Summary:

Paul is not thanking God that He saved them from Hell. The word “salvation” has different meanings. Israel was saved from the Egyptians (Ex.14:13; Jude 1:5). Paul talked about being saved from a storm (Acts 27:31). And in the Thessalonian epistles, “salvation” can refer to salvation from the Tribulation. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord” (ITh.5:9). You don’t have an appointment to obtain salvation from Hell, you obtained it when you believed. But you have an appointment to obtain salvation from the Tribulation by the “salvation” of the Rapture (Romans 13:11).

And it is this salvation to which we were chosen, not salvation from Hell. True, the Bible says “He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph.1:4), but it doesn’t say we were chosen to be in Christ, it says we were chosen—in Christ. Christ is God’s elect:

“Behold…Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth…He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles” (Isa. 42:1).

Christ is the only man God could delight in. When we go to the polls, we have to hold our nose and vote for the lesser of two evils. Not God! He delighted to elect Christ to rule the Gentiles in the kingdom. And the way that Jews became part of His elect was by faith in Him. But God also chose Christ to rule the angels in heaven, and when we believe in Him, we become part of that elect (ICor.6:3).

We are also “predestinated” (Eph.1:5), but that doesn’t mean God predetermined our destination to heaven as op-posed to hell, it means to heaven as opposed to the earth where Israel will rule the Gentiles. Remember, “we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated” (Eph.1:11). Our inheritance is to judge angels, but was told, “thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles” (Isa.54:3). But you’re predestination to go to heaven in the pre-tribulation rapture, is thesalvation Paul felt “bound” to thank God for.

“Bound” means under legal or moral obligation. Even

under the Law, thank offerings were voluntary, and Paul wasn’t under the Law (Rom.6:14). But he felt a moral obligation to thank God they were saved from the Tribulation for them, since they were no longer thanking God for it now that they lost the hope of the pre-trib rapture.

Anytime God does anything, someone should thank Him. The unsaved don’t thank Him for the sun and rain He gives them (Mt.5:45), or for “life, and breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25), so we should thank God for them.

We were chosen to this salvation “through sanctification of the Spirit” (IITh.2:13). Sanctification means to be set apart to God (Ex.13:2,12), and we’ve been set apart to be saved by the pre-trib rapture.

Normally sanctification is from the unsaved (ICor.6:9-11), but here it is from the Jewish kingdom saints who will have to go through the Tribulation. That exact phrase “sanctification of the Spirit” is only elsewhere used by Peter to write to “the…elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit” (I Peter 1:1,2). God foreknew the Jews would go through the Tribulation, so the Spirit sanctified them from us, the people He foreknew would be raptured before it. Peter went on, “that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold…though it be tried with fire” (1:6,7) and that’s Tribulation talk (Zech.13:9;14:1)

This is why Paul went on to say that they’d been chosen to be saved from the Tribulation “through belief of the truth,” Paul’s truth, and why they were called by Paul’s gospel (IIThes.2:14). If they were called by Peter’s gospel, the Spirit would have separated them to go through the Tribulation. This explains why Paul called us “them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate” (Rom.8:28). God predetermined that our destination would be in heaven rather than the earth, so He called us by Paul’s gospel to obtain the glory of the pre-trib rapture. Saved Jews under the kingdom program were also called to obtain glory but only after they have “suffered” the Tribulation (I Pet.5:10).

Summary:

Paul says that Antichrist will come with “all deceivableness of unrighteousness.” The word “deceive” means to trick someone, but people are tricked by different things. The deceivableness of youth can make you fall for things you wouldn’t fall for if you were older and wiser. The deceivableness of heartbreak will make you fall for any-thing that anyone suggests to get your boyfriend or girlfriend back. But the deceivableness of unrighteousness comes from being unrighteous, unsaved. It makes men fall for things they wouldn’t fall for if they were saved, even things as silly as the Big Bang Theory, or evolution.

Of course, some unsaved people are deceived by some things and others are deceived by other things, but when Antichrist comes he will come with “all deceivableness of unrighteousness.” So when he claims to be Israel’s Christ, the unsaved will be deceived by him. After all, if even the elect can barely escape his deceit (Mt.24:24), the unsaved don’t stand a chance.

Specially since Paul says this deceivableness is “in” the unsaved who perish. That means Satan will have an inside man in that day. He’ll have Antichrist working from without “with all power, and signs,” and from within the unsaved in their natural inclination to be deceived by him.

If you think God is unfair to let Satan work from within and without in the unsaved, notice he will only be allowed to do this “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (IIThes.2:10). And it won’t be God’s fault they didn’t receive the love of the truth, for if they didn’t receive it, that means it was offered to them.

The “truth” is Christ (John 14:6), and they won’t receive Him for the same reason they didn’t receive Him when He was here, they love sin and know He’s against it (John 3:19,20). If they don’t receive the love of the Lord they will be “anathema,” or cursed (cf.ICor.16:22).

When men do receive the love of the truth it keeps and preserves them (Pr.4:5,6). Remember, “wisdom” in that passage is a name for Christ (ICor.1:24). If they learn to love the Lord in the Tribulation, He will keep and preserve them by saving them and making them part of the elect who will be impossible to deceive. But those who don’t receive the love of the Truth will receive the love of the Antichrist, “and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion” (IIThes.2:11).

This is something God has always done. It was “because that” the Gentiles didn’t glorify God that He gave them up at the tower of Babel (Rom.1:21-24). After God raised up Abraham and taught him and his seed more about Himself, most of them didn’t want Him either, so God gave them up too (Ps.81:11,12; 109:17). If you don’t want God’s counsel, He will let you walk in your own. That’s how God judges men. Is there anything unfair about that?

Paul was probably thinking of Isaiah 66:3b,4 here. Speaking of the same Tribulation Jews that Paul is speaking of, Isaiah predicts they’ll choose something God doesn’t like, so He’ll choose a strong delusion they won’t like. The delusion they’ll choose is to offer animals in Antichrist’s idolatrous temple, which to God will be like offering something unclean (Isa.66:3a). Remember, Antichrist is called “the idol shepherd” (Zech.11:17). It is because they want idols that God will give them strong delusion to believe the lie, the ultimate idol, the beast, “that they all might be damned who believed not the truth” (IIThes.2:12).

Don’t feel sorry for these folks, they will have rejected the witness of Creation (Ps.19:1-3) and so are “without excuse (Rom.1:19,20). They won’t believe for the same reason men always don’t believe, they will have “pleasure in unrighteousness” (v.12). But Antichrist’s idolatrous religion will be for sin, making men think they could offer a sacrifice and be delivered to go out and sin more (Jer.7:9, 10). Idolatrous Christianity does the same thing, making men think they can go to the sacrifice of the mass and continue to sin. They don’t say that, but the Mafia reads them loud and clear. In the movies they kill and get absolution and do it again.

Summary:

Paul sums up the seven-year career of the Antichrist in just two very short prophetic verses (v.8,9). This is the way God likes to reveal the future. Whenever He reveals something frightening, such as the Antichrist here, He jumps ahead to tell you that it will all end well. You or I would reveal the future step by step, “this will happen, then that,” but God never wants us to be apprehensive about the future, so chooses this method. Of course, if you are trying to figure out a timeline of prophetic events this can be confusing, but this is why we compare Scripture with Scripture!

In making this really short prophecy, Paul may have been thinking of Isaiah 11:4, where the prophet predicted that all “the wicked” would be slain. Paul, of course, is singling out the Wicked One, the Antichrist. This is a form of the doctrine of identification, Antichrist identifying with wicked people.Kind of like how Israel was the “vine” (Ps. 80:8), but Christ was “the true vine” (John 15:1), and Isaiah 49:1-5 speaks of an “Israel” that sounds like Christ. Similarly, wicked people identify themselves with Anticrist, and both will die at Armageddon (Rev.19:19-21).

Some hate God so much they will want to identify themselves with him and so will gather themselves to Armageddon (Joel 3:9-16). Others will have to be tricked into identifying with him by his miracles (Rev.16:13-16). Others won’t be fooled by his miracles, but because they are not saved they’ll be forced to identify with him in a reverse rapture (Lu.17:36,37), plucked up and taken to Armageddon.

There are lots of ways to “consume” things in the Bible (Deut.5:25; 28:42; Job 24:19), but one of these ways involves Antichrist (Dan. 7:10-26). The word “consumed” there refers to his defeat at Armageddon, but the word “destroyed” there speaks of his “everlasting destruction” in the lake of fire (IIThes.1:9). The fire of the Second Coming will expose Hell and ignite the lake of fire (Deut.32:22) where Antichrist is consumed (Rev.19:20). If you are not saved by that time, you’ll be consumed as well (Job 4:9).

Antichrist’s destruction is accomplished by “the brightness of His coming” (IIThes.2:8). The Lord’s brightness is His glory (Isa.60:19; Ezek.10:4; Rev.21:23). His glory is brighter than the noon day sun (Acts 22:6), and like a laser, it will ignite the lake of fire (IISam.22:9-13). By the way, you should know that when you sin, you identify with Antichrist, for Paul called a fornicated “that wicked” (ICor.5:13).

When Paul says that Antichrist’s coming will be “after” the working of Satan, he means according to, The parallelism in Psalm 28:4 will show the meaning of “after” in this way. His coming will be “after the working of Satan” in that he’ll do “power, and signs, and lying wonders.”

“Signs” are meant to signify something, and Antichrist’s signs are meant to signify that he’s Israel’s Christ. So he will no doubt do miracles that he knows people will look for in their Messiah, like being born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14). He can’t pull that off, but he may be born of a fallen angel (Dan.2:43) or Satan, and so a “giant” (Gen.6:1-4) of sorts. Remember, Saul was a giant (ISam.9:2) and was a type of Antichrist, who may use his height to claim to be virgin born. That might explain why he’s called “the beast.” If only two fallen angels father children in that day, and the other fathers the other beast, the false prophet (Rev.13:11), both would stand out among men, but False Prophet would identify the Beast as “Christ.” People also know Messiah will heal (Isa.35:4,5) and be associated with “peace” (Isa.55:12,13), as will Antichrist (Dan.11:21,24). Antichrist will also know that people expect their Christ to rise from the dead (Mt.12:39), so he will too (Rev.13:1-3).

When Paul says Antichrist will do “lying wonders,” that doesn’t mean the miracles he’ll work will be like the fake miracles like modern preachers perform, they will be legitimate miracles designed to get men to believe the lie that he is the Christ, and that Jesus Christ was a phony.

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).