2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
Introduction: Knowing Is Not the Same as Understanding
Every teaching begins with the recognition that no one is here by his own initiative. It is the Holy Spirit who has gathered us, called us, and established us. That is why, before opening the Word, we place this time in the Lord’s hands and ask Him for a willing heart, so that we may understand and walk according to what He is requiring of us in this season. We know that the Lord establishes processes, and that within those processes He requires obedience so that we may do what He wants. So we ask that it be the power of the Holy Spirit who gives us the personal, particular, individual instructions for what we are to do at this moment.
With that, we begin a series of teachings on the second coming of Jesus the Christ, a subject that all of us need to know, but above all need to understand, because knowing is not the same as understanding. These are not interchangeable words; they are two completely different words. Many people today have, I would say, an excess of knowledge, yet they do not understand. It is important that a man of God and a woman of God know, but above all that they understand, because even with knowledge, a man of God can be lost; even with the knowledge of God, a woman can be lost. So it is not only a matter of knowing, but of understanding.
To that end, we will be combining what is presented in Paul’s epistles—since Paul is the one who speaks most about the second coming of Christ—with the book of Revelation. Many times, when only the epistles are presented and then we move on to Revelation, many people cannot fit Revelation into the subject of the second coming of Jesus the Christ. Through this combination we will see how Revelation fits squarely into this teaching. We will make time to answer questions, but only about what we are studying; a question about something we have not covered, something heard or learned at another time, would truly take us off the subject and lead us astray. What we want to make sure of is that whatever we present, we understand well.
One more clarification is necessary. This teaching must not serve us as an escape hatch, and it bears repeating. Many people, when they approach teachings on the second coming of Jesus, take them exactly that way: they want to know what hour it is so they can get ready and make adjustments at the very last moment. That does not work in the life of faith. It does not work in the life of a man of God or a woman of God. This is not about walking back and forth in ambiguity while there is still time to get ready; it is about knowing, understanding, and preparing ourselves.
A Spiritual Map: 2 Thessalonians 2
Our base text is the apostle Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter 2. Let us read the first three verses:
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus the Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 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. 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” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3)
Here the apostle, by the Spirit of God, is laying out a spiritual map, a map that no one should lose. Notice the order: these three verses present three events. The first is the apostasy, the falling away. The second, following the apostasy, is the revealing of the man of sin, the son of perdition, whom the apostle John calls the antichrist. They are the same person. Paul does not use the word antichrist; John is the one who uses it. But the fact that we do not read that word in Paul’s text does not mean he is speaking of someone else: the one Paul defines as the man of sin and the son of perdition is the same one John defines as the antichrist. The third event, in that order, is the coming of Christ Jesus.
It is important that we grasp this clearly: that order of events will not be altered. First event, the apostasy; second event, the antichrist; third event, the coming of Christ Jesus.
Before the Coming of Christ Jesus, the Antichrist Is Revealed
With this we are already understanding something very important, something that today is a source of deviation for many Christians: persecution, tribulation. If the antichrist is revealed before the coming of Christ Jesus, and if the tribulation comes through the antichrist, then the church is going to go through the tribulation.
We need to pause here, because a great many people believe the opposite. I would venture to say it is more than eighty-five percent, and I am speaking of men and women of God. Many believe that the church will not go through the tribulation. But according to the order we have just seen, if the antichrist is the instigator of the persecution and appears before the manifestation of Christ Jesus, the church is going to go through the tribulation. Later we will take up the subject of the rapture, but I want this to be perfectly clear.
A Two-Part Tribulation: Israel and the Church
Without losing sight of 2 Thessalonians, our base text, let us go to the book of Revelation, because the purpose is to see how the events fit together within a single process, which is a spiritual process. Let us first read Revelation 12:17:
“And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus the Christ” (Revelation 12:17)
There are two main figures on the scene here: a woman, who in effect has two offspring, and the dragon, who makes war against the rest of her offspring. Who are these? They are the church of the Lord, and the verse says so plainly: they have the testimony of Jesus the Christ. Let us keep in mind that the Jews do not have the testimony of Jesus, since they did not believe in Christ Jesus; therefore we cannot say these are Jews. Those who have the testimony of Christ Jesus are the church.
Now, if we read from verse 13 onward, we will see that the dragon had earlier carried out a first persecution, and that first persecution is against Israel. So this passage bears witness to a tribulation divided into two parts: first against the Jews and, second, almost immediately after the first, against the church. Let us now turn to chapter 13, verse 7:
“It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation” (Revelation 13:7)
Here it is confirmed again that there is a persecution, a tribulation, against the church. Why? Because who are the saints? The saints are those who have confessed Christ Jesus. This does not refer to angels, nor to those who have already died, as in Catholic doctrine, but to those who are alive and have confessed Christ Jesus. Look at how the apostle Paul’s epistles begin: Paul, an apostle of Jesus the Christ, grace and peace to all the saints who are in Colosse, to all the saints who are in Galatia, to all the saints in each place. The saints are those who have confessed the name of Jesus. So it is clear, in chapters 12 and 13, that there is a tribulation, and all of this serves to establish that the church is going to go through it.
This is very important, because there are many Christians—and when I say “people,” I am not speaking of people in the world, for we are pastors sent to the people of God, not to the world—who are living in the belief that they will not go through the tribulation and, for that reason, are not preparing. This is the gravest and saddest thing: that they have not seen an intervention of God in the midst of the tribulation. To understand the subject better, let us go to Matthew 24, verses 15 through 21:
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:15-21)
Here we are told about the great tribulation, and the great tribulation is for the people of Israel. When we began with 2 Thessalonians, I said that the tribulation was going to begin with Israel: it will not be even, but will begin with Israel. That tribulation directed at Israel is called the great tribulation; it is the beginning of the time of tribulation. Let us continue in the same chapter 24, with emphasis on the first part of verse 29:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matthew 24:29)
Let us understand what we are reading. The great tribulation is directed at Israel, and precisely when the great tribulation has begun for Israel, tribulation will come upon the whole world—not just a few countries, but the whole world—for the church, for the people of God. None of us will be exempt, neither Israel nor the church. A tribulation is directed at both, which is what we read in Revelation: in chapter 12 the tribulation toward Israel begins to be defined, and in chapter 13 we are told about the tribulation toward the church.
What is the difference? That it begins with Israel, and this agrees with what is written in 1 Peter 4:17, where it says that judgment must begin first at the house of God. But for Israel it will be greater and more severe, precisely because they denied and crucified Jesus. Remember what was said at that moment: that His blood be upon them and upon their children. This, then, is the process of the tribulation: it begins with Israel, and it is called the great tribulation because it is going to be greater.
Note also verse 19: “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!” What does it refer to? It is something we saw in Deuteronomy 28: the siege on Israel, particularly on Jerusalem, will be so severe that men and women will eat their own children. And this is nothing new, because it already happened in ancient times. In 2 Kings 6:29 we find the account of a woman who says:
“So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son” (2 Kings 6:29)
This is the case of a complaint brought because, as a result of the famine and the siege, children had been eaten. That is why this mention appears in Matthew 24:19: to highlight what is known as the great tribulation. Let us be clear, then, that the great tribulation is for the people of Israel. For the church, for the people of God, there will be a tribulation that will not reach the levels of Israel’s or Jerusalem’s; but that does not mean it will not be severe or serious.
Let us sum up what we have so far. There are three events: the apostasy, in whose time we are living; the revealing of the antichrist, the man of sin, the son of perdition; and the coming of Jesus. Who brings the persecution? Who brings the tribulation? The antichrist.
The Rapture Takes Place at the Lord’s Coming, Not Before
Someone might say, “Brother, you are overlooking the fact that the church is going to be raptured; that is why you say the church will go through the tribulation; you are ignoring the rapture.” So let us see what the Word says. Let us return to 2 Thessalonians 2:1: “concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus the Christ and our gathering together to Him.” The lifting up of the church takes place at the moment Christ comes a second time. The church is not raptured before the coming of Jesus. That is a false and apostate doctrine that has become established and that, sadly, many people with knowledge still hold. I repeat it: there are many people with knowledge who are still walking under that doctrine, and there are many songs that speak of the church being raptured beforehand. But it is not established that way in the Word.
Let us look at a second text. Let us go back to Matthew 24 and read verses 29 through 31, paying attention to the order:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29-31)
Do you see it? The lifting up of the church is at the coming of Jesus, not before. It says so plainly there. Let us move on to a third text, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17:
“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17)
All the texts—and we will read more as we develop the subject—show that the church is lifted up, yes, but not before the coming of Jesus: it is lifted up at the coming of Jesus. That is why many people admit there will be a tribulation but maintain that the church will be lifted up beforehand, in a pre-tribulation rapture. Then one has to ask: what is the point of a tribulation if the church is not going to go through it? What we are seeing here is that the church is going to go through a tribulation, and that the church is not preparing now.
Someone might say, “Well, it could be another seventy years before all that, and surely I won’t be around by then.” I have to tell you, brother, that we are much closer to the coming of Jesus than we ourselves can imagine.
God’s Preservation and the Danger of Negligence
The Word says in 2 Timothy 4:18:
“And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18)
That is what is going to happen in the tribulation: the Lord is going to preserve us. But—and this is very important—only if we prepare. The promise exists and God’s provision exists; however, if a man of God or a woman of God does not prepare, that Word does not cover the negligent. I repeat: that Word, and all the promises we find in Holy Scripture, do not cover the negligent.
We see this in Matthew 25, in the parable of the talents. To one he gave five, to another two, to another one. The one with one was equal to the one with two and the one with five, but it was his negligence that took him out of the picture. There is God’s provision, because what is going to happen is what we saw in the case of Philip: when he preached to the eunuch and baptized him, the Word says the Spirit caught Philip away. It is not that Philip left; it is that the Spirit took him and made him appear in another place, several miles farther north from where he had been. That is the work that will be repeated at this second coming of Jesus. But it does not cover the negligent: it does not cover the one who does not want to prepare, the one who does not want to be uprooted from all uncleanness, or anyone who, understanding that he must let go of all iniquity, persists in it.
Where Are We? The Beginning of Sorrows
Where do we stand? Let us go to Mark 13:8:
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows” (Mark 13:8)
This is the part I want to emphasize and, above all, I want it to be understood, because many times we read but do not understand, nor do we want to understand. What are “the beginnings of sorrows”? Let me put the question another way: when does a pregnant woman have pains? Right before giving birth, at the moment of delivery. So what is this verse telling us? That all of this—and you agree with me that we are already living in these times: nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, famines, troubles—is the beginning of sorrows. And if these are the beginnings of sorrows, who is about to be born? The antichrist, precisely. That is the next thing that is going to emerge.
The antichrist is already here, but he has not yet been revealed. That is to say, he is already here, and surely there are people interacting with him. Of course, he does not have a title that says “I am the antichrist,” and no one will see him as such. He may be seen as a politician, as an economist, even as a philosopher, or as someone who is standing out as a businessman. Let us not think he will come with some grotesque title. He is already here; it is just that, in his work, he has not yet been revealed.
Let us now go to Revelation 6:1-2:
“Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, ‘Come and see.’ And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer” (Revelation 6:1-2)
The first seal, the one we have just read, represents the antichrist. Surely you have heard people say that we are already living in the second seal, or the third. Brother, the seals have not yet been unsealed. The first seal is the antichrist; it is when the antichrist is established as a leader over the region in which he is to be revealed. That is why Mark 13:8 is so important: the beginning of sorrows. The antichrist is about to be born, about to be unveiled, about to be revealed, about to appear.
That is why I was saying we must discard that idea some of us may hold: “Surely when that happens I won’t be here.” We have to discard it, because embraced ideas lead a person into deception and make that person live in deception. I thank the Lord that He prepared us by teaching us about lying and deception, so that we can understand how serious it is not to discard the ideas by which we have walked. And again, brothers and sisters, I am speaking of men and women of God; I am not speaking of the world or of people who have not confessed Jesus. I am speaking of pastors, of ministers, of faithful men within a congregation, of men and women who are tithing, who are giving offerings, who are serving the Lord. Let us not think, “That word isn’t for me; it’s for other people.” If we embrace a lie, if we embrace an idea and do not want to discard it, that lie will make us walk in deception and will lead us to destruction.
The White Horse: Peace, Security, and a False Revival
What does the white horse represent? It represents peace and security. And someone will say, “But I was told persecution was coming, and it has turned out to be the opposite.” Let me tell you something, brother: there are many churches crying out for a revival, and they are asking wrongly. Do you know that in this time of peace and security the churches are going to prosper? In this first stage of the antichrist—because he has two stages—there will be a great deal of flourishing within the churches, but it does not come from God. It is precisely so that they will settle in, so that they will believe the lie, so that they will believe the working of error. And then, immediately, the persecution comes, and they will not be able to cope. This first period will therefore be a time of confusion.
How Do We Prepare?
The natural question is how one prepares. I do not mean it religiously, the way it is so often presented: “You have to pray more times each day; you have to fast.” I am not saying those things should not be done, but religion has pinned the preparation for the coming of Jesus on them. Preparation has to do, brothers and sisters, with discarding the ideas by which we have walked for years, for many years. Let us look at some concrete elements.
Cleansing Ourselves of All Contamination
A man of God cannot walk contaminated; a woman of God cannot walk contaminated. And I am not speaking of moral sins. Someone will say, “I have kept myself holy; I have not committed fornication or anything like that.” Fine. But an idea that one embraces that does not come from God can lead us into deception and make us lose our way. Let us remember what 2 Corinthians says:
“Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’ ‘I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)
What cleansing is the Lord speaking of? Jesus said that unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:5), and being born of water has to do with cleansing, with purification. We have to purify ourselves. There are many feelings and many thoughts that have no place in a man of God or a woman of God, because they make us walk in lies and in deception, and make us see ourselves as if everyone were persecuting us, as if everyone were out to do us harm, precisely because of the ideas we have embraced.
Making No Pacts, Unions, or Ties with the World
We cannot establish unions, ties, or pacts with anyone. Read 2 Corinthians 6 from verse 12: “And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). Do you know what is happening in Venezuela? Why is that situation unable to be broken? Do you know what it was? The church made a pact with the ruler right before he was removed. Many videos came out in which the church was seen praying over and certifying that person, the ruler, and a decree came out from him; I think it was his last decree. The pacts that are made with the world, brothers and sisters, are the gravest thing that can affect a man of God. It is written in the Word of the Lord, but many of us do not want to see it.
Seeking a Relationship with the Holy Spirit
How is this accomplished? It is elementary. Jesus established that He would take of what is His and send the Comforter. And yet people seek a relationship with the world, the church wants a relationship with the world and does not seek a relationship with the Holy Spirit, with the Comforter; they loved the things of the world more than the things of God. What does that mean? That if you do not have the Holy Spirit of God, if you are not guided by Him, you will end up guided by the spirit of error. That is inevitable. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. But when we have lust and desires on one side, and the Holy Spirit is leading us another way, and we do not want to go because we have lust, the contamination does not allow us to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus moves a hand, we are all supposed to be moving it at the same time, no matter the country or the place where we are, because we are the church and we are in the body of Christ. When Jesus moves a hand, the church walks in the direction the Lord Jesus says. But what happens when we have lust? We want to follow what we want. There are people who want to be recognized: “Here no one sees me; here I can’t put myself out there the way I want to.” That is lust, and if it is not dealt with, we will not be able to work for Jesus or do what He wants us to do. There are other people who want particular gifts, and if God does not give them that gift, they keep seeking it. But the Holy Spirit distributes according to each person’s calling. Paul says to ask, and that does not mean the Holy Spirit is obligated; if we seek the gifts and He gives them, how wonderful, because we are ready for what God wants to do. But why do we want spiritual gifts if we are neither ready for what God is calling us to nor willing to do it, because we have our own model and are going after it? Until we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, our eyes will not be opened to see the kingdom of heaven among us.
When I looked back and saw my mother being rescued by the Lord, I understood that God was allowing me to see His rescue over her: the kingdom of heaven is among us. It was not something I was imagining or believing because I did not want to think my mother had gone to hell. And if it is a relative of mine whom the Lord sends to hell, it is as simple as that; I am not going to fight with God. That is why the Word says that whoever does not love God is to be accursed (1 Corinthians 16:22). I do not stop at someone being lost; I say, “Lord, tell me what I am to do here so that I know my position.” Because if I want to occupy the Holy Spirit’s position, or a position that does not belong to me, I will damage the work of God. If my position is to stay quiet in a corner, then it is to stay quiet. We have to accept the position God puts us in at each moment. There are people who want to be greater than what God is giving them and begin to multiply something they should not multiply. But when God is going to use you, He uses you, and that’s that. Simple.
When Jesus prepared His disciples, He prepared them by walking with them. He would enter the temple to preach and teach the scribes and Pharisees, because they were His people; but He would leave there and keep teaching His disciples about the kingdom of heaven. It was not inside the temple that God taught Him about the kingdom of heaven, nor did He do so with everyone. We have to understand how God works: He works in the person, no matter where he is or what his setting is. If God raises up a congregation to work with it in a particular place, in a church building, He works with it there; that is fine, and He does that too. But if He chose someone to take him out of the traditional, and that person keeps resisting and wanting to build a traditional work that God is no longer building, he will grow weary and frustrated, because that is not what God is doing at this time. It is not what called him; but since he does not know how to do anything other than follow old models, he will say, “God called me to pastor and I don’t see a single sheep,” and he will do this and that with a lot of imagination and no instruction from God. We have to follow God’s instruction literally. If we do not, a moment will come when the wave of the apostasy will sweep us away. The foundation is the leading of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit we will not be able to get through this tribulation, and we must not imagine that “God told me” or that “this is what God wants me to do” if the Holy Spirit is not in it.
Discerning the Models That Deceive: Ruler Against Ruler
Let me tell you something more: there are already models appearing, being seen, deceiving many, that seem to come from God and do not come from God. They are establishing peace, they are establishing unity, and it seems they come against Satan, but it is not that they come against Satan: it is ruler against ruler. What does that mean? That there is a spiritual entity, a powerful spiritual deity, and another, more powerful one wants to move in, and then they begin to fight each other. And one seems to come from heaven dressed in white, and the other comes dressed in black, to give an example, and then people say the one in white comes from God. They do not realize it is ruler against ruler: neither one comes from God; they come to fulfill the prophecy that is in the Word.
Do not be deceived, because they will deceive even the elect. Watch what is happening and do not budge from your place, thinking that this leader is with God and that one is not. Biblically, this is not the time for that: it is a time of apostasy, and a time for the table to be set for the antichrist. That means all the leaders of the nations are setting the table for the antichrist. We cannot say that this leader comes from God because of what he is doing; this is ruler against ruler, taking territory. The one who is going to establish justice is the church. The elect, the called, are the ones who will establish God’s presence. The leaders of the nations will not establish it; what they will establish is the antechamber for the antichrist.
Setting Limits on Cell Phone and Social Media Use
Another element we need to keep in mind as preparation, and it is very important even though many times the wisdom of it is not seen—and surely more than one person will object when I say it—is the excessive use of cell phones and electronic devices, but above all the cell phone. I am not referring to using it in general, for you have noticed that we use it a lot to look up information and for other tasks; I am not saying throw your phone away. I am referring to spending hours and hours scrolling through social media pages, and even posting on them. Even that requires great care, brother. Do you know why? Because when we get to the passage in Revelation about the mark of the beast, we will see that it is based, it is grounded, on the cell phone, just as you are hearing it; it is grounded in how the cell phone operates. In fact, some years ago the Lord led me to understand how the cellular system operates, and you would be surprised—you can look into it—the cellular system uses, in order to operate, precisely 666 cells.
The antichrist’s platform is already here. Many are waiting for it to be a chip they will implant in the hand or on the forehead, and they are waiting for that, but the platform is already here. Haven’t you seen that you can pay with the cell phone? Haven’t you seen that you can not only make calls, but buy tickets and download boarding passes for the airplane, which we no longer need to print, because you have the boarding pass on your phone and you scan it? You have your identification documents and your license on your phone. You have everything on your cell phone. This is the antichrist’s operating system. So let us not walk with an archaic, religious idea along the lines of, “If they want to implant a chip in my hand, I’ll tell them no.” Do not wait for that, brother, because the operating system is already running and many of us are walking with it.
As we can see, preparation for this time is not as we have so often seen it, in a religious way, but takes place in an environment as normal and as routine as the one we are already living in. Yet many men and women of God have not put a limit on their activity in the world.
Not Needing Entertainment
Along with social media pages there are, of course, the elements of entertainment, also present in cell phone use. If a person needs to be entertained, needs to seek entertainment to pass his days and his hours, he is walking wrongly. A man of God and a woman of God do not need entertainment, brothers and sisters, and it is very important that we understand this. I am not talking about watching vulgar, obscene, or perverse things; they can be simple, routine things. But if we need entertainment, something is going wrong in our life of faith, and therefore we have to examine our lives. This is a time of preparation, brothers and sisters. The man of God who does not prepare will not be able to withstand; the woman of God who does not prepare will not be able to withstand, will not even be able to enter, and we will see it, because it is established in the Word.
The Fear of God and Rejecting Slothfulness
Matthew 24 says it: two women will be grinding at the mill, and one will be taken and the other left; two will be in the same bed, and one will be taken and the other left (Matthew 24:40-41). It is necessary, then, for each of us to take stock and, above all, to have the fear of God, because without the fear of God, even if we are aware, we will not walk it out.
A word was mentioned: slothfulness. It has to do with laziness; it is not only negligence, but also inertia, the condition of a person who is inert, who does not move. This is how the Word puts it:
“So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:16)
Within that word is wrapped up the idea of laziness: the one who does not act because of laziness.
Conclusion
In this first approach to the subject of the second coming of Jesus the Christ, we have seen all the elements that will unfold right before it. We have not yet entered into the second coming itself. We began with 2 Thessalonians 2: the apostasy; the man of sin, the son of perdition, the antichrist; and then the coming of Jesus. That order will not be altered. From it follows that the church will go through the tribulation, that it will be lifted up at the Lord’s coming and not before, and that God’s promise of preservation does not cover the negligent.
That is why this is a time of preparation, and a preparation that is lived out in the everyday: discarding the ideas we have embraced for years, cleansing ourselves of all contamination, making no pacts with the world, being led by the Holy Spirit and not by our own lust, discerning the models that deceive, setting limits on the cell phone and social media, and giving up the need for entertainment. And all of it in the fear of God, understanding that if He called us, gathered us, and established us in this season of opening, we must be wise to redeem our days.
Let us, then, lift up this prayer: Lord, we thank You for the time You have given us, because this is an opening from the throne of Your grace. We are not here because it arose in us; we are here because You gathered us, O God, not because of the good intentions of each one of us, but because You called us, brought us, and made us sit in this season of revelation. Grant us, Father, to walk in the fear of God; that we may be wise to redeem our days and establish Your will in each of our lives. In the name of Jesus, give us a heart, Lord, to understand Your Word and to walk in it. Amen.
Review Questions
- What difference does the teaching draw between knowing and understanding, and how can a believer have a great deal of knowledge and still be lost?
- Based on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, what is the order of the three events that precede and accompany the second coming, and what does that order imply for the church with regard to the tribulation and the rapture?
- Of the elements of preparation presented—discarding embraced ideas, cleansing ourselves of contamination, making no pacts with the world, depending on the Holy Spirit, setting limits on the cell phone and on entertainment, and living in the fear of God—which one do you most urgently need to examine in your own life, and what concrete steps will you take?
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