God's Plan for Man and Planet Earth

The Church And The Tribulation

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 (NKJV) Paul gives us the clue as to when the day of our rapture might be. Let’s read it carefully.

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him,(the rapture) we ask you, 2 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. 3 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, (the antichrist) 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming.

Let’s analyze these verses very carefully. Both the rapture (our gathering together to him in 2 Thessalonians 2:2) and his revelation (the brightness of his coming, 2:8) are referred to in these verses.

(1) Our gathering to him is when we meet him in the clouds at the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

(2) The brightness of his coming is when he comes with power and great glory immediately after the tribulation (Matthew 24:29-30).

There are two kairos events named here that are going to have to take place before the rapture. (1) “The falling away” (NKJV) or “the rebellion” (NIV) (in Greek - the apostasia – lit. the apostasy.) This rebellion is being secretly instigated behind the scenes (the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, 2 Thessalonians 2:7) inducing a rebellion of mankind against God and the people who worship God (notably Christians) and the things they revere related to their worship (i.e., The Ten Commandments, the cross, nativity scenes, bibles in our schools, public prayer, etc.,). First, he will work to oppose or remove them from the public arena. Then he will work to remove them from our private homes and keep Christians from teaching their children about Jesus Christ.

Paul’s warning in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is, “Let no one deceive you by any means,” neither by what they say or what they do in public. The antichrist will publicly proclaim “peace and safety” (hope and change) but behind the scenes, he will work to destroy the very things he says publicly he wants to build. (He is the son of perdition 2 Thessalonians 2:3, John17:12; a destroyer John 10:10; a liar John 8:44). He will preach peace and prosperity but only to deceive people. Daniel 8:25 KJV describes his operation as follows: “And through his policy also he shall cause craft (deceit) to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many.”

Christians, beware of what is happening in our world today. I don’t think our president, President Obama, has a clue what the effects will be from what he is doing in his administration. Neither do a lot of our elected officials. Nor do many Christians have a clue as to what this is all leading to.

Daniel wrote about the antichrist that he will be the “master of deception” (NLT); he will cause deceit to prosper and destroy many in their prosperity (Daniel 8:25). Just about the time people think things are really going good and the economy is going great, the spirit of the antichrist already working among us (2 Thessalonians 2:7) will destroy the world economy so he can get control of everything. He wants it so that no man can buy or sell anything without his mark on their forehead or on their right hand (Revelation 13:16).

DO NOT BE DECEIVED BY THEIR TALK OR THEIR WALK.

(1) This is going to happen before “that day” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) which refers to our gathering together to him – the rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:1)

(2) To the Christians who are watching, and know what they are looking for, they will know who the antichrist is before the rapture! That Day (our gathering to him) will not come unless the falling away (i.e. the apostasy) comes first, AND the man of sin is revealed” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). He is going to be revealed to those who are watching before that day, i.e., the rapture takes place.

Personally, I think we will know who this person will be as we watch the 10 nations form their confederacy and then see him come up from among them to be their leader. We will know him but the world will not really know who he is until we are taken away in the rapture.

(3) There is a third clue in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8. These verses will help us establish his coming to within a very short window, if not the very day of his coming. The verses read:

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming.

What we need to know to understand in these verses are: (1) who is the “He” that is restraining the lawless one? It is a person. “He” is a third person, singular pronoun. There is only one person working on earth who is more powerful than the devil and able to restrain him and that is the Holy Spirit. He uses people, born again of the Holy Spirit, to help him in his restraining work. We are his salt and light, the light and preserver, of our society. Just think about the power of righteous men. Ten righteous men would have spared destruction in Sodom in Lot’s day. What are we - what am I - doing to preserve our society today.

In Revelation 6, after the restrainer is removed from the earth, we see Jesus opening the seals that begin the tribulation. Jesus controls the seals. The antichrist and his henchmen will be turned loose on the earth to do his evil work when Jesus opens the seals, and not before his time comes (2 Thessalonians 2:6).

And Then

Once the restrainer is leaves, “and then” the lawless one will be revealed to the world. The church will already have been raptured and gone. The clue here is in the words “and then.” They form a conjunction between two closely related events – the removal of the restraints and the revealing of the antichrist to the world.

After we arrive in heaven with Christ, we will watch him go to the Father and take the scroll with the seals out of his hand (Revelation 5:7).

The number of them around the throne was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands (Revelation 5:11). I don’t know how many that is, but it is a bunch of people who were saved and resurrected/raptured and who are now in heaven with their redeemer when the seals are being opened. Please note: we are in heaven singing his praises when he opens the seals that initiate the tribulation. Another reason why I believe the rapture must take place before the tribulation begins.