DAY 202: THE DAY OF CHRIST IS AT HAND Devotional

“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2).

What disturbed the Thessalonians was they thought Christ had already come, and that they’d missed it. Paul reassures them in the next verse, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition” (2:3).

So, what was Paul’s primary theology about Christ’s return? We find it in two passages:

“Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand” (Romans 13:11-12).

“Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand” (Philippians 4:5).

Paul is crying, “Wake up! It’s past midnight already. The Lord’s coming is drawing near, so stir yourself. Don’t be slothful. Jesus is coming for those who expect him.”

Skeptics may ask, “But what about Paul’s own words? He did say two things had to happen before Christ returns. First, the Lord can’t come until a great apostasy takes place. And second, the Antichrist has to rise up and proclaim himself God. We have to see the Antichrist sitting in the temple, demanding that people worship him, before Jesus will come.”

First of all, you have to be willfully blind not to see a raging apostasy gripping the whole world. Unbelief is seeping through nations, with believers falling away from faith on all sides. The apostasy Paul refers to has clearly arrived.

Secondly, according to John, the Antichrist is anyone who denies the Father and the Son. Moreover, he says, the increase of such Antichrists is proof we are living in the very last days. In short, nothing is holding back Christ’s return!

I'm thinking there's a couple ways to look at this...

2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

The coming of our Lord could be the Rapture or it could be the 2nd Coming, except,

Are we going to be gathered onto the Lord at the 2nd Coming??? He will be landing on the Earth and people will be scattered all over the Earth...
Where we Christians will be gathered onto him is the Rapture, not the 2nd Coming...

2Th 2:3 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;

That day will not come until the Anti-Christ is revealed...We know he will be revealed at least three and a half years before the 2nd Coming and probably seven years before...So the events in these verses can't be the 2nd Coming...

Who are doing the falling away and what are they falling away from??? Is this the Pre-Trib Rapture itself???

Are these Christians who have kicked out God/Jesus/Holy Spirit from indwelling them???
I don't happen to believe that's possible...

Christians who are leaving their Joel Olsteen type churches???

Massive groups of Catholics who are leaving the mother church???

If the Rapture doesn't happen, there's going to be millions upon millions of Christians running around the Earth pointing at the Anti-Christ and banging people over their heads with their bibles...

I'm pretty sure it's the Rapture...

2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed,

This one isn't hard at all...There's only one thing that has power over Satan...And that of course is God...When the church is gone, there's no need for the Holy Spirit to hang around...And the Devil certainly isn't going to run things while God is around...

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