2 Thessalonians 2; Psalm 103:1-12

2 Thessalonians 2
Apparently there had been some misunderstandings among the Thessalonians about what Paul taught in his first letter. Also, some false teachers were at work there claiming to have seen visions and even claiming to have another letter from Paul. Some were even saying that the Lord had already come back. All this was untrue, and the believers were shaken and alarmed. Paul is setting the record straight here about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells them not to be fooled.

The Day of the Lord will not come until

• there is a great rebellion against God
• the "man of lawlessness" is revealed. This is the Antichrist.
• He will bring destruction.
• He will exalt himself.
• He will defy everything that people call god and every object of worship.
• He will even sit in the temple of God, and
• He will claim that he himself is God.  vv. 3-4
• He will do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. v. 9
• He will use every kind of deception to fool those who have refused to be saved, and they will believe him. v. 10-12

vv. 5-8 teaches us that something is holding all this back. This passage does not specifically tell us what that something is, but one view is that it is the presence of the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer. The Holy Spirit will be gone from this earth at the rapture of the Church when Jesus comes to take all believers to heaven with Him. See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Then the Antichrist will be revealed, and total lawlessness and violence will be the result. We should not be panicked by this because, as believers, we will not be here to witness it, And best of all, ultimately the Lord Jesus will destroy him.

In the final verses of this chapter, Paul brings us back to the Gospel. He reminds the Thessalonians that God loves them, and this applies to us as well. God loves us. He saved us by drawing us to Himself through the Holy Spirit, and we believed the truth about Jesus' sacrificial death for us. With this in mind we must "stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching" given to us by Paul and others in the Scriptures. And then Paul prayed this, "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say." vv/ 16-17

Psalm 103:1-12
This psalm speaks of God's great love for us, just as we saw in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians!
We should praise Him with our whole heart and being as we remember all the good things He does for us.

• He forgives our sins
• Heals our diseases
• Redeems us from death
• Crowns us with love and tender mercies
• Fills our lives with good things
• Renews our youth--hurrah for that!
• Gives righteousness and justice to those who are treated unfairly.
• He is compassionate and merciful
• He is slow to get angry
• He is filled with unfailing love
• He doesn't deal with us as we deserve
• His unfailing love toward those who fear him is a great as the height of the heavens above the earth. v. 11
• He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. v. 12  Think about that. He will never remember our sins against us! Jesus paid for them all!

So much to think about in those first 12 verses. The rest is "to be continued!"