Summary:

After telling the Thessalonians in person the Rapture will come before the Day of the Lord, in a letter, and again in this letter, Paul wondered if they were listening (v.5) be-cause they were acting like they weren’t. They were troubled and shaken in mind (v.2), so Paul says it again (v.1-3). When seasoned saints who know the truth are troubled you don’t have to come up with a new angle on the truth to comfort them, you only need repeat the truth, as Paul did.

Since “withhold” (v.6) means “to hold back” (Pr.11:26), we know he’s telling them again, though some say the Spirit is holding back the Antichrist, not the Body of Christ. But Paul hasn’t mentioned the Spirit previously, so when v. 6 begins “Now ye know…” I have to think he’s repeating what he said in 1-3, the rapture must come first. Plus, the Spirit will be here during the Tribulation (Isa.59:19,20; Mt. 10:19; Rv.11:11). If the Spirit could be here at the same time as the devil (Lu.4:1,2) He can be here with the beast.

Those who think the Spirit is the Withholder may wonder how the Body of Christ would have the power to restrain the beast, but we don’t hold him back by any power of our own, but on the strength of God’s promise that he can’t come till we are gone, just as Noah’s flood couldn’t come until Methuselah died because his name means “when he is gone it shall come.” He too withheld God’s judgment through no strength of his own but by the strength of God’s promise.

When Paul says Antichrist will be “revealed in his time” (v.6), Isaiah predicted the Lords “little ones” (cf.Mt.10:41, 42) would one day be a majority and the “nation” (Mt.21: 3) of the “little flock” (Lu.12:32) would become “a strong nation” in the kingdom.” Redeemed Israel has always been a minority on earth, but that will change “in his time,” and Antichrist will be revealed “in his time.” And the time of a prophetic figure can’t come during the age of the mystery.

If any thought he wouldn’t be revealed, Paul told them that the mystery of iniquity that would produce him was already in the works (v.7). But if it was, how come it hasn’t produced the Antichrist in 2,000 years? Well, remember, Paul thought he’d be among the “we” who live to see the Lord come (ITh.4:15). If He came back then, the mystery of iniquity Paul saw working would have produced the beast.

So what is the mystery of iniquity? We’ve seen the “woman” of Revelation 17:4,5 is the idolatrous false Judaism called “Mystery Babylon,” and is again called a mystery (v.7). Think that might be the mystery of iniquity? God calls idolatry “iniquity” (Ezek.14:3; 44:10,12), and this harlot sits on the beast (Rev.17:3), meaning he rises up under her. Paul may not have seen idolatry in Israel, but idolatry is Baal worship (IIKi.10:26) and he saw Baal worship (Mt.23:14). Since the Rapture didn’t come, Baal worship will rise again after the Rapture

It’s like how God promised to send Elijah before the Lord (Mal.4:5) and He did (Lu.1:16,17). But John the Baptist would have been Elijah only “if” Israel received the kingdom (Mt.11:7-14). So Elijah will have to come again, and be one of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:3-6) who could destroy their enemies with fire and cause it not to rain (cf. IIKi.1:10-12; James 5:17). But that doesn’t mean John wasn’t Elijah, the Lord said he was (Mt.17:10-13); but there’ll have to be another. And the Mystery Babylon Paul saw in his day would have produced the antichrist, but now another will have to be formed after the Rapture.

But Paul says that “he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (v.7). The Greek word for “let” is the same as “withhold,” and the English word also means to hinder or restrain. This is what “let” means in the Bible also (Ex.5:4). We can prove that Mystery Babylon will form after the Rapture, for if it were destined to form before, Paul would have listed it in his lists of the signs of the last days. The fact that he doesn’t proves that not only will you not see the Antichrist, you won’t even see the idolatry form in Judaism to become the Mystery Babylon Harlot that will produce the Antichrist. Once again all the stage-setting for the Day of the Lord will take place in the gap after the Rapture and before Daniel’s 70^th week.

Summary:

We know this verse describes the last three and a half years of Antichrist’s career because during the first half of Daniel’s 70^th week he will not exalt himself above all that is called God, he will be a good Jew who will honor all that is called God. That’s why he’ll be honored by Israel. Midway through the 70^th week he will exalt himself. During the first half of the 70^th week he will be exalted by Israel and the world as a peacemaker (Dan.11:21,24) who brought peace to the Mideast. But after he dies and rises (Rev.13:1,2) he will exalt himself as God (IITh.2:4 cf. Is.14:13,14).

Daniel tells us he will exalt himself against “the prince of the host,” Christ (cf. Josh.5:14), by claiming that he is Israel’s Christ. He adds that the Beast will “exalt himself above every god” (Dan.11:36), similar to how Paul says he’ll exalt himself “above all that is called God.” So what kind of things are called God in the Bible? Several!

The nations called their idols gods (Ps. 96:5), and idolatry will be big in the Tribulation. The spiritual “fornication” the nations will engage in with the “whore” of Babylon (Rev.17:1-5) is the same kind of whoring that Israel did with idols (Deut.31:16). This makes people think the church of Antichrist will be Rome, but long before Rome messed with idols there was a pseudo-Judaism that worshipped God and idols (Judges 17:3). After God put Israel aside, Satan focused on infiltrating Christianity with idolatry, but when God returns His attention to Israel after the Rapture, Satan will infect Judaism with idols again. The whore of Babylon will be Jewish, not Catholic. Revelation 17:1-3 says that the whore will sit on the antichrist to symbolize how Antichrist will honor all that is involved with Judaism during the early part of his career. This is why he is called “the idol shepherd” (Zech.11:7).

However, Zechariah 11:7 goes on to describe his deadly wound that is healed (Rev.13:1,2) after he rises from the dead after his assassination. He will then exalt himself above the idols that are called gods by “showing himself that he is God” (IITh.2:4).

But how will he sit in the temple, as Paul says, when the temple had no chair? Since the people kept sinning, the priest had to keep sacrificing and so there was never time for him to sit, unlike Christ, who offered one sacrifice for sins for ever (Heb.10:11). Oh, there is one chair, but it is occupied. The mercy seat above the ark was a chair, it was the throne of God (Num.7:89). Antichrist “as God” will sit on that seat “shewing himself that he is God” (IITh.2:4).

Of course, the problem with sitting in God’s seat is that once a year a priest will sprinkle blood in your lap—unless you abolish animal sacrifices, as Antichrist will do (Dan.8: 11) claiming that he is the once-for-all offering for their sins.

The Jews themselves were said to be gods (Ps.82:6; John 10:34,35) since God’s Word came to the world through them (Rom.3:1,2), just as Moses was a god to Pharaoh for giving him God’s word (Ex.7:1) and just as the Jews will be gods to the Gentiles in the kingdom for giving them God’s word (Micah 4:1-5). Antichrist will exalt himself above the gods of the Jews by claiming to be the Jew that the Jews have been waiting for for thousands of years, the Messiah.

There are also gods “in heaven” (ICor.8:4,5) against whom Antichrist will exalt himself, the same “gods” that Eve envied (Gen.3:5), the fallen angels. Antichrist will “blaspheme…them that dwell in heaven” (Rev.13:6). He will call some of them down and stomp on them (Dan.8:9,10). You can’t destroy an angel, but you can rough one up! He will do this, and these gods will go along with this, to convince the world he is Christ! If you can call down the gods of heaven and stomp on them, that makes a compelling argument!

Lastly, Antichrist will exalt himself above the gods of the stars (Deut.17:2,3). All the seal judgments are from Anti-christ (Rev.6:1-11) including the removal of the stars of the second heaven (v.12). When he turns out the lights of the universe, many will believe he is Jehovah God, above all gods (Ps.135:5). But when he claims to be God, he will be brought down to the pit of hell (Ezekiel 28:2-10).

Summary:

“Deceived” means to mislead someone down the wrong path, Satan’s MO since the beginning (ITim.2:14). He deceived Eve when God told her one thing and Satan told her another (Gen.2:17; 3:4). He deceived the Thessalonians when God told them they wouldn’t go through the Day of the Lord, Daniel’s 70^th week, and Satan used false teachers to tell them another (IIThes.2:1,2).

After listing the means by which Satan had fooled them (2:2), Paul told them not to let him deceive them “by any means” (2:3). He revealed “a falling away” had to come before the Day of the Lord. Many good pastors say this is the Rapture, arguing the Greek word just means departure. But the Greek word is apostasia, from which we get apostasy, a departure from the truth. The only other place the Greek word is used bears this out (Acts 21:21). That’s the meaning here as well. “Falling away” in the Bible means to depart from the truth (Heb.6:4-6 cf. Jer. 37:13,14)

There is no need for Paul to introduce the Rapture at this point in his argument. He already begged them on the basis of the rapture not to let anyone deceive them, knowing it must come before the Day of the Lord. He’s already made that argument, now he is arguing that something else must come first, an apostasy. But there are two coming, one before the Rapture (ITim.4:1) and one after. Since this passage started by talking about the Rapture, this is speaking about an apostasy that will come after the Rapture

The Lord said at this apostasy “many” would be “deceived” (Mt.24:5), and when they do they will “fall away” (Lu.8: 13) at the “falling away”! This explains the warnings in the Tribulation epistles not to fall away (Heb.4:11; IIPe.3:17). Antichrist can’t be revealed until after the Rapture and this falling away. That means when you hear men say the president is the antichrist or the pope, this cannot be, for they are revealed before the Rapture.

When the man of sin confirms the covenant (Dan.9:26,27) with Israel, the only people made covenants with (Eph.2:12), it will reveal that he is the antichrist. The Abrahamic Covenant he’ll confirm will give them a much greater piece of land than apostate Israel has now, and a promise to protect Israel by cursing those that curse her (Gen.12:3).

Since Paul says he’ll be “revealed” then, some wonder if he’s already born, and maybe grown, and the stage is being set for the Tribulation. But there will be a gap of time after the Rapture, before the 70^th week, of up to a generation in length. Daniel was told there’d be 490 years till the kingdom (9:24), the first 483 till Messiah (2:25,26). Then he was told Messiah would be “cut off” from the living (Isa.53:8) “after” the 69^th week (Dan.9:26), before the 70^th week (9:27). He died in a gap in the 70 weeks prophecy.

This gap is also seen when Israel’s first four feasts, Pass-over, Unleavened Bread, First-fruits and Pentecost, came in the first two months of the year, but her last three feasts, Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Tabernacles, came months later. The first four have been fulfilled in Christ the Holy Spirit, we’re living in the gap before the last three are fulfilled. This gap is not the mystery, that’s an unprophesied gap, this is a prophesied gap, but God put the unprophesied gap within the prophesied gap. God knew prophecy would be interrupted so put the gap in the 70 weeks prophecy.

But the Lord said His generation would see the Day of the Lord (Mt.24:34), a prophecy that was interrupted a year later (Lu.13:6-9). But that means after the rapture closes the unprophesied gap there is most of a generation left of prophesied gap before the 70^th week, plenty of time for Antichrist be born and all the stage setting needed.

“Man of sin” (IITh.2:3) is Antichrist in the first half of the 70^th week, but when he dies and rises (Rev.13:1-3) he becomes “the son of perdition.” He’ll be reanimated by Judas, the son of perdition (Jo.17:12) when he who was on the earth before that time, “was not” at that time, but who will rise out of the pit of hell (Rev.17:8). Hey, Elijah’s coming back (Mal.4:5), why not Judas? Psalm 55:12-14 describes Judas, 55:20:21 describes Antichrist, because he dies and rises in between (v.15).

Summary:

Someone forged a letter from Paul to convince the Thessalonians “the day of Christ” was at hand. That phrase is used of the Judgment Seat of Christ (Phil.2:14-16), but that can’t be what “troubled” the Thessalonians, for that’s a day of rejoicing (IICor.1:14). Since words and phrases have different meanings in different contexts, here it is the day of the Lord (Isa.13:6), the Tribulation, “the Lord’s day” (Rev.1: 10). It is called by both names, just as the Judgment Seat of Christ is called by both names (IICor.1:14; Phil.2:16).

“At hand” means something about to happen (Gen. 27:41), sometimes “immediately” (Mark 14:42,43). The Thessalonians were troubled because they thought the Tribulation was coming upon them immediately, so Paul begged them not to believe it! And when Paul begs us to do something, it is for our own good. He begs us to present our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1) because we won’t be happy till we do. Birds are created to fly and are not happy caged, and you are a new creature (IICor.5:17) that was created to do good works (Eph.2:10) and won’t be happy till you do. Paul also begged us to follow him (ICor. 4:16) because we won’t be happy following James 5:14,15 when our prayers don’t heal the sick. And he begs us not to think we’ll be here for the Tribulation or we’ll lose hope.

Even though the Tribulation was only found in Jewish Scriptures, the Thessalonians knew how bad it would be, for they hung around the synagogue even before they were saved (Acts 17:1-4). So they knew “perfectly” how bad it will be (IThes.5:1,2), knowing verses like Deuteronomy 28:65-67; Luke 21:26,etc. No wonder they were troubled!

Words and phrases have different meanings. The “coming” of the Lord (IIThes.2:1) can refer to the Rapture, as it does there, or to the Second Coming (Mt.24:27-29). Matthew 24 can’t be the rapture, for it speaks of the gathering of the “eagles” (v.28) for Armageddon (Rev.19:17-19). The “gathering” of Matthew 24:31 can’t be the “gathering” of our text for there the Lord sends angels to gather the elect in Israel, while “the Lord Himself” comes for us (ITh.4:16).

Paul didn’t always speak to them as “brethren” (2:1). He spoke as a father to a son (ITh.2:11,12) in regard to walking worthy of the Lord, for he’d led them to Christ and that’s what all spiritual fathers want for their sons. But when suffering persecution you want a brother like Paul who himself was suffering persecution but wasn’t moved by them (Acts 20:22-24). He wasn’t moved because God told him he’d suffer trouble (Acts 9:16). You listen when a brother like that tells you that you’ll suffer trouble too, and you follow his example not to be moved by it (IThes3:3,4).

And you listen when he tells you that you’re not heading for the “wrath” of the Tribulation (IThes.5:9). Notice that’s talking about obtaining the future “salvation” of the Rapture (Rom.13:11), salvation from the wrath of the Tribulation. You need to settle the truth of the pre-trib rapture now before things get bad in this country, just as you need to settle the truth that God loves you before you have any personal troubles. If you think God only loves you enough to keep you healthy if you are good (Deut.7:12-15), you’ll think He doesn’t love you if you get sick. And if you settle the doctrine of the pre-trib rapture in your mind before troubles start, you won’t doubt it later.

In those days there was a “spirit” (2:2) causing them to doubt the pre-trib rapture, so they had to “try” or test the spirits (IJo.4:1) of the prophets (ICor.14:32). False prophets had Satan’s spirit causing men to doubt. The spirits of prophets were to be tested to see if their words matched the Word (Deut.13:1-3).We are to test their words by the Word of God through Paul that the Rapture will come before the Tribulation (ITh.4:15—5:2). The “word” (2:1) of men who weren’t prophets was also causing them to doubt, such as the “word” that the rapture was past (IITim.2:17,18), a dispensational error (cf.2:15). You have to know where you stand in the program of God. Daniel knew where he stood from Jeremiah (Daniel 9:1,2), the Lord knew from Isaiah (Lu. 4:14-24), Peter knew from Joel (Acts 2:16), but you can only know where you stand in relation to the Tribulation from Paul. Since they also forged letters from Paul, the apostle signed every epistle with his own unique signature (IIThes.3:17).

Summary:

The destruction at the Second Coming of Christ will come “from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (v.9). It is called “everlasting” destruction because after the flames destroy the Lord’s enemies they will ignite the lake of fire (Deut.32:22). Hell is in the center of the earth (Mt.12:40), and the Lord went to the comfort side when He died, known as paradise (Lu.16:19-31 cf. 23:43). But after the Lord paid for the sins of the people in paradise it was moved to heaven (IICor.12:4) and the torment side of hell is the only place left in the heart of the earth. The flames of the Second Coming will make it an open pit as the fire rises to the bottoms of the mountains (Deut.32:22).

We know Deuteronomy 32:22 is about the Second Coming because the previous verse predicts how God would use the foolish nation of the little flock to provoke Israel to jealous-y (v.21 cf. Mt.23:43 cf. Lu.12:32; IPe.2:9,10). It worked (Mt.27:17,18), but God hoped it would provoke them to re-pent and believe, not crucify the Lord. But God knew they wouldn’t, so He predicted the fire of the Second Coming would come next (Deut.32:22). The lake of fire was “prepared” for “the king” (Isa.30:33), i.e., the devil (Mt.25:41).

When the Lord comes in flaming fire God will advise the unsaved to hide “for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty” (Isa.2:10,19,21). Doesn’t that sound like Paul’s description of the destruction that will come “from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power”? The lost will see Him come “with power and great glory” (Mt.24:30).

The unsaved will be “afraid” but also “surprised” (Isa.33: 14), especially unsaved Jewish “brethren” who’ll think the Lord is “glorified” in them during the Tribulation (Isa.66:5) But the Lord will “come to be glorified in His saints” (IIThes.1:10). When He judges the lost and spares the saved He’ll be glorified in His saints “in Israel” (Isa.44:23).

But Paul says He’ll also be “admired in all them that believe” in that day because his testimony “was believed” (IITh.1:10). This is where we come in! When God spares us the fire of the Second Coming with the pre-trib Rapture the Lord will be glorified in us too. Remember how Paul worked us into Israel’s promise of vengeance (Isa.49:25 cf. IITh.1:5,6)? Here he works us into God’s promise to be glorified in His saints in Israel.

Paul prays God will count us worthy of being spared this wrath (IITh.1:11). In his first letter he begged the Thessalonians to walk worthy of this calling (2:11,12), which is what grace is all about. The Colossians had the Lord, Paul exhorted them to walk worthy of Him (Col.1:9,10), the Thessalonians had the hope of the pre-trib rapture, Paul prayed they’d walk worthy of it. But in his second epistle he prayed God would count them worthy of it by rapturing them before the Tribulation.

But if the pre-trib rapture was a sure thing, why’d Paul pray for it? He was praying according to the revealed will of God, as he did in IThessalonians 5:23,24. Hezekiah did too (IIKi.20:1-5), reminding God of His promise in IKings 2:4 that he couldn’t die childless since he’d been good. God hadn’t forgotten the promise, He wanted to see if Hezekiah would remember it and pray for it. He delights when we pray according to His will, and that’s what Paul is doing in praying God will count them worthy of the pre-trib rapture.

This will “fulfill all the good pleasure of His will” (IIThes. 1:11). His “good pleasure” for Israel concerned Jerusalem (Ps. 51:18) in the kingdom (Lu.12:32). The Lord taught the Jews to pray for this (Mt.6:10). His good pleasure for us is the pre-trib rapture, and Paul prayed for it. He also prayed God would fulfill “the work of faith with power, i.e., the work of His faithfulness(cf.Col.2:12) in rapturing us with power.

When the Lord keeps His promise to rapture us before the Tribulation, He will be glorified in us (IITh.1:12). God is always glorified when he keeps His promises! He will be glorified in Israel when He keeps His promises to her, but He’ll also be glorified in us when He keeps His promises to us.

Summary:

When the Lord comes “in flaming fire” (v.8) He will take vengeance “on them that know not God” (v.9). Plenty of people know about God but don’t know Him. Eli’s sons didn’t know the Lord (ISam.2:12), even though the sons of a priest surely knew about Him. What’s that mean?

Well, the generation that came after Joshua surely knew about the Lord and what He’d done for Israel, so how can God say they didn’t know Him or His works (Judges 2:8-10)? They’d heard about the Red Sea crossing and the fall of Jericho’s walls but didn’t believe them, and so didn’t believe in the God who performed those great works. If the generation after the Holocaust can doubt it happened, the generation after the Red Sea crossing can doubt it too. “The priests…that handle the Law” surely knew about the Lord (Jer.2:8), but God says they “knew Me not.” The only conclusion we can make is that when the Lord comes to take vengeance “on them that know not God” it means on them who are not saved because they didn’t obey the gospel.

People that don’t know God tend to persecute those who do (Ps.79:6,7), and now that we’re part of His people, the Lord will one day avenge us too, as well as answer this prayer.

No matter what dispensation you are in, the gospel has to be obeyed. Under the kingdom program for the Jews the gospel was faith plus works, and even some priests were “obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7), the faith of Acts 2:38, the work being baptism. But that was the faith that had to be obeyed in the nation Israel. God then raised up Paul “for obedience to the faith among all nations” (Ro.1:5), with a message of faith without works that had to be obeyed “from the heart” (Ro.6:17). When told to bring a sacrifice Abel obeyed from his hands, and when told to go to the promised land Abram obeyed from his feet. But when the message is faith without works, “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness” (Ro.10:10) and are saved without works.

After the flaming fire of the Second Coming ends the lives of the unsaved the “everlasting destruction” begins (1:9). Since Paul never mentions “hell” some grace believers are Universalists, but he mentions eternal punishment here. If you reject the sacrifice of Christ for your sins you must become a “sacrifice” to pay for your sins (Mark 9:47-49). It starts when God sacrifices men at the Second Coming (Zeph.1:7,8) for His guests, the birds (Rev.19:17-19).

Besides Universalists who say all will be saved, some say the unsaved will be punished in Hell but just for a while and then released. But if “everlasting” doesn’t mean ever lasting then God is not everlasting (Gen.21:33; Rom.16:26), and neither is your everlasting life (Jo.5:24).

Annihilationists say men will be punished by being snuffed out of existence. But the Bible doesn’t say the effects of the destruction are everlasting, it says that the destruction is everlasting. The destruction is hell (Pr.27: 20).When an un-saved man dies at the Second Coming (or any time for that matter) he goes to Hell (Lu.16:22,23) until Hell is emptied into the Lake of Fire (Rev.20:14). We know they aren’t annihilated by this fire because a thousand years after the beast and false prophet are thrown in they “are” still there (Rev.19:20;20:7-10). Annihilationists say the beast doesn’t burn up because he is not a mere mortal, but God calls him a “man” (IIThes.2:3; Ezek.28:2), and if we say False Prophet is more than a man because he will work miracles, we have to say the apostles were also more than men

The lost must stay in hell eternally because they can never finish paying for a sin against an eternal God (Mt.5:22,26; 18:34,35), so their smoke must go up “forever”(Rev.14: 11) Annihilationists argue the smoke is the memorial of when they were snuffed out, but it says “the smoke of their torment ascendedeth up forever.” An annihilated man can’t be said to have “no rest,” that only makes sense if they have no rest from their torment. How can an annihilated man suffer everlasting contempt (Dan.12:2)? If all the lost cease to exist equally, how can there be degrees of punishment (Mt.11:24; Lu.12:47)? If suffering in captivity is worst than being snuffed out (Lam.4:6), why would God give the unsaved the lesser punishment for committing the greatest sin, sin against their Creator?