A FALSE NARRATIVE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today, we begin to look at the second chapter of Paul’s second letter to the church in Thessalonica. As we saw briefly in the first chapter and will see fully in this one, the focus of the Apostle’s message is on the second coming of Jesus.

To understand this, we first need to know that He departed. We find this in the first chapter of the Book of Acts:

On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, “Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. Vv.4-9

So Jesus ascended to Heaven and as we learn at the very end of Mark’s Gospel, He assumed a position seated at the right hand of His Father God:

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God (16:19).

There, Jesus still sits in authority over everything in Heaven and on earth.

“All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” Matthew 28:18

Okay, so we know where Jesus is based on the inerrant truth of the scriptures. But how do we know He is coming back?

Well, He told us so while He walked the earth.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:1-3

Jesus promised He would return for those who believed in Him, taking them to be where He is which we know is Heaven. And since Jesus is perfectly righteous, He doesn’t lie. Everything He says comes to be true and He has never broken a promise that He made.

With this, we know He is returning but here’s what we don’t know. We don’t know and won’t know the day when He will return. He said so Himself.

“About that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.” Mark 13:32

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.” Luke 12:35-40

Jesus is coming back and no one knows when that will be except God. Period.

So why go into all this?

Because there have been people falsely predicting the coming of Jesus or even professing He has already returned since He ascended. Yes, the issue goes all the way back to biblical times as we see in our passage for today from the opening verses of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Look again at these words of Paul:

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—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. Vv.1-3a

Friends, no matter how clear the scriptures are on any subject, you can bet that Satan is trying to twist the words or play on the free thinking of people to try and deceive and lead them astray. He’s been doing it for the ages and he is very skilled at what he does.

Take the Thessalonian church for example. It hadn’t been established long before some people started spreading false messages, ascribing them to Paul and his fellow missionaries, regarding Jesus’ return. The messages were around Jesus having already come which is what Paul is saying when he says, “The day of the Lord”.

Think how disturbing this would have been to the new Christians who were taught that Jesus would return to take them to Heaven just as He promised. If Jesus had already come and the Thessalonian believers were still on earth, then either they were unworthy of salvation or Jesus didn’t tell the truth. I think we can see that either thought would have been spiritually devastating. This is why Paul wanted to write this second letter to put the people at ease and to ward off the attempts to mislead. His urging was to now let anyone deceive them in any way.

Unfortunately, there are still people trying to sow seeds of deceit in Christian circles today. They will try and convince others that they have somehow calculated the exact day and time when Jesus will come back. Anyone who does this should be rebuked and rejected for they are in defiance of the very words of Jesus, the One returning. When He said that only God knew the day and time, He meant it and while we may know God some, we aren’t one with Him. So none of us knows what He knows and the scriptures don’t say He will inform anyone in advance of sending His Son back to judge all creation.

So what are we to do with this warning?

1. Turn to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God fully for understanding and discernment. You will never be led astray when you do this.

2. Rebut anyone who postures themselves as being in the know about something the Bible says they have no knowledge of. Again, the Holy Spirit and the scriptures will expose falsehood when we use them as intended.

3. Get to work for the cause of the Gospel with even more urgency as ever. Since no one knows the day or time of Christ’s concern, we should be expending total effort toward bringing the good news of salvation through Jesus to any and all people. It’s a better use of our time and energy than getting caught up in false messaging regarding Jesus’ return.

4. Be thankful and rejoice, knowing that Jesus will do what He said He would do, coming back for those who placed their belief in Him so to take them to where He is, our eternal home in Heaven.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.