The Second Coming and Sensationalism!

After a talk about the Second Coming of Christ, one young man said to me, “I wish you wouldn’t preach about that subject. It terrifies me!” Either by mis-communication or misunderstanding, he is missing the point. In most of the passages where the Scripture teaches us about the Second Coming, there is a strong emphasis on the comfort we should derive from the Promise! "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, NLT)

Another person’s honesty refreshed me when they said, “It’s such a far-fetched idea, I refuse to spend much time thinking about it.” Yes, to our rational minds, the idea of Jesus coming back to earth may be a challenging idea, but is it any less a faith matter than trusting in the Cross of Christ for our salvation or believing in the hope of the Resurrection? Admittedly, Bible prophecy is a difficult subject. Never the less, it is an important one! If we ‘rightly divide the Word of Truth,’ the doctrine of Christ’s return should not terrify those who are living in obedience to the Word and in the life of the Spirit.

While there is a great deal of opinion about the exact sequence of events that surround the return of the Lord, the core fact is explicitly taught in the Scripture. One cannot be a serious student of the Bible or of the life of Jesus Christ and ignore the promise of His return! Both the Jewish prophets and the Christian teachers insisted that history is marching towards the “Day of the Lord,” a fixed time when all things would be brought to judgement, when God would write - “the End” to the story began at Creation! So, I am compelled by faithfulness to the Word and by the desire to have us live in the peace of the Lord, to preach the Truth of His Coming.

TEXT - 2 Thess. 2 PB 1843

This chapter is fascinating and difficult. It is grabs our attention with strong words of promise and warning. It is difficult in referring to previous teachings that are now lost to us. So what does it have to say to you and me?

READ v. 1-2

First of all - Don’t let false teachers unsettle or deceive you!

Since the days of the apostles, there have been erroneous and false teachings about the Coming of the Lord.

• In A.D.135, a man named Montanus proclaimed that the New Jerusalem would soon descend from heaven to earth and land in what is now Turkey. He was wrong.

• About 100 years after that, a historian named Hippolytus records that a Bishop convinced his followers to sell all their possessions and follow him into the wilderness because the Lord was on His way. He was wrong, and his followers were left homeless and hungry.

• At the end of the first millennium, the year 999, “End Time” fever swept the Christian world. Many Christians were sure the thousand-year-mark would be the time of Christ’s return.

• At the time of colonial America, there were various Christian groups who came from Europe hoping to found a new society that would usher in the End Times and prepare for the coming of the Lord and His Kingdom!

• During the 1800's America was filled with interest in the Second Coming. Around 1830, a preacher in England named Darby, introduced the idea of two events both often called ‘the Second Coming.’ First, he said, Jesus would come in the clouds to call away all true Believers from the earth, then some time later, most likely 7 years later, Christ would return in glory! That first appearing is now called “the Rapture” and is part of the doctrine of our fellowship. Darby’s doctrines are noted in the popular Scofield Study Bible.

A farmer from New York State named William Miller predicted the Rapture would occur on March 21, 1842. He revised the date to April 3, 1843. He never gave up setting dates for the Rapture and the Second Coming right up to the time of his own death. Despite his wrong predictions, out of the teachings of the Millerites several groups emerged that persist to this day including the 7th day Adventists.

• Date-setting did not stop in the 1800’s. Hal Lindsey, who in 1970 published the best-seller - The Late Great Planet Earth- taught that Christ would come within 40 years of the time Israel became a nation in 1948. The forty years was up in 1988. I still believe that much of what Lindsey wrote was solid, but he erred by offering a date.

Over the last decade, millions read the “Left Behind” series of novels. These books, which claim to be based on the Bible’s timeline of events in the Last Days, are entertaining, but it would be a mistake to build Christian doctrine on works of fiction!

• Jack Van Impe (a TV evangelist) said he believed Christ would come back in 2012, but allows that the range of dates could fall between 2008 and 2013.

Quotes from - K. Edward Skidmore, sermoncentral.com

If you go online and do a Google search using the phrase, “The Rapture of the Church” you will get back over 100,000 references! With so much speculation, it is easy to see why some Believers become unsettled or deceived!

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Second - Sin and lawlessness will increase as we approach the Lord’s Return!

READ v. 3-12

"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, the man doomed to destruction.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, NIV)

This verse is so key, let me read it from a couple of translations:

● "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;" (2 Thessalonians 2:3, KJV) |

● "Don’t fall for any line like that. Before that day comes, a couple of things have to happen. First, the Apostasy. Second, the debut of the Anarchist, a real dog of Satan." (2 Thessalonians 2:3, The Message)

Two things will certainly happen prior to Jesus’ coming again.

The first is a general rebellion!

The word in the NT is one that includes both political and spiritual meanings. The world into which Jesus will come will be marked by a rejection of authority and Truth. The Self-worship that is the hallmark of American culture today makes me wonder if we might be seeing this word fulfilled.

At no time has a society become so enthralled with individual rights and freedom as we Americans. That’s not all bad! Freedom is a wonderful thing. But, today freedom is twisted into a strange idea that each of us has the right to live exactly as we please, that our personal happiness trumps all other obligations.

People divorce spouses and break up families for no better reason than “I have to be happy and follow my bliss!”

Loyalty is a rare trait. We change jobs, churches, homes, and political affiliations like our socks, often just because another place looks like it offers a better deal.

Commitment is a dirty word in America today. Authority is rejected by those who are in the highest offices in the land all the way down to the low-life thug on the street!

The idea that there is ‘truth’ that applies to all people and all time is widely rejected, too. How many times have you heard people make the ridiculous assertion - “I have my truth and you have your’s!” No, what we have are opinions. Truth does not emerge from polls nor from popular opinion. Truth is revealed by God and we must diligently work to discover and understand it!

You could object, “But, Jerry, America is not the world.” True enough, but our largest export is our culture! American movies and music go ‘round the world spreading our way of life, our anti-authoritarian ideals, and our worship of personal rights.

Paul wrote: "You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!" (2 Timothy 3:1-5, NLT)

Could we be living in the last days? Certainly a general rebellion is happening, but is it the apostasy predicted by Paul? That I leave to the Lord to reveal in His time.

The second thing that we learn will happen is the coming of the Anti-christ!

I believe that the Bible is amply clear that a real man, a person of terrible evil, a tool of the Devil, will emerge to deceive the world in the Last Days. Our text says that he will have amazing powers to do counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders. For those who seek a sensational religion, he will be the perfect answer to their longings! He will allow them to indulge their selfish and sinful whims while providing them with the spiritual chills and thrills their emotions demand.

The 13^th chapter of the Revelation refers to the same man but calls him “The Beast!” I will not explore each and every image in that chapter, but listen to the chilling words that describe him and his reign.

(Revelation 13:1-9, NIV)

"And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.

The dragon (a symbolic name for Satan) gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.

Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?”

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. He who has an ear, let him hear."

In the Bible we learn many things about this man, but not his identity. Here are several things the Bible tells us about the Anti-Christ. He will be –

- a man totally sold out to evil, a rebel against God and the Bible.

- a man who encourages people to sin.

- a man who demands worship, setting himself up in God’s place.

- a man of unparalleled political skills who will gain the confidence of the world and become the leader of mankind.

- a man who is an amazing liar, deceiving the whole world including Christians who fail to exercise the discernment of the Holy Spirit.

- a man who will start out benevolently but descend into a terrible rain of terror as he consolidates his power.

- a man who will attempt to exterminate every Christian and reference to Christ from the world.

- and a man who will be defeated by Jesus Christ when He returns in power! Re-read v. 8

The idea that one man could effectively rule the world seemed an impossibility even two decades ago. Empires have come and gone, but none has come close to ruling the world until now. If a man were to emerge that could solve the economic troubles, settle religious differences, end the warfare that rages around the world, and get mankind to cooperate .... the nations of the world would fall at his feet! Technology is now common that allows for instantaneous world-wide communication and a world-wide economic system - two keys to governing!

Our text in 2 Thessalonians says that the “secret power of lawlessness is already at work.” Evil has been a part of world since the Fall! But, in the Last Days, something will happen that will allow a surge of evil doing that is unprecedented in human history. Take a look at v. 7. READ

Who is the ‘restrainer’ that holds back the power of evil until the End Times? Paul is not specific, but I would have to think it is God Himself, working through the Church, and by His Spirit. From time to time, we see unspeakable surges of evil in history.

∙ A spasm of violence seized the United States during the middle of the 19^th century and the Civil War brought terrible suffering to virtually every household in the country.

∙ Two world wars in the first half of the 20^th century brought about death and destruction on a scale never before seen in history.

∙ During 100 days in 1994, the African nation of Rwanda was destroyed by violence. Hutu people rose up and hacked a million of their neighbors to death just because they were from a different tribe. People who had worked together, eaten dinner together, lived in the same neighborhoods, killed each other brutally!

∙ We could speak of the Stalinist purges that killed millions in Russia, of Mao’s revolution that caused millions to die in China, or Pol Pot’s reign of terror that destroyed the beautiful little Asian nation of Cambodia in the 1970's.

As terrible as those days were, they will pale in comparison to the suffering and death that the unveiling of the Anti-Christ brings. When the Spirit lifts His restraint, the demons will dance!

So, you may be wondering, what hope is there? Why should we want the coming of the Lord to be in our time if such terrible things lie ahead? All is not grim!

Turn back one more time to our text.

READ 2 Thessalonians 2:13 - 17

Never forget that because of Christ Jesus, we are:

- loved by the Lord,

- chosen by God for salvation,

- made holy by the Spirit,

- called to share in His glory, (meaning He wins and we win with Him!)

- and strengthened!

“So, brothers and sisters,” the Word says, “stand firm!”

READ 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

AMEN!

Jerry D. Scott,