Tasting the Day of the Lord -- Safely

Normal Christianity in Extreme Times – 2 Thessalonians Series – Part 4

What needs to happen before Jesus comes again, and why should we care?

(2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 19, 2013)

[2:1] 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.

We have been considering together what normal Christianity is. It certainly includes a healthy awareness of the coming return of Christ. But not all thinking about the day of the Lord is healthy. Some ideas need to be rejected. One of the worst of these wrong ideas is the claim that the day of the Lord has already come. A version of this wrong idea that is too easy to swallow is that the foretastes that we have of final justice and mercy are actually all that there is, and that it will only be through the church's gradual progress in obedience that the new world will come. Like all powerful lies, there is some truth in it. We are involved in the work of the kingdom of God right now, but we cannot reduce the return of the Lord to a minor event. When Jesus returns, all of His children will be with Him. That kingdom that is currently in the heavens will come down upon the earth with a greater work of renewal by far than anything we have ever known. What we see now is not all there is. Do not be moved by the lies of men. Heaven is real and it is coming down upon the earth in the return of Christ with all His saints and angels.

[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.

But are there signs of that great day that would help us to think rightly about the time in which we live? Are the extreme times that that world is facing now an indication that the end is very near? First, remember what Peter says in 1 Peter 4:7, “The end of all things is at hand.” Since the days when the New Testament was written, the return of Christ has been imminent. Not only that, none of us knows how long our lives may be, but the Scriptures everywhere encourage us to consider this fading life as very brief.

Paul does give the church two helpful markers that must first be seen before the final day comes. 1- There will be an unprecedented apostasy (doctrinal and moral rebellion) in the church. 2- A worse-than-ever “man of lawlessness/son of destruction” will be revealed who will oppose every god and demand the worship of the church, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Men like Napoleon and Hitler gave us a hint of this in former days. Yet the day of the Lord has not yet come.

Put the Word to Work: Your best defense against apostasy: The Lord Himself and a life of joyful worship in His presence. That is the only safe way to taste the day of the Lord now.

Singing Psalm 27:5 from Trinity Psalter

When troubles fill my day, / When fears and dangers throng, / Securely hid I'll stay / In His pavilion strong. / He'll hide me in His tent always; / And high upon a rock me raise.

A Second Thessalonians Hymn – Verse 4 (Louisville, SM)

The coming of the Lord

Is our hope every day.

With shouts of joy we sing to Him

Unmoved by what men say— Unmoved by what men say.