Read with Me
2 Thessalonians 2:5-8 (HCSB)
Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I told you about this? And you know what currently restrains him, so that he will be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth and will bring him to nothing with the brightness of His coming.
Listen with Me
Paul is not delivering a new teaching on the end times here. Instead, he is simply reminding the Thessalonians of what he consistently taught on the subject while he was with them. God’s plans for Jesus’ return are firmly established, and do not need to be amended based on current events.
It is important for God’s people to understand that even as the time of the end approaches, He is still in absolute control of all that happens. Some have taught that the enemy will have the upper hand as the time draws near, and that Jesus’ return is a desperate measure on God’s behalf to stop his advance. But that is far from the truth.
God’s timeline is never driven by desperation, or even by reaction to events. Instead, He is ultimately in control of all that happens, and He already knows everything that will happen and every tactic the enemy will employ. And He already has his response formulated, a response that has been planned since before he created the world and that will lead to His complete victory.
The reason that the final surge of the enemy, led by the man of lawlessness, hadn’t happened (and still hasn’t) is that God is holding it in check through His sovereign power. There is still much that needs to be done. There are still billions who have not yet heard the gospel and had a chance to receive it and be saved. As Jesus himself taught, the gospel of the kingdom must first be preached in the whole world, giving everyone a chance to respond, and only then will the end come (Matthew 24:14).
The bottom line is that the Thessalonians do not have to worry that Jesus had already come, and they missed it. And they don’t have to worry that before Jesus comes God will lose control of what is happening in the world and that evil will be completely in control, leaving him no choice but to send Jesus back to regain his hold on things.
Instead, they need to remember that God is in complete control, and He will be in complete control all the way to the end. When evil rises against God’s people, He is still in control, helping His people to stand firm and to deliver powerful, life transforming witness even in the midst of the persecutions they endure. And those times of persecution will enable them to reach people and places with the gospel that they would never be able to touch in any other way.
Pray with Me
Father, I have actually heard it taught that satan has gained complete rulership over the world, and for that reason things will just get worse and worse until Jesus finally comes to re exert your influence. But that does go completely against what You are saying to us here through Paul. In this section, we can understand that You still retain sovereign control over everything, even to this day. That means that You even allow evil to grow in some places solely in order to provide opportunities for us to expand the reach of Your gospel. And that understanding completely changes how we should see our times and our place in them. Keep my eyes fully open, Lord, to all You are doing and how You are working in the world today, so that I can work each day in Your power and in full accord with Your plan, all the way to the end. Amen.