HANDLING FEARS OF THE END TIMES

IV. How To Live In View Of Our End Time Destiny

(2 Thessalonians 2:15-17)

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 2:15-17 on the subject of how to live in view of our end time destiny, and that for our insight, application and edification:

II. How To Live In View Of Our End Time Destiny, 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17.

A. In this lesson series on “Handling Fears Of The End Times,” we have learned that 2 Thessalonians 2:1-14 teaches that we believers in Christ will not experience any of the Tribulation Period, nor face the antichrist, but that Christ will take us to heaven in the Pretribulation Rapture since the Holy Spirit through the true Church is restraining the appearing of the antichrist and thus of the start of the Tribulation Period.

B. After all, God called us in the Gospel of Christ to the salvation of obtaining the glory of Christ at the Rapture and not facing God’s wrath of the Tribulation Period, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 with 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.

C. Thus, 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17 directs us how we believers in Christ in the Church era are to live in view of our end time destiny of being removed to heaven in the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church (as follows):

a. Paul urged his readers who had been disturbed by their receiving a report that the Tribulation Period was upon them that they should “stand fast” (KJV), or better, “stand firm” (NIV, ESV) and hold to the paradosis, “traditions of teaching, commandments” (Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 621) they had been taught by Paul, be it by spoken word or by letter, 2 Thess. 2:15. Paul was contrasting what he had just taught about his readers not facing the Tribulation Period by way of the Pretribulation Rapture with the errant view of false teachers that they were already in the Tribulation Period! What his readers had received by a spirit, spoken word or letter that they was presumed to be from Paul that they would face the Tribulation was accordingly false, cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:2.

b. Thus, urging his readers to stand firm in the truth of the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church, Paul added that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God the Father loved us believers in Christ and had given us eternal comfort and good hope of the Pretribulation Rapture through His grace, 2 Thessalonians 2:16.

c. Paul then taught His readers that Christ and God the Father Who only meant to comfort us believers and not to punish us by the Tribulation Period along with the Christ-rejecting world would comfort his readers hearts and establish them in every good work and word, 2 Thessalonians 2:17.

d. In other words, affirming belief in God’s deliverance of the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church as part of God’s salvation package to believers, Paul concluded that his readers were not to live in anxious insecurity over the end times, but to stay firmly committed to doing every good work and word in life and ministry. Believers are to have a settled mind that does not experience great anxiety of the end times so that they can fulfill the life and ministry assignments that God has for them in the current Church era!

Lesson: In view of the assured hope that God from the beginning meant for us believers in Christ in the Church era to avoid His wrath on a world that will have rejected Christ, we believers in Jesus are to rest assured that God’s love and provisions for us equip us to live with full confidence of obtaining Christ’s glory in the Pretribulation Rapture, that we thereby stay firmly committed to doing every good work and word in the current Church era.

Application: (1) May we not be shaken by any teaching that claims that believers in Christ in the Church era will EVER face ANY PART of God’s wrath, be it facing the antichrist, or part or all of the Tribulation Period. (2) If we face some teaching that makes the Bible SEEM to claim that we believers will face any part of God’s wrath in the Tribulation Period, if we do not know how to interpret that passage, may we get help from reputable teachers on CORRECTLY understanding that passage. (3) Since the intent of God in saving us through Christ in the Church era is NOT ONLY to save our SOULS, but ALSO our BODIES from the Tribulation Period woes (Romans 8:23 and 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14), we must rest assured that ANY end time prophecy we face that threatens PHYSICAL HARDSHIP to people by the antichrist, Satan, or demons as predicted in Scripture on the Tribulation Period CANNOT APPLY to US in the CHURCH! (4) In addition, 2 Timothy 3:6 reveals that false teachers tend to control their hearers, so if we face unsettling and fear-producing teaching that can lead to a teacher of such fearmongering to control us, we must withdraw from those who teach such things (2 Timothy 3:1-6).