Just a few months ago, people were predicting the end of the world on May 21st, 2011. When that didn’t happen, they pushed the start date for the end times to October 21st, 2011. That too has passed, and so now the latest reports have the big day coming December 12, 2012. I don’t know when the world will end. We’re reminded in Matthew 4:36 that not even the Son of God knows that, but only God the Father. So even if the world ends on December 12, 2012, whoever predicted it will have gotten it right for all the wrong reasons. It seems that we as a society have a preoccupation with what is coming. Some people worry because they want to get all their affairs in order. Others want to know what’s coming next. Indeed its easy for us to fall into the trap of be overly preoccupied with the end of the world. The truth is, Jesus IS coming again someday. Could be tomorrow, could be 1000 years from now. We need to be less preoccupied with the end of the world, and solely focused on the coming of the King. In Paul’s second letter to the church in Thessalonica, it was clear that they also struggled with having their focus on the wrong thing.
Read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
The Thessalonicans were worried. They were worried they had already missed the coming of the King. For some reason, this church was being easily deceived into believing that end of the world had come and they had missed it. Paul reminds them that this is not what they had heard preached from him when he had last been at this church. Paul’s reminder to them was that their primary defense against false teaching and being misled by others was to remember the Word that God had spoken to them. The moment they forgot these things, they quickly filled their hearts and minds with misleading theories. Take a moment to think about the things we fill our heads and hearts with. Are we easily misled by whatever new fad or teaching the word has to offer? Perhaps it’s because we have not rooted ourselves in the anchor that is the Word of God.
Paul also reminded them that the coming of the King would be accompanied by signs. Paul spends quite a few verses describing the man of lawlessness. This is a reference to the antichrist who will try to do his best to overthrow the kingdom of God. He is the embodiment of rebellion and all he does is in opposition to God and His kingdom. Now, Paul doesn’t tell us and the Thessalonicans this so that they will be afraid, but rather so they will be watchful. Paul wants them to be vigilant so they aren’t misled into believing what the Deceiver would have them believe. Again, their vigilance had to be rooted in their understanding of the Word of God. They had to guard that deposit. Are you guarding the deposit entrusted to you? Are you clinging to the Word of God and growing in your knowledge of them daily so that you can walk worthy?
Paul gives a sobering reminder that those who have been led astray by this man of lawlessness did so because they did not “believe the truth and had delighted in wickedness.” As you re-read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 spend some time asking God to help you be lovers of Him and lovers of the truth.
Dear God, help me to love you more each day. I want to grow in my knowledge of you both intellectually and experientially. Keep me from being led astray by whatever the world is telling me. Give me a thirst for your Word, that I might know you and make you known to the world that is in desperate need of you. Amen.
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