Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Thessalonians 2:6-17 - The Father of Lies

Transcript

2 Thessalonians 2:6-17 - The Father of Lies · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

0:00
Speaker 1: Hi Faith for listeners, Welcome to the Bible explained on
0:02
Speaker 1: this lovely Tuesday morning. We're going to talk about the
0:05
Speaker 1: Antichrist today and what is holding him back from being
0:09
Speaker 1: revealed at this very moment. We'll talk about that in
0:12
Speaker 1: just a minute. So I just realized today that Advent
0:22
Speaker 1: is four weeks away. Less than four weeks away, actually,
0:26
Speaker 1: So if you know a teen girl in your life,
0:28
Speaker 1: whether it's your daughter or your niece or your friend's kid,
0:32
Speaker 1: you should get them the Adore Advent Devotional for teenage
0:35
Speaker 1: girls that I wrote. It's actually my favorite thing that
0:38
Speaker 1: I wrote. Shockingly enough, I really do enjoy it. I've
0:41
Speaker 1: gone through it with the youth group on several occasions
0:43
Speaker 1: and the kids really like it. You know. It's a
0:45
Speaker 1: four week study about what Advent is, and then there's
0:47
Speaker 1: different activities you can do associated with Advent for each week.
0:52
Speaker 1: So it's a fun little study and I think girls
0:54
Speaker 1: really like it. So please click the link in my
0:57
Speaker 1: bio that says books if you would like to order
1:00
Speaker 1: your Advent devotional in time for Advent. But let's go
1:04
Speaker 1: ahead and read a second Thessalonians two six through seventeen
1:08
Speaker 1: and finish out this chapter talking about the Antichrist and
1:11
Speaker 1: why he's being restrained. Right now, as per usual, I'll
1:15
Speaker 1: be reading from the web, but grab it your favorite
1:17
Speaker 1: version of the Bible, and also your cup of coffee
1:20
Speaker 1: this morning, or your cup of tea for you crazy
1:22
Speaker 1: tea drinkers, and let's go ahead and read all of
1:24
Speaker 1: this together. Now you know what is restraining him to
1:29
Speaker 1: the end that he may be revealed in his own season.
1:32
Speaker 1: For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is
1:35
Speaker 1: one who restrains now until he is taken out of
1:38
Speaker 1: the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom
1:41
Speaker 1: the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth,
1:43
Speaker 1: and destroyed by the manifestation of his coming, even he
1:46
Speaker 1: whose coming is according to the working of Satan, with
1:48
Speaker 1: all power and signs, and lying wonders, with all deception
1:52
Speaker 1: of wickedness. For those who are being lost because they
1:55
Speaker 1: didn't receive the love of the truth, that they might
1:57
Speaker 1: be saved. Because of this, God sends them powerful delusion
2:01
Speaker 1: that they should believe a lie, that they all might
2:03
Speaker 1: be judged who didn't believe the truth but had pleasure
2:06
Speaker 1: in unrighteousness. But we are bound to always give thanks
2:10
Speaker 1: to God for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, because
2:13
Speaker 1: God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification
2:16
Speaker 1: of the spirit and belief in the truth to which
2:19
Speaker 1: He called you through our good news, for the obtaining
2:22
Speaker 1: of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers,
2:25
Speaker 1: stand firm and hold the traditions which you were taught
2:28
Speaker 1: by us, whether by word or by letter. Now our
2:31
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, our Father, who loved
2:35
Speaker 1: us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,
2:38
Speaker 1: comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work
2:41
Speaker 1: and word. So if you didn't get a chance to
2:45
Speaker 1: listen to last week's episode I did about the anti Christ,
2:48
Speaker 1: I highly recommend that you go back and listen to
2:51
Speaker 1: that one, because you might be a little bit confused
2:53
Speaker 1: going into today's portion without reading the first part of
2:57
Speaker 1: Second Thessalonians too, because it's all about who, or rather what,
3:02
Speaker 1: the Antichrist is, and how Jesus's second coming is not
3:05
Speaker 1: going to happen until the Antichrist is revealed. But starting
3:09
Speaker 1: in verse six of our portion for today, it says,
3:13
Speaker 1: you know what is restraining him to the end that
3:15
Speaker 1: he may be revealed in his own season. So, as
3:19
Speaker 1: we talked about last week, Jesus is not going to
3:21
Speaker 1: come back until the Antichrist is revealed. Now that being said,
3:26
Speaker 1: something I didn't discuss on Thursday that I should probably
3:30
Speaker 1: bring up today is that there is some debate if
3:33
Speaker 1: Jesus's second coming is different from the Rapture. There's a
3:38
Speaker 1: lot of Christians that actually think that the Rapture is
3:40
Speaker 1: going to happen first, then the Antichrist and everything will
3:44
Speaker 1: happen after that, and then Jesus's second coming will take place.
3:50
Speaker 1: There is some scriptural evidence for that. However, I'm more
3:53
Speaker 1: in the camp that it all happens at one time,
3:57
Speaker 1: that the Antichrist and everything in the Book of revel
4:00
Speaker 1: happens before Jesus's second coming and before the rapture. That's
4:06
Speaker 1: my personal belief. But there are a lot of Christians
4:09
Speaker 1: that believe that the rapture is different from Jesus's second coming.
4:13
Speaker 1: So that being said, there is a possibility that the
4:16
Speaker 1: Church is raptured before the Antichrist even happens. Okay, but
4:22
Speaker 1: based upon verse six, we know that the Antichrist is
4:26
Speaker 1: being restrained and that he's going to be revealed in
4:29
Speaker 1: his own season. There are two things we can talk
4:33
Speaker 1: about there, what is restraining the Antichrist and also how
4:37
Speaker 1: can the Antichrist be restrained way back in the days
4:42
Speaker 1: of Paul if the Antichrist hasn't even happened yet. But
4:46
Speaker 1: let's talk about what is restraining the Antichrist first. There's
4:51
Speaker 1: a lot of different beliefs on this. The first belief
4:54
Speaker 1: is that the Church is restraining the Antichrist. The Church
4:58
Speaker 1: is holding the anti christ Christ back from being revealed.
5:02
Speaker 1: And the only way the Antichrist can be revealed is
5:05
Speaker 1: when the Church is taken out of the picture via
5:09
Speaker 1: the rapture. So when Jesus comes again and the rapture happens,
5:13
Speaker 1: that is when the Antichrist will be revealed right after that.
5:17
Speaker 1: The second belief is that the Antichrist is being restrained
5:20
Speaker 1: by the Gospel message itself, and that's talked about in
5:24
Speaker 1: Matthew twenty four, verse thirteen and fourteen. He who endures
5:31
Speaker 1: to the end will be saved. This good news of
5:33
Speaker 1: the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for
5:36
Speaker 1: a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
5:40
Speaker 1: Now those are Jesus's own words. So that's what a
5:42
Speaker 1: lot of people think is holding back the Antichrist from
5:46
Speaker 1: being revealed now is just the Gospel message. It hasn't
5:49
Speaker 1: been proclaimed to all the nations yet, not every single
5:52
Speaker 1: person has heard the Gospel message. So if that's the case,
5:57
Speaker 1: the Antichrist can't be revealed yet. The end has not
6:00
Speaker 1: come yet. And there's some other beliefs as well as
6:03
Speaker 1: to what is holding the Antichrist back. For example, some
6:05
Speaker 1: people think it might be angels like Michael the Archangel
6:09
Speaker 1: or something like that. But I think the most common
6:13
Speaker 1: understanding of this, and also most logical understanding, is that
6:18
Speaker 1: God himself is holding the Antichrist back. When Jesus was
6:23
Speaker 1: walking the earth, he walked it for about thirty two
6:27
Speaker 1: years before he was killed, and how many times did
6:30
Speaker 1: he say to as disciples He was like, my time
6:33
Speaker 1: has not yet come. He was telling his disciples, it
6:37
Speaker 1: is not time for me to die yet, that time
6:39
Speaker 1: is yet to come. And then finally, when it was
6:42
Speaker 1: time for him to die, he said to his disciples,
6:44
Speaker 1: my time has come. There's a verse in Ecclesiastes that
6:49
Speaker 1: says there's a time for everything under the sun. So
6:54
Speaker 1: the obvious answer is that God the Father is holding
6:57
Speaker 1: back the Antichrist from being revealed until his time is right,
7:03
Speaker 1: and only God the Father knows when that time is
7:05
Speaker 1: going to be, So the Antichrist is still being held
7:10
Speaker 1: back to this day, both in Paul's day and today
7:14
Speaker 1: as well. We do not know who the Antichrist is yet.
7:18
Speaker 1: So all that being said, how if the Antichrist is
7:22
Speaker 1: like one individual, how is he being restrained for two
7:26
Speaker 1: thousand years? Like, is this guy some sort of immortal?
7:29
Speaker 1: Well no, I mean the obvious answer is that the
7:32
Speaker 1: Antichrist in and of itself is Satan. And Satan, as
7:37
Speaker 1: we understand him, is kind of like an immortal that
7:40
Speaker 1: we know of. So yes, Satan has been alive in
7:43
Speaker 1: the times of Paul, and he's alive nowadays wreaking just
7:47
Speaker 1: as much havoc as he always has. So Satan is
7:50
Speaker 1: probably going to possess a person in the future, and
7:54
Speaker 1: that person possessed by Satan will become the Antichrist. Now
7:59
Speaker 1: I don't know person. If Satan is going to be
8:02
Speaker 1: one individual or if he is going to be an
8:05
Speaker 1: organization of people, I don't know. I haven't done enough
8:08
Speaker 1: research on that to fully say for sure. Christians throughout
8:13
Speaker 1: the years have believed both things. For example, Martin Luther
8:18
Speaker 1: famously believed that the papacy, the organization itself, was the Antichrist,
8:25
Speaker 1: whereas other famous Christians believe that the Antichrist is going
8:29
Speaker 1: to be like a world leader or a politician of
8:31
Speaker 1: some sort. So I don't really know. We don't know
8:34
Speaker 1: who the Antichrist is going to be. But we do
8:36
Speaker 1: know that the Antichrist is going to be inhabited by
8:40
Speaker 1: Satan himself. And this is what Paul talks about here
8:43
Speaker 1: in verse seven, for the mystery of lawlessness already works.
8:48
Speaker 1: Only there is one who restrains now until he is
8:50
Speaker 1: taken out of the way. You know, you and I
8:53
Speaker 1: we have a limited understanding of demonic powers and the
8:58
Speaker 1: inner workings of sin and you know, spiritual things. We
9:02
Speaker 1: you know, we understand it somewhat because we have what
9:05
Speaker 1: God has given us in the Bible. But it's still
9:07
Speaker 1: kind of a mystery to us, you know, like we
9:10
Speaker 1: really don't know what's going on behind the scenes. You know,
9:14
Speaker 1: Paul talks about it. He says, we're not fighting a
9:17
Speaker 1: flesh and blood battle. We're fighting against principalities and spiritual forces.
9:24
Speaker 1: And like darkness, we're fighting a battle that we can't
9:27
Speaker 1: see us individual Christians, So we kind of understand spiritual warfare.
9:32
Speaker 1: We know it exists, but it's still a mystery to us.
9:36
Speaker 1: So this mystery of lawlessness that Paul talks about here
9:39
Speaker 1: is going to someday be revealed, like God is going
9:44
Speaker 1: to reveal it, and it's no longer going to be
9:47
Speaker 1: a mystery. I think a lot of Christians have this
9:51
Speaker 1: fear that if the Antichrist is revealed in their lifetime,
9:56
Speaker 1: that they're going to accidentally fall for him, that they're
9:58
Speaker 1: going to, unbeknownst to them, go get the Mark of
10:02
Speaker 1: the Beast and not realize that their soul is like
10:05
Speaker 1: doomed forever because they start following the Antichrist and got
10:08
Speaker 1: the mark of the Beast. That is not the case.
10:11
Speaker 1: This mystery of lawlessness which exists now is going to
10:15
Speaker 1: be shown to everyone. We're gonna see it. You know,
10:20
Speaker 1: the Mark of the Beast that I've talked about a
10:21
Speaker 1: few times throughout the episodes. That mark is going to
10:25
Speaker 1: be an incentive for people. They're going to want it
10:29
Speaker 1: because it's going to give them something that they desire.
10:32
Speaker 1: That's how the Antichrist is going to work. People will
10:36
Speaker 1: know that this guy is bad news, but they will
10:39
Speaker 1: choose to be deceived by him because they want what
10:42
Speaker 1: he has. You know, I'm going through the Book of
10:44
Speaker 1: Jeremiah right now, and it's really eye opening. In fact,
10:48
Speaker 1: if you want to understand a little bit more about
10:50
Speaker 1: end times and how people will react. I think the
10:54
Speaker 1: Book of Jeremiah is very telling because the entire premise
10:57
Speaker 1: of Jeremiah is this poor prophet named Jeremiah just can't
11:02
Speaker 1: catch a break. He's being told by God. Go to
11:05
Speaker 1: the people and tell them that they are sinning, tell
11:07
Speaker 1: them that Babylon is at their doorstep, tell them that
11:11
Speaker 1: the city is going to be burned down with fire
11:13
Speaker 1: if they do not turn away from their evil ways
11:16
Speaker 1: and stop listening to their false prophets. So Jeremiah would
11:19
Speaker 1: go to all of these gatherings and these meetings, and
11:21
Speaker 1: he would tell the kings and these false prophets and
11:25
Speaker 1: anybody else that would listen, that Israel is going to
11:27
Speaker 1: be destroyed if they don't change their ways. But the
11:30
Speaker 1: people would be like, we don't believe you. We want
11:34
Speaker 1: to believe our false prophets because we like what they say.
11:39
Speaker 1: To us. You're saying bad things, Jeremiah. You are telling
11:43
Speaker 1: us bad, evil things that we don't want to hear.
11:45
Speaker 1: So we're going to listen to the prophets that tell
11:47
Speaker 1: us exactly what we want to hear. And that's essentially
11:50
Speaker 1: what they would say to Jeremiah. They'd be like, no,
11:52
Speaker 1: we don't like you because you say mean things. We're
11:54
Speaker 1: going to listen to the guy that says nice things.
11:56
Speaker 1: That's how people will react at the end days as well.
12:00
Speaker 1: They're going to want what the Antichrist gives them, whether
12:04
Speaker 1: it's power or money, or fame or incentives of some sort,
12:10
Speaker 1: they're going to want that. So they're going to choose
12:13
Speaker 1: to not listen to the truth. And that's what Paul
12:17
Speaker 1: talks about right here. The lawless one will be revealed,
12:21
Speaker 1: whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth,
12:23
Speaker 1: and destroyed by the manifestation of his coming. Even he
12:26
Speaker 1: who's coming is according to the working of Satan, with
12:28
Speaker 1: all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all
12:32
Speaker 1: deception of wickedness. For those who are being lost because
12:35
Speaker 1: they didn't receive the love of the Truth, that they
12:38
Speaker 1: might be saved because of this God sends them a
12:42
Speaker 1: powerful delusion that they should believe a lie, that they
12:47
Speaker 1: all might be judged who didn't believe the truth but
12:50
Speaker 1: had pleasure in unrighteousness. It actually says he's going to
12:54
Speaker 1: be able to perform lying signs and wonders and miracles
12:59
Speaker 1: of some sort. No matter what this guy does, the
13:02
Speaker 1: Christians who truly believe in God will not be deceived.
13:07
Speaker 1: Now you might be like, well, Jenet says in Matthew
13:10
Speaker 1: twenty four that he might deceive the chosen ones. Well,
13:15
Speaker 1: let's actually read that verse Matthew twenty four, twenty three
13:20
Speaker 1: and twenty four. Here's what Jesus says regarding the Antichrist.
13:24
Speaker 1: If any man tells you, behold, here is the Christ,
13:27
Speaker 1: or there don't believe it, For false Christs and false
13:30
Speaker 1: prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and
13:33
Speaker 1: wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the
13:37
Speaker 1: chosen ones. Notice that phrase Jesus uses, if possible, even
13:43
Speaker 1: the chosen ones. So I think that means that the
13:46
Speaker 1: anti Christ he's going to try. He is absolutely going
13:50
Speaker 1: to try to deceive the Christians, if at all possible.
13:55
Speaker 1: And some Christians who may be Christian in name only
14:00
Speaker 1: might fall for him, might be deceived, might really like
14:03
Speaker 1: what he has to offer. But the Christians who are
14:06
Speaker 1: grounded in truth are not going to be deceived by
14:10
Speaker 1: this guy. That's what Paul says right here. The only
14:15
Speaker 1: ones that are going to be deceived are the ones
14:17
Speaker 1: who did not love the truth. That's what he says
14:20
Speaker 1: in verse ten, because they didn't receive the love of
14:24
Speaker 1: the truth that they might be saved. That's why you
14:28
Speaker 1: have to ground yourself, right, That's why you have to
14:30
Speaker 1: read the Bible. The Bible is the truth. So when
14:33
Speaker 1: all of this eventually happens, the Antichrist is not going
14:37
Speaker 1: to have power over your soul. And this is all
14:41
Speaker 1: a warning, you know, to Christians and to non Christians alike,
14:45
Speaker 1: that we should be on guard. We should be careful
14:48
Speaker 1: because it is possible that the Antichrist is revealed in
14:51
Speaker 1: our lifetime, but it is possible the rapture is before that,
14:54
Speaker 1: and we don't have to worry about the Antichrist at all.
14:57
Speaker 1: But it's better to be safe than sorry, better to
15:00
Speaker 1: be on guard, making sure we ground ourselves in truth
15:03
Speaker 1: every single day rather than fall for the lies of Satan.
15:08
Speaker 1: Because that's all this is going to be. It's all
15:10
Speaker 1: going to be a bunch of lies. You know. Satan
15:12
Speaker 1: he can offer people very surface level things, but he
15:18
Speaker 1: can't offer them the truth. He is the father of lies.
15:22
Speaker 1: So if all he can do is a lie, people
15:25
Speaker 1: who are grounded in the truth are going to see
15:28
Speaker 1: through those lies. Now, the other point that I want
15:32
Speaker 1: to make here is that the Antichrist is not here
15:37
Speaker 1: to judge Christians, like, this is not some sort of
15:40
Speaker 1: punishment on Christians. Paul actually says that this is a
15:44
Speaker 1: punishment for the people who actually worship the Antichrist. That's
15:49
Speaker 1: what it says. Because of this, God sends them a
15:52
Speaker 1: powerful delusion that they should believe a lie, believe in
15:56
Speaker 1: the Antichrist, that they might be judged who didn't believe
16:00
Speaker 1: the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The people who
16:06
Speaker 1: believe in the Antichrist, they're going to be happy that
16:09
Speaker 1: they do. They are going to want it. You know.
16:12
Speaker 1: I was talking with my mom recently. We were kind
16:15
Speaker 1: of discussing this topic, and she told me, she's like,
16:18
Speaker 1: you know what, Jen, I think God gives people exactly
16:21
Speaker 1: what they want. And I've talked about that concept before.
16:24
Speaker 1: On the podcast where we discussed Pharaoh and how God
16:28
Speaker 1: hardened Pharaoh's heart. But the one thing people never remember
16:33
Speaker 1: when it comes to the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is
16:36
Speaker 1: that Pharaoh had four chances to believe the truth before
16:41
Speaker 1: God hardened his heart, and Pharaoh was already hardening his
16:48
Speaker 1: own heart before God just did it himself. Pharaoh got
16:53
Speaker 1: chance after chance. And that's the other thing about the
16:55
Speaker 1: Book of Jeremiah that's been very eye opening. You know,
16:58
Speaker 1: God was giving the people prophet sees for a couple
17:03
Speaker 1: decades before Babylon even came into the city, and yet
17:08
Speaker 1: the people refused to listen, just time after time. They're like, no,
17:12
Speaker 1: we don't want these prophecies. We don't like these prophecies.
17:16
Speaker 1: God was giving them chance after chance to turn away
17:19
Speaker 1: from their sin to follow after the truth, but they
17:22
Speaker 1: refused to do it. And I think God's going to
17:25
Speaker 1: do the same exact thing in the end days as well,
17:29
Speaker 1: because the prophets are going to come back. Is what
17:33
Speaker 1: it says in Joel chapter two. When this is a
17:35
Speaker 1: minor prophet in the Old Testament Joel two twenty eight
17:38
Speaker 1: through thirty one, here's what it says. It will happen afterward,
17:42
Speaker 1: that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh,
17:45
Speaker 1: and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old
17:48
Speaker 1: men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions,
17:51
Speaker 1: and also on the servants and on the handmaids. In
17:53
Speaker 1: those days I will pour out my spirit. I will
17:56
Speaker 1: show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood,
17:59
Speaker 1: fire and pillars of smoke. The sun will be turned
18:02
Speaker 1: into darkness, the moon into blood. Before the great and
18:05
Speaker 1: terrible Day of Yahweh comes, it will happen that whoever
18:09
Speaker 1: will call on Yahweh's name shall be saved. For in
18:12
Speaker 1: Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, there will be those who escape, for,
18:15
Speaker 1: as Yahweh said, among the remnant those whom Yahweh calls.
18:20
Speaker 1: So this entire chapter of Joel is actually talking about
18:23
Speaker 1: the end days, which it's a really good read if
18:26
Speaker 1: you're curious about more things that happen in the end days.
18:29
Speaker 1: But that is very clear that when all of this
18:33
Speaker 1: takes place, God is going to pour out his spirit
18:37
Speaker 1: on his people, and these prophets are going to come
18:40
Speaker 1: back and they're going to try to warn people that
18:44
Speaker 1: end times are coming, that the Antichrist is coming, that
18:47
Speaker 1: bad things are taking place, that the day of the
18:49
Speaker 1: Lord is coming, and they need to turn away from
18:52
Speaker 1: their sin and actually follow after Jesus, follow the truth.
18:55
Speaker 1: God says, he himself is going to show the people's
18:58
Speaker 1: signs in the sky, and like there's going to be
19:01
Speaker 1: blood and fire and pillars of smoke and darkness, and
19:05
Speaker 1: the moon's going to turn into blood. Really crazy things
19:07
Speaker 1: are going to happen. And God is doing this not
19:10
Speaker 1: to judge the people, but to show them that things
19:13
Speaker 1: are happening, that the day of the Lord is nearby.
19:16
Speaker 1: And that reminds me of the Book of Jeremiah where
19:19
Speaker 1: Jeremiah was telling the people turn away, and the people
19:23
Speaker 1: just refused. They didn't want to see any signs, they
19:25
Speaker 1: didn't want to hear any prophecies. They just want to
19:27
Speaker 1: believe their delusion that they were safe inside of Jerusalem.
19:32
Speaker 1: That's how it's going to be at the end days
19:33
Speaker 1: as well. And you might be like, well, Jen, how
19:35
Speaker 1: do you rectify all of this with the fact that
19:38
Speaker 1: Jesus says, we don't know the day or the hour
19:40
Speaker 1: of his return, Like if the Antichrist is revealed and
19:43
Speaker 1: all these signs are happening, and you know, people are
19:47
Speaker 1: prophesying saying that the Antichrist is coming, the day of
19:50
Speaker 1: the Lord is coming. Doesn't that kind of prove that
19:53
Speaker 1: we will know when Jesus comes back again, will know
19:56
Speaker 1: because still we don't know the timeline of all these things.
20:00
Speaker 1: We don't know how long anything is going to take.
20:03
Speaker 1: Jesus did say, you're going to see the signs and
20:06
Speaker 1: know that my return is extremely close, Like the prophecies
20:11
Speaker 1: are going to start making way more sense in the
20:13
Speaker 1: Book of Revelation. Things will be revealed, and at that
20:17
Speaker 1: point the Christians will know that their salvation is very near,
20:21
Speaker 1: that Jesus's return is imminent. But we're still not going
20:24
Speaker 1: to know the day or the hour or the timeline
20:27
Speaker 1: of any of these things taking place. And I talked
20:29
Speaker 1: about that on the previous episode where I said, no,
20:32
Speaker 1: we're not going to know Jesus's hour of return, but
20:36
Speaker 1: we are going to know the signs. The signs are
20:39
Speaker 1: going to be very evident to us, and these signs
20:43
Speaker 1: will take place, is what God says. So to conclude
20:46
Speaker 1: this chapter, in verses thirteen through seventeen, here's what Paul says.
20:50
Speaker 1: We are bound to always give thanks to God for you,
20:53
Speaker 1: brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from
20:56
Speaker 1: the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the spirit and
21:00
Speaker 1: belief in the truth. So there it is right there.
21:02
Speaker 1: You know. The Thessalonians actually believed that the day of
21:06
Speaker 1: the Lord had already come, and that was why Paul
21:09
Speaker 1: wrote this letter, was because he was setting them straight,
21:11
Speaker 1: being like, no, the day of the Lord has not come,
21:13
Speaker 1: and it won't happen until these things take place. Right,
21:18
Speaker 1: So he tells them, you guys, understand the truth. You
21:21
Speaker 1: know the truth, so don't be deceived, and don't be
21:24
Speaker 1: afraid thinking that you haven't been raptured with the rest
21:28
Speaker 1: of the church or something, or that the day of
21:29
Speaker 1: the Lord has already happened. Don't be deceived by these things,
21:32
Speaker 1: and don't be afraid. You know the truth. Just stand
21:35
Speaker 1: firm on the truth. And he says, he called you
21:38
Speaker 1: through our good news for obtaining the glory of our
21:41
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ. So he's setting their entire fears at ease.
21:46
Speaker 1: He's like, you believe in the truth. You've been called
21:49
Speaker 1: you are going to obtain the glory of our Lord
21:52
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. So don't be afraid of these things. So then,
21:56
Speaker 1: brothers verse fifteen, stand firm and hold the traditions which
22:00
Speaker 1: you were taught by us, whether by word or by letter.
22:03
Speaker 1: So Church, stand firm in the truth. Then verse sixteen. Now,
22:08
Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, our Father, who
22:12
Speaker 1: loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope
22:14
Speaker 1: through grace, comfort your hearts, and establish you in every
22:18
Speaker 1: good work and word. So Paul prays for the church.
22:22
Speaker 1: He says, God, please give this church eternal comfort and
22:27
Speaker 1: good hope through your abundant grace, Comfort their hearts, and
22:32
Speaker 1: establish them in every good work and word. And he
22:36
Speaker 1: ends with that prayer because he knew the Thessalonian Christians
22:39
Speaker 1: needed it, so he prays for them. And that's what
22:42
Speaker 1: I'm going to pray for all of you guys as well.
22:44
Speaker 1: You know, I don't really pray on this podcast very often,
22:47
Speaker 1: but I feel called to, so, Heavenly Father, please bless
22:50
Speaker 1: the listeners of this podcast. You love them so much,
22:53
Speaker 1: so please give them eternal comfort and good hope through
22:57
Speaker 1: your grace. Comfort each individual heart, and establish them in
23:04
Speaker 1: whatever work that they are going to do. In Jesus's name, Amen,
23:10
Speaker 1: faithful listeners will be in the last chapter of Second
23:12
Speaker 1: Thessalonians on Thursday, so I hope to see all of
23:14
Speaker 1: you guys then six am or whenever you choose to
23:17
Speaker 1: wake up and listen until Thursday. Happy listening and God
23:21
Speaker 1: bless