23-03-25 -THE DARK BEFORE THE DAWN - 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-12

MESSAGE BY PASTOR ROB INRIG

 FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.

I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy (Gaby P, Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G, Fega G,  Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J. Manuel D. C, Yuya N. Mercedes L. )   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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YOU CAN ADD NAMES IN THE PRAYER FROM THOSE WHO NEED PRAYER

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Father God, we thank you for your answer to our prayers with 

The good news, with the recovery of health for some

Strengthen them so that they may regain their faith in you

And that they may be witnesses that you love them and 

that you respond when we trust and believe in you

Thank you Father God in the name

of Jesus our Lord of Lords and King of Kings

Praise be to your name

always and forever, AMEN.

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I know this will be shocking to some here this morning but we men tend to be far better doers than listeners.  I know, I know, a huge surprise.  But we’ve got a lot to deal with.  Like keeping track of last night’s sports scores and what player did what and which child is which and who goes to bed when.  It’s hard.  It’s not that we don’t try to listen but somehow there’s a disconnect between what you tell us and what gets directed to our active memory.  So to cover our dysfunction, we’ve become adept at our bobble head nods and our ‘I hear you’ grunts, while nothing actually registers.  Some years back, I put that on active display. It was our anniversary and we were going out for a special dinner in Vancouver.  It was Christmas season and Joanne had bought a gift for her employer but the store had run out of boxes but no worry, the Pacific Centre store had plenty so a short stop to be made on our way.  Because this was a short run in, run out and then we’re on our way, I waited curb-side. She said something, I bobble headed, she left. Then I waited and waited - a long time until I finally entered the mall to discover, stores long closed.  The mall deserted and a disappeared wife. With this, panic setting in, I contemplating the worst. The problem was in my bobble heading and grunts, she had said she would walk down to the Hyatt. That disconnect between what was said and what I took in leading to some of the greatest fear I ever experienced. I’ll leave it at that except to say this was not a highlight celebration.  

That disconnect between what was said and what was heard, is what we’re looking at today, the Thessalonians not absorbing what they’d been told and now fear was shaking them to their core.       

Imagine as it were, that you received word of an advancing enemy army but when you are ready to flee, you find everyone else gone.  Communications have been cut off and any vehicles left behind, disabled. You would flee on foot but all escape routes have been cut off – bridges barricaded and roads blocked.  The enemy that is coming is horrifically ruthless and all you are left with is to sit around and wait.  Things have been bad – real bad but now they were going to become horrifically worse. 

Admittedly, the picture I just painted for you is painfully bleak, hardly one to in-still hope or lift spirits.   But if you have been able to identify with that picture, even in smallest amount, you will have some understanding of the passage we are looking at this morning. 

The situation was that the Thessalonians had been led to believe, By a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter :2 that the day of the Lord or as more commonly known, the Great Tribulation, had come and they had somehow missed Jesus’ return.  They had been left behind.  

Charts :

What this meant was the trouble and persecution they had already experienced was going to get worse – MUCH worse.  Horrifically worse.   After all, this is what Old Testament prophets foretold  when they wrote about the great calamities coming on the world during this time. 

Central in these prophecies is the appearance of an immensely evil man who would wield great power - his name, the ‘man of lawlessness’.  This man is not Satan himself but he is empowered by Satan.  This is the backdrop of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians in which he now sets out the truth for these Christians so they’re not overcome by the difficult times in which they presently live. He also wants them to take heart and know that what they’ve been told and read that Jesus has already come is a lie.  He reassures that other events must happen first, before His coming.  

Among these events that will precede Christ’s second coming, is the unveiling of the man of lawlessness who’ll be unrivalled by any who have come before. He is not the modern day version of Caligula, Hitler or Assad.  Those ones are mere shadows of this man who possesses attributes consistent with everything his ‘father’, Satan is and is determined to do.  

Note, the descriptor – 1st he is A MAN OF LAWLESSNESS who despises truth and rebels at law.  The fact that he despises truth tells us that everything he does is rooted in lie. His modus operandi is to deceive and to distract.  The so-called benefits he offers are only given as they serve his evil intent.  His actions tell us that he rebels at law.  Consider what laws do – they: provide boundaries and give reference points for justice and create order.  Without law – only one thing exists - chaos.  Structurally that means – there’s no law that must be obeyed, no code that has to be followed; Financially – no contract is binding, no guarantee is assured and Relationally – sleep with whomever you will; be predatory with whomever you want; do damage to whoever denies what you pursue. 

This is the world in which Satan thrives - he rejects law and he wants us to reject it as well.  Why?  Because to reject law is to reject the One who created law.  It is to reject any idea that there is One to Whom we all must bow.  

2nd he is A SON OF DESTRUCTION, elsewhere called a son of perdition Jn 17:12.  This descriptor refers both to his character and his destiny – that he is born for destruction but he is also doomed for destruction. But until his doom comes, chaos and destruction are ahead

When he first arrives on the scene, destruction is the last thing on which you’ll focus though his ‘father’ has created the destruction as the perfect condition for his arrival.  

To that world desperate for peace, he brings peace. To that world in political and economic free-fall, he brings rescue.  To that world without answers, he brings answers. To a world desperate for hope, he brings hope.  In other words, what he first does is wonderful, exactly what is needed.  

And making this even better, his answers come without prohibitions.  No one dictating things that shouldn’t be done.  No one restricting things that shouldn’t be pursued.  No one prohibiting pleasures that shouldn’t be indulged.  Just total freedom to do whatever, however, whenever.  Talk about freedom!  No boundaries.  No rules.  No laws.  And the people to whom he comes, love it.  As :11 notes, People take pleasure in unrighteousness. 

But behind his offerings, his mission is to destroy. He’s been born for this purpose and soon wherever he goes, destruction will follow. Initially, the appearance of what he does bears no evidence of this.  He’s just a supernaturally empowered, ‘magic man’ who provides answers no one else can.  But that freedom? not as it appears.  

Some years back a study looked at this area of freedom.  The premise was that if the structures fencing us in were removed, we would experience far greater freedom in pushing past limits and releasing a spirit of exploration and adventure. In this study, children were observed at a school playground with fences removed. The world was open to them but as was discovered in this free, no barrier world, the children stayed close to the school. But when fences were returned, they moved out to explore the outer reaches of their environment.  Those fences that seemed to restrict, actually were fences that promoted exploration and discovery.  I assure you, the protection of law was the last thing the father of lies wants us to think. 

3rd he is a man with an Insatiable appetite for worship

Verse 4, tells us that he, Opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the Temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 

His strategy to get to this place is bound up in worship. Satan takes the part of us that ‘looks for something greater’ and directs our need to worship to a host of other things.  For some, it’s religion like Islam’s Mohammed, Hindu’s Lord Shiva, or Buddha’s Dali Lama. For others, it’s self-help’s, Deepak Chopra, or Eckhart Tolle. And for those not so religiously inclined, he offers the adulation of an athlete or entertainer or personal accomplishment of push the limits adventures.  

From ‘find your right god’ to be your own god’, Satan creating images that this passage tells us he will one day expose and tear down as he takes center stage, to be worshipped as god. 

Specifically, this reference of ‘taking his seat in the Temple of God’ refers to a time called the Abomination of Desolation, an event Daniel and Jesus speak of that will occur in the last days.  

We’re given foreshadowing of this in Israel’s past when Antiochus Epiphanes enters the Temple, sets up an idol of Zeus, and then sacrifices a pig on the Jewish altar, defiling the Holy Place. But a far greater abomination is to come when at the mid-point of the 7 year Tribulation period, the antichrist will enter the Temple, defile the altar and demand that he be worshipped as god.  This Abomination of Desolation is referred to as the Great Tribulation.  Dan 9:27, Rev 13:14.

Within that backdrop, Paul wants to anchor the Thessalonians and us, to several truths: 

Anchor point 1– ‘Don’t be alarmed, don’t be unsettled’.  Difficulty does not mean things are out of control, we’re actually told Christians will experience times of difficulty Jn 16:33.  But as Christians we belong to a different Kingdom – born into it now, entered in a time still to come.

As stated, when this man of lawlessness is released on the world, the world will be in chaos - a chaos he steps into to end.  This man, called the little horn Dan 7:8, the prince to come Dan 9:27, the willful king Dan 11:36, and the beast coming out of the sea Rev. 13:1, is the Antichrist 1 Jn 2:18, who brings answers no one else can. His power is great, his message simple. He provides what God cannot.  ‘Life is better without Jesus, freer without Jesus, more exhilarating without Jesus’.  And then the veneer will be ripped off and evil will be revealed for what it is. 

The Bible calls this time and this reveal as “the Great Day of the Lord”, “the time of Jacob’s trouble” and “the Great Tribulation”.      Isa. 2:1-2, 9-12; 4:1-2,12; Joel 2:1-11; 30-32.

Over the years, Christians have run themselves ragged trying to speculate who this man of lawlessness is.  In the early church, it was Nero who set Christians afire as human torches.  During the Crusades it was Suleiman.  In the Reformation, the Pope.  In more modern times, Hitler, bin Laden, Putin or you fill in the blank.  Those fascinated with 666 did wild numeric calculations of people’s names arriving at crazy suggestions like Henry Kissinger and the like.  Foolish, unhelpful, and damaging.  What is true is that the Bible speaks about antichrists who will come but they are just foreshadowings, mere small representations, of the ‘great’ antichrist who is to come.  What is common is that ones like these get a following where wills are given over to these who present themselves as ‘saviours’ from troubles that surround.  

In the face of this ugliness, how do you possibly understand Paul’s advice, Don’ be alarmed, don’t be unsettled?  By getting ready by identifying who this man is but getting ready is by deciding who Jesus is to you. 

1-Ancient city of Thessalonica 2- Reconstruction in Roman times

Deciding that determines where you will spend eternity.  Because Jesus has said, He IS coming again.   Understand, for every prophecy in the Old Testament speaking of His 1st coming, there are 8 predicting His Second Coming. Christ’s return is also mentioned once in every 5 verses in the New Testament - over 1500 prophecies of Jesus’ Second Coming recorded in the Bible.  So if God gives SO much attention to this truth, shouldn’t we?  Because what God has said will happen.  Guaranteed.  

That means the important question is are you ready to meet the King?  Do you know Him as your Saviour before whom you have repented and bowed?  Because His coming also means the beginning of the end.  We are told His first coming, the rapture, will come without warning.  That will also usher in a time of persecution and evil unlike anything the world has ever seen.  It is a time that those who have not accepted Jesus cannot avoid and will not escape.  My friend, you need to understand the horrors that await for those who do not know Jesus.  The Bible tells me these are not horrors that will come and then end.  Rather the horrors for those who continue to refuse Jesus as Saviour will never end.  This is not scare tactic.  It is God’s truth, the appearance of the man of lawlessness, only the final act in the play.  And once that final act comes, suddenly and without warning, there’s no epilogue.

Another reason Paul can say, don’t be alarmed, don’t be unsettled is that believers in Jesus will not be here during this Tribulation period.   Instead as is stated in 1 Thess 4, believers will be, Caught up in the air to be with Jesus :17.  This is reinforced here in 2 Thess 2:6-8 where we’re told, You know what restrains him now, so that he will be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is removed. 8Then that lawless one will be revealed.  This telling us that the lawless one is not revealed UNTIL the restrainer is first removed.  And what restrains?  HE does - the Holy Spirit who indwells us – the church.  Remove that and the lawless one is free to act. 

Which brings me to Anchor point 2 in :3, don’t be deceived. 

When it comes to what the future holds, many disregard or ignore what God says about the future.  Instead we take direction from someone’s interpretation about the appearance of some cosmic star or speculations about how Blood Moons are aligning.  It’s true, Scripture does reference some of these but not in the context they are often used.  Joel for example states, The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord 2:31 Acts 2:20, Rev 6:12.  This Great Day of the Lord refers to the midpoint of the Tribulation not some advance warning that the Tribulation will soon be upon us.

In other cases we give authority to someone’s, ‘I heard from God’ declaration rather than going back to the absolute authority of God’s Word.  That’s why God encourages us to be people of the Book.  Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You.  Ps 119:11 In some cases, people will be deceived by evidences of the miraculous.  But be careful.  Miracles in and of themselves prove nothing. Note what :9 says, The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie.  Jesus says of the last days, False Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.  Matt 24:24.

In other words, Satan can and does perform the miraculous.  This does not mean that he is all powerful but it does mean that he is not powerless. Remember when Moses confronted Pharaoh and turned the Nile into blood?  Ex 7:22 tells us, “the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts”.  The same thing occurred when Moses’ staff turned into a serpent when God commanded him to throw it to the ground.  Pharoah’s magicians were able to do the same only be swallowed up by God’s snake. So the miraculous is NOT ‘proof’ that what we see is of God.  

Does God still perform the miraculous?  Absolutely but if the miraculous does not point to Jesus’ saving blood on the Cross and to a victorious Risen Saviour who defeated the grave, then be very careful.  As Paul reminds, Don’t be deceived, the miraculous is never to bring glory to man.

Verse 5 gives us Anchor point 3, remember what you’ve been taught. 

I’m a broken record on this but it bears repeating.  We live in a time where, if something is said loud enough and long enough, it is soon accepted as truth. Truth is then viewed as a flexible standard that moves according to whim.  But truth is truth. Violate the truth of a red traffic light and you’ll discover that determining truth merely by the version I prefer doesn’t matter.

But if we don’t ground ourselves in God’s truth, we leave ourselves vulnerable to someone else’s version of truth.  And when it comes to Satan, that is as dangerous as it gets.  Speaking of the Pharisees, who Jesus knew wanted to kill Him, He says, You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.  He Satan was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because THERE IS NO TRUTH IN HIM. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.   Jn 8:44 .

Paul outlines the truth he wants us to know in verses 7-12 as Paul reads to us from Satan's playbook. Understand, this man of lawlessness will be defeated, Whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming :8.   Not a weapon wielded.  Just His appearance.  Just a breath.  Nothing else required. 

It’s imperative that we understand that :8 precedes :9, The coming of the lawless one, is by the activity of Satan and he will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders. Simply,  he will look and act impressive.  Seemingly, all powerful, his presentation - unconquerable.  But Jesus merely breathes and this man is as nothing. 

In sports, coaches are paranoid about the opponent intercepting plays they want to communicate to their players.  It’s no wonder with camera equipped drones overhead, lip reading technology, and sound monitoring technology ramping up the paranoia.  In response, coaches hold up play sheets in the front of their mouths while talking their players.  

What Paul gives us here in :7-12 is a wide open exposure of Satan's playbook! He's saying, Here's what he's going to do. He’s using a counter move to deceive you.  But I'm telling you, he's diving right! Put all your guys ‘right’ because that’s where he’s going. Forget the receivers,  forget the quarterback.  He’s going right.  Think anything else and you’ll be deceived but as Paul warns, people all over this world will line up left, not believing what God has revealed.  

His greatest deception is that God is a liar.  That the life He has for us is paltry compared to the life Satan wants to give.  That God’s life keeps us ‘sexually bound and sexually repressed’ rather than what God truly gives – a life that is sexually alive - sexually free.  That His life is ‘experience deprived’ – no substance denied, rather than what God truly gives – a life that is experience enhanced – no substance required.  That His life is ‘small scale’ rather than what God truly gives – a life that is ‘large scale’ beyond anything we will ever imagine. 

Yet the amazing thing? – Satan gets many to believe the lie:  

•  that the God who created galaxies upon galaxies, filling it with stars beyond number, is outdone by some exhibition of low voltage lights and luminescent glow sticks. 

• That the Creator who caused Adam’s lower jaw to drop in awe when he saw Eve is outdone     by some low budge production   shoot in a Hollywood backlot. 

• that the One who created sexual ecstasy is outperformed by glossies on a magazine rack or images on the internet’s sex channels.  

• that the holograms of our virtual world even come close to the glories of God’s natural world let alone His eternal one to come.  

But like I said, - that’s what we buy.  Because that is what the Deceiver is skilled in getting many to buy.

Make no mistake, Satan’s intent is far greater than messing up your life and mine.  His real plan is to gain a kingdom and be enthroned as its king.  But to enthrone a king, you must first dethrone the King above all kings who sits on the throne.  

THAT King who will never be dethroned.  And one day, possibly in a day not far distant from now, He will return to claim His throne and begin His everlasting Kingdom. On that day two things will be said, Enter into the joy of your Lord or Depart from Me, I never knew you.  

So as I close, what will be the words you will hear – Enter or Depart?

Jesus - Saviour and Lord  or Jesus - just bobble head nod dismissed?

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