2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
“A Glimpse Into The End Time”
By: Rev. Kenneth Sauer
Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
Three or four years ago, I was talking to my best friend about the End Times....and he
said, “I’m scared.”
I replied, there is no reason to be afraid....for those of us who are in Christ....for we are
in the palm of Christ’s hands....we are saved....and it will be a great day for those who have put
their trust in the Lord.
This is what the early Christians looked forward too....and we should have the same
attitude....
For when Christ returns in final victory...evil will finally and forever be done away
with....everything that causes pain....will be a thing of the past...all diseases....all fears....all
persecution....all competition....all meanness...all madness...will perish along with the ruler of
this age.
And we will live with God---in His love forever!
Yes, the coming of the Lord Jesus is something for Christians to look forward
too....something for Christians to watch for...something for Christians to pray for...it is our
hope...not our fear!
I remember, as a little boy, I went to stay with my Aunt for a brief time during the
summer...and she would tell me about the second coming of Christ....she would describe it with
such joy....and awe....and excitement....that I spent my entire time with her watching the
sky....watching and waiting for Jesus to return....I was excited...not afraid!
She was living...and is still living as if Christ could come at any minute/at any
time....and this is what we all should be doing as Christians...
But this is not to stop us from doing what we are called to do...which is to serve the Lord
here on earth.....to continue to work...to continue to play....and to continue to make plans....for
the Bible says that no one knows the day or hour...
A wise person once said, “Plan as though Christ were not coming for ten years, but live
as though He were coming in ten seconds.
And Francis of Assisi, hoeing in his garden, was asked, “What would you do if you knew
Christ were coming back today?” He answered, “I would keep on hoeing.”
He would keep on doing what the Lord had called him to do...he would keep on
working...for he knew that what he was doing was within the will of God....there was nothing to
be afraid of...
Is what we are doing within the will of God?
Are we prepared to say that if we knew Christ were to come today...we would keep
on doing what we are doing?
If so, there is nothing to fear.
Because God is for us, and not against us.
He’s not some evil task master who is just waiting for the right moment to catch us doing
something wrong....God is on our side....He’s routing for us...even more than our closet
friends or family members are routing for us...He died so that we would not have to fear
His return.
The Thessalonians were afraid that Christ had already come...and that they had missed
the boat....so of course they were scared...
They were suffering as much as human beings can bear...
They were being savagely persecuted....and many of them were being martyered....
So some people were spreading rumors that Christ had already come...leaving them
behind....
But Paul quickly settles their fears....
He tells them “not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or
letter” saying that the Day of the Lord has already come, because believers are exempt from the
judgement of the Lord’s Day.
The day of the Lord’s return is to be a judgement day for unbelievers....not believers.
Therefore believers are not to fear the day of the Lord.
We are to be looking forward to the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, so many of us look to that Day with fear....
Since the events of September 11th, millions of people have been running in all sorts of
directions--trying to figure out whether or not this is the end.
And maybe it is...but that possibility should not bring fear.
I’ve noticed that in grocery store lines....that all kinds of quicky books on ‘end time
prophecies’ have sprung up....some claim to be taken from the Bible....some from other sources
such as a guy named Nostradamus.
Inevitably, the pictures on the covers of these books and the titles are meant to stir up
fear....and anxiety....but this is not what God is all about......as a matter of fact....God is all about
the exact opposite.
God is not the God of fear...but of love and peace.
And Paul is telling the Thessalonians to let nothing shake or trouble them about the
Day of The Lord...not a spirit, nor some so-called spiritual message, nor a writing from some
so-called spiritual man.
Amazing how little things have changed!
Now it’s true that we are to watch for the signs....and we are living in turbulent
days....but as Jesus says in Mark chapter 13, “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not
be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of
birth pains.”
And we must be on our guard....we must be ready at all times...like Saint Francis of
Assisi.
But we must not be alarmed!
In verse 3 of our Scripture lesson, Paul writes, “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way,
for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the
man doomed to destruction.”
The first event that will launch the day of the Lord will be a great falling away of
believers from God.
“Falling away” means apostasy, revolt, and rebellion.
And I think that we are already seeing some of this in the sense that less and less people
are members of or regular attenders of a local church.
And much of what we hear on television, and many of the rock stars our children are
listening too not only are not Christian, but they look at Christianity as the enemy......
Christianity is the thing that gets in the way of anarchy, and following all the lusts and
cravings of the flesh.
We don’t have to step too far outside our doors in order to experience what Paul writes to
Timothy....that “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God....”
And that people will “not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires,
they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to
hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
As our Scripture says, in verse 7, “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at
work...”
But we are called to stand firm in the truth...the truth that is in Christ Jesus....the love that
is in Christ Jesus even in the face of all this mess.
We are in this world...but we are not to be of this world.
And if we are doing this, we have nothing to fear.
The second event that will launch the day of the Lord will be the unveiling of the man of
lawlessness...or the antichrist.
But as verse 8 of our Scripture lesson tells us, “the Lord Jesus will overthrow (the
antichrist) with the breath of His mouth” and He will desroy him “by the splendor of His
coming.”
The Lord will make quick work of the antichrist....the antichrist poses no threat to the
Lord nor to those who belong to the Lord.
And who are those who belong to the Lord?
They are those who believe the gospel with all their hearts.
They believe that they will never die because Jesus died for them...
Those who belong to the Lord are those of us who have entrusted our lives to Christ’s
glorious Truth...who have given our lives to Christ...having been born again of the Seed that will
never ever perish nor fade away.
And when the Lord does come...those of us who believe will be bound for glory!
As the bible declares in 1st Thessalonians: “For the Lord Himself will come down from
heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God,
and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with
the Lord forever.”
When Christ returns, a great union of the living and the dead will take place.
We shall be reunited with all our loved ones and those whom we have never known.
We shall all be there together rejoicing in the presence of Him who has saved us and
transformed us into perfect and eternal beings. What a day of reunion and rejoicing that will be!
But as verse 12 of our Scripture lesson tells us, “all will be condemned who have not
believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”
And we don’t want anyone to miss out on the joy of Christ’s coming.....we are called to
love our neighbors, and pray for our enemies, and to preach the gospel to all nations....
And this is what we are to be doing when Christ returns...
This is what we are to dedicate our entire lives too....
Through our words, through our actions, through our love, through our faith, we are to
witness to the world that there is a better way.....that there is a right way.....and that this right
way is what leads to not only eternal life with Christ....but also to abundant life on this
earth.....where we are able to maintain a sense of peace even during extremely distressing
experiences and circumstances.....where we are able to have the joy of Christ in our hearts no
matter what is going on on the outside....where we are able to love and forgive, and say with
honesty that “Life is actually worth living” because of Christ who lives in us!
And so with Christ, and through Christ, we will conquer evil with good.....
And then.....we the Church....will be clothed in white.....married to Christ Himself.....we
will be His bride.....
And God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.....
In the book of Revelation Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming soon!”
And “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’
Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of
life.”
And all of those who have this blessed hope are to say with boldness, with expectancy,
with hope, with joy, with tears of joy..... “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
