Troublesome Topic: When Will Jesus Arrive on the Scene to Show His Great Power?

2 Thessalonians 2:1

Translation

Now brothers,

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concerning the arrival

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of our LORD JESUS CHRIST and our being gathered

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to Him, we make this special request of you,

Paraphrase

Now brothers and sisters, concerning the time when THE SUPREME RULER whom we serve, who is THE SPIRIT-ANOINTED MESSIAH AND SAVIOR arrives on the scene to do what only He can do and we are brought together to be assembled before Him, we make the following request of you based on the special relationship we have with you:

2 Thessalonians 2:2

Translation

that you not be quickly shaken in your minds nor be frightened, either by a spirit, or a word, or a letter, as if [it were] from us,

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that the Day of the LORD

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is already here.

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Paraphrase

That you not be easily disturbed in your minds nor thrown into confusion that causes alarm by those who say the Day of THE SUPREME RULER has already come, whether you heard it by way of a false claim to a special revelation from God, or

a false claim to a word from God, or a fraudulent letter that claims to come from us.

2 Thessalonians 2:3

Translation

Let no one deceive

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you in any way,

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because [it shall] not [happen] unless the apostacy

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has come first, and the man of lawlessness,

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the son damned to punishment,

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has been revealed,

Paraphrase

Don’t allow anyone to deceive you by any means whatsoever, because the Day of the Lord shall not come until after

the apostacy has happened, and the man consumed by lawlessness, the excommunicated son who is damned to eternal punishment, has been revealed.

2 Thessalonians 2:4

Translation

the one who opposes

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and exalts himself above everything called a god or worshipped, so as to sit

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in the temple of GOD, declaring himself to be GOD.

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Paraphrase

He is the one who opposes God and exalts himself above everything that men refer to as a deity, either properly or falsely, and above everything that is worshipped as a deity, either properly or falsely; he even goes so far as

to establish himself firmly and steadfastly in a prominent role in

the manner in which people meet with THE CREATOR AND OWNER OF ALL THINGS, and he tries to prove that he is indeed THE CREATOR AND OWNER OF ALL THINGS.

We don’t know, but this is what II Thess 2:3-4 says about it. Verse three says that before Christ’s arrival in great power there will be a time characterized by apostacy. Does this refer to the waves of apostacy that have been observed throughout church history, or to a specific and unique time of apostacy? It sounds like it is referring to something unique, but we cannot be sure. At the same time, a certain extremely wicked individual will come forth. Will this person who is consumed by sin or lawlessness be one of the believers who turns away and faith in Jesus (an apostate) or someone who has never been a believer? We cannot know for sure. Is this individual the one promoting and fomenting the apostacy of many believers? Is he the one seducing and deceiving them? It appears to be so, but we cannot be sure. Verse four says to watch for someone like Antiochus Epiphanes, who was not a believer. So is this someone who acts like Antiochus acted but had different roots? Again, we don’t know. 

In Matthew 24 Jesus spoke quite a bit about the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple as a sign (along with others) that the former age (the age of the Law) had come to an end. To see my study lesson on this topic go to The End of What Age. It is during Jesus’s comments about the destruction of the temple that He predicts that something similar to what Antiochus did would be done again. Jesus also predicted (in Mt 24:10-12) that many would fall from the faith, their love would grow cold, and many false prophets would appear and deceive many people. Did all of that happen before AD 70 or was some of this referring to a future event? It happened to some degree prior to the destruction of the temple. Will this prophecy see a greater fulfillment before the second “arrival” of Jesus in great power and glory? Quite possibly Yes! We know that several of the things Jesus said in Matthew 24 will likely have a double fulfillment, so this apostacy might be one of them. Thus the words of Paul may have had some degree of fulfillment in AD 70 and may be likely to have greater fulfillment at the second “arrival” of Jesus.

The next lesson is: Who Is This “Man of Lawlessness”?

Footnotes

1

The people of ancient times would say that this word meant “brothers” because it is a masculine form, but they would admit to using it in an inclusive way to include both “brothers and sisters.” It comes from two words which mean “from the same womb.”

2: “arrival”

The Greek word used here refers to times when a powerful figure, such as a king, would show up on the scene in order to resolve a crisis that only he could resolve. It was often used of military situations. It also has a strong emphasis on the “presence” of the hero. The fact that the hero has now arrived and is present means that something will happen and things can change. But translations usually look for a quick way to communicate things rather a than long explanation for just one Greek word, therefore, this word is sometimes translated “coming” sometimes “appearing,” and sometimes “presence.” I prefer the word “arrival” in the translation column and the explanation in the paraphrase column.

3: “gathered”

This Greek word has the word “synagogue” included in it, therefore, in the paraphrase column, I included the idea of being “assembled.”

4

According to Benson, there were several times that congregations Paul had planted got letters from someone pretending to be him. It sounds like that may have happened to the church in Thessalonica. Paul’s point to them was that anything or anyone who claimed that the coming of Jesus in power to judge the nations had already happened was false, therefore, the means used to convey that message was also false.

5: “Day of the Lord”

This phrase always meant the time when God would judge men’s actions and deliver punishment or reward. This choice of words tells us that Paul thought the coming of Jesus would be followed immediately by the final judgment and its punishments and rewards. He thought there would be no time between His coming and His judging.

6

Some translators render this as if it were the perfect participle which means “is at hand” but it is not a participle, rather it is a perfect verb form of a word that means “present” indicating that the presence or reality of that event has already arrived.

7

“Deceive” comes from a root word that means “to bite the bait that hides the hook.” Besides “deceive” it also means “seduce.” Its emphasis is on the final state of ending up totally deceived and paying the price for it.

8

This refers back to the three forms of falsehood mentioned in the prior verse and goes beyond those to include any other possible form of deception.

9

“Apostacy” comes from the words “stand” and “away from”. It means to “depart from a previous position and stand separate from it.” It can also mean “a revolt, rebellion or mutiny.” There are two ways to interpret this: If we understand this word in this context to mean “apostacy or falling away.” it implies that the people involved in this will be seduced and deceived (as Paul warned against in the previous verse) and will leave the faith in Jesus. This deception will not come from outside the church, but from within it, or from a person that appears to be a part of the church. If we understand it to mean a “revolt, rebellion or mutiny,” then it may be an indication that society in general will rebel against God. Scholars are divided on this matter, but to me the more natural reading seems to be that which uses the word “apostacy” as referring to people within the church. Falling away requires having some place to fall from; turning away requires something to turn from; rebelling requires being under an authority before one can rebel against it. Besides, human cultures have always been in rebellion against God.

10

“Man of lawlessness” is sometimes rendered “man of sin” because some manuscripts say “man of lawlessness” and some say “man of sin.” There is reasonable manuscript support for each variant. They both point in the same general direction. Some scholars think that “the apostacy” (with an article) and this “man of sin or man of lawlessness” are closely linked together implying that this individual is likely responsible for fomenting the apostacy.

11: “son damned to punishment”

A similar phrase is used of Judas Iscariot in Jn 17:12 where he is called the “son of perdition,” in many versions. “Perdition” is a good rendering because it does not point to annihilation but to being “cut off” and then “punished.” A few versions do not include the words “son of” but they do include the true meaning of this key word which is “loss, or to be cut off, and punished.” It is problematic to use words like “destruction” because it implies “annihilation,” which is not the point but rather the idea is that of being “cut off, excommunicated from the people of God, and condemned to eternal punishment.”

12: “Opposing”

This is not the same word, but it carries the same idea as the name Satan, which means “adversary.”

13

This word comes from a word which comes from another word meaning “to sit, to be well based, to be steadfast and firm.” The word in question can also mean “to set, settle or to appoint.” Here the word cannot mean “sit” in a literal way because there was no place to sit down in the temple or in the Holy of Holies, other than the floor, but people of importance never sat on the floor.

14

The second half of this verse would immediately bring to the mind of every Jew the actions of Antiochus Epiphanes who thought he was Zeus and had pigs sacrificed in the temple on an altar which stood before a statue (which was likely of himself pretending to be Zeus.)  It is also the exact thing that Satan did while he was in heaven and is the reason he was kicked out of heaven (see Is 14:13-14).