01/16/21 PAUL GAVE US A PREVIEW

01/16/21 PAUL GAVE US A PREVIEW

During Tribulation, God will send strong delusion, so sinners will believe a lie and be damned. These days look like a preview.
(see passage below, with my brief notes dlg...).

 

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith grows exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other abounds;
dlg... it is fitting for us to thank God for you because of your growing faith and your great love for others.

4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
dlg... it is on account of your service and suffering for Christ that we know you are worthy of respect and honor.

6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
dlg...God will repay the oppressors of His children.

7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
dlg... don't get discouraged by Satan's attacks. God is going to unleash His vengeance on those who hurt His people.

9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
dlg... it won't be a slap on the wrist or a "time out in the corner." It will be eternal judgment.

10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
dlg... this will be at the return of Christ, when He comes back to sit on His millennial throne.

11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
dlg... we better be living our lives in submission to Him, for His honor and glory.

12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
dlg... the rapture and the return are going to happen.

2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
dlg... Christ is coming again, we can count on it. Don't be shaken by false teachers.

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
dlg... there is going to be a great falling away before He returns. Likewise, there will be a great catching away.

4 Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
dlg... The anti-Christ (the beast) will stand against God and be worshiped as if he is God.

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholds that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now lets will let, until he be taken out of the way.
dlg... It is the Holy Spirit of God that holds back the powers of darkness, the oppression of the anti-Christ. God is holding back the beast through His presence in the world through the Church. Once the Church is gone, the beast will have much more latitude.

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
dlg... Though the beast will be revealed after the Rapture, he will still be limited in his power by God. At the appointed time, God will defeat the devil and the beast.

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
dlg... The evil one will come with supernatural powers, misleading his human victims.

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
dlg... Those who refuse the light of salvation will be ensnared by the darkness of sin. The more ensnared they are, the more they will be deceived.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
dlg... Because people reject and refuse the beneficent offer of God they will be allowed to follow their deception to their own destruction.

13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.