May your hearts be comforted

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, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. ³ 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. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. ⁷ 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. 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. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, ¹² in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

¹³ But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. ¹⁴ To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

May your hearts be comforted and established in every good work and word. Why did Paull write this second chapter of Second Thessalonians? He gives us the answer in verse 17; “…comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” Put in my terms, he wants to bring comfort to the hearts of people who have been upset by misunderstanding regarding the second coming of Jesus. That comfort provides the environment for their hearts to be established in every good work and word. The good work refers to how we live out our faith in Jesus, and the good word refers to sound doctrine. Paul wants his disciples to live fully balanced lives with good doctrine and a lifestyle that reflects that doctrine.

Second Thessalonians chapter two is one of the hottest chapters in the Bible for discussions around eschatology, the study of the end times. We like to have everything nailed down fast with extreme clarity. God likes mystery. We have a conflict with God. I don’t mean we can have no certainty about the end times’ details. Still, I mean that we must approach the subject matter with humility since very dedicated and devoted orthodox Christian scholars fall in every school of eschatological thought.

For many years, after studying and not being able to commit to a particular understanding of eschatology, I confessed to being a pan-millennialist; it will all pan out. God is sovereign; he will bring it all about as he will. Then, a few years ago, I decided I needed to get a handle on the topic. I began reading from all positions to see which I could make the most sense of, that is faithful to Scripture and good hermeneutics (the rules of Biblical interpretation). While I have become fairly settled in what I think the Scriptural storyline is, I hold it humbly and continue to study.

One’s eschatological position is not a salvation matter; it is one of those fiery secondary issues that some want to fight about. I recognize that one’s eschatological position impacts how one lives and sees many other sections of Scripture, so it isn’t a matter of no consequence.

There are lots of references in this passage that are not readily understood. For instance, “day of the Lord,” the “rebellion, apostasy, or falling away,” “man of lawlessness,” “the temple of God,” “restrainer,” and “Mystery of lawlessness.” Precisely who or what these are or when they happen are all matters of interpretation and are understood differently by different schools of thought.

Here’s the kicker. The Thessalonians knew precisely what Paul meant by all of these terms. “Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?” Apparently, Paul wrote somewhat enigmatically because he referred to contemporary persons when he spoke of the “restrainer” and the “man of lawlessness.” Naming them in writing would be somewhat like an Iranian believer writing something critical about Allah or Iran’s Supreme Leader. It wouldn’t go well for whoever wrote such criticisms.

So, I will skip over trying to define all of these terms and get to the big-picture message. Jesus is coming again, and when he does, he will gather us together with him and judge those who don’t believe the gospel. Meanwhile, be comforted and let your hearts be established in good works and sound doctrine. Jesus did not save us to abandon us. Even those of us who have been or will be martyred are not abandoned. We are in God’s presence no matter what is done in the earth. We have already died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God. And, when Christ, who is our life, appears, then we also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3-4)

Regardless of what events must take place before Jesus comes again, the fact is that he will come again, gather up all of us chicks of his, and judge the non-believing world. So, whatever happens on the earth, whatever wars happen, whatever political/military leaders ascend, whatever nations topple, we have this sure hope in Jesus to comfort us. We belong to him, and nothing can separate us from his love.

Go ahead and study your eschatology. I intend to solidify my understanding, God willing. But know that your understanding of eschatology does not determine your salvation. Your salvation is determined by your repenting and believing the good news of the finished work of Jesus.