the Holy Spirit’s restraining ministry that is associated with the Church (op. cit. B. K. C., N. T., p. 719).

6. Thus, the Holy Spirit now restrains the revelation of the antichrist until the Rapture, but when the Rapture occurs and He is taken away with the Church, “then” (tote, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 831) the antichrist will be revealed, and Christ will destroy him at His return, 2 Thess. 2:7-9.

Lesson: God’s timeline with regard to “the day of the Lord” first involves the Holy Spirit’s current restraining of the revelation of the antichrist until the Rapture of the Church. Then, after the Rapture, there will be a decisive, powerful apostasy, followed in turn by a decisive presentation of the antichrist and his working after the power of Satan which is in turn followed by Christ’s Second Coming to the earth and His destruction of the antichrist.

Application: May we Christian believers be assured that God’s timeline directs that we will be taken out of the world to heaven in the pretribulation Rapture before the antichrist is unleashed on the world in the Tribulation.