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Commentary on "The Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:1–12)"

CAREL STEVENSON

 

Day 1: Sabbath Afternoon, September 15, 2012 - Introduction

 

Introduction to the weeks lesson

It feels a bit ironic to me that I am writing commentary on the topic of the Antichrist. God truly redeems our lives when we give them over to Him. As a young SDA pastor’s son, I walked away from Seventh-day Adventism, even though I truly believed even then that it was God’s “remnant church”. I left knowing that if I could not live up to the Adventist standard, I might as well enjoy my life before the ensuing lake of fire. For several years after that I whole-heartedly pursued anything that was antichrist. Now that I have come to know the true Jesus and have been reconciled to my God, who is now my true Father, my heart is to do whatever my Lord Jesus puts in front of me in order to defend and confirm the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In this week’s commentary, I have endeavored to state what I believe the Spirit of God says for us in this amazing portion of 2 Thessalonians, as well as to expose what strikes me as Adventist dogma in Jon Paulien’s comments.

There is a significant amount of information in the short passage of scripture we will cover this week, but I believe that with a Biblical contextual understanding of this issue it is quite clear for us to see what Paul was explaining to the church in Thessalonica, as well as what the Holy Spirit intends to convey to us now. From 2 Thess. 2:5, as well as the reading from 1 Thess. ch. 4 and 5, we know that the second coming of the Lord Jesus is a topic that Paul had spent time teaching this church in the past. It is very interesting that eschatological events, including their order of occurrence (worth noting this is quite different from date setting!) were evidently a part of Paul’s initial evangelism. He was only with the Thessalonians for a relatively short time and had taught them well enough that in each of these epistles he is reviewing the high points as a reminder. It is likely that he had taught them from the prophetic writings of Daniel and perhaps the writings of John. I believe that these Biblical truths ought to be an important part of our discipling new believers so that we can prevent Christians from being confused and discouraged by the false, unbiblical, teachings that surround us today as well.

The church at Thessalonica had been taught thoroughly regarding the order of events to occur in the last days. They knew that the true church would be removed from the earth prior to the Day of the Lord (1 Thess. 4:16-18, 1 Thess. 5:9, Rev. 3:10) which meant that they would be spared from the outpouring of God’s wrath that they knew would accompany that day (Isaiah 13:9, Jeremiah 46:10, Joel 1:15, Joel 2:11 and 31, Amos 5:20, Malachi 4:5, Zephaniah 1:14 and 15). However, a deceptive teaching had come to them through false teachers. These false teachers claimed that their message had come through supernatural means, directly from God, and had even forged a letter in their attempt to deceive the church (2 Thess. 2:1,2). I am struck by the parallels of this insidious deception given to the church of Thessalonica with the widespread deception of the SDA organization in their proselytizing efforts of already professing Christians! Through the Adventist “spirit of prophesy” and their polished “Daniel and Revelation” end-time seminars, the organization has confused many Christians regarding the plain teachings of scripture. The writings of EGW have been used as a “continuing and authoritative source of truth” (Fundamental belief 18) and it is through her “spirit of prophesy” that they interpret all of scripture. These teachings have robbed many Christians of the encouragement that our being “caught up” (in the Greek the word is Harpazo) to the Lord prior to the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord is intended to provide.

One of the ways that Paul corrects these false teachings is to simply re-teach them God’s truth. He reminds this church (which is being laden with enormous spiritual warfare-- both in physical persecution, and spiritual deception) that the Day of the Lord will not come unless the great apostasy comes first, which will occur at the revealing of the Antichrist. He then goes on to discuss the fact that the Antichrist will be directed by Satan himself and will perform supernatural signs and miracles that will add to the deception of those who have not “loved the Truth”. He explains that in addition, our Lord Himself will bring upon these “who have not loved the Truth” a great delusion and they will fill up the cup of their own sin.

Let me interject a significant point here which I could not have understood as an Adventist due to the nature of their doctrines. The very existence, as well as the timing of the arrival, of the Antichrist is ordained by God. The Antichrist will do no more, or less, than he is permitted to by Jesus Christ. In fact he is used as a part of the judgment at the Day of the Lord.

“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16)

“For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.” (Zechariah 11:16)

There is great comfort found in the truth of a sovereign savior as revealed to us in the scriptures. This sovereign Jesus stands in sharp juxtaposition to the weak fallible “Jesus” of Adventism; a god who looks to us for vindication against Satan’s accusation (accusations which are not even in scripture). One of the amazing ways Paul reassures the church in Thessolinica is by reminding them of God’s sovereignty. This is seen clearly in verse 8, “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.” Amen!

The following Sabbath School Commentaries will be written in a way that assumes you have your lesson beside you as you read along. There will be little overview and I will speak directly to the points that I have felt moved to speak to. Please, enter into this week with prayer for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to what He wants you to see, and to protect your heart from anything that is not from Him.

 

And now a few words of commentary on Saturday's lesson

Today’s lesson introduces the purpose of Paul’s letter to the church of Thessalonica. Author, Jon Paulien writes, “To some extent, this week’s passage is a clarification of what Paul said earlier.” Paul restates issues and reminds the Thessalonians of the doctrines he taught them while he was with them, but his previous teachings were not unclear and did not require clarification. Paul wrote this second letter because the Thessalonians had quickly forgotten and been shaken by deception. This is a wonderful example of our need to have our “helmet of salvation” secured in place so that we are not shaken by false teaching.

The author writes that another reason for the letter is to “...persuade them to be more patient regarding end-time events...” However, nothing in the text indicates a lack of patients on the part of the Thessalonians. Instead, it is clear that they were deceived and therefore gravely concerned that the church had already been gathered together to the Lord (the rapture, or “harpazo”) and that they had been left behind. They had been deceived into believing that the persecution they were presently enduring was “Jacob’s time of trouble” or “That Day”. Rather than this letter being a clarification, as the author presumes, it seems clear that Paul is reminding the Thessalonians of things he had taught them while he was with them.

“Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” (2 Thessalonians 2:5)

A worthy lesson to take from this weeks passage is that the answer to spiritual deception is to look to the Word of Truth! The scriptures are the revelation of Truth, they will guard us from deception. The human heart needs constant reminding of the truths we have heard before. We can thank God for His gift and preservation of the scriptures, and we can pray that we remain faithful to them and that we are open to testing all we believe against God’s word and His word only!

 

GO TO DAY 2

 

Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised September 13, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

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Official Adventist Resources

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