Saturday Oct 9 730 8pm William Bell Coming of the Lord 2 Thes p5

Good evening and welcome to the All Things Fulfilled broadcast. I'm William Bell looking forward to another great study in the Word of God. We're talking about 2 Thessalonians and the coming of the Lord. This is part five in our series and so if you haven't watched the first four we encourage you to go back because there's a very important foundation that we're laying regarding the particular subject of the coming of the Lord. And we are going to get into our text in 2 Thessalonians and last week we were talking about the implications of believing that the coming of the Lord had already occurred in the first century around 50 AD which was quite early but there were those in Thessalonica who actually believed that the coming of the Lord had occurred and when Paul wrote to them he did not correct their understanding of the nature of that coming but what he did was he addressed their misunderstanding of the timing of the coming. Now for those of you who think that timing is not important when it comes down to the Lord's return ask yourself why did Paul give the Thessalonians two very very important signs to get their eschatology straight to get their understanding of the coming of the Lord straight if time's not important if it was irrelevant why did he give them something on time if the time was way beyond their lifetime why give them a sign to say this is what you have to see in order to know when this is coming why did he need to correct them at all he could have just said well it's not going to happen in your lifetime going about your business do whatever you want but that is not what he said is it he gave them something very specific so that they could know they could make a little adjustment to their belief about the coming of the Lord because here's what the Bible says and we've talked about this there was a parisiah because it says now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ parisiah means coming that's what we generally talk about as the second coming but he says and our gathering together to him that's the gathering of Israel ladies and gentlemen Paul says I am an Israelite of the seed or of the tribe of Benjamin of the seed of Abraham and the tribe of Benjamin Romans chapter 11. So we're talking about gathering of Israelites but here were a few points we pointed out on last week number one since they believe that Christ had already come they did not believe that he was going to ride on a literal cloud with flaming fire that was not their concept because they'd not seen anything like that yet they believe that Christ had come we've dealt with the words present in verse two so we again encourage you to go back and watch the previous videos if you haven't done so they didn't believe that there was going to be a literal gathering of Israel back into the land Paul's writing to Jews out there in Thessalonica he's writing to Greeks or and Israelites out there in Thessalonica but he never told them to come back into the land they didn't come back into the land and they were already in the process of being gathered that means we need to adjust our understanding of what the gathering is all about they were gathering to Christ the Bible says our gathering together to him not only that they did not have a concept that there was going to be a thousand years reign literally a literal thousand years reign because you can't get a literal thousand years between the time of Jesus's death and ascension and a coming that they believed occurred in 70 I mean excuse me in 50 AD that's only about 30 years actually what 20 years so how are you going to get a literal thousand years in that but see the implication of their understanding that Jesus had come would have also meant that the thousand years would already have occurred in a literal 20 year period so that means their concept of the thousand years has to be different from the concept and the nature that people today have of the thousand years those of you who believe it is a literal thousand years excuse me they did not believe that the physical earth was going to burn by literal fire they didn't believe it because they were still walking around on earth saying Jesus has already come so apparently in their mind the destruction of the physical world had nothing to do with the coming of the Lord yet most people associate that with it they cite 2 Peter 3 and say you see here's a chapter about the physical burning of the universe and yet here were the Thessalonians still living breathing going about their daily lives yet they believe that Jesus had already come so they didn't have an earth-burning event in their eschatology not in the sense of literally speaking that the physical earth was going to be destroyed they didn't believe that the tombs were going to be opened and bodies would come out of the ground that couldn't have been their concept of the resurrection you see the coming of the Lord the parrhesia and the resurrection are concurrent events they occur at the same time that's what Paul said in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who is about to judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom yet they believe that the appearing had occurred but it wasn't something they could see with their physical eyes yet they believe that it occurred and therefore they didn't believe in a physical resurrection from the dead that would be associated with that coming next they didn't believe that there would be a rapture of saints off the earth it's another popular myth that people have regarding the coming of the Lord as a matter of fact we're supposed to be in that Rosh Hashanah time frame right but they didn't there would be a literal rapture of saints off the earth because their feet were flatly planted on the ground they believed Jesus had already come and no rapture had occurred so they couldn't have associated a rapture belief with the coming of the Lord what about that lake of fire they didn't believe there was a literal lake of fire associated with the coming of the Lord you see all of these concepts we have brought to the subject of eschatology and the reason we can't understand them is the reason that Paul had to correct the Thessalonians so they would understand the wind and allow the wind to harmonize with the nature that they had was which was already correct but you see what many do today is they ignore the time and they create a nature all together different from what the apostles had and what the Thessalonians had and then they say even though they see the time that the Bible gives they say well no the time got to be wrong because we don't see it happening like we think it ought to happen we don't see the nature that we want to happen well I can assure you that the nature that you have for the coming of the Lord if it's some physical presence I mean here's the kingdom they didn't believe Jesus was going to come and reign on a literal throne in Jerusalem they didn't believe it was going to be a kingdom of this world where there would be servants who would go around and fight and kill up all the people they didn't like had no concept of that and yet if they believed that the coming of the Lord had occurred they believed the kingdom was already present they had to have believed that they were already raised from the dead and yet they had not died isn't that interesting you see if we stay with the nature that they gave all we have to do is adjust our time and that's exactly what Paul dealt with in the chapter so let's get into it in verse three here's what Paul said let no one deceive you now that goes for everyone who has a nature of the coming different from what Bethesda lanaikens had I want you to understand that Paul never says anything about the nature he doesn't make all these arguments that people make well don't you know the world got to be burned up don't you know there's a lake of fire don't you know that Jesus has to reign on in Jerusalem for a thousand years he said none of that but he did correct something and that's what we should focus on when it comes down to the coming of the Lord he says let no one deceive you now if you follow what I'm reading to you here you will protect yourself against deception but if you leave this video if you're watching it and you go back with those same physical concepts those same materialistic concepts that you had before you began watching it I think there's a good chance you are deceived and I mean that with no ill will he says let no one deceive you speaking to the Thessalonians who believe that Jesus had already for that day that's the Lord's coming that day that's the same that day that he mentioned in the first chapter when he says when he comes in that day to be glorified in the saints he says let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless now look at what they had to find or see the falling away comes first the apostasy comes first all right Thessalonians here you are believing that Jesus had already come you haven't seen any of these physical things that the modern eschatologists talk about and claim have to happen but here's what you do need to see to know when it is about to occur he says it cannot occur unless the apostasy comes first and secondly and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition so what did Paul give the Thessalonians in order for them to have the correct information about the coming of the Lord he didn't say just wait until the body started coming out of the ground just wait until you start rising in the air just wait until you see the lake of fire burning and the earth all going up in smoke didn't say any of that he said in order for you to know you got to have these two signs there's the apostasy and there is the uh the man of sin being revealed the son of perdition now Paul goes into a bit more detail on this son of perdition because he says of him that he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so in some way he exalts himself above everything divine anything that is worshiped and he says so that he sits as God now watch where he sits ladies and gentlemen underline this next phrase underline it think about it meditate on it pray about it whatever you have to do to lock it inside your because it will unlock your confusion about the coming of the Lord and the gathering and these events okay we have a little interruption there my disc ran out of space and so we had to stop and make a few changes and then get back on track so hopefully we're okay and I'll try to start at a place where I think we left off all right so let's go ahead and and begin all right as I was speaking we were talking about the place where the man of sin would be sitting and we said that you need to underline that you need to circle it you need to make it a point so that it sticks in your mind because this is very critical to understanding the time of the gathering the time of the parisia and it was one of those signs that the uh that paul gave he said that there had to be the apostasy first and then the man of sin who opposes all that is called god or that is worshiped or that so that he sits in the temple of god showing himself that he is god so where was the bible says he sits in the temple of god so the question is where is that temple now you have to really really think about that where is that temple that's the temple that the thessalonicans were well aware of remember there were jews in thessalonica where do you think they went for the passover if they were faithful jews they went to jerusalem and celebrated the passover with all the festivities that would occur in the temple where do you think they went for the day of atonement where do you think they went to celebrate the feast of tabernacles or pentecost i should say and tabernacles pentecost in jerusalem that's acts 2 acts 12 paul said he wanted to go to jerusalem for the passover and again in acts 21 but also they wanted to go there for what for the passover they were there at jesus's crucifixion correct so there's passover there's pentecost acts 2 there's passover acts 12 and there's pentecost i believe acts 21 and then for the feast of tabernacles the three feasts that god required the faithful in israel to attend every year they had to go to those three feasts here were some jews out in thessalonica see people ask us all the time well what about the people who are outside of jerusalem well here's what about them those jews and any faithful proselytes who had joined themselves to israel would be headed down to jerusalem for the passover they would be headed down there for pentecost and they would be or up to jerusalem i should say and they would be headed up to jerusalem for the feast of tabernacles just like the old testament commanded them so were they concerned about what happened in jerusalem of course they were look we got a corona virus outbreak as they say a pandemic going on suppose they said your city was to be blocked off and nobody could go in your city and you're outside of your city would you be concerned of course suppose you're outside of the country and all america were shut down would you be worried about whether or not you could get back into the country especially your visa is up you got to come back in if there was an event you had to attend would you be concerned and passover and pentecost and the tabernacles was the concern of every faithful jew even those who were persecuting paul they were zealous for the law and so here's the man of sin sitting where in the temple of god those jews at thessalonica understood this the believers understood it and they knew that the man of sin was going to be in the temple of god well look ladies and gentlemen if they needed that sign why would they be thinking that the coming of the lord is far off in the future if they had to see a sign of the man of sin in the temple that was in jerusalem in their day in the first century see because in ad 50 the temple was still there so the text says that he sits as god in the temple of god showing himself that he is god and the bible says do you not remember that when i was still with you when paul was there with them in thessalonica he said i told you these things so it was something they needed to know he hasn't been to any churches in the 21st century telling you about the man of sin in the temple but he told them and he says and now you know what is restraining when did they know and now you know meaning they knew at that time what was restraining and now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time well look if he's in the temple doesn't it follow that he has to be revealed before the temple was destroyed isn't that just reasonable isn't that logical if he sits in the temple let's say this okay let's say that um the president is in the oval office and you bomb the oval office what's going to happen to the president let's say they find any leader in the world in their respective governmental office and those are bombed what's going to happen to those leaders well if the man of sin was in the temple and the temple was destroyed what happens to the man of sin you see he says i told you these things when i was with you and now you know what is restraining there was something restraining to prevent the revealing of the man of sin he says you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time why for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work they weren't waiting for two thousand years now you kind of get an idea why the thesalonikins were believing that it had already come he said the mystery of iniquity is already at work so apparently there were some goings-on at the time that caused them to think that the coming of the lord had already occurred he says but no no no no he says don't be deceived he says there has to be the apostasy first and then the revealing of the son of man i mean of the son of perdition son of man had to be revealed too but the son of perdition had to be revealed he had to be unveiled so they may have known who he was paul might have whispered in their ear and told them who it was but he wasn't yet revealed he wasn't unveiled and because he wasn't unveiled it wasn't time for the lord to come well that's all the time that we have for today i want to thank you for tuning in and i hope that you will be back with us on next saturday for the sixth episode of all things will feel where we share these messages with you on the coming of the lord from second thessalonians 2 i'm william bell may god bless you and keep you and you have a wonderful day