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I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions, 2 Thessalonians 2, Day 2,
and our look at this chapter verses, the last part of verse 3 through verse 5
today. As we launch into these verses, I will admit that the next 10 or so
verses, there are some difficult things to understand in these verses. Augustine
writes of certain portions of this passage, "I confess that I am entirely
ignorant of what Paul means to say here.

" These are difficult to understand. New Testament Greek scholar Vincent
actually omits interpreting this passage in his four-volume commentary and says,
"I attempt no interpretation of this passage as a whole, which I do not
understand. " And F.

F. Bruce notes that there are few New Testament passages which can boast such a
variety of interpretations as this. Before we look at the verses today, look at
some of the questions that grow out of these verses, let me just talk to you for
a moment about a key principle that I've learned about studying difficult
passages of the Bible.

When you study a difficult passage of the Bible, here's the principle. Keep your
mind on what God wants you to do. How does he want me to act?

In some passages, there may be six or seven ways of looking at how a question
could be answered about a meaning or understanding of something in that verse.
But often in the end, in fact almost always in the end, whichever of those six
or seven you choose, the challenge to do, the challenge to act, the challenge to
live is still exactly the same thing. And because of that, I can easily live
with knowing that there might be two or three ways of understanding some verses.

Because I know that in the end, the call is still the same, to trust and obey in
the same kind of way. Let me read the verses for today and you'll hear some
questions as I read. "For that day, the day of Christ, will not come until the
rebellion occurs, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to
destruction.

He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is
worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be
God. " Don't you remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you these
things? You read these verses and they immediately bring some questions.

What is this rebellion that he's talking about? Who is this man of lawlessness
that he's talking about? And it is important to understand as best we can what
the Bible is saying here.

What is this rebellion? That's all it says, so what is he talking about? Since
he doesn't say for sure, since he doesn't use this exact phrase in any other
letter, we're left in part to guess, but it's really not much of a guess.

Even by the word, we understand what it means. The idea of this word is the idea
of a political revolt or a religious apostasy. It just means falling away,
people who fall away from faith because they never really believed in the first
place.

The only reason they said they had faith was to get something from God. If they
find a better way to get it, their selfish needs met, they'll go after that. So
it'll be this falling away.

And the picture here Paul is talking about here is of a great worldwide
rebellion against God, against divine authority. And some people think you have
to choose, is it political or is it religious? I think both meanings of the word
are here.

It's a political revolt and it's a religious apostasy. Both will happen in this
rebellion. The Apostle John talks about it, Jesus talked about it.

This idea that at the end of time, there will be a falling away. People will
fall away from faith and that's one of the indications that the return of Jesus
is near. People read about this apostasy and one of the questions they have is,
is this the time of tribulation?

Is that what this is talking about? No, this is previous to that time. This is
indicating that that time, that end is near.

It's close when you see this happening. And Paul is saying to them, it hasn't
happened yet. So if you're worried that Jesus has returned and you've been left
behind, don't worry about that.

That's what had happened. They thought because of what somebody had said to them
that Jesus had raptured the church and somehow they've been forgotten, they've
been left. Maybe because they didn't believe or maybe because somehow Paul
hadn't taught them correctly.

If you have ever walked into a room where there's supposed to be a bunch of
Christians and nobody's there and you've thought, what happened here, rapture?
Even had that as a humorous thought, they were worried that Jesus had returned
and had forgotten them. And Paul is writing to say, absolutely not.

And here's one of the proofs of that. This great worldwide falling away from God
hasn't yet occurred. He says when it occurs, it's going to be accompanied by a
person, somebody called the man of lawlessness, until the rebellion occurs and
the man of lawlessness is revealed.

Who is this? This man of lawlessness, also the son of perdition or the man
doomed to destruction. Is this person the same as the antichrist?

Absolutely yes. The antichrist, the man of lawlessness, the beast that's talked
about in Revelation, these are all the same person. This is a world leader who
will lead many astray, both politically and religiously, because he'll claim to
be God.

Look at what these verses tell us about this person. First he's doomed to
destruction. He's doomed from the beginning because he's going to oppose God.

Anyone who opposes God is doomed from the beginning. And then these verses say
he's going to oppose all that is God or is worshiped. And then these verses say
that he's going to exalt, exalt himself over anything that's called God or
worshiped.

He's going to oppose God because he selfishly wants people to worship him as
God. The Bible tells us in other places that this is all going to be motivated
by Satan. This person is just a tool of Satan.

This person is going to be used to draw many people to himself, many people to
follow him because they think, "Well, that's where my needs are going to be met.
" Those who don't know God are going to be fooled. Those who know God are not
going to be fooled.

It's going to be obvious as the nose on your face that this person is an evil
person. In fact, the verses here say also that he's going to set himself up in
God's temple proclaiming himself to be God. Any believer in Jesus Christ, if you
hear a human being proclaim himself to be God, you know it's a lie.

There's no question about it. That's an easy one. The question we have here in
these verses is in the phrase God's temple.

There's been a lot written on these two words. Is that figurative for the place
of God or is it the literal temple in Jerusalem? All those words written when
comparing what Jesus had to say in Revelation and what's said here.

It seems that a literal temple is very likely here, but that's not really the
point. The point is that this is going to happen. Sometimes in all our talk
about this temple and is it going to be set up and what's that going to mean, we
miss the point.

The point is this will happen. Whatever the place is, this person is going to
proclaim himself to be God and in that he's going to draw people to himself and
in that those people are going to be drawn away from God. Now with these
questions in mind, questions about rebellion and the man of lawlessness, let me
ask the most important question of all.

Why is Paul writing this? Paul is writing this not just to bring up questions.
He's writing this because the people that he's writing to have a need.

They are upset. They're confused about the return of Jesus. They are afraid that
somehow they had missed it.

And so Paul writes and the reason he gives them this understanding is not just
to satisfy some intellectual curiosity. He gives them this understanding to
increase their spiritual confidence, to increase their confidence in their
relationship with God. The day will not come until the reason Paul told them
these things while he was with them and he writes them these things after he's
left them is because he wanted them to be able to live with spiritual confidence
in their relationship to Christ.

So as we close our look at these verses, that's what I'd like to take a few
minutes to pray about your spiritual confidence, your confidence in your
relationship with Christ and in an attitude, a heart of prayer right now, just
bring your mind, your heart before God and ask him to increase your confidence
in your relationship, your hope, your strength found in him. You may have a lack
of confidence because Satan is tempting you. He is tempting you to look at
what's frightening in this world.

He's tempting you to look at what's not right in this world. He's tempting you
to think that that's all there is or he's tempting you to hold on to this world.
If Satan is tempting you right now, just say, "God, I realize that you are
greater than the evil one.

" And in the end, you're going to win. Other people might call themselves God.
Other people might act as if they're God or even draw others to themselves as if
they're God, but you're the only God.

So I reject Satan's temptations and I put my confidence in you. You may have a
lack of confidence, not because Satan is tempting you, but because God is
challenging you right now. God is saying, "You're holding on too tightly to the
things in this world.

You need to hold on more tightly to the hope that you have in me because that's
what's going to last. Whenever I hold on too tightly to the things that are
around me, I lose my confidence in my relationship with Christ because I'm
trying to find it in the wrong places. " If you found that happening recently,
say to Jesus right now, "Jesus, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry that I put my confidence in the wrong things. Right now, I recognize
that it's only in you that I can find the confidence to live in this world and
into the next. I refresh my trust in you.

In Jesus' name, amen. " Tomorrow we're going to be looking at verses six to
eight. We're going to be looking at the holding back of and the revealing of
this man of lawlessness.