2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 (NKJV) Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
THOUGHT – Future predictive prophecy occupies 20% of Scripture.
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- One-third of this 20% is focused on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Speaks of the return to judge sinners and to reward the righteous
- ~660 general prophecies in the Bible and about 330 (50%) relate to Jesus Christ.
- Of 330 prophecies about Jesus, about 110 refer to His first coming and 220 to His Second Coming.
- There are 46 OT prophets – 10 spoke of His first coming and 36 of His Second Coming.
- Estimated that >1500 OT verses refer to the return of the Messiah in glory and judgment.
- Approximately one of every 25 NT verses relate to Christ’s Second Coming.
- There are 8 NT mentions of the Second Coming for every mention of His first coming
- Our Lord referred to His Second Coming 20 times and there are over 50 warnings in the NT that He is coming again.
[Source: https://www.preceptaustin.org/2-thessalonians-2-commentary#2:1]
V1 “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you…” Paul is making an appeal.–“Because of His coming, we must…” The word concerning, etc. not the best by not knowing that this is a plea. The arrival/coming refers to the Rapture, which is one of the main topics/questions that Paul is writing about. Gathering together = the Rapture. Paul is making an appeal to the Thessalonian believers. False teacher/s had written or proclaimed that the Rapture was missed.
My rendering: Now we plead with you, brothers, by the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him. Don’t be quickly upset in your mind or troubled, not by spirit, spoken word, or letter, as if from us, that the Day of Christ is already present.
V2 “…not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.” Shaken = unsettled, troubled, worried, etc. Spirit refers to a prophecy. Word = preaching. As if from us = pretending, deceiving, forged, etc.
Day of Christ or Day of the Lord? Day of Christ is usually understood referring to the Rapture. Day of the Lord is usually refers to the Second Coming. Dr Wilbur Pickering has this textual note in his NT translation:
“Instead of “Christ”, some 15% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘Lord’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.); the 85% that have “Christ” (including the best line of transmission) are doubtless correct. I remember one day in a Greek exegesis class, the professor stated that one reason he preferred the ‘critical’ text (that reads ‘Lord’ here) is that it fit better with his view of eschatology—the ‘Day of Christ’ is usually associated with the Rapture and blessing of the saints, while the ‘Day of the Lord’ is usually associated with heavy judgment upon the world and unrepentant Israel, including the outpouring of wrath just before and after the Second Coming of Christ, when He returns in glory to establish His Millennial Messianic Kingdom. The perceived difficulty here would appear to be that while verses 1, 6 and 7 evidently relate to the Rapture, verses 3-4 and 8-10 evidently relate to the Great Tribulation and the Second Coming. What to do? Look carefully at the Text.
“In verse 2, why would the Thessalonian believers be “disturbed”? Someone was teaching that the Rapture had already happened and they had been left behind—I would be disturbed too! So “Day of Christ” is precisely correct with reference to the content of verses 1 and 2. The trouble comes in verse 3 because a clause is elided; as an aid to the reader translations usually supply a clause, preferably in italics, to show that it is an addition, as in NKJV—”that Day will not come”. But that would put the Rapture after the revelation of the man of sin and the ‘abomination of desolation’—definitely not congenial to certain eschatological systems. An easy ‘solution’ would be to change ‘Christ’ to ‘Lord’ in verse 2, but that would put the Rapture within the ‘Day of the Lord’—also not congenial. I submit that fine tuning our view of eschatology is preferable to tampering with the Text.”
“If the ‘Restrainer’ in verses 6-8 is the Holy Spirit (which seems to me to be the only adequate identification), then the Rapture happens before the ‘abomination’, and may be viewed as its ‘trigger’. But if the ‘Day of Christ’ includes the Rapture, then verse 3 would appear to place the Rapture after the ‘abomination’. So where does that leave us? Although my own training was strongly ‘pre-trib’, I have moved to a ‘meso-trib’ position. If the Rapture follows immediately upon the ‘abomination’, then the ‘surprise’ factor remains untouched. If the ‘abomination’ and the Rapture happen within minutes of each other, then from God’s point of view they form a single ‘package’, and the actual sequence is not important—for all practical purposes they happen at the same time.”
Found on Precept Austin (https://www.preceptaustin.org/2_thessalonians_21_commentary) quoting Hiebert:
“The coming (with the definite article “the” – the specific coming) – The coming of Jesus is Paul’s main subject in this section. Hiebert adds that “The appeal is being made “in the interest of the truth concerning the Lord’s coming. The writers are anxious that it should cease being a source of alarm and confusion to their converts due to an erroneous conclusion. The appeal is intended to be corrective, to remove their misunderstanding concerning “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ibid)
“Note that the definite article (“the”) incorporates the coming and the gathering together, thus linking these two as one event not two separate events.
“Hiebert says “The government of the two nouns under one article makes it clear that one event, viewed under two complimentary aspects, is thought of.
“Based on this fact David Guzik writes that “This is completely consistent with other passages of Scripture that indicate that there must be two aspects of Jesus’ second coming, and the aspects must be separated by some appreciable period of time. (1) Different world conditions are described (Mt 24:37-42, 24:21, Rev 6:15-16). (2) Different manners of Jesus’ return are described (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Revelation 19:11, 14-15, 21). (3) Different scenarios regarding the predictability of the date of Jesus’ return are established (Mt 24:36, Da 12:11).”
V3 “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition…” Deceive is an awful word. Eve was deceived by the serpent. Deception, believing a lie, is common. Pride is frequently involved, because there is a tendency in humans to think we are right and others wrong (Compare Obadiah 1:3). People think God can be deceived (compare Malachi 1:14). The Lord Jesus warns of coming increased deception (especially regarding the messiah)–Matthew 24:4-5, and 11. Fellowshipping with evil people (unequally yoked in marriage, business, worship, etc.) leads to deception (1 Corinthians 15:33.) Great arguments, philosophical treatises, etc. can deceive us, especially when spoken by a gifted orator (Colossians 2:4). The Rapture will not happen until certain things happen: 1) the falling away (apostasy), 2) man of sin, the son of perdition (antiChrist). If the believers saw those all those things happen, then they missed the Rapture.
V4 “…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” The antiChrist has these character traits: 1) arrogance (so great that he believes that he is greater than God or any other being that is worshipped) and 2) a lust for power (to rule the entire earth). He usurps God’s throne in the third Temple (sitting on the Mercy Seat). Since he has usurped God, the antiChrist believes he has conquered the world.