Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2:6-12
Sermon notes
Stabilizing truth for the last days, Pt2 2Thess 2:6-12
Apostasy is already at work and must develop until a certain point before Christ can return. That point is the emergence of the man of sin as described v3-4.
Without a Biblical attitude to this apostasy and the events leading up to the return of Christ, God’s people will suffer instability. It had already shown itself in the Thessalonian believers who had been deceived leading to them being shaken and troubled, v2.
As Paul describes the development of apostasy it is clear that it is not a random or chance process. It is a tightly controlled process!
I THE POWER THAT RESTRAINS APOSTASY.
1. God’s people are to know this, v6. Here is a simple truth that will greatly aid the stability of the saints! They did know this already, v5-6, and yet clearly had forgotten the impact of this truth.
2. God restrains the development of apostasy to conform to His timeline. There is a time appointed by God in which the man of sin will ‘emerge from the midst’, v7—rather than taken out of the way. There is an illustration of this restraint given in Zech 5:5-11. History also illustrates the working of God to prune back rampant apostasy, Gen 6:11-13, 11:1-9. There is a timeline underlying the purpose of God revealed in Scripture. Cp Mark 13:32. The emergence of the man of sin is a key point in human history at which the Divine calendar becomes visible again—3.5 years to go!
3. This control is exercised right up till the point of Christ’s return. There is never a time in this age that things are out of control! That is the end to which all the forces of apostasy and sin are being overridden by God!
II GOD’S CONTROL DETERMINES THE EMERGENCE OF THE ANTICHRIST TO HIS DESTRUCTION.
The rise and fall of the Antichrist is completely under Divine control. Notice the things that God controls:
1. The Antichrist personally, v8. The life, rebellious defiance and downfall of this one man is ordered by God. His political rise; the kingdom he rises in; the political/military confederacies and intrigues that surround his rise; his destruction; all have been charted by God. Cp Dan 7:24-27, 8:23-26, 11:30-36.
2. The working of Satan through Antichrist, v9. All of the devil’s power exercised in deceit and unrighteousness is subservient to the power of God. The power, signs and miracles designed to promote the devil’s lie, are all under Divine control. The time of this activity is described in Rev 12:7-17. Satan is confined to the earth, v8. He has a severely limited time to act, v12. His torment of the people of God has a strictly limited effect, v14.
3. All who support the devilish agenda of the Antichrist, v11. The sovereign work of God is seen in the lives of all who side with him. The appeal exercised by the Antichrist is under the control of God! Cp Rev 13:8.
III GOD OVERRULES WITH MAGISTERIAL POWER IN THE LIVES OF THE WICKED MEN WHO SIDE WITH APOSTASY AND ANTICHRIST.
1. God sends delusion. He gives them up to believe a lie! The lie is effectual in their experience. Cp Is 19:14, Jer 4:10, John 12:37-41.
2. Damnation, v12. They are ‘condemned/judged’. God sits as Judge in this matter! These men cannot escape the jurisdiction of Divine law and enforcement of that law. This is the end of the course chosen by the followers of apostasy and of Antichrist. This truth stabilizes God’s people. Cp Rev 13:9-10.
3. The cause of these judgments:
They believed not the truth. They rejected the truth and embraced the lie. Men are responsible for their own spiritual choices. When sinners reject the truth they can be given up by God to that choice.
They delighted in unrighteousness, v12. A positive appetite for wickedness leads men to ruinous conflict with God that can only end in one way—destruction.