The Second Coming!

Reflection: Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, now turns to the subject of the “Second Coming”.  We know that scholars date his second letter around 52-54 A.D., shortly after his first letter. One of the questions Paul was dealing with was, would believers who had died be part of the Second Coming of Jesus.  Some argued that Jesus had already returned, but Paul quickly refutes that argument by saying the Second Coming of Jesus will be marked by unprecedented lawlessness and a man who purports to be God and set up false worship and false teaching.  Many call this person the anti-Christ.  Paul states,

⁷ For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, ¹⁰ and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹² and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

While most people doubt this has not happened yet, and confess in the Apostle’s Creed, “He will come again to judge the living and the dead”, we see Paul says the secret power of lawlessness is already at work.  We see this power at work today, as our society continues to move toward secular humanism, and moves away from a Judeo-Christian worldview.  We see many people today refusing to believe in the truth and be saved.  People refuse to believe the truth, so they can support their lifestyle of doing what they want, when they want.  This can even infiltrate the Church with the notion of, “Well I am saved, so I can do what I want and I am forgiven anyways!”  There is only one problem with this, it is not supported anywhere in the bible or in Jesus’ teaching. 

As Paul’s letters affirm, including this one, we are to seek after and live according to the truth.  We are to live lives worthy of our calling, so the world can see the transformation in our lives by what we do and say.  This is a huge challenge today in a world which has a, “everybody is doing it!” mentality.  What we need as believers is more power, and that power comes as we believe in the Truth, who is Jesus, and commit our lives to following Him wherever He would lead us.  Our power lies in historical fact of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and our participation in it through the power of the Holy Spirit!  

We see this power also available in God’s Word, which is useful for instruction, encouragement and challenge.  We see it available when believers gather and pray and delve into God’s Word together asking God to show them where their lives need to be more in alignment with His Truth.  We see it in our families, when we make Christ the center, and spend time together praying and reading the bible around the dinner table, or on the couch instead of being transfixed by the TV every night! 

I am thankful God’s Word not only encouraged the 1^st century Church, but encourages us as well. I know I need it every day!  May we be people who resist the lies we see being broadcast in culture and cling to the Truth, and that is Jesus! We know the One who calls us is Faithful! Amen.     

Psalm 97:1-6

¹ The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
    let the distant shores rejoice.
² Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
    righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
³ Fire goes before him
    and consumes his foes on every side.
⁴ His lightning lights up the world;
    the earth sees and trembles.
⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
    before the Lord of all the earth.
⁶ The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
    and all peoples see his glory.

Jeremiah 9:10-10:16

¹⁰ I will weep and wail for the mountains
    and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.
They are desolate and untraveled,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds have all fled
    and the animals are gone.

¹¹ “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    a haunt of jackals;
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah
    so no one can live there.”

¹² Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

¹³ The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. ¹⁴ Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” ¹⁵ Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. ¹⁶ I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.”

¹⁷ This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come;
    send for the most skillful of them.
¹⁸ Let them come quickly
    and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
    and water streams from our eyelids.
¹⁹ The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
    ‘How ruined we are!
    How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
    because our houses are in ruins.’”

²⁰ Now, you women, hear the word of the Lord;
    open your ears to the words of his mouth.
Teach your daughters how to wail;
    teach one another a lament.
²¹ Death has climbed in through our windows
    and has entered our fortresses;
it has removed the children from the streets
    and the young men from the public squares.

²² Say, “This is what the Lord declares:

“‘Dead bodies will lie
    like dung on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
    with no one to gather them.’”

²³ This is what the Lord says:

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
    or the strong boast of their strength
    or the rich boast of their riches,
²⁴ but let the one who boasts boast about this:
    that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
    justice and righteousness on earth,
    for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.

²⁵ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh— ²⁶ Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

God and Idols

10 Hear what the Lord says to you, people of Israel. ² This is what the Lord says:

“Do not learn the ways of the nations
    or be terrified by signs in the heavens,
    though the nations are terrified by them.
³ For the practices of the peoples are worthless;
    they cut a tree out of the forest,
    and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
⁴ They adorn it with silver and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so it will not totter.
⁵ Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
    their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
    because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
    they can do no harm
    nor can they do any good.”

⁶ No one is like you, Lord;
    you are great,
    and your name is mighty in power.
⁷ Who should not fear you,
    King of the nations?
    This is your due.
Among all the wise leaders of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms,
    there is no one like you.

⁸ They are all senseless and foolish;
    they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
⁹ Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish
    and gold from Uphaz.
What the craftsman and goldsmith have made
    is then dressed in blue and purple—
    all made by skilled workers.
¹⁰ But the Lord is the true God;
    he is the living God, the eternal King.
When he is angry, the earth trembles;
    the nations cannot endure his wrath.

¹¹ “Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’”

¹² But God made the earth by his power;
    he founded the world by his wisdom
    and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
¹³ When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
    he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain
    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

¹⁴ Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;
    they have no breath in them.
¹⁵ They are worthless, the objects of mockery;
    when their judgment comes, they will perish.
¹⁶ He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,
    for he is the Maker of all things,
including Israel, the people of his inheritance—
    the Lord Almighty is his name.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

The Man of Lawlessness

2 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, ² not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. ³ Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ⁴ He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

⁵ Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷ For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, ¹⁰ and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹² and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time on and for evermore. Psalm 125:2

May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13

Lord, our God, surround us. Renew our bodies, souls, and spirits in your name. Help us to love one another. All glory, thanks, and praise through Christ our Lord who we carry in our hearts until your perfect day. In Jesus' name. Amen.