In 2 Thessalonians 2, I want
to read a few verses to you. We will confine our comments
mainly to verses 1 and 3. 2 Thessalonians 2, beginning
in verse 1, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him.
that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled either by
spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, as that the day of
Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any
means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,
the son of destruction. who opposeth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that
he as God setteth in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God. Remember ye not that when I was
yet with you I told you these things? And now ye know what
withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the
mystery of iniquity doeth already work. Only he who now hinders,
he who now restrains, he who now letteth, will let, will hinder
until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked
be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish, because they receive not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusions, that they might believe a lie,
that they might all be damned who believe not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord. because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether
by word or our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given
us an everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work. He says here in verse 1, We beseech
you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord always announces His
comings, doesn't He? In the Old Testament, the Spirit
of God moved upon those holy men of old and they stressed
to them about the first coming of the Son of God, the Incarnation. They spoke about it often, that
He was coming. They were to wait for it. And
though it tarry, He said, though it seemed to tarry, 4,000 years,
we know from the first prophecy of His coming until He actually
comes. But He said, wait for it. Wait for Him. He's coming.
He's coming to this earth. He's coming to His temple. He's
coming to His people. And He came. He came. Lo, I come in the volume of the
book it is written of Me. It was all about His coming.
And in the New Testament, the same Spirit moved upon these
apostles, upon these holy men, and they stressed to us and wrote
to us that Christ is coming again. Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming
again. Yet a little while, and He that
shall come will come and will not perish. The Lord promised
us that he was coming in spirit. This is a physical coming that
we want to look at this afternoon. But the Lord often comes in spirit
to the believing heart. I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you. It is an amazing thing how the
Son of God can be physically in heaven and yet dwell in every
heart that believes in him. Nobody angel could do that. Only
the omnipresent God, the Son of God, could do that. God has
sent forth the Spirit of His Son unto your heart, and your
heart, and your heart. Every believing heart all over
this world, the Son of God dwells in their hearts by faith. I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come unto you. And here we have His bodily coming,
His physical coming. I beseech you, brethren, by the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto
Him. He tells us two things here.
And they are simultaneous. They are going to take place
at the same time. His coming. His physical coming. Those angels that stood there
and watched those disciples as they looked up to heaven, and
the Lord Jesus was received out of their sight, and they just
stood staring up into heaven, trying to see Him as far as their
eye could see Him. And those angels said, Why stand
ye gazing? This same Jesus that was taken
up from you into heaven shall so come again in like manner. He ascended to heaven, and He
is going to descend from heaven, Again, that's what Paul is meaning
here by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the second
thing he says, you're about to come into the Lord that will
take place simultaneously and are gathering together unto Him. He's coming. And when He comes
physically, Paul said, all His saints will be physically gathered
together unto Him. He's speaking here about the
resurrection. I want you to look back over in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I don't
know of any other epistles of the Apostle Paul that he spoke
of the coming of Christ more than he did in 1 Thessalonians
and in 2 Thessalonians. Every chapter, five chapters
in 1 Thessalonians, in every chapter he closes it with the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then you go to 2 Thessalonians
and every chapter he does the same thing. He speaks of the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here he talks about our gathering
together unto him. Look in verse 13. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4 and verse 13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are dead, they are
buried, they are asleep, physically dead, that ye be that ye sorrow
not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of our Lord shall not prevent Them which are asleep
will not go ahead of them. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together." There it is. We shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
earth And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort
one another with these words." A gathering together. I love
what Strong says about this word gathering together. He says it
is a complete collection. A complete collection. Isn't
that a wonderful thought? A complete collection. In other words, not a one of
them is left. All the saints will be collected and will be
caught up together to meet the Lord in the air when He comes. All of them. We sometimes think
of the redemption of our souls, and we stress that a lot, as
well as we should. And you know not one elect soul
is going to be left unregenerated. Isn't it a wonderful thought
to know that even though they're scattered
all over this world, and you find them in some peculiar places,
that the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knows where they are,
and He goes after them in His own time, and He brings them
and He collects them. All that the Father gives to
me shall come to me. All of them. Every one of them. And he said, all that you've
given me, I've lost nothing. I've lost not a single thing.
Every elect soul that the Father gives to him, he has completely
and will completely gather those souls. Now, brethren, that's
encouraging thought, especially if you're a preacher. If you
love to go out and speak to people about the Lord, this isn't an
encouraging thought. But he's going to get his own.
They're going to hear His voice in His gospel, and He's going
to bring them to Himself. That's a wonderful thought. But
you know, here's another wonderful thought. The Lord Jesus has done
just as much for these bodies in the way of redemption as He
has for our souls. And though we stress the redemption
of the souls, the Bible stresses the redemption of the body as
well. A higher price was paid for these bodies as was paid
for our souls. The Lord Jesus laid down His
life to redeem our bodies as well as our souls. And He loves
our bodies as well as our souls. And He not only collects all
the elect souls and regenerates them, saves them, but at the
resurrection there won't be one single elect body that He'll
miss. That's a wonderful, confident
thought, ain't it? Listen to how he says it in Isaiah
chapter 43 and verse 6, I will say to the north, give up, and
to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far and my
daughters from the ends of the earth, even every one that is
called by my name. For I have created him for my
glory, I have farmed him, yea, I have made him, bring forth
the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears."
He says, give up, Grave. Give up, O Grave. Give them up. You know, there are saints that
have died and their bodies can't be traced. There have been countless
saints that have been burned and their ashes have been scattered.
They don't even know where they're at. There's no trace of them.
We don't know where they're at. They've been buried at sea and
eaten by fish. They've been thrown into beasts
and devoured. But you know something? The all-seeing
eye of this Savior, this great Savior, knows where they are. And He says there's coming a
day when I will completely collect them all. The hour is coming
in which you will speak. And he said, those that are in
the grave shall hear his voice, and they shall come forth. Every elect body laying in the
tomb. He won't miss a one. We'll share
every last body that he has redeemed. We'll share in this glorious
resurrection together. Listen to Romans 8, beginning
in verse 14. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. You have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear. You have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Father, Father. The Spirit Himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And
if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,
If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together." Glorified together. There won't be no big I's and
little U's in that day. It will be together. Together. Glorified together. The church
and all her members will be gathered to meet the Lord Jesus Christ
in the air. A complete collection. Strong
also said this gathering together means a Christian meeting for
worship. Think of that. What a day that
will be. A Christian meeting. It won't
be like this. It will be huge. It will be huge. William Cushin. We don't sing this song very
often, but William Cushin died in 1902. He wrote that wonderful
song, There Will Be No Dark Valley When Jesus Comes. There will
be no dark valley when Jesus comes. There will be no dark
valley when Jesus comes. When He comes to do what? Gather
His loved ones. There will be no more sorrows
when Jesus comes. no more sorrows when Jesus comes,
but a glorious morrow when Jesus comes to gather His loved ones
home. There will be no more weeping
when Jesus comes, but a blessed reaping when Jesus comes to gather
His loved ones home. There will be songs of greeting
when Jesus comes and a joyful meeting when Jesus comes to gather
His loved ones And oh, how encouraging if you can live in this assurance
that He is not going to miss you any more than He missed you
in His call. He won't miss you when He calls
you out of the grave either. And no more will the grave be
able to hold you than sin was able to hold you and keep you
from Him. When He speaks the dead live. Whether it be a man's
soul or a man's body, they shall live. And what else will matter, brothers
and sisters, in that day? If you are counted worthy by
His grace to be gathered with His people, what else will matter
in that day? Nothing will matter with Him.
What we have suffered here will immediately be forgotten in the
light of that reward. What we have lost will never
be missed in the glorious gain of that day. The bondage of inbred
sin that we've grown under will seem as nothing in the light
of that glorious liberty that we'll enjoy in that day. What
we know of Christ now and His attributes and His saving nature
is not worthy to be compared with what we'll know about Him
then. What we know now will be as a flickering candle before
the noonday sun compared to what we know about Him then. What
we see now is not worthy to be talked about. That's what we'll
see in Him at that great day. We shall see Him as He is when
He gathers His children home. Our best worship here, when He's
opened our hearts to worship Him, will not be compared in
the way that we'll worship Him yonder when He gathers His children
home. No wonder the old writer says,
what a day that will be. What a day that will be when
my Jesus I shall see. And Paul says here in the last
verse of that chapter I was reading to you, wherefore, comfort one
another with these words. Words of hope and words of comfort. But in the light of this, look
back at our text again in chapter 2. How are we to understand verse
2? This is our hope. Christ's coming
is our hope. Paul said we're looking for the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's our hope, isn't it? Without
this hope, our hearts would break. How do we understand verse 2?
Look what he says here in verse 2. He said, I am writing to you
about the coming of our Lord Jesus and our gathering together
unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled,
either by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as
that the day of Christ is at hand. What is it about this that
some of these people in this church, some believers, were
shaken in their mind? They were disturbed. They were
alarmed concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
how can that be so? How can we explain this in the
light of His coming, we will be raised from the dead and be
like Him? Let me speculate just a little bit before we look closer
at verse 2. And let me speculate just a little
bit as to why a person would fear the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. First of all, boy, if you were
lost, if you were without God, without Christ, and without hope,
and you heard of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and you
believed it, I tell you, that would shake you, wouldn't it?
That's not good news. That's the worst news a lost
man could ever hear. The Lord is coming. The Lord
is coming. What's going to happen to me?
Boy, that's enough to shake a lost man's mind, isn't it? What if
you believed the Lord was coming and you had a false hope? And
when push comes to shove, you knew your hope was false. And
you heard about the coming of the Lord Jesus and those you
sometimes prayed, thy kingdom come. You know if it does, you
ain't going to have no part in it. Because you're not in it. Wouldn't that scare you? Wouldn't
that shake your mind? But what about a weak believer?
What about some believer that truly knows the Lord, but he's
weak in the faith? He's weak in understanding. He
doesn't understand much about the Lord's coming. Could he fear
it? Well, of course he could. Of course he could. Remember
Hezekiah? The Lord told him, set your house
in order or he's going to die. And boy, that shook that man.
He was a godly man, a man of faith, but it shook him. And
if a person's faith was weak and he had little assurance of
his salvation, maybe when he talked about or heard about the
coming of the Lord, it may do what it did to these people here,
some of them. It shook them in their mind. It excited them. What is it that
would do that? Well, I tell you, it's a time
of hope, but it's a dreadful time. I mean, it's a time that's
not natural to us. the coming of our Lord. When
you think of what's going to happen to people, He told here
in the first chapter that to you who are troubled, rest with
us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with
His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God. That's there in chapter 1, 2
Thessalonians 7 and 8. Who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction. You and I are still in this body,
and we have these natural affections that we just can't hardly shake.
We've got children. Some have dads and moms and loved
ones. That's lost. Can you imagine
them suffering such punishment when the Lord comes again? There
will be people crying for the rocks and the mountains to fall
on. Hide us from the face of Him that sets upon us. the throne,
for the day of his wrath is come." Can you imagine your children
saying that? I can't imagine my dear daughter looking up in
the sky and saying, Oh, rocks, fall on me. You know, to think
about that now, that just crushes my heart. Don't it, you? It disturbs
my mind. And it's these weak attachments,
these natural attachments that we have when we think of the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we think about what's going
to happen to the things that's around us, listen to what Peter
says. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall burn with fervent heat and the earth also,
and the works that are therein shall be burned up." That's not
natural for us, is it? It's just not natural for us
to hear this great explosion, as it were, and things around
us melt, and the heavens pass away. We may have a saving interest
in the Lord Jesus Christ, but when we think of the suddenness
of his coming and what's going to take place at his coming,
it's possible that a weak believer could be disturbed in his mind.
It's just not natural. The coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ will not be natural. You don't have this stuff taking
place like it's going to take place and be natural. It's not
natural for there to be an explosion and everything pass away and
the elements and the air melt with permanent heat. That's not
natural. It's supernatural. And sometimes
when you and I think of the supernatural, it makes us afraid, doesn't it?
You know the only way to face the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ with assurance and with a measure of joy and not to be
afraid. Do you know the only way to face
it? With a faith that looks to Him
for a complete charity. What He did in the days of His
flesh, Paul said, if we believe that Jesus died, I believe that,
don't you? Not only that he died, but why
did he die? What did he accomplish in his
death? He accomplished our reconciliation
to God. He removed the enmity between
us and God. God is not angry with us anymore. The sin is gone, the cause of
the anger. The law is satisfied. He has
absolutely justified us from everything and clothed us in
His own righteousness. You believe that Christ died?
You believe that He obtained your eternal redemption? You
believe that He's satisfied on your behalf? Then you don't have
to look at that day with dread and fear. He's coming to finish
the work which He begun. If we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, and we believe that, those which sleep in Jesus,
those souls that are there with Him, God is going to bring with
Him. And whatever takes place, whatever supernatural thing that
takes place, is this world passing away, heaven is passing away,
our loved ones being punished everlastingly, judgment to come,
eternity, whatever it is, that will take place at that time.
We have nothing to fear. Our Savior is coming, who by
His death and resurrection has absolutely saved us. Paul said
we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know why
he said that? Because when He comes, He's still
going to be our Savior. He's coming as our Savior. And that's the way we face it.
That's the way we face it. Without fear and dread. David said, though the world
depart, though there's large explosion in the sea and you
hear the roaring thereof, he imagined this awful scenario.
The worst thing he could imagine. Here comes this giant tsunami
that just takes everything away. And he said, Yet will I not fear. Why? He got a great Savior. He
got a merciful Savior that has finished the work. But here in verse 2, I think
the Apostle Paul gives us some more information as to why these
Thessalonians were shaken in their minds. He says here in
verse 2, that you be not soon shaken, disturbed, agitated,
fearful in your mind. Be troubled, either by spirit,
I take that to mean that somebody had prophesied and said they
were speaking by the Holy Spirit, nor by word, somebody stand up
like I am in preaching, nor by letter as from us. There were
many forgeries in those days. as that the day of Christ is
at hand. And here I think this last word,
the day of Christ is at hand, is probably the key to why there
were so many of them shaken in their minds. I was reading the
Amplified on this and some of the other versions, and they
said this day of the Lord that's at hand, Strong says it's to be present.
are come. The day of Christ is come. The
Amplified said the day of the Lord has already arrived and
is here. Boy, think of that. If they were
told that by someone that says we've got a new revelation from
the Holy Spirit. Or they received a letter from
Paul that said the day of Christ has arrived. The LITV, which
is another letter of transgression, said the day of Christ has come."
The ALV says, that day of Christ, that it has arrived. And the
interlinear Greek Bible says, Be not troubled, neither through
a spirit, nor through speech, nor through epistle, as though
from us, as that is come the day of Christ. So what somebody had did, seemingly,
either prophesied saying they were prophesied by the Holy Spirit,
or they got somebody to get up to preach, or they got a letter
forged saying the day of Christ has already come. What would
that mean? That would mean the resurrection
has passed, wouldn't it? Wouldn't that shake you? Look
here in chapter 3, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. Paul had a habit of
this, and I think he did this in every epistle. Look what he
says in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 17. The salutation of Paul with
my own hand, which is the token in every epistle, so I write. Why did he sign every epistle
with his own hand? So they would know it was from
him. There was people writing all kinds of stuff and signing
the apostles' names to it. And Paul said, Look at my signature.
If you get a letter that's saying the resurrection has passed already,
it's not from me. They forged my signature. And
you know that doctrine was going around? Look in 2 Timothy. Look in 2 Timothy. Chapter 2
and verse 15. 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. You remember, I think it was
last year or the year before last, there was a group of people
up in Minnesota. Their pastor, the old man, I
think he finally had a stroke. He may have died. He set a date. Was that last year? Don, Brother
Fortner is up there and preached to those guys. He knows them
well. I had a friend that was in that bunch. It was on Sunday
morning. that he had predicted the Lord
was coming. And boy, I mean, they were stirred up. It was
the media. Remember, the national media got a hold of it. And I
called a friend of mine on a Saturday evening and talked with him about
it. And I told him, I said, you know,
no man knows the day or the hour. And you guys have predicted the
day that the Lord's coming. And I said, do you mind if I
call you back in the morning? He said, you can call my phone,
but I won't be here. And he was very adamant about
it. And I said, would you mind if I call your phone back in
the morning? He said, yeah, you can call it. Well, I called him
Sunday morning early. And he answered the phone. He
didn't sound as near as cocky Sunday morning as he did Saturday
evening. And I said, Al, is that you, buddy? He said, yeah, that's
me. I said, you're still here, aren't
you? And then me and him had a good talk. Can you imagine
the damage that did? But there were people in the
New Testament, there were some folks not only predicting it
when it didn't come to pass, they said it did. Look here in
2 Timothy chapter 2 and look in verse 15. 2 Timothy 2, verse 15, Study to
show yourself a proved unto God, a workman that needeth not to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane
and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness,
and the word will eat as doth a canker. of whom is Hymenaeus
and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying
that the resurrection is past already, and overthrew the faith
of some." And you know they may have been the very ones that
wrote this letter, wrote a letter to the church at Thessalonica
and say the resurrection is past already. Christ has already come. It's at hand. And everybody seems
to say that means it's here already. It's already. Christ has come.
Well, you can imagine how that would shake them. And He overthrew
this false teaching. Overthrew the faith of some. Now, let me ask you a question.
Do you want a faith that can be overthrown by man? You satisfied
with a faith like that? If a man can take your faith
away and overthrow your faith in Jesus Christ, then I tell
you it ain't fit for heaven. It won't save you anyway. Don't
you want a faith that hell itself can't overthrow? Upon this rock
I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against me. I want a faith that has Jesus
Christ as its author and finisher. Not only the author, but the
finisher. And if He's the finisher, nobody
is going to overthrow Him. And you're not going to lose
it. And you're not going to make shipwreck out of it. There's
all kinds of faith. Devils have faith, don't they?
They believe in trembling. There are those who have believed
for a while. They have temporal faith. There are others who can
be overthrown in their faith. But thank God there are a few
that have a faith that will endear and endear and endear until their
faith ends in sight. You say, Bruce, how do you know
that? Look in verse 19. When he talked about overthrew
the faith of some, he used that word nevertheless. Remember we
looked at that this morning? Nevertheless. The foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are His. He knows His. He knows His. And I say, Yes, I'm going to
be overthrown. I'm going to be overthrown. Did Paul teach? and his epistles
are by word of mouth, that Christ could come in his
lifetime. That's a good question. You know
he didn't teach that at all. People find fault with you and
question you and they mock you when you teach this, but Paul
never taught that Christ could come in his lifetime. If he did,
he was wrong, wasn't he? Because it's been 2,000 years
almost now and Christ still hasn't come. If Paul thought that Christ's
coming was imminent, that it could happen in his lifetime,
then he was wrong. And boy, think of that. Think
of that. He said there's two things, and
he used this to comfort these Thessalonica believers. There's
two things that has to happen before the coming of Jesus Christ.
There must come a falling away first. Whatever that means, I
tell you, we'll recognize it when we see it. They knew some things that you
and I don't know. I think the Apostle Paul told
them some things about the falling away that you and I are still
trying to find out what it means. He said, when I was with you,
I told you these things. But he didn't tell us what they
were. I wish he had, don't you? But there'll be a falling away.
We think we're in a falling away now, and we are. But, boy, you
wait till that day. Wait till when the church has
no testimony left. Wait until it's like the day
when Lot was down in Sodom and nobody did anything but mock
him. At least now some people will
listen to us, won't they? Wait until this falling away
has manifested itself. And you speak to somebody about
spiritual things, and you'll be mocked. Oh, yeah, we've heard
of that. The coming of the Lord. Yeah,
we've heard of that. How dumb, how silly. You guys
still believe that junk? Look at all this time, and it
still hasn't happened. There'll be mockers in the last
days. And that's all there'll be. There'll
be no power to witness. There'll be no authority from
the church. The Spirit of the Lord that now is restraining
the wicked one will be taken away. We are not there yet, are
we? Therefore, Christ is not coming. Bruce, don't you believe He's
coming today? No. I don't. Aren't you looking for
Him? Yes, I am. But so was Paul. We look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's our hope. But do I believe
He's coming today? No. And that's my understanding
from the Word. Why do I say that? There's not
been this fallen away yet. And number two, the man of sin
has not been revealed. We don't even know much about
that, do we? That setteth in the temple of God. He's in this
world. He sits throughout this world.
Everything belongs to God, doesn't it? This is God's temple. This earth is God's temple. And
you've got probably not a man, but man as collected into one
mass humanity of utter rebellion against God, initiated and pumped
up and led on by Satan himself. Can you imagine what a time that
will be when you have humanity? And Satan let loose out of his
prison for a season. And he gathers humanity together
and works in them to oppose all that is called God. We worry
today about them kicking the commandments out of schools and
off of the courthouse yards. That ain't nothing. We haven't
seen anything. You wait until the Holy Spirit is not restraining
the devil anymore and he is giving full sway to do as He wills. He'll oppose anything and everything. You and I have never seen anything
like it. That's yet to happen. That's yet to happen. But it
must happen before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I tell you this, He may come
today for you. He may come today for you. Eternity may begin today for
some of us. So in the light of that, the
Lord Jesus says, Be ye always ready. Be ye always ready. I hope that's been a blessing.