Title: Don’t panic… what will be is not yet!
Text: II Thessalonians 2:1-5 and 1:11-12
Thesis: In a time when people are fascinated by apocalyptic things, we hold to the truth and as God enables us, live as his people.
Introduction
I’ve always been kind of fascinated by idioms… those little expressions people make to make a point. We get what is being said but we kind of wonder about the origin of a particular expression.
When someone says, “that ship has already sailed,” we know an opportunity has passed and whatever may have been wished or thought, is not going to happen. Similarly, when someone refers to having “missed the boat” we know they failed to take advantage of an opportunity and were just too late.
Forgive me for mixing metaphors but televisions Amazing Race vividly illustrates what it means to “miss the boat,” so the speak, as contestants rush to airline counters to secure flights to their next destination… inevitably there are contestants who arrive late and since “hat ship has already sailed” they have to book a later flight.
You could say that those who failed to get on Noah’s ark “missed the boat” and by the time they realized what had happened, “that ship had already sailed.”
Our text today begins with people in a similar panic. They thought they had missed the boat and that the ship had already sailed.
I. Don’t be Easily Shaken… God has an end-times plan in place
Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. II Thessalonians 2:2 (1-5)
This is not an irrelevant issue. Despite the clear teaching of Jesus in Matthew 24:36 (“No one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in haven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.”) people still busy themselves trying to speculate and set dates for the return of Christ. And consistent with that clear teaching, every speculator and every speculation has been wrong.
Part of the problem is our understanding of imminence. Generally understood in a negative sense, imminence has that sense of impending danger or a threat hanging over one’s head.
In May of this year the New York Daily News ran a story about a family living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who found a bomb shelter in their back yard that was constructed in the 1960’s during the height of the Cold War threat of nuclear war with the USSR. It was an 8X10 bunker with 8” concrete walls buried 15’ in the ground. It was fully equipped with bunks, an oven, a space heater, lamps, a toilet and enough supplies to survive underground for two weeks. A short time later a California couple discovered a fallout shelter in their back yard that had been built by a nuclear engineer in 1961 to protect his family against nuclear fallout. (Philip Caufield, New York Daily News, May 2, 2013 and Shane Ecker, the Huffington Post, June 7, 2013)
These fallout shelters have been buried in the ground… unopened and unused for over 50 years… and were designed to be protective and effective for approximately 2 weeks.
Here in the United States, even before the threat of nuclear war, we have fixated on all things apocalyptic. Since 1927 nearly 300 films of an apocalyptic nature have been produced beginning with Metropolis in 1927 and ending with After Earth this year. In keeping with the trend, After the World Ends is slated to come out in 2014.
One of the hottest new businesses today is the reinvention of the cold war fallout shelters as demand from doomsday preppers has resulted in production of modern day doomsday apocalypse bunkers
I don’t think the return of Christ ought to be thought of as “hanging over one’s head” or “threatening” for the believer. Quite to the contrary… the Second Coming of Christ is the fulfilling of our hope. But on the other hand, if the awareness of the end times and that the return of Christ may catch you unprepared, then it is rightly considered an imminent danger for the unbeliever. In that case they will miss the boat and there won’t any opportunity to rebook.
In that case it would seem being prepared to meet Christ is the more expedient concern rather than building a bunker to ride out the end times.
In I Thessalonians 5 and throughout the New Testament there are references to the Second Coming of Christ being likened to the unexpected coming of a thief in the night. We are repeatedly instructed to be prepared because Christ could come at any time.
In I Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul had written in his first letter to the Thessalonians a teaching designed to clarify what exactly would happen when Christ returns. Apparently the people were worried about what would happen to the dead in Christ when Christ returned. So Paul alleviated those fears by this teaching:
“We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him in the air ahead of those who have died. For the Lord will come down from heaven, with the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God. First the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.”
It was that clear teaching that was the impetus for the confusion that emerges in II Thessalonians 2:1-5. Apparently some colorful and convincing individual or individuals had come to town telling the Christians that he had a vision and a supposed letter from the Apostle Paul telling him that Christ had already come and they had missed the Second Coming of Christ or depending on your theology, the rapture.
Keep in mind; this was all new stuff to these early Christians. Apparently they were genuinely shook up by the thought that they had missed the boat… Christ had come and gone without them.
So Paul set about calming them down and clarifying their confusion.
A. Words of Caution (Comfort), 2-3a
• Don’t be easily shaken or unsettled or adrift, i.e., a ship driven by a storm. 2:2
• Don’t be alarmed or disturbed or troubled, i.e., to make an alarmed outcry. 2:2
• Don’t be fooled by them, i.e., beguiled. To lead by deception or to hoodwink (dupe). 2:3
People are gullible.
• In 960 a German theologian calculated the world would end in 992 resulting in widespread panic. Never happened!
• In the year 1524 a German astrologer by the name of Stoffler predicted an overwhelming flood on February 20, 1554. Believers started constructing arks… one man is said to have been trampled to death by a mob attempting to board his ark. When nothing happened the calculations were revised for 1588. Never happened!
• In 1884 Charles Russell, founder of the Jehovah’s Witness sect concluded the Second Coming had already taken place and that people had 40 years to enter his faith or be destroyed. Never happened!
• Herbert W. Armstrong of “The Plain Truth Magazine” declared January 7, 1972 was the date to watch. Never happened!
• In 1999 Jerry Falwell predicted Christ would come within 10 years. Never happened!
• Ronald Weinland predicted Christ would come on September 29, 2011. Never happened! He revised his calculations to May 27, 2012. Never happened! He tried again for May 18, 22013. Never happened! (What did happen is he was sentenced to 31/2 years in prison for tax evasion.)
One of the sad truths that come of all of this is the tragic realization that good and godly people who know their bibles well missed Jesus’ clear teaching regarding no one knowing the day or hour of the Second Coming.
Another sad truth that comes of all this is the tragic dulling of our senses to the fact that Christ will indeed one day come. We even come to mock their predictions. It is as if we have heard Chicken Little screaming, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” so many times that we no longer bother to give the heavens a glance.
The truth is, one day Christ will come. “The Lord isn’t being slow about his promise, as some think. He is being patient for the sake of those who have not believed. He does not want anyone to be destroyed and wants everyone to repent. But the Day of the Lord will come unexpectedly as a thief.” II Peter 3:9-10
Nothing calms the mind like knowing the truth so Paul than offered his friends words of clarification.
B. Words of Clarification, 2:1, 3b-5
“…let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him.” II Thessalonians 2:1
Two things have to take place that had not taken place and have yet to take place.
1. First there will be a great rebellion against God. 2:3
“For the day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God…” II Thessalonians 2:3
There is a growing sense of lack of restraint. There is a growing lack of conscience. There is a growing lawlessness.
In 2012 there was a series of research studies conducted in four major universities. Students were given a test then subsequently given a chance to cheat. 41% of the students did so. When the test was completed each student took a test that measured how good they felt in that moment. The result… the cheaters reported higher positive feelings than did the non-cheaters. They not only felt good about cheating but they also felt clever and smug about it. They felt superior to the non-cheaters.
An article in Forbes magazine concluded that the study undermines any thoughts we might have about humans being good at heart and asked, “Is it any wonder why Wall Street investment banks, stocked with the smartest minds from Ivy League schools all plunged lemming-like off the same cliff in the [recent] credit crisis. (Rachel Silverman,“Wongdoers Feel a Cheaters High,” The Wall Street Journal, 6/12/12 and Daniel Fisher, “Cheaters Win by Feeling Good About It, Forbes, 7/10/12)
However, what is being described in our text is far more than a loss of conscience and the onset of “whatever feels good” relevance.
The word used for rebellion is also translated, “apostasy.” Apostasy is the deliberate abandonment of a formerly professed position or belief.
In 2005 Sam Harris wrote a best-selling book, The End of Faith which was not particularly convincing. But more recently atheist philosopher Peter Boghossian has written a “Guide to Converting Believers.” He is eager to share the good news that there’s no god… and has written a book that will teach you how to persuade unsuspecting believers that scientific rationalism is the one true faith. It is something of “A Manual for Creating Athiests.” (Michael Schulson, Atheist Philosopher Peter Boghossian’s Guide to Converting Believers, The Daily Beast, November 2, 2013)
In our text today we are told that before Christ comes there will be a widespread rebellion against the truth of God’s Word. There will be a widespread rebellion against God. There will be a widespread falling away from the faith and spiritual conviction. That suggests to me, we haven’t seen anything yet! There is a day yet to come when there will be a massive abandoning of the faith.
The second thing that had not taken place and has yet to take place is the revealing of the Antichrist.
2. Second the Antichrist will be revealed. 2:3-5
“The day will not come until the man of lawlessness is revealed – the one who brings destruction. He will exalt himself… he will even claim to be God.” II Thessalonians 2:3-4
Historian Richard Kyle of Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas said in an interview with Christian History Magazine, “Through much of history, people have been looking more for the Antichrist than for Christ.” (Salvation Now, Salvation Forever, Christian History, Issue 61, Vol. 18, No. 1, 1999)
God’s Word says that prior to the Second Coming there will emerge a powerful and charismatic personality that will captivate the attention and affection of the world.
In my reading this past week I came across an article by Forrest Wickman saying suspected White House Shooter Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez was obsessed with the belief that President Obama was the Antichrist. Heckler David Serrano called President Obama “the Antichrist” at a fundraiser. President Obama is not alone. Many conservative Christians believed Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the Antichrist. In 1990 a man named Gregory Gordon invaded the house of former president Ronald Reagan telling Secret Service Agents that Ronald Reagan is the Antichrist. Popes John XV and John Paul II were both accused of being the Antichrist. A popular conservative congresswoman belonged to a protestant denomination that believes the Antichrist is the papacy itself. Hitler, Gorbachev and Henry Kissinger have all been identified as the Antichrist.
I think it is pretty safe to say no such charismatic leader has captured the hearts and minds of the people of the world and so much so that he has set us his kingdom in Jerusalem where he sits on a throne and claims to be God.
None of what I have said is intended to be disparaging or belittling but is simply intended to support the teaching of Scripture… it is intended to remind us that God has things well in hand. There is a plan and it will be worked out in God’s time, so don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed.
Meanwhile… what do we do?
Conclusion
It seems there is always a tension in a text and in this text there is a tension between what we are expected to do and what we may expect that God will do.
For us, God expects:
• We won’t be easily shaken or unsettled or adrift, i.e., a ship driven by a storm. 2:2
• We won’t be alarmed or disturbed or troubled, i.e., to make an alarmed outcry. 2:2
• We won’t be fooled by them, i.e., beguiled. To lead by deception or to hoodwink (dupe). 2:3
But what may we expect of God?
Just before our text, II Thessalonians 2:1-5, the bible had something to say about what God wants to do in our lives in the interim, as we wait for the Second Coming of Christ.
I think God would have us worry less about the sky falling or the identity of the Antichrist and more about keeping our spiritual bearings and living worthy of God’s call on our lives.
From God, we can expect:
• God will enable us to live lives worthy of our calling as devoted followers of Christ… being unshakable and unflappable people of God in this chaotic world.
This is one thing God wants to do: Paul wrote, “I am asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. Then the name of the Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live.” II Thessalonians 1:11-12
And don’t worry… I you are in Christ, you won’t miss the boat!
