With our readings today we are reminded of the fact that we are in the last times.
Our Old Testament and Gospel readings remind us that there is a Resurrection from the Dead. Those who die in the Lord are not in fact dead – they are alive, (although their souls have been separated from their bodies).
When The Lord said to Moses, “I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” He was using a present tense verb. God did not say, I was the God, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He said I AM. I have been, I still AM, and I always will be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who are not dead but are alive. They are in heaven. They are waiting for the Day when the Lord will return in power and glory to judge the living and the dead.
Jesus echoes the promise of the resurrection in the Gospel reading from Luke 20. The Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, came to Jesus to try to trap him and trip him up in his teaching. Jesus scolded them for their disbelief and then proved the doctrine of the resurrection from using the text from our Old Testament lesson.
The resurrection is coming. There is a day in the not too distant future, a day that the scriptures say is “very near” when the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised from death and Christ will come to judge both the living and the dead. This day is coming.
This theme of the last days is present in our Epistle lesson as well. It is a text from 2 Thessalonians. God had given to Paul a revelation regarding the last days. God had revealed to Paul events that would occur as the day drew near. Paul shared this teaching with the Thessalonians.
After Paul had moved on from Thessalonica there were some Christians who were not clear regarding Paul's word and his teaching on what God had revealed about the coming day of Judgment. They mis-understood. They had drawn false conclusions. Their false conclusions lead to some rumors that were floating around – things that were reported to have come from Paul, that Christ had already come back. The day of Judgment came and went.
You could imagine the shock that ensued. If you were waiting for Christ to come and take you to heaven; if you were waiting for the trumpet to sound and to raise from the dead all of your deceased loved ones and so that you could spend eternity with them and with God in paradise, to hear that it had already come might be a bit of a blow. To hear that you had missed the day that you were counting on in faith would shock you.
We panic when we think that our flight on an airplane is going to take off without us, all the while knowing that there are a hundred others standing by to get us to where we need to be. If you miss your spot in heaven, you can't wait at the station for the “5 o'clock flight”. The Christians at Thessalonica were dismayed at the idea that reportedly came from Paul indicating that they had missed out on heaven, or else heaven had already come and this is all that there was.
Paul did not want them to be un-necessarily stressed out. This wrong headed idea that Jesus had already come was causing the people to be anxious and afraid. So that he might alleviate their stress, Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians to correct the error. He reminded them of what he had told them The coming of the Lord would be like. “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, [2] not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed.”
In order to correct the error, Paul reminds them of the things that he taught them when he was still with them. He had given to them God's promise of the things that would occur as the end drew near. If they kept this direct Word from God in mind, they would not be so easily mislead when they heard all kinds of misleading information about these coming events.
This is a helpful thing for us to remember, especially when we see that there are plenty of people who assume that God gave to us this revelation through Paul so that we could have some sort of secret information that no one else knows. These interpreters will look for special codes in the words or secret messages that are hidden there.
God speaks plainly. He uses human words and language to speak, but he doesn't play games with us. God wants us to know what we should expect as the end of days will approach. And the reason that he wants us to know is illustrated precisely by what had occurred in the Thessalonian church. Due to false reports the people panicked and were afraid. God wants us to be calm and assured. He gave these revelations for our comfort. God is graciously reassuring us that yes, these things will happen, but when they do happen, when you see them happening, don't be afraid. Don't be alarmed. God has not abandoned you. He is faithful to you and he will save you.
In our text Paul refers to two parts of this end times revelation. He talks about the coming of the Man of Lawlessness and he talks about the great apostasy. These events are linked, they happen one as a result of the other. They are events that must happen before Christ returns.
The first of these events is the coming of the Man of Lawlessness. Elsewhere scripture refers to him as the Anti Christ. Those who try to interpret end times prophecies have come up with lots of ideas of who this Antichrist will be and what he will do. Some see him as a world wide political figure who will establish an earthly kingdom. Some will refer to the Antichrist as an institution or idea. There are many people who even believe that the Antichrist is already here and is already working.
As far as understanding who the Antichrist is or who he will be, we can see plainly what Paul has written to us. Paul writes, “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, [4] who 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.”
The Antichrist will seat himself in the temple of God. He will come from the church. He will have the appearance of being a Christian. He will say things that sound Christian. He will claim that Jesus is God and that the Father is God, but he will then claim for himself that same authority. He will say that he is god, that he has god's power and authority. He will say that there are no other gods besides him. He will condemn the gods of the Hindus, the Buddhists, the god of Islam and all the other world religions. He will say that the only true god is the god of the Christian church, which will sound so good to so many, but then he will claim that he is that god. In this lie will come the second event that Paul mentions, the great deception, or the apostasy.
The Antichrist will be so convincing that many will believe him. Many will fall into the trap of believing his lies. He will be so convincing and at the same time, so subtle in his lies that even faithful Christians will be tempted to believe him. Jesus says he would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
Friends, when the Antichrist comes he will challenge the faith and belief of the church. Christians will be lead astray, church leaders will be lead astray. They will believe the lies, they will refuse to see the subtle twists of the truth and they will be deceived. Let us not be among them. Let us carefully read and interpret and understand and believe the Word of God. It is so important that we study in our homes and here in our church. That we hold on to it as the only true revelation of God for his people the church.
Jesus says that this deception will be cut short for the sake of the elect. That resisting the lies of this deceiver will be so difficult that Christ will return for the sake of preserving those who he loves. Likewise our text tells us that Jesus will come, he will meet the challenge, he will call the bluff of this Antichrist and he will destroy the Antichrist with the breath of his mouth.
There are a couple of things that are good to keep in mind here. First of all, it is helpful to understand what Paul means when he talks about “the breath of his mouth”. The word for breath in Greek is the same as the Word for spirit. The scriptures take advantage of this nuance to show that when Jesus opens up his mouth to breath he sends forth his Holy Spirit. The spirit of God is given and revealed through the mouth of Jesus. The Holy Spirit proceedes out of the mouth of Jesus by means of His Word. When Jesus speaks, he gives to us His Holy Spirit who comes to us and enters us as our ears hear those divine words and we believe. That breath is a divine breath, that Word is a divine Word. It comes with power that gives life to the believer but kills and annihilates those who oppose God. The Antichrist opposes God and is therefor destroyed. He is brought to nothing with a word.
It is also helpful to keep in mind that Jesus is closely guarding his church. We are His people. He made certain of that when he died on the cross to pay the price for our sin. Now that we are his he is not going to loose us to the lies of the devil and his servant: this Antichrist. As these lies mount and as they become more and more difficult to resist, Jesus will time his return perfectly so that no one is lost. We are too weak to resist but His love for us is too strong to let us go.
Paul's revelation is God's gift to us. It warns us ahead of time the things that will happen. God does not give us great detail so that we know the dates and the times and the names and the faces, but he gives to us enough information so that when it happens we will know. We will recognize the Antichrist for who he is and we will not be deceived or mislead. We will perceive the lie and stand firm in the truth. Thank you God for your faithfulness to us, in not leaving us to ourselves to solve this coming dilemma.
God also gives to us comfort. When this challenge to the faith and life of the church comes, when we see those being lead astray that we respect for the faith we thought they had, let us not be dismayed or frightened, when the challenges to us and our faith seem to be greater than what we can bear, let us not loose heart. Our God is faithful. He has told us ahead of time and he will see us through. He will not let us be taken from his hand. The god who sent his son to die for us and to cleanse us from our sin will keep us in the faith through his almighty power. He will bring us through to the day of salvation.
Amen.
Now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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