Daily reading

Today’s reading is: 2 Th. 1-3

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Second Thessalonians Chapter One

  1. Paul continues to be thankful for the Thessalonians’ faith & love, but must address the issue that has destroyed their hope (2nd Thess. 1:3 cf. 1st Thess. 1:3).
  2. A tested and enduring local church will be an encouragement to other local churches (2nd Thess. 1:4).
  3. Believers in the Dispensation of the Church have the privilege of glorifying Christ as we endure the afflictions of this present evil age (2nd Thess. 1:5-12).
    1. The sufferings of this life prepare us for our co-reigning duties with Christ in the eschatological theocratic Kingdom (v.5).
    2. God is the fair one, who will deal out retribution appropriately (vv.6-8).
    3. This retribution awaits the 2nd Advent of Jesus Christ (vv.9-10).
    4. While awaiting that judgment, Believers are to be focused upon the work of faith (vv.11-12).

Second Thessalonians Chapter Two

  1. A false message circulated among the Thessalonians that the Day of the Lord had come (2nd Thess. 2:1-2).
  2. Paul provided an accurate development of the Rapture, Tribulation, and 2nd Advent of Jesus Christ (2nd Thess. 2:3-12).
    1. False teaching shakes a believer quickly—before he has time to think things through.
    2. False teaching produces an emotional reaction that neutralizes spiritual knowledge.
  3. With regard to The Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Gathering Together to Him (2nd Thess. 2:1). This is the fullest and most explicit terminology for the Rapture of the Church.
    1. “I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also” (Jn. 14:1-3).
    2. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive who remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (1st Thess. 4:13-17).
    3. I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed (1st Cor. 15:51-52).
    4. The Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Episunagōgē to Him (2nd Thess. 2:1).
    5. The Departure (2nd Thess. 2:3).
    6. The Happy Hope (Tit. 2:13).
  4. The Day of the Lord cannot come until The Departure comes first (2nd Thess. 2:2).
    1. ἀποστασία apostasia #6462x: apostasy, departure. Fr. ἀφίστημι aphistēmi #86814x: depart, fall away.
      1. Used of a theological departure: apostasy (Lk. 8:13; 1st Tim. 4:1; Heb. 3:12).
      2. Used of a spatial departure: departure (Lk. 2:37; 4:13; 13:27; Acts 12:10; 15:38; 19:9; 2nd Cor. 12:8).
    2. In that departure (of the Church) the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the way.
    3. The man of lawlessness, son of destruction (Antichrist) will be revealed and enabled to work his program of Satanic miracles.
    4. God allows for a world-wide delusion enabling the man of sin’s lies to be effective.  Those who rejected the Gospel in the Dispensation of the Church are given over to the lie in the Age of Tribulation.
    5. The Lord puts an end to the man of lawlessness when He arrives at the 2nd Advent.
  5. Paul rejoices and gives thanks to God that the Thessalonians are born-again believers in the Dispensation of the Church, and are not subject to the coming Day of the Lord (2nd Thess. 2:13–17).

Second Thessalonians Chapter Three

  1. Paul urges the Thessalonians to pray for him and his companions, even as he prays for their perseverance (2nd Thess. 3:1-5).
  2. Paul also commands the Thessalonians to take action among themselves with respect to the unruly busybodies in their flock (2nd Thess. 3:6-15).
  3. Paul closed the letter with his hand-written greeting—a mark of authenticity for all Pauline epistles (2nd Thess. 3:16-18).