ST. PAUL’S SECOND LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS 2:1-12
Brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 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 perdition, 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. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore, God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Personal
These verses demolished the Dispensational paradigm for me in1978. I had become a Christian in October 1978 at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. Pastor Chuck Smith was preaching that Jesus would return in 1981. It seemed to me like the teaching was problematic, so I decided to look into it. After study of Chuck Smith’s books and the Bible I figured out that Pastor Smith was teaching a false teaching on the End Times.
“The Rebellion”
The critical part of this is the words “that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first”.
The question remains for me whether or not these things were fulfilled in 70 AD with the destruction of the Jewish Temple or is yet to be fulfilled in the future.
Reformed author, Gary Demar, makes a case for this being fulfilled in 70 AD in his book Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church. However, there is a great danger in taking this too far. In Demar’s case it led to a position known as Full Preterism. For a critique of Demar’s position from within his own Reformed Tradition, CONCERNS RE: GARY DEMAR.
Orthodox Eschatology
There is a broad range of views of End Times events in the Orthodox Church but there is essential element in all. It’s found in the Nicene Creed.
And He will come again with glory to judge the living and dead. His kingdom shall have no end.
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