“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us, asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. DON’T LET ANYONE DECEIVE YOU IN ANY WAY, for that day WILL NOT COME until the rebellion occurs and the MAN OF LAWLESSNESS IS REVEALED…He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he SETS HIMSELF UP IN GOD’S TEMPLE, PROCLAIMING HIMSELF TO BE GOD.” (2 Thess. 2:1-3)
There are many that read this and falsely teach, DECEPTIVELY, that we will see the anti-christ revealed! This is what the Thessalonica’s believed. So, Paul in writing this second epistle, explains, “And now you know what is HOLDING HIM (the anti-christ) BACK, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but THE ONE (the Holy Spirit in God’s church) who now HOLDS IT BACK will continue to do so till HE IS TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY. And THEN the lawless one will be revealed…” (2 Thess. 2:6-8) “…the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will RISE FIRST. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be CAUGHT UP (harpazō: catch away, “TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY”) TOGETHER with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will BE WITH THE LORD FOREVER.” (1 Thess. 4:16-17)
-Bill Stockham