2 Timothy 4

2 Timothy 4:1

That Lawless One

2 Thessalonians 2:5. In the previous verses Paul actually did not do much more than remind the believers in Thessalonica of what he had told them earlier. Apparently this subject belongs to the basic equipment of each believer. He will not have gone deeper into that, for he only stayed with them for a short time. Nevertheless he points out to them what he had then said and in that way wants to refresh their memory.

It is surely not the case that Paul has mentioned this subject just in passing. You cannot see it in this translation, but he says that he has repeatedly mentioned this subject. Therefore it includes an undertone of reprimand. If they had understood what he had said, they would not have had the difficulties that they now have in the circumstances they found themselves. Due to the ‘forgetfulness’ of the Thessalonians we may now profit from the teaching on the future.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7. Paul continues with his teaching. He thereby connects to the knowledge he assumed they had. They knew that the revelation of the antichrist was being restrained. This being restrained happens by a “what” (2 Thessalonians 2:6) and a “who” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). There is ‘something’ that restrains and ‘someone’, a person, who restrains. The question is to ‘what’ and ‘whom’ we should think of, what is meant by it. Several interpreters put forward several solutions. I would like to tell you which one appeals the most to me and why.

“What restrains him” is the church. Paul has said that as long as the church is on earth, the day of the Lord could not possibly have already come. He has also said that, before the day of the Lord comes, the apostasy, which is in relation with the public revelation of the antichrist, must come first. But the presence of the church on earth means that there is still no general denial of God and Christ.

“He who now restrains”, is the Holy Spirit. That it is a reference to the Holy Spirit, is clear to me because following that is written “until he is taken out of the way”. When the church will be taken out of the way, the Holy Spirit also will be taken out of the way. Will He then be no more on earth? He surely will, but not in the same way as when the church was on the earth. Then He dwelled in the church. On the day of Pentecost, at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, He came to dwell in the believers.

Before that time He worked on earth. You can already read about that in the first verses of the Bible (Genesis 1:2). Each work of God on earth happened, and is still happening, by the Holy Spirit. But only after the Lord Jesus had ascended to heaven after the accomplishment of the work on the cross, the Spirit came to dwell (John 7:39) on earth. How that has happened you can read in Acts 2 (Acts 2:1-4). His coming to the earth was the beginning of the church. His dwelling place is the church (1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:22). You see how much the church and the Holy Spirit are related with each other.

Due to the presence on earth of both the church and the Holy Spirit, the full revelation of the evil is still being restrained. An example of that restraining is the failure of spiritualistic manifestations due to the presence of a praying believer. What also can happen is that an ungodly or nasty conversation stops when a committed believer joins the talkers of whom they know that he is a committed believer.

This ‘restraining’ stops when the church has been caught up to heaven. And when the church is caught up, it cannot be otherwise than that the Holy Spirit leaves the earth. The church is His dwelling place forever. A proof of that is to be found in what the Lord Jesus has said of the Holy Spirit, that He abides with and will be in the believers forever (John 14:15-17). When the church has been caught up into heaven, the Holy Spirit will not dwell on earth anymore. As far as His work is concerned, it will be again as it was in the time before the church was on earth.

The full revelation of evil is therefore being restrained. But “the mystery of lawlessness” is already at work. To those who are blind to it, the unbelievers, it is still a ‘mystery’. The unbelievers even cooperate massively with the lawlessness. To you it doesn’t have to be a mystery. You may take to heart what Paul says here about this phenomenon. The reason that it unfortunately is still a mystery to many believers is because they do not read the Scripture. If you do read the Scripture, then this increasing lawlessness doesn’t have to be surprising to you.

With lawlessness you must not think just of breaking the law. Lawlessness goes far beyond that. Lawlessness is the essence of sin, for “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). It is the complete denial of any form of authority. Is that not what you observe around you? Do you not notice that man wants to be autonomous, independent, self-reliant more and more? He is less and less willing to subject himself to authority and certainly not to God’s authority.

2 Thessalonians 2:8. This work of ‘the mystery of lawlessness’ goes on until the man of sin, the lawless one, can fully reveal himself. Therefore, don’t let yourself be deceived by voices who want to make you believe that the world will be won for Christ through the gospel. That is a great error. You read here what the future of the world looks like.

That doesn’t mean that you should not proclaim the gospel. On the contrary, it is exactly an exhortation to do that. However, the gospel is for the individual and not for the mass. As it is said, the mass will fall away, will turn its back on God and worship the antichrist. “Then”, this is how 2 Thessalonians 2:8 begins. That means: at that moment and not earlier, the lawless one will be revealed. The lawlessness which is already at work mysteriously, will at that moment take shape in a person.

It is the same as John writes about the many antichrists, while there is just only one who is the antichrist (1 John 2:18). Everything happens according to God’s plan. Satan and his demons can in no way change anything about that. No, the fact is even that they cooperate against their will to the fulfillment of it.

Once the lawless one has been revealed, it will be the beginning of a time of unprecedented terror on earth. You don’t read anything about his rule of terror here. You can read it in the book of Revelation. Here you read briefly, and therefore impressive, about his inglorious, humiliating and horrible end. He does not come to an end by being defeated in a fight of life and death. The Lord Jesus will personally slay him by nothing more than the breath of His mouth (cf. Isaiah 11:4). You can also think of His Word, a word of power (Psalms 33:6; Revelation 1:16).

Imagine: There you have the lawless man who exalts himself above everything and has made himself God instead of being subjected to God. This puffed-up, bragging blasphemer will be slain by a simple – but oh, how full of power! – act. And by Whom? By the Man Who has first humbled Himself on earth and became obedient until death and Who afterward was glorified by God and became Lord of lords. His appearance, so when He comes visible on earth, means the end of the lawless one.

“To slay” and “bring to an end” do not mean the end of his existence. These words indicate that it is finished with his position and the exertion of his power. In Revelation 19 you see how that will happen (Revelation 19:20). There the lawless one is called “the false prophet”. Together with the beast, that is the dictator of the restored Roman Empire (the united Europe), he is thrown into the lake of fire without trial. These two monstrous persons will come into hell as the first ones. They will also be the only ones there during the thousand years of peace that will follow on earth after their condemnation. When the thousand years will be over, then the devil will be thrown into it (Revelation 20:10) and ultimately all the unbelievers (Revelation 20:11-12; 15).

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:5-8 again.

Reflection: Mention situations wherein the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

2 Timothy 4:2

That Lawless One

2 Thessalonians 2:5. In the previous verses Paul actually did not do much more than remind the believers in Thessalonica of what he had told them earlier. Apparently this subject belongs to the basic equipment of each believer. He will not have gone deeper into that, for he only stayed with them for a short time. Nevertheless he points out to them what he had then said and in that way wants to refresh their memory.

It is surely not the case that Paul has mentioned this subject just in passing. You cannot see it in this translation, but he says that he has repeatedly mentioned this subject. Therefore it includes an undertone of reprimand. If they had understood what he had said, they would not have had the difficulties that they now have in the circumstances they found themselves. Due to the ‘forgetfulness’ of the Thessalonians we may now profit from the teaching on the future.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7. Paul continues with his teaching. He thereby connects to the knowledge he assumed they had. They knew that the revelation of the antichrist was being restrained. This being restrained happens by a “what” (2 Thessalonians 2:6) and a “who” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). There is ‘something’ that restrains and ‘someone’, a person, who restrains. The question is to ‘what’ and ‘whom’ we should think of, what is meant by it. Several interpreters put forward several solutions. I would like to tell you which one appeals the most to me and why.

“What restrains him” is the church. Paul has said that as long as the church is on earth, the day of the Lord could not possibly have already come. He has also said that, before the day of the Lord comes, the apostasy, which is in relation with the public revelation of the antichrist, must come first. But the presence of the church on earth means that there is still no general denial of God and Christ.

“He who now restrains”, is the Holy Spirit. That it is a reference to the Holy Spirit, is clear to me because following that is written “until he is taken out of the way”. When the church will be taken out of the way, the Holy Spirit also will be taken out of the way. Will He then be no more on earth? He surely will, but not in the same way as when the church was on the earth. Then He dwelled in the church. On the day of Pentecost, at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, He came to dwell in the believers.

Before that time He worked on earth. You can already read about that in the first verses of the Bible (Genesis 1:2). Each work of God on earth happened, and is still happening, by the Holy Spirit. But only after the Lord Jesus had ascended to heaven after the accomplishment of the work on the cross, the Spirit came to dwell (John 7:39) on earth. How that has happened you can read in Acts 2 (Acts 2:1-4). His coming to the earth was the beginning of the church. His dwelling place is the church (1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:22). You see how much the church and the Holy Spirit are related with each other.

Due to the presence on earth of both the church and the Holy Spirit, the full revelation of the evil is still being restrained. An example of that restraining is the failure of spiritualistic manifestations due to the presence of a praying believer. What also can happen is that an ungodly or nasty conversation stops when a committed believer joins the talkers of whom they know that he is a committed believer.

This ‘restraining’ stops when the church has been caught up to heaven. And when the church is caught up, it cannot be otherwise than that the Holy Spirit leaves the earth. The church is His dwelling place forever. A proof of that is to be found in what the Lord Jesus has said of the Holy Spirit, that He abides with and will be in the believers forever (John 14:15-17). When the church has been caught up into heaven, the Holy Spirit will not dwell on earth anymore. As far as His work is concerned, it will be again as it was in the time before the church was on earth.

The full revelation of evil is therefore being restrained. But “the mystery of lawlessness” is already at work. To those who are blind to it, the unbelievers, it is still a ‘mystery’. The unbelievers even cooperate massively with the lawlessness. To you it doesn’t have to be a mystery. You may take to heart what Paul says here about this phenomenon. The reason that it unfortunately is still a mystery to many believers is because they do not read the Scripture. If you do read the Scripture, then this increasing lawlessness doesn’t have to be surprising to you.

With lawlessness you must not think just of breaking the law. Lawlessness goes far beyond that. Lawlessness is the essence of sin, for “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). It is the complete denial of any form of authority. Is that not what you observe around you? Do you not notice that man wants to be autonomous, independent, self-reliant more and more? He is less and less willing to subject himself to authority and certainly not to God’s authority.

2 Thessalonians 2:8. This work of ‘the mystery of lawlessness’ goes on until the man of sin, the lawless one, can fully reveal himself. Therefore, don’t let yourself be deceived by voices who want to make you believe that the world will be won for Christ through the gospel. That is a great error. You read here what the future of the world looks like.

That doesn’t mean that you should not proclaim the gospel. On the contrary, it is exactly an exhortation to do that. However, the gospel is for the individual and not for the mass. As it is said, the mass will fall away, will turn its back on God and worship the antichrist. “Then”, this is how 2 Thessalonians 2:8 begins. That means: at that moment and not earlier, the lawless one will be revealed. The lawlessness which is already at work mysteriously, will at that moment take shape in a person.

It is the same as John writes about the many antichrists, while there is just only one who is the antichrist (1 John 2:18). Everything happens according to God’s plan. Satan and his demons can in no way change anything about that. No, the fact is even that they cooperate against their will to the fulfillment of it.

Once the lawless one has been revealed, it will be the beginning of a time of unprecedented terror on earth. You don’t read anything about his rule of terror here. You can read it in the book of Revelation. Here you read briefly, and therefore impressive, about his inglorious, humiliating and horrible end. He does not come to an end by being defeated in a fight of life and death. The Lord Jesus will personally slay him by nothing more than the breath of His mouth (cf. Isaiah 11:4). You can also think of His Word, a word of power (Psalms 33:6; Revelation 1:16).

Imagine: There you have the lawless man who exalts himself above everything and has made himself God instead of being subjected to God. This puffed-up, bragging blasphemer will be slain by a simple – but oh, how full of power! – act. And by Whom? By the Man Who has first humbled Himself on earth and became obedient until death and Who afterward was glorified by God and became Lord of lords. His appearance, so when He comes visible on earth, means the end of the lawless one.

“To slay” and “bring to an end” do not mean the end of his existence. These words indicate that it is finished with his position and the exertion of his power. In Revelation 19 you see how that will happen (Revelation 19:20). There the lawless one is called “the false prophet”. Together with the beast, that is the dictator of the restored Roman Empire (the united Europe), he is thrown into the lake of fire without trial. These two monstrous persons will come into hell as the first ones. They will also be the only ones there during the thousand years of peace that will follow on earth after their condemnation. When the thousand years will be over, then the devil will be thrown into it (Revelation 20:10) and ultimately all the unbelievers (Revelation 20:11-12; 15).

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:5-8 again.

Reflection: Mention situations wherein the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

2 Timothy 4:3

That Lawless One

2 Thessalonians 2:5. In the previous verses Paul actually did not do much more than remind the believers in Thessalonica of what he had told them earlier. Apparently this subject belongs to the basic equipment of each believer. He will not have gone deeper into that, for he only stayed with them for a short time. Nevertheless he points out to them what he had then said and in that way wants to refresh their memory.

It is surely not the case that Paul has mentioned this subject just in passing. You cannot see it in this translation, but he says that he has repeatedly mentioned this subject. Therefore it includes an undertone of reprimand. If they had understood what he had said, they would not have had the difficulties that they now have in the circumstances they found themselves. Due to the ‘forgetfulness’ of the Thessalonians we may now profit from the teaching on the future.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7. Paul continues with his teaching. He thereby connects to the knowledge he assumed they had. They knew that the revelation of the antichrist was being restrained. This being restrained happens by a “what” (2 Thessalonians 2:6) and a “who” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). There is ‘something’ that restrains and ‘someone’, a person, who restrains. The question is to ‘what’ and ‘whom’ we should think of, what is meant by it. Several interpreters put forward several solutions. I would like to tell you which one appeals the most to me and why.

“What restrains him” is the church. Paul has said that as long as the church is on earth, the day of the Lord could not possibly have already come. He has also said that, before the day of the Lord comes, the apostasy, which is in relation with the public revelation of the antichrist, must come first. But the presence of the church on earth means that there is still no general denial of God and Christ.

“He who now restrains”, is the Holy Spirit. That it is a reference to the Holy Spirit, is clear to me because following that is written “until he is taken out of the way”. When the church will be taken out of the way, the Holy Spirit also will be taken out of the way. Will He then be no more on earth? He surely will, but not in the same way as when the church was on the earth. Then He dwelled in the church. On the day of Pentecost, at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, He came to dwell in the believers.

Before that time He worked on earth. You can already read about that in the first verses of the Bible (Genesis 1:2). Each work of God on earth happened, and is still happening, by the Holy Spirit. But only after the Lord Jesus had ascended to heaven after the accomplishment of the work on the cross, the Spirit came to dwell (John 7:39) on earth. How that has happened you can read in Acts 2 (Acts 2:1-4). His coming to the earth was the beginning of the church. His dwelling place is the church (1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:22). You see how much the church and the Holy Spirit are related with each other.

Due to the presence on earth of both the church and the Holy Spirit, the full revelation of the evil is still being restrained. An example of that restraining is the failure of spiritualistic manifestations due to the presence of a praying believer. What also can happen is that an ungodly or nasty conversation stops when a committed believer joins the talkers of whom they know that he is a committed believer.

This ‘restraining’ stops when the church has been caught up to heaven. And when the church is caught up, it cannot be otherwise than that the Holy Spirit leaves the earth. The church is His dwelling place forever. A proof of that is to be found in what the Lord Jesus has said of the Holy Spirit, that He abides with and will be in the believers forever (John 14:15-17). When the church has been caught up into heaven, the Holy Spirit will not dwell on earth anymore. As far as His work is concerned, it will be again as it was in the time before the church was on earth.

The full revelation of evil is therefore being restrained. But “the mystery of lawlessness” is already at work. To those who are blind to it, the unbelievers, it is still a ‘mystery’. The unbelievers even cooperate massively with the lawlessness. To you it doesn’t have to be a mystery. You may take to heart what Paul says here about this phenomenon. The reason that it unfortunately is still a mystery to many believers is because they do not read the Scripture. If you do read the Scripture, then this increasing lawlessness doesn’t have to be surprising to you.

With lawlessness you must not think just of breaking the law. Lawlessness goes far beyond that. Lawlessness is the essence of sin, for “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). It is the complete denial of any form of authority. Is that not what you observe around you? Do you not notice that man wants to be autonomous, independent, self-reliant more and more? He is less and less willing to subject himself to authority and certainly not to God’s authority.

2 Thessalonians 2:8. This work of ‘the mystery of lawlessness’ goes on until the man of sin, the lawless one, can fully reveal himself. Therefore, don’t let yourself be deceived by voices who want to make you believe that the world will be won for Christ through the gospel. That is a great error. You read here what the future of the world looks like.

That doesn’t mean that you should not proclaim the gospel. On the contrary, it is exactly an exhortation to do that. However, the gospel is for the individual and not for the mass. As it is said, the mass will fall away, will turn its back on God and worship the antichrist. “Then”, this is how 2 Thessalonians 2:8 begins. That means: at that moment and not earlier, the lawless one will be revealed. The lawlessness which is already at work mysteriously, will at that moment take shape in a person.

It is the same as John writes about the many antichrists, while there is just only one who is the antichrist (1 John 2:18). Everything happens according to God’s plan. Satan and his demons can in no way change anything about that. No, the fact is even that they cooperate against their will to the fulfillment of it.

Once the lawless one has been revealed, it will be the beginning of a time of unprecedented terror on earth. You don’t read anything about his rule of terror here. You can read it in the book of Revelation. Here you read briefly, and therefore impressive, about his inglorious, humiliating and horrible end. He does not come to an end by being defeated in a fight of life and death. The Lord Jesus will personally slay him by nothing more than the breath of His mouth (cf. Isaiah 11:4). You can also think of His Word, a word of power (Psalms 33:6; Revelation 1:16).

Imagine: There you have the lawless man who exalts himself above everything and has made himself God instead of being subjected to God. This puffed-up, bragging blasphemer will be slain by a simple – but oh, how full of power! – act. And by Whom? By the Man Who has first humbled Himself on earth and became obedient until death and Who afterward was glorified by God and became Lord of lords. His appearance, so when He comes visible on earth, means the end of the lawless one.

“To slay” and “bring to an end” do not mean the end of his existence. These words indicate that it is finished with his position and the exertion of his power. In Revelation 19 you see how that will happen (Revelation 19:20). There the lawless one is called “the false prophet”. Together with the beast, that is the dictator of the restored Roman Empire (the united Europe), he is thrown into the lake of fire without trial. These two monstrous persons will come into hell as the first ones. They will also be the only ones there during the thousand years of peace that will follow on earth after their condemnation. When the thousand years will be over, then the devil will be thrown into it (Revelation 20:10) and ultimately all the unbelievers (Revelation 20:11-12; 15).

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:5-8 again.

Reflection: Mention situations wherein the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

2 Timothy 4:4

That Lawless One

2 Thessalonians 2:5. In the previous verses Paul actually did not do much more than remind the believers in Thessalonica of what he had told them earlier. Apparently this subject belongs to the basic equipment of each believer. He will not have gone deeper into that, for he only stayed with them for a short time. Nevertheless he points out to them what he had then said and in that way wants to refresh their memory.

It is surely not the case that Paul has mentioned this subject just in passing. You cannot see it in this translation, but he says that he has repeatedly mentioned this subject. Therefore it includes an undertone of reprimand. If they had understood what he had said, they would not have had the difficulties that they now have in the circumstances they found themselves. Due to the ‘forgetfulness’ of the Thessalonians we may now profit from the teaching on the future.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7. Paul continues with his teaching. He thereby connects to the knowledge he assumed they had. They knew that the revelation of the antichrist was being restrained. This being restrained happens by a “what” (2 Thessalonians 2:6) and a “who” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). There is ‘something’ that restrains and ‘someone’, a person, who restrains. The question is to ‘what’ and ‘whom’ we should think of, what is meant by it. Several interpreters put forward several solutions. I would like to tell you which one appeals the most to me and why.

“What restrains him” is the church. Paul has said that as long as the church is on earth, the day of the Lord could not possibly have already come. He has also said that, before the day of the Lord comes, the apostasy, which is in relation with the public revelation of the antichrist, must come first. But the presence of the church on earth means that there is still no general denial of God and Christ.

“He who now restrains”, is the Holy Spirit. That it is a reference to the Holy Spirit, is clear to me because following that is written “until he is taken out of the way”. When the church will be taken out of the way, the Holy Spirit also will be taken out of the way. Will He then be no more on earth? He surely will, but not in the same way as when the church was on the earth. Then He dwelled in the church. On the day of Pentecost, at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, He came to dwell in the believers.

Before that time He worked on earth. You can already read about that in the first verses of the Bible (Genesis 1:2). Each work of God on earth happened, and is still happening, by the Holy Spirit. But only after the Lord Jesus had ascended to heaven after the accomplishment of the work on the cross, the Spirit came to dwell (John 7:39) on earth. How that has happened you can read in Acts 2 (Acts 2:1-4). His coming to the earth was the beginning of the church. His dwelling place is the church (1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:22). You see how much the church and the Holy Spirit are related with each other.

Due to the presence on earth of both the church and the Holy Spirit, the full revelation of the evil is still being restrained. An example of that restraining is the failure of spiritualistic manifestations due to the presence of a praying believer. What also can happen is that an ungodly or nasty conversation stops when a committed believer joins the talkers of whom they know that he is a committed believer.

This ‘restraining’ stops when the church has been caught up to heaven. And when the church is caught up, it cannot be otherwise than that the Holy Spirit leaves the earth. The church is His dwelling place forever. A proof of that is to be found in what the Lord Jesus has said of the Holy Spirit, that He abides with and will be in the believers forever (John 14:15-17). When the church has been caught up into heaven, the Holy Spirit will not dwell on earth anymore. As far as His work is concerned, it will be again as it was in the time before the church was on earth.

The full revelation of evil is therefore being restrained. But “the mystery of lawlessness” is already at work. To those who are blind to it, the unbelievers, it is still a ‘mystery’. The unbelievers even cooperate massively with the lawlessness. To you it doesn’t have to be a mystery. You may take to heart what Paul says here about this phenomenon. The reason that it unfortunately is still a mystery to many believers is because they do not read the Scripture. If you do read the Scripture, then this increasing lawlessness doesn’t have to be surprising to you.

With lawlessness you must not think just of breaking the law. Lawlessness goes far beyond that. Lawlessness is the essence of sin, for “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). It is the complete denial of any form of authority. Is that not what you observe around you? Do you not notice that man wants to be autonomous, independent, self-reliant more and more? He is less and less willing to subject himself to authority and certainly not to God’s authority.

2 Thessalonians 2:8. This work of ‘the mystery of lawlessness’ goes on until the man of sin, the lawless one, can fully reveal himself. Therefore, don’t let yourself be deceived by voices who want to make you believe that the world will be won for Christ through the gospel. That is a great error. You read here what the future of the world looks like.

That doesn’t mean that you should not proclaim the gospel. On the contrary, it is exactly an exhortation to do that. However, the gospel is for the individual and not for the mass. As it is said, the mass will fall away, will turn its back on God and worship the antichrist. “Then”, this is how 2 Thessalonians 2:8 begins. That means: at that moment and not earlier, the lawless one will be revealed. The lawlessness which is already at work mysteriously, will at that moment take shape in a person.

It is the same as John writes about the many antichrists, while there is just only one who is the antichrist (1 John 2:18). Everything happens according to God’s plan. Satan and his demons can in no way change anything about that. No, the fact is even that they cooperate against their will to the fulfillment of it.

Once the lawless one has been revealed, it will be the beginning of a time of unprecedented terror on earth. You don’t read anything about his rule of terror here. You can read it in the book of Revelation. Here you read briefly, and therefore impressive, about his inglorious, humiliating and horrible end. He does not come to an end by being defeated in a fight of life and death. The Lord Jesus will personally slay him by nothing more than the breath of His mouth (cf. Isaiah 11:4). You can also think of His Word, a word of power (Psalms 33:6; Revelation 1:16).

Imagine: There you have the lawless man who exalts himself above everything and has made himself God instead of being subjected to God. This puffed-up, bragging blasphemer will be slain by a simple – but oh, how full of power! – act. And by Whom? By the Man Who has first humbled Himself on earth and became obedient until death and Who afterward was glorified by God and became Lord of lords. His appearance, so when He comes visible on earth, means the end of the lawless one.

“To slay” and “bring to an end” do not mean the end of his existence. These words indicate that it is finished with his position and the exertion of his power. In Revelation 19 you see how that will happen (Revelation 19:20). There the lawless one is called “the false prophet”. Together with the beast, that is the dictator of the restored Roman Empire (the united Europe), he is thrown into the lake of fire without trial. These two monstrous persons will come into hell as the first ones. They will also be the only ones there during the thousand years of peace that will follow on earth after their condemnation. When the thousand years will be over, then the devil will be thrown into it (Revelation 20:10) and ultimately all the unbelievers (Revelation 20:11-12; 15).

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:5-8 again.

Reflection: Mention situations wherein the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

2 Timothy 4:5

Those Who Perish

2 Thessalonians 2:9. In these verses Paul tells some particularities about the antichrist. The antichrist is not only wicked and focused on himself, he is also the great deceiver. By displaying “power and signs and false wonders” he deceives those who have no life of God.

God also gives these observable manifestations. You can see them in the life of the Lord Jesus and His apostles and in the first church (Acts 2:22; Romans 15:19; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:4). The antichrist is therefore also a great imitator of the Lord Jesus. The source from which he draws his displays, is the lie. That means that satan is his inspirer, for satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). Satan tries everything to tempt people.

It is important to keep in mind that what at the beginning was meant for the benefit of the believers, served to emphasize the Word of God. The Word of God was not complete then. Now it has been completed we need no more confirmation through signs and wonders.

We are living in the time of faith, not of sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). God is asking of each individual to have faith in His Word. You know that the period of faith is coming to an end. We are living in the later days. The coming apostasy is becoming more and more sharply outlined. A sign of that is the declining interest in God’s Word. That a huge number of people is buying modern, freely translated, easy reading Bible translations, is not a proof of a revival. It is rather a satisfaction of the human spiritual need. You are allowed to read the koran as well next to it. The language usage has been adjusted to the requirement of the time. And do you remember which particular time that is? Right – the end time.

Just take a look around you. The demand for visible and tangible elements that could be of help for the faith experience, is increasing. Christians, even true Christians, start to attach more and more importance to rituals and relics. It paves the way through which ‘power and signs and false wonders’ can enter into the professing church. The spirit of the antichrist is very busy.

Movies, in which the so-called good or white magic is used to conquer the evil, are watched by a huge number of people. Such movies are ‘sold’ to Christians as inspiring, in order to do the good. What a deception that is! The opposite effect is happening. Christians are sold to the magic! And let this be clear: there is no such thing as good or white magic. Magic comes from the lie.

2 Thessalonians 2:10. Satan uses “all the deception of wickedness”. Nothing is too foolish for him. Everything is useful, as long as it serves his intention. There is no trace of uprightness in him. He will absolutely manipulate people without conscience and drag them with him into destruction. That is his goal, because he thinks to hit God the most in such a way. But also here it appears that he doesn’t know God.

His deception only eagerly finds entrance with “those who perish”. Those are the people to whom the word of the cross is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18). The gospel, the truth, has been offered to them, but they have rejected it as ridiculous. There is no love for the truth. They refuse to open their heart to the truth; the preaching leaves them cold. They do not want to be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:11. “For this reason”, or ‘on this basis’, God will make sure that they believe the lie. You see that they owe it to themselves. Their attitude toward the truth is what causes them to perish. God wants to save them (1 Timothy 2:4), but they refuse. Many times He has begged them through His servants to be reconciled to Him (2 Corinthians 5:20), but they reject Him, again and again. They perish because they have not obeyed the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8) and because they have not accepted it, which the Thessalonians and you have done (1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Therefore it is about people to whom the way of salvation has been presented, but who did not accept it. It is therefore not about people who have never heard of the gospel. That means that this judgment of hardening will come upon our Western world especially, where the word of the gospel has sounded so clear. Although they have not died yet, it will be too late for them to repent. They have let the appointed time pass by, as did Pharaoh (Jeremiah 46:17). The judgment of hardening will strike the wicked (Romans 1:22-32), will strike Israel, with the exception of a remnant (Romans 11:25) and in this section it will strike professing Christianity after the rapture of the believers.

What will remain as Christianity on earth after the rapture of church is a Christ-less Christianity. Christianity will then exist of people who maintain their confession as Christians without any connection with the Christ of God. They will be an easy prey for the work of error that will then be sent by God.

It will then be made impossible for them to still repent. After the rapture of the church, there will be no more opportunity for those who have not believed the truth before that moment. For those who have ever heard the gospel and rejected it, there will be therefore no second chance! Because they refused to believe the truth, they will believe the lie.

God uses satan to execute the judgment that He has determined. God has sovereign power in His use of satan and his demons. He has used satan to test His servant Job. He has used a spirit of lies to tempt Ahab, so that he would be killed in the battle (1 Kings 22:19-23).

2 Thessalonians 2:12. The revenge that God brings on people is closely related to the violation that they have committed (Ezekiel 14:9). Have these people preferred the lie of the devil above the love for the truth? Then God will make sure that they will embrace the lie of the devil to their own judgment. The lie which they will believe is the claim of the antichrist that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). You see today how God is being excluded further and further from society and that man becomes the center more and more. Well, soon man’s admiration for man will receive its unreturnable completion as man pays all his homage to the man of sin.

This is the result if the truth is not believed. It comes down to faith in the truth. That is not a matter of the intellect, but of the heart. Therefore you read earlier about ‘love’ of the truth. Love is something of the heart. Therefore the truth has got nothing to do with a theoretical, theological knowledge of the head, but a relationship with a person. That Person is the Lord Jesus.

He is the truth (John 14:6). Do you want to know the truth about God? Then you will learn to know it if you are occupied with Him. Do you want to know the truth about man? Then you must look at Him. What man is supposed to be before God you see in Him. What man is as a sinner, is missing completely with Him. Every deed, every word, every thought of God, becomes completely visible in Him and it is also the test for everything that you as man do, say and think.

Whoever does not believe the truth and has no inward relationship with it nor feels any love for it, will set his own standards. Those are by definition standards which allow the sinful man to live as he pleases. Such a life shows “pleasure in wickedness”. Such a person deliberately and consciously chooses to fulfill the desires of his own ‘I’. It does not arise in his mind what God wants and what is to the honor of the Lord Jesus. God’s judgment on him will be righteous.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 again.

Reflection: What do you do with what you have learnt about the terrible future of the unbelievers?

2 Timothy 4:6

Those Who Perish

2 Thessalonians 2:9. In these verses Paul tells some particularities about the antichrist. The antichrist is not only wicked and focused on himself, he is also the great deceiver. By displaying “power and signs and false wonders” he deceives those who have no life of God.

God also gives these observable manifestations. You can see them in the life of the Lord Jesus and His apostles and in the first church (Acts 2:22; Romans 15:19; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:4). The antichrist is therefore also a great imitator of the Lord Jesus. The source from which he draws his displays, is the lie. That means that satan is his inspirer, for satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). Satan tries everything to tempt people.

It is important to keep in mind that what at the beginning was meant for the benefit of the believers, served to emphasize the Word of God. The Word of God was not complete then. Now it has been completed we need no more confirmation through signs and wonders.

We are living in the time of faith, not of sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). God is asking of each individual to have faith in His Word. You know that the period of faith is coming to an end. We are living in the later days. The coming apostasy is becoming more and more sharply outlined. A sign of that is the declining interest in God’s Word. That a huge number of people is buying modern, freely translated, easy reading Bible translations, is not a proof of a revival. It is rather a satisfaction of the human spiritual need. You are allowed to read the koran as well next to it. The language usage has been adjusted to the requirement of the time. And do you remember which particular time that is? Right – the end time.

Just take a look around you. The demand for visible and tangible elements that could be of help for the faith experience, is increasing. Christians, even true Christians, start to attach more and more importance to rituals and relics. It paves the way through which ‘power and signs and false wonders’ can enter into the professing church. The spirit of the antichrist is very busy.

Movies, in which the so-called good or white magic is used to conquer the evil, are watched by a huge number of people. Such movies are ‘sold’ to Christians as inspiring, in order to do the good. What a deception that is! The opposite effect is happening. Christians are sold to the magic! And let this be clear: there is no such thing as good or white magic. Magic comes from the lie.

2 Thessalonians 2:10. Satan uses “all the deception of wickedness”. Nothing is too foolish for him. Everything is useful, as long as it serves his intention. There is no trace of uprightness in him. He will absolutely manipulate people without conscience and drag them with him into destruction. That is his goal, because he thinks to hit God the most in such a way. But also here it appears that he doesn’t know God.

His deception only eagerly finds entrance with “those who perish”. Those are the people to whom the word of the cross is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18). The gospel, the truth, has been offered to them, but they have rejected it as ridiculous. There is no love for the truth. They refuse to open their heart to the truth; the preaching leaves them cold. They do not want to be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:11. “For this reason”, or ‘on this basis’, God will make sure that they believe the lie. You see that they owe it to themselves. Their attitude toward the truth is what causes them to perish. God wants to save them (1 Timothy 2:4), but they refuse. Many times He has begged them through His servants to be reconciled to Him (2 Corinthians 5:20), but they reject Him, again and again. They perish because they have not obeyed the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8) and because they have not accepted it, which the Thessalonians and you have done (1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Therefore it is about people to whom the way of salvation has been presented, but who did not accept it. It is therefore not about people who have never heard of the gospel. That means that this judgment of hardening will come upon our Western world especially, where the word of the gospel has sounded so clear. Although they have not died yet, it will be too late for them to repent. They have let the appointed time pass by, as did Pharaoh (Jeremiah 46:17). The judgment of hardening will strike the wicked (Romans 1:22-32), will strike Israel, with the exception of a remnant (Romans 11:25) and in this section it will strike professing Christianity after the rapture of the believers.

What will remain as Christianity on earth after the rapture of church is a Christ-less Christianity. Christianity will then exist of people who maintain their confession as Christians without any connection with the Christ of God. They will be an easy prey for the work of error that will then be sent by God.

It will then be made impossible for them to still repent. After the rapture of the church, there will be no more opportunity for those who have not believed the truth before that moment. For those who have ever heard the gospel and rejected it, there will be therefore no second chance! Because they refused to believe the truth, they will believe the lie.

God uses satan to execute the judgment that He has determined. God has sovereign power in His use of satan and his demons. He has used satan to test His servant Job. He has used a spirit of lies to tempt Ahab, so that he would be killed in the battle (1 Kings 22:19-23).

2 Thessalonians 2:12. The revenge that God brings on people is closely related to the violation that they have committed (Ezekiel 14:9). Have these people preferred the lie of the devil above the love for the truth? Then God will make sure that they will embrace the lie of the devil to their own judgment. The lie which they will believe is the claim of the antichrist that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). You see today how God is being excluded further and further from society and that man becomes the center more and more. Well, soon man’s admiration for man will receive its unreturnable completion as man pays all his homage to the man of sin.

This is the result if the truth is not believed. It comes down to faith in the truth. That is not a matter of the intellect, but of the heart. Therefore you read earlier about ‘love’ of the truth. Love is something of the heart. Therefore the truth has got nothing to do with a theoretical, theological knowledge of the head, but a relationship with a person. That Person is the Lord Jesus.

He is the truth (John 14:6). Do you want to know the truth about God? Then you will learn to know it if you are occupied with Him. Do you want to know the truth about man? Then you must look at Him. What man is supposed to be before God you see in Him. What man is as a sinner, is missing completely with Him. Every deed, every word, every thought of God, becomes completely visible in Him and it is also the test for everything that you as man do, say and think.

Whoever does not believe the truth and has no inward relationship with it nor feels any love for it, will set his own standards. Those are by definition standards which allow the sinful man to live as he pleases. Such a life shows “pleasure in wickedness”. Such a person deliberately and consciously chooses to fulfill the desires of his own ‘I’. It does not arise in his mind what God wants and what is to the honor of the Lord Jesus. God’s judgment on him will be righteous.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 again.

Reflection: What do you do with what you have learnt about the terrible future of the unbelievers?

2 Timothy 4:7

Those Who Perish

2 Thessalonians 2:9. In these verses Paul tells some particularities about the antichrist. The antichrist is not only wicked and focused on himself, he is also the great deceiver. By displaying “power and signs and false wonders” he deceives those who have no life of God.

God also gives these observable manifestations. You can see them in the life of the Lord Jesus and His apostles and in the first church (Acts 2:22; Romans 15:19; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:4). The antichrist is therefore also a great imitator of the Lord Jesus. The source from which he draws his displays, is the lie. That means that satan is his inspirer, for satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). Satan tries everything to tempt people.

It is important to keep in mind that what at the beginning was meant for the benefit of the believers, served to emphasize the Word of God. The Word of God was not complete then. Now it has been completed we need no more confirmation through signs and wonders.

We are living in the time of faith, not of sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). God is asking of each individual to have faith in His Word. You know that the period of faith is coming to an end. We are living in the later days. The coming apostasy is becoming more and more sharply outlined. A sign of that is the declining interest in God’s Word. That a huge number of people is buying modern, freely translated, easy reading Bible translations, is not a proof of a revival. It is rather a satisfaction of the human spiritual need. You are allowed to read the koran as well next to it. The language usage has been adjusted to the requirement of the time. And do you remember which particular time that is? Right – the end time.

Just take a look around you. The demand for visible and tangible elements that could be of help for the faith experience, is increasing. Christians, even true Christians, start to attach more and more importance to rituals and relics. It paves the way through which ‘power and signs and false wonders’ can enter into the professing church. The spirit of the antichrist is very busy.

Movies, in which the so-called good or white magic is used to conquer the evil, are watched by a huge number of people. Such movies are ‘sold’ to Christians as inspiring, in order to do the good. What a deception that is! The opposite effect is happening. Christians are sold to the magic! And let this be clear: there is no such thing as good or white magic. Magic comes from the lie.

2 Thessalonians 2:10. Satan uses “all the deception of wickedness”. Nothing is too foolish for him. Everything is useful, as long as it serves his intention. There is no trace of uprightness in him. He will absolutely manipulate people without conscience and drag them with him into destruction. That is his goal, because he thinks to hit God the most in such a way. But also here it appears that he doesn’t know God.

His deception only eagerly finds entrance with “those who perish”. Those are the people to whom the word of the cross is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18). The gospel, the truth, has been offered to them, but they have rejected it as ridiculous. There is no love for the truth. They refuse to open their heart to the truth; the preaching leaves them cold. They do not want to be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:11. “For this reason”, or ‘on this basis’, God will make sure that they believe the lie. You see that they owe it to themselves. Their attitude toward the truth is what causes them to perish. God wants to save them (1 Timothy 2:4), but they refuse. Many times He has begged them through His servants to be reconciled to Him (2 Corinthians 5:20), but they reject Him, again and again. They perish because they have not obeyed the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8) and because they have not accepted it, which the Thessalonians and you have done (1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Therefore it is about people to whom the way of salvation has been presented, but who did not accept it. It is therefore not about people who have never heard of the gospel. That means that this judgment of hardening will come upon our Western world especially, where the word of the gospel has sounded so clear. Although they have not died yet, it will be too late for them to repent. They have let the appointed time pass by, as did Pharaoh (Jeremiah 46:17). The judgment of hardening will strike the wicked (Romans 1:22-32), will strike Israel, with the exception of a remnant (Romans 11:25) and in this section it will strike professing Christianity after the rapture of the believers.

What will remain as Christianity on earth after the rapture of church is a Christ-less Christianity. Christianity will then exist of people who maintain their confession as Christians without any connection with the Christ of God. They will be an easy prey for the work of error that will then be sent by God.

It will then be made impossible for them to still repent. After the rapture of the church, there will be no more opportunity for those who have not believed the truth before that moment. For those who have ever heard the gospel and rejected it, there will be therefore no second chance! Because they refused to believe the truth, they will believe the lie.

God uses satan to execute the judgment that He has determined. God has sovereign power in His use of satan and his demons. He has used satan to test His servant Job. He has used a spirit of lies to tempt Ahab, so that he would be killed in the battle (1 Kings 22:19-23).

2 Thessalonians 2:12. The revenge that God brings on people is closely related to the violation that they have committed (Ezekiel 14:9). Have these people preferred the lie of the devil above the love for the truth? Then God will make sure that they will embrace the lie of the devil to their own judgment. The lie which they will believe is the claim of the antichrist that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). You see today how God is being excluded further and further from society and that man becomes the center more and more. Well, soon man’s admiration for man will receive its unreturnable completion as man pays all his homage to the man of sin.

This is the result if the truth is not believed. It comes down to faith in the truth. That is not a matter of the intellect, but of the heart. Therefore you read earlier about ‘love’ of the truth. Love is something of the heart. Therefore the truth has got nothing to do with a theoretical, theological knowledge of the head, but a relationship with a person. That Person is the Lord Jesus.

He is the truth (John 14:6). Do you want to know the truth about God? Then you will learn to know it if you are occupied with Him. Do you want to know the truth about man? Then you must look at Him. What man is supposed to be before God you see in Him. What man is as a sinner, is missing completely with Him. Every deed, every word, every thought of God, becomes completely visible in Him and it is also the test for everything that you as man do, say and think.

Whoever does not believe the truth and has no inward relationship with it nor feels any love for it, will set his own standards. Those are by definition standards which allow the sinful man to live as he pleases. Such a life shows “pleasure in wickedness”. Such a person deliberately and consciously chooses to fulfill the desires of his own ‘I’. It does not arise in his mind what God wants and what is to the honor of the Lord Jesus. God’s judgment on him will be righteous.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 again.

Reflection: What do you do with what you have learnt about the terrible future of the unbelievers?

2 Timothy 4:8

Those Who Perish

2 Thessalonians 2:9. In these verses Paul tells some particularities about the antichrist. The antichrist is not only wicked and focused on himself, he is also the great deceiver. By displaying “power and signs and false wonders” he deceives those who have no life of God.

God also gives these observable manifestations. You can see them in the life of the Lord Jesus and His apostles and in the first church (Acts 2:22; Romans 15:19; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:4). The antichrist is therefore also a great imitator of the Lord Jesus. The source from which he draws his displays, is the lie. That means that satan is his inspirer, for satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). Satan tries everything to tempt people.

It is important to keep in mind that what at the beginning was meant for the benefit of the believers, served to emphasize the Word of God. The Word of God was not complete then. Now it has been completed we need no more confirmation through signs and wonders.

We are living in the time of faith, not of sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). God is asking of each individual to have faith in His Word. You know that the period of faith is coming to an end. We are living in the later days. The coming apostasy is becoming more and more sharply outlined. A sign of that is the declining interest in God’s Word. That a huge number of people is buying modern, freely translated, easy reading Bible translations, is not a proof of a revival. It is rather a satisfaction of the human spiritual need. You are allowed to read the koran as well next to it. The language usage has been adjusted to the requirement of the time. And do you remember which particular time that is? Right – the end time.

Just take a look around you. The demand for visible and tangible elements that could be of help for the faith experience, is increasing. Christians, even true Christians, start to attach more and more importance to rituals and relics. It paves the way through which ‘power and signs and false wonders’ can enter into the professing church. The spirit of the antichrist is very busy.

Movies, in which the so-called good or white magic is used to conquer the evil, are watched by a huge number of people. Such movies are ‘sold’ to Christians as inspiring, in order to do the good. What a deception that is! The opposite effect is happening. Christians are sold to the magic! And let this be clear: there is no such thing as good or white magic. Magic comes from the lie.

2 Thessalonians 2:10. Satan uses “all the deception of wickedness”. Nothing is too foolish for him. Everything is useful, as long as it serves his intention. There is no trace of uprightness in him. He will absolutely manipulate people without conscience and drag them with him into destruction. That is his goal, because he thinks to hit God the most in such a way. But also here it appears that he doesn’t know God.

His deception only eagerly finds entrance with “those who perish”. Those are the people to whom the word of the cross is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18). The gospel, the truth, has been offered to them, but they have rejected it as ridiculous. There is no love for the truth. They refuse to open their heart to the truth; the preaching leaves them cold. They do not want to be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:11. “For this reason”, or ‘on this basis’, God will make sure that they believe the lie. You see that they owe it to themselves. Their attitude toward the truth is what causes them to perish. God wants to save them (1 Timothy 2:4), but they refuse. Many times He has begged them through His servants to be reconciled to Him (2 Corinthians 5:20), but they reject Him, again and again. They perish because they have not obeyed the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8) and because they have not accepted it, which the Thessalonians and you have done (1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Therefore it is about people to whom the way of salvation has been presented, but who did not accept it. It is therefore not about people who have never heard of the gospel. That means that this judgment of hardening will come upon our Western world especially, where the word of the gospel has sounded so clear. Although they have not died yet, it will be too late for them to repent. They have let the appointed time pass by, as did Pharaoh (Jeremiah 46:17). The judgment of hardening will strike the wicked (Romans 1:22-32), will strike Israel, with the exception of a remnant (Romans 11:25) and in this section it will strike professing Christianity after the rapture of the believers.

What will remain as Christianity on earth after the rapture of church is a Christ-less Christianity. Christianity will then exist of people who maintain their confession as Christians without any connection with the Christ of God. They will be an easy prey for the work of error that will then be sent by God.

It will then be made impossible for them to still repent. After the rapture of the church, there will be no more opportunity for those who have not believed the truth before that moment. For those who have ever heard the gospel and rejected it, there will be therefore no second chance! Because they refused to believe the truth, they will believe the lie.

God uses satan to execute the judgment that He has determined. God has sovereign power in His use of satan and his demons. He has used satan to test His servant Job. He has used a spirit of lies to tempt Ahab, so that he would be killed in the battle (1 Kings 22:19-23).

2 Thessalonians 2:12. The revenge that God brings on people is closely related to the violation that they have committed (Ezekiel 14:9). Have these people preferred the lie of the devil above the love for the truth? Then God will make sure that they will embrace the lie of the devil to their own judgment. The lie which they will believe is the claim of the antichrist that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). You see today how God is being excluded further and further from society and that man becomes the center more and more. Well, soon man’s admiration for man will receive its unreturnable completion as man pays all his homage to the man of sin.

This is the result if the truth is not believed. It comes down to faith in the truth. That is not a matter of the intellect, but of the heart. Therefore you read earlier about ‘love’ of the truth. Love is something of the heart. Therefore the truth has got nothing to do with a theoretical, theological knowledge of the head, but a relationship with a person. That Person is the Lord Jesus.

He is the truth (John 14:6). Do you want to know the truth about God? Then you will learn to know it if you are occupied with Him. Do you want to know the truth about man? Then you must look at Him. What man is supposed to be before God you see in Him. What man is as a sinner, is missing completely with Him. Every deed, every word, every thought of God, becomes completely visible in Him and it is also the test for everything that you as man do, say and think.

Whoever does not believe the truth and has no inward relationship with it nor feels any love for it, will set his own standards. Those are by definition standards which allow the sinful man to live as he pleases. Such a life shows “pleasure in wickedness”. Such a person deliberately and consciously chooses to fulfill the desires of his own ‘I’. It does not arise in his mind what God wants and what is to the honor of the Lord Jesus. God’s judgment on him will be righteous.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 again.

Reflection: What do you do with what you have learnt about the terrible future of the unbelievers?

2 Timothy 4:9

Chosen and Called

This section starts with the word “but”. It indicates that what follows is in contrast to what has preceded it. A brief repetition of it is not a bad idea, I think. Paul has previously dealt with false teachings about the day of the Lord. Deceivers came with those false teachings. In chapter 1 he encourages the Thessalonians to look forward to the coming of the Lord and exhorts them to endure sufferings for the sake of the Name of the Lord until that time. In chapter 2 Paul goes into details on the false teaching. He shows that the day of the Lord has not come yet.

In chapter 1 he points at the characteristic of that day. He makes clear that then the situation will be the reverse of the situation that they are dealing with now. In chapter 2 he explains why that day has not come yet, which is because some other events are still to take place first – first the antichrist, then the apostasy. But also the antichrist can only come when something and somebody has been taken away, which is the church and the Holy Spirit. Then the evil can break loose, although it will not happen at once in all its intensity. The full extent of the evil will reveal itself when the devil will be thrown to the earth and he demands and exercises his demonic government.

That will take place about three and a half years after the rapture of the church. Then all brakes of the evil will be loosened.

Paul also points to the people who will be left behind (2 Thessalonians 2:12). After the rapture of the believers there will certainly be a number of people that repent. That will happen through the preaching of believing Jews. Those are however not the people from 2 Thessalonians 2:12, for those are people who have consciously refused to believe the gospel. A judgment of hardening will come on them. They will believe the lie of the antichrist and perish together with him in unbelief. There will be no such thing as a second chance.

2 Thessalonians 2:13. If you realize that you are surrounded by such people, you may almost get discouraged. You may even think in a weak moment: ‘Could this also be my fate?’ Well, Paul is reassuring you. He addresses the Thessalonians, and you may also include yourself, as “brethren beloved by the Lord”. One does not say that of people who do not have love for the truth. You indeed say that of those who love the truth sincerely. Whoever loves the truth, is beloved by the Lord.

Paul has pictured the dark scene of the fate which the antichrist and his supporters will be subjected to when the believers have been caught up. The persecutors and the oppressors who were still attacking and cursing the Thessalonians, will partake of that fate. It must have been beneficial to them to hear in the midst of all their sufferings, that Paul was still giving thanks to God for them. It must have also done them good to hear that they were “chosen” by God “for salvation”. That brings an end to all doubt.

There is another encouragement added. God has chosen them “from the beginning” or “to be the first fruits”. That indicates that they are special to God. When there is mention of a ‘first fruit’ it means that a lot more will follow. A ‘first fruit’ indicates a harvest that follows. The Thessalonians were therefore the first of a great harvest of believers that God will bring in (cf. Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15; Revelation 14:14). The church will only be complete when all who God has chosen, will be saved. When the last soul has been added, then the church will be complete and will be caught up. The Thessalonians were the beginning of this great work of God. In them God saw as it were the whole of the redeemed ones. That must have been a great joy for Paul’s heart.

But how did Paul know then that God had chosen them? He could know it by the fruits he saw in their lives. And he who has been chosen by God will be saved. Salvation stands here opposite eternal destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9). It is the arrival at the place of destination and reaching the full rest.

God has fulfilled his choice by the work of His Spirit in your heart and conscience. The Spirit has sanctified you, set you apart from the world for God (1 Peter 1:2). Here you see God’s side of the work in you. There is another side though, your side, which is that you have believed the truth. You have acknowledged that what God says about sin and the sinner applies to you and you have accepted the gospel.

2 Thessalonians 2:14. That gospel has been the calling voice of God. In that way He has called you and you have believed it. You may know that you will partake of the glory of the Lord Jesus. That is awesome, isn’t it? We are not there yet, we still have to wait, but this is a certainty. You will obtain the glory which belongs to the Lord Jesus. In its fullness this goes beyond the inheritance in the kingdom of peace. You may consider this the glory that the Lord Jesus has received from the Father because of His work on the cross, where He glorified the Father (John 17:4-5). He will share that glory with all who will be with Him in the house of the Father (John 17:22). That is great, isn’t it?

2 Thessalonians 2:15. Therefore, if this has been reserved for you, you must not let yourself be confused. The enemy will do his utmost to take this perspective out of your mind. But it should actually motivate you to stand firm, which means that the thought of your calling will make you spiritually stable. That firmness does not lie in the so-called letters or revelations that people have so-called received (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:2). That firmness is in the fact that they take to heart what the apostle has taught them. He reminds them of the traditions that he has taught them.

He first has done that orally when he was with them. Later he did that by his first letter to them and also by this second letter. If they take those traditions seriously, if they acknowledge that they are given on God’s behalf, because Paul has received them from God (cf. Galatians 1:12), they will keep them. Then they will not become prey to the false teachers with their destructive and miserable making teachings.

By putting first in writing what he had told them orally, the traditions have gotten a permanent and therefore unchangeable character. That is important to us. We have no new traditions by word or by letter to be expected anymore. Everyone who comes with a ‘new’ message in order to add something to the Scripture can be unmasked as a deceiver. The Scripture is complete. You can be assured about that. Everything that God wants you to know, is fixed in the Bible which is in your hand. If you use that to test what a person wants to make you believe, you will not run the risk to lose your steadfastness.

2 Thessalonians 2:16. In the concluding words of this chapter Paul adds something more. He has shown us the importance of holding fast to the traditions, which is the Scripture. Now he still emphatically refers them to two Divine Persons. He makes holding on to the Scripture a matter of the Lord Jesus and God. You may think of the love that both these Divine Persons have for you. All of Their love goes out to you. They have shown Their love for you when the Lord Jesus died for you under the judgment of God (John 3:16; Galatians 2:20).

Due to that you have received “eternal comfort”. When you were still unconverted, the moment came that you feared the wrath of God. You were discouraged. Then you came to faith in the Lord Jesus and God’s wrath was taken away from you and you found comfort with Them (Isaiah 12:1). Also as a believer you experienced comfort from Them in all kinds of situations of sorrow and even despair, for God is the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Therefore you will experience that comfort forever (cf. Luke 16:25; Revelation 7:17).

Both these Divine Persons have also given you “good hope”. If you open yourself to false teachers you will have insecurity. You will lose the sight of what God has prepared for you. The good hope is the opposite of that. The biblical hope is a security. God is after all “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). Nothing is insecure with Him. There is mention of hope because the fulfillment is in the future and God ensures that. If you may know that that comfort and hope are your portion, it is not something to boast about. It is your portion because of God’s “grace”. To Him be all honor for that!

2 Thessalonians 2:17. Paul closes with a wish. He wishes that the Lord Jesus and God the Father will do something with the hearts of the Thessalonians. Even though they know the love of these Divine Persons and that they also know to have gained eternal comfort and good hope, they still have a way to go. It is not meant that you will wait for the fulfillment of hope with your arms crossed. No, the purpose is that everything (“every”) that you do (“work”) and what you say (“word”) is “good”, is useful, is a help or benefit for others.

Because from your heart all your activities flow (Proverbs 4:23), Paul looks up to God and the Lord Jesus, that They may “comfort” and “strengthen” you with a view to that. In the next chapter you will receive practical teaching on that.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 again.

Reflection: What do you learn from these verses about election and calling?

2 Timothy 4:10

Chosen and Called

This section starts with the word “but”. It indicates that what follows is in contrast to what has preceded it. A brief repetition of it is not a bad idea, I think. Paul has previously dealt with false teachings about the day of the Lord. Deceivers came with those false teachings. In chapter 1 he encourages the Thessalonians to look forward to the coming of the Lord and exhorts them to endure sufferings for the sake of the Name of the Lord until that time. In chapter 2 Paul goes into details on the false teaching. He shows that the day of the Lord has not come yet.

In chapter 1 he points at the characteristic of that day. He makes clear that then the situation will be the reverse of the situation that they are dealing with now. In chapter 2 he explains why that day has not come yet, which is because some other events are still to take place first – first the antichrist, then the apostasy. But also the antichrist can only come when something and somebody has been taken away, which is the church and the Holy Spirit. Then the evil can break loose, although it will not happen at once in all its intensity. The full extent of the evil will reveal itself when the devil will be thrown to the earth and he demands and exercises his demonic government.

That will take place about three and a half years after the rapture of the church. Then all brakes of the evil will be loosened.

Paul also points to the people who will be left behind (2 Thessalonians 2:12). After the rapture of the believers there will certainly be a number of people that repent. That will happen through the preaching of believing Jews. Those are however not the people from 2 Thessalonians 2:12, for those are people who have consciously refused to believe the gospel. A judgment of hardening will come on them. They will believe the lie of the antichrist and perish together with him in unbelief. There will be no such thing as a second chance.

2 Thessalonians 2:13. If you realize that you are surrounded by such people, you may almost get discouraged. You may even think in a weak moment: ‘Could this also be my fate?’ Well, Paul is reassuring you. He addresses the Thessalonians, and you may also include yourself, as “brethren beloved by the Lord”. One does not say that of people who do not have love for the truth. You indeed say that of those who love the truth sincerely. Whoever loves the truth, is beloved by the Lord.

Paul has pictured the dark scene of the fate which the antichrist and his supporters will be subjected to when the believers have been caught up. The persecutors and the oppressors who were still attacking and cursing the Thessalonians, will partake of that fate. It must have been beneficial to them to hear in the midst of all their sufferings, that Paul was still giving thanks to God for them. It must have also done them good to hear that they were “chosen” by God “for salvation”. That brings an end to all doubt.

There is another encouragement added. God has chosen them “from the beginning” or “to be the first fruits”. That indicates that they are special to God. When there is mention of a ‘first fruit’ it means that a lot more will follow. A ‘first fruit’ indicates a harvest that follows. The Thessalonians were therefore the first of a great harvest of believers that God will bring in (cf. Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15; Revelation 14:14). The church will only be complete when all who God has chosen, will be saved. When the last soul has been added, then the church will be complete and will be caught up. The Thessalonians were the beginning of this great work of God. In them God saw as it were the whole of the redeemed ones. That must have been a great joy for Paul’s heart.

But how did Paul know then that God had chosen them? He could know it by the fruits he saw in their lives. And he who has been chosen by God will be saved. Salvation stands here opposite eternal destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9). It is the arrival at the place of destination and reaching the full rest.

God has fulfilled his choice by the work of His Spirit in your heart and conscience. The Spirit has sanctified you, set you apart from the world for God (1 Peter 1:2). Here you see God’s side of the work in you. There is another side though, your side, which is that you have believed the truth. You have acknowledged that what God says about sin and the sinner applies to you and you have accepted the gospel.

2 Thessalonians 2:14. That gospel has been the calling voice of God. In that way He has called you and you have believed it. You may know that you will partake of the glory of the Lord Jesus. That is awesome, isn’t it? We are not there yet, we still have to wait, but this is a certainty. You will obtain the glory which belongs to the Lord Jesus. In its fullness this goes beyond the inheritance in the kingdom of peace. You may consider this the glory that the Lord Jesus has received from the Father because of His work on the cross, where He glorified the Father (John 17:4-5). He will share that glory with all who will be with Him in the house of the Father (John 17:22). That is great, isn’t it?

2 Thessalonians 2:15. Therefore, if this has been reserved for you, you must not let yourself be confused. The enemy will do his utmost to take this perspective out of your mind. But it should actually motivate you to stand firm, which means that the thought of your calling will make you spiritually stable. That firmness does not lie in the so-called letters or revelations that people have so-called received (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:2). That firmness is in the fact that they take to heart what the apostle has taught them. He reminds them of the traditions that he has taught them.

He first has done that orally when he was with them. Later he did that by his first letter to them and also by this second letter. If they take those traditions seriously, if they acknowledge that they are given on God’s behalf, because Paul has received them from God (cf. Galatians 1:12), they will keep them. Then they will not become prey to the false teachers with their destructive and miserable making teachings.

By putting first in writing what he had told them orally, the traditions have gotten a permanent and therefore unchangeable character. That is important to us. We have no new traditions by word or by letter to be expected anymore. Everyone who comes with a ‘new’ message in order to add something to the Scripture can be unmasked as a deceiver. The Scripture is complete. You can be assured about that. Everything that God wants you to know, is fixed in the Bible which is in your hand. If you use that to test what a person wants to make you believe, you will not run the risk to lose your steadfastness.

2 Thessalonians 2:16. In the concluding words of this chapter Paul adds something more. He has shown us the importance of holding fast to the traditions, which is the Scripture. Now he still emphatically refers them to two Divine Persons. He makes holding on to the Scripture a matter of the Lord Jesus and God. You may think of the love that both these Divine Persons have for you. All of Their love goes out to you. They have shown Their love for you when the Lord Jesus died for you under the judgment of God (John 3:16; Galatians 2:20).

Due to that you have received “eternal comfort”. When you were still unconverted, the moment came that you feared the wrath of God. You were discouraged. Then you came to faith in the Lord Jesus and God’s wrath was taken away from you and you found comfort with Them (Isaiah 12:1). Also as a believer you experienced comfort from Them in all kinds of situations of sorrow and even despair, for God is the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Therefore you will experience that comfort forever (cf. Luke 16:25; Revelation 7:17).

Both these Divine Persons have also given you “good hope”. If you open yourself to false teachers you will have insecurity. You will lose the sight of what God has prepared for you. The good hope is the opposite of that. The biblical hope is a security. God is after all “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). Nothing is insecure with Him. There is mention of hope because the fulfillment is in the future and God ensures that. If you may know that that comfort and hope are your portion, it is not something to boast about. It is your portion because of God’s “grace”. To Him be all honor for that!

2 Thessalonians 2:17. Paul closes with a wish. He wishes that the Lord Jesus and God the Father will do something with the hearts of the Thessalonians. Even though they know the love of these Divine Persons and that they also know to have gained eternal comfort and good hope, they still have a way to go. It is not meant that you will wait for the fulfillment of hope with your arms crossed. No, the purpose is that everything (“every”) that you do (“work”) and what you say (“word”) is “good”, is useful, is a help or benefit for others.

Because from your heart all your activities flow (Proverbs 4:23), Paul looks up to God and the Lord Jesus, that They may “comfort” and “strengthen” you with a view to that. In the next chapter you will receive practical teaching on that.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 again.

Reflection: What do you learn from these verses about election and calling?

2 Timothy 4:11

Chosen and Called

This section starts with the word “but”. It indicates that what follows is in contrast to what has preceded it. A brief repetition of it is not a bad idea, I think. Paul has previously dealt with false teachings about the day of the Lord. Deceivers came with those false teachings. In chapter 1 he encourages the Thessalonians to look forward to the coming of the Lord and exhorts them to endure sufferings for the sake of the Name of the Lord until that time. In chapter 2 Paul goes into details on the false teaching. He shows that the day of the Lord has not come yet.

In chapter 1 he points at the characteristic of that day. He makes clear that then the situation will be the reverse of the situation that they are dealing with now. In chapter 2 he explains why that day has not come yet, which is because some other events are still to take place first – first the antichrist, then the apostasy. But also the antichrist can only come when something and somebody has been taken away, which is the church and the Holy Spirit. Then the evil can break loose, although it will not happen at once in all its intensity. The full extent of the evil will reveal itself when the devil will be thrown to the earth and he demands and exercises his demonic government.

That will take place about three and a half years after the rapture of the church. Then all brakes of the evil will be loosened.

Paul also points to the people who will be left behind (2 Thessalonians 2:12). After the rapture of the believers there will certainly be a number of people that repent. That will happen through the preaching of believing Jews. Those are however not the people from 2 Thessalonians 2:12, for those are people who have consciously refused to believe the gospel. A judgment of hardening will come on them. They will believe the lie of the antichrist and perish together with him in unbelief. There will be no such thing as a second chance.

2 Thessalonians 2:13. If you realize that you are surrounded by such people, you may almost get discouraged. You may even think in a weak moment: ‘Could this also be my fate?’ Well, Paul is reassuring you. He addresses the Thessalonians, and you may also include yourself, as “brethren beloved by the Lord”. One does not say that of people who do not have love for the truth. You indeed say that of those who love the truth sincerely. Whoever loves the truth, is beloved by the Lord.

Paul has pictured the dark scene of the fate which the antichrist and his supporters will be subjected to when the believers have been caught up. The persecutors and the oppressors who were still attacking and cursing the Thessalonians, will partake of that fate. It must have been beneficial to them to hear in the midst of all their sufferings, that Paul was still giving thanks to God for them. It must have also done them good to hear that they were “chosen” by God “for salvation”. That brings an end to all doubt.

There is another encouragement added. God has chosen them “from the beginning” or “to be the first fruits”. That indicates that they are special to God. When there is mention of a ‘first fruit’ it means that a lot more will follow. A ‘first fruit’ indicates a harvest that follows. The Thessalonians were therefore the first of a great harvest of believers that God will bring in (cf. Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15; Revelation 14:14). The church will only be complete when all who God has chosen, will be saved. When the last soul has been added, then the church will be complete and will be caught up. The Thessalonians were the beginning of this great work of God. In them God saw as it were the whole of the redeemed ones. That must have been a great joy for Paul’s heart.

But how did Paul know then that God had chosen them? He could know it by the fruits he saw in their lives. And he who has been chosen by God will be saved. Salvation stands here opposite eternal destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9). It is the arrival at the place of destination and reaching the full rest.

God has fulfilled his choice by the work of His Spirit in your heart and conscience. The Spirit has sanctified you, set you apart from the world for God (1 Peter 1:2). Here you see God’s side of the work in you. There is another side though, your side, which is that you have believed the truth. You have acknowledged that what God says about sin and the sinner applies to you and you have accepted the gospel.

2 Thessalonians 2:14. That gospel has been the calling voice of God. In that way He has called you and you have believed it. You may know that you will partake of the glory of the Lord Jesus. That is awesome, isn’t it? We are not there yet, we still have to wait, but this is a certainty. You will obtain the glory which belongs to the Lord Jesus. In its fullness this goes beyond the inheritance in the kingdom of peace. You may consider this the glory that the Lord Jesus has received from the Father because of His work on the cross, where He glorified the Father (John 17:4-5). He will share that glory with all who will be with Him in the house of the Father (John 17:22). That is great, isn’t it?

2 Thessalonians 2:15. Therefore, if this has been reserved for you, you must not let yourself be confused. The enemy will do his utmost to take this perspective out of your mind. But it should actually motivate you to stand firm, which means that the thought of your calling will make you spiritually stable. That firmness does not lie in the so-called letters or revelations that people have so-called received (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:2). That firmness is in the fact that they take to heart what the apostle has taught them. He reminds them of the traditions that he has taught them.

He first has done that orally when he was with them. Later he did that by his first letter to them and also by this second letter. If they take those traditions seriously, if they acknowledge that they are given on God’s behalf, because Paul has received them from God (cf. Galatians 1:12), they will keep them. Then they will not become prey to the false teachers with their destructive and miserable making teachings.

By putting first in writing what he had told them orally, the traditions have gotten a permanent and therefore unchangeable character. That is important to us. We have no new traditions by word or by letter to be expected anymore. Everyone who comes with a ‘new’ message in order to add something to the Scripture can be unmasked as a deceiver. The Scripture is complete. You can be assured about that. Everything that God wants you to know, is fixed in the Bible which is in your hand. If you use that to test what a person wants to make you believe, you will not run the risk to lose your steadfastness.

2 Thessalonians 2:16. In the concluding words of this chapter Paul adds something more. He has shown us the importance of holding fast to the traditions, which is the Scripture. Now he still emphatically refers them to two Divine Persons. He makes holding on to the Scripture a matter of the Lord Jesus and God. You may think of the love that both these Divine Persons have for you. All of Their love goes out to you. They have shown Their love for you when the Lord Jesus died for you under the judgment of God (John 3:16; Galatians 2:20).

Due to that you have received “eternal comfort”. When you were still unconverted, the moment came that you feared the wrath of God. You were discouraged. Then you came to faith in the Lord Jesus and God’s wrath was taken away from you and you found comfort with Them (Isaiah 12:1). Also as a believer you experienced comfort from Them in all kinds of situations of sorrow and even despair, for God is the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Therefore you will experience that comfort forever (cf. Luke 16:25; Revelation 7:17).

Both these Divine Persons have also given you “good hope”. If you open yourself to false teachers you will have insecurity. You will lose the sight of what God has prepared for you. The good hope is the opposite of that. The biblical hope is a security. God is after all “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). Nothing is insecure with Him. There is mention of hope because the fulfillment is in the future and God ensures that. If you may know that that comfort and hope are your portion, it is not something to boast about. It is your portion because of God’s “grace”. To Him be all honor for that!

2 Thessalonians 2:17. Paul closes with a wish. He wishes that the Lord Jesus and God the Father will do something with the hearts of the Thessalonians. Even though they know the love of these Divine Persons and that they also know to have gained eternal comfort and good hope, they still have a way to go. It is not meant that you will wait for the fulfillment of hope with your arms crossed. No, the purpose is that everything (“every”) that you do (“work”) and what you say (“word”) is “good”, is useful, is a help or benefit for others.

Because from your heart all your activities flow (Proverbs 4:23), Paul looks up to God and the Lord Jesus, that They may “comfort” and “strengthen” you with a view to that. In the next chapter you will receive practical teaching on that.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 again.

Reflection: What do you learn from these verses about election and calling?

2 Timothy 4:12

Chosen and Called

This section starts with the word “but”. It indicates that what follows is in contrast to what has preceded it. A brief repetition of it is not a bad idea, I think. Paul has previously dealt with false teachings about the day of the Lord. Deceivers came with those false teachings. In chapter 1 he encourages the Thessalonians to look forward to the coming of the Lord and exhorts them to endure sufferings for the sake of the Name of the Lord until that time. In chapter 2 Paul goes into details on the false teaching. He shows that the day of the Lord has not come yet.

In chapter 1 he points at the characteristic of that day. He makes clear that then the situation will be the reverse of the situation that they are dealing with now. In chapter 2 he explains why that day has not come yet, which is because some other events are still to take place first – first the antichrist, then the apostasy. But also the antichrist can only come when something and somebody has been taken away, which is the church and the Holy Spirit. Then the evil can break loose, although it will not happen at once in all its intensity. The full extent of the evil will reveal itself when the devil will be thrown to the earth and he demands and exercises his demonic government.

That will take place about three and a half years after the rapture of the church. Then all brakes of the evil will be loosened.

Paul also points to the people who will be left behind (2 Thessalonians 2:12). After the rapture of the believers there will certainly be a number of people that repent. That will happen through the preaching of believing Jews. Those are however not the people from 2 Thessalonians 2:12, for those are people who have consciously refused to believe the gospel. A judgment of hardening will come on them. They will believe the lie of the antichrist and perish together with him in unbelief. There will be no such thing as a second chance.

2 Thessalonians 2:13. If you realize that you are surrounded by such people, you may almost get discouraged. You may even think in a weak moment: ‘Could this also be my fate?’ Well, Paul is reassuring you. He addresses the Thessalonians, and you may also include yourself, as “brethren beloved by the Lord”. One does not say that of people who do not have love for the truth. You indeed say that of those who love the truth sincerely. Whoever loves the truth, is beloved by the Lord.

Paul has pictured the dark scene of the fate which the antichrist and his supporters will be subjected to when the believers have been caught up. The persecutors and the oppressors who were still attacking and cursing the Thessalonians, will partake of that fate. It must have been beneficial to them to hear in the midst of all their sufferings, that Paul was still giving thanks to God for them. It must have also done them good to hear that they were “chosen” by God “for salvation”. That brings an end to all doubt.

There is another encouragement added. God has chosen them “from the beginning” or “to be the first fruits”. That indicates that they are special to God. When there is mention of a ‘first fruit’ it means that a lot more will follow. A ‘first fruit’ indicates a harvest that follows. The Thessalonians were therefore the first of a great harvest of believers that God will bring in (cf. Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15; Revelation 14:14). The church will only be complete when all who God has chosen, will be saved. When the last soul has been added, then the church will be complete and will be caught up. The Thessalonians were the beginning of this great work of God. In them God saw as it were the whole of the redeemed ones. That must have been a great joy for Paul’s heart.

But how did Paul know then that God had chosen them? He could know it by the fruits he saw in their lives. And he who has been chosen by God will be saved. Salvation stands here opposite eternal destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9). It is the arrival at the place of destination and reaching the full rest.

God has fulfilled his choice by the work of His Spirit in your heart and conscience. The Spirit has sanctified you, set you apart from the world for God (1 Peter 1:2). Here you see God’s side of the work in you. There is another side though, your side, which is that you have believed the truth. You have acknowledged that what God says about sin and the sinner applies to you and you have accepted the gospel.

2 Thessalonians 2:14. That gospel has been the calling voice of God. In that way He has called you and you have believed it. You may know that you will partake of the glory of the Lord Jesus. That is awesome, isn’t it? We are not there yet, we still have to wait, but this is a certainty. You will obtain the glory which belongs to the Lord Jesus. In its fullness this goes beyond the inheritance in the kingdom of peace. You may consider this the glory that the Lord Jesus has received from the Father because of His work on the cross, where He glorified the Father (John 17:4-5). He will share that glory with all who will be with Him in the house of the Father (John 17:22). That is great, isn’t it?

2 Thessalonians 2:15. Therefore, if this has been reserved for you, you must not let yourself be confused. The enemy will do his utmost to take this perspective out of your mind. But it should actually motivate you to stand firm, which means that the thought of your calling will make you spiritually stable. That firmness does not lie in the so-called letters or revelations that people have so-called received (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:2). That firmness is in the fact that they take to heart what the apostle has taught them. He reminds them of the traditions that he has taught them.

He first has done that orally when he was with them. Later he did that by his first letter to them and also by this second letter. If they take those traditions seriously, if they acknowledge that they are given on God’s behalf, because Paul has received them from God (cf. Galatians 1:12), they will keep them. Then they will not become prey to the false teachers with their destructive and miserable making teachings.

By putting first in writing what he had told them orally, the traditions have gotten a permanent and therefore unchangeable character. That is important to us. We have no new traditions by word or by letter to be expected anymore. Everyone who comes with a ‘new’ message in order to add something to the Scripture can be unmasked as a deceiver. The Scripture is complete. You can be assured about that. Everything that God wants you to know, is fixed in the Bible which is in your hand. If you use that to test what a person wants to make you believe, you will not run the risk to lose your steadfastness.

2 Thessalonians 2:16. In the concluding words of this chapter Paul adds something more. He has shown us the importance of holding fast to the traditions, which is the Scripture. Now he still emphatically refers them to two Divine Persons. He makes holding on to the Scripture a matter of the Lord Jesus and God. You may think of the love that both these Divine Persons have for you. All of Their love goes out to you. They have shown Their love for you when the Lord Jesus died for you under the judgment of God (John 3:16; Galatians 2:20).

Due to that you have received “eternal comfort”. When you were still unconverted, the moment came that you feared the wrath of God. You were discouraged. Then you came to faith in the Lord Jesus and God’s wrath was taken away from you and you found comfort with Them (Isaiah 12:1). Also as a believer you experienced comfort from Them in all kinds of situations of sorrow and even despair, for God is the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Therefore you will experience that comfort forever (cf. Luke 16:25; Revelation 7:17).

Both these Divine Persons have also given you “good hope”. If you open yourself to false teachers you will have insecurity. You will lose the sight of what God has prepared for you. The good hope is the opposite of that. The biblical hope is a security. God is after all “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). Nothing is insecure with Him. There is mention of hope because the fulfillment is in the future and God ensures that. If you may know that that comfort and hope are your portion, it is not something to boast about. It is your portion because of God’s “grace”. To Him be all honor for that!

2 Thessalonians 2:17. Paul closes with a wish. He wishes that the Lord Jesus and God the Father will do something with the hearts of the Thessalonians. Even though they know the love of these Divine Persons and that they also know to have gained eternal comfort and good hope, they still have a way to go. It is not meant that you will wait for the fulfillment of hope with your arms crossed. No, the purpose is that everything (“every”) that you do (“work”) and what you say (“word”) is “good”, is useful, is a help or benefit for others.

Because from your heart all your activities flow (Proverbs 4:23), Paul looks up to God and the Lord Jesus, that They may “comfort” and “strengthen” you with a view to that. In the next chapter you will receive practical teaching on that.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 again.

Reflection: What do you learn from these verses about election and calling?

2 Timothy 4:13

Chosen and Called

This section starts with the word “but”. It indicates that what follows is in contrast to what has preceded it. A brief repetition of it is not a bad idea, I think. Paul has previously dealt with false teachings about the day of the Lord. Deceivers came with those false teachings. In chapter 1 he encourages the Thessalonians to look forward to the coming of the Lord and exhorts them to endure sufferings for the sake of the Name of the Lord until that time. In chapter 2 Paul goes into details on the false teaching. He shows that the day of the Lord has not come yet.

In chapter 1 he points at the characteristic of that day. He makes clear that then the situation will be the reverse of the situation that they are dealing with now. In chapter 2 he explains why that day has not come yet, which is because some other events are still to take place first – first the antichrist, then the apostasy. But also the antichrist can only come when something and somebody has been taken away, which is the church and the Holy Spirit. Then the evil can break loose, although it will not happen at once in all its intensity. The full extent of the evil will reveal itself when the devil will be thrown to the earth and he demands and exercises his demonic government.

That will take place about three and a half years after the rapture of the church. Then all brakes of the evil will be loosened.

Paul also points to the people who will be left behind (2 Thessalonians 2:12). After the rapture of the believers there will certainly be a number of people that repent. That will happen through the preaching of believing Jews. Those are however not the people from 2 Thessalonians 2:12, for those are people who have consciously refused to believe the gospel. A judgment of hardening will come on them. They will believe the lie of the antichrist and perish together with him in unbelief. There will be no such thing as a second chance.

2 Thessalonians 2:13. If you realize that you are surrounded by such people, you may almost get discouraged. You may even think in a weak moment: ‘Could this also be my fate?’ Well, Paul is reassuring you. He addresses the Thessalonians, and you may also include yourself, as “brethren beloved by the Lord”. One does not say that of people who do not have love for the truth. You indeed say that of those who love the truth sincerely. Whoever loves the truth, is beloved by the Lord.

Paul has pictured the dark scene of the fate which the antichrist and his supporters will be subjected to when the believers have been caught up. The persecutors and the oppressors who were still attacking and cursing the Thessalonians, will partake of that fate. It must have been beneficial to them to hear in the midst of all their sufferings, that Paul was still giving thanks to God for them. It must have also done them good to hear that they were “chosen” by God “for salvation”. That brings an end to all doubt.

There is another encouragement added. God has chosen them “from the beginning” or “to be the first fruits”. That indicates that they are special to God. When there is mention of a ‘first fruit’ it means that a lot more will follow. A ‘first fruit’ indicates a harvest that follows. The Thessalonians were therefore the first of a great harvest of believers that God will bring in (cf. Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15; Revelation 14:14). The church will only be complete when all who God has chosen, will be saved. When the last soul has been added, then the church will be complete and will be caught up. The Thessalonians were the beginning of this great work of God. In them God saw as it were the whole of the redeemed ones. That must have been a great joy for Paul’s heart.

But how did Paul know then that God had chosen them? He could know it by the fruits he saw in their lives. And he who has been chosen by God will be saved. Salvation stands here opposite eternal destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9). It is the arrival at the place of destination and reaching the full rest.

God has fulfilled his choice by the work of His Spirit in your heart and conscience. The Spirit has sanctified you, set you apart from the world for God (1 Peter 1:2). Here you see God’s side of the work in you. There is another side though, your side, which is that you have believed the truth. You have acknowledged that what God says about sin and the sinner applies to you and you have accepted the gospel.

2 Thessalonians 2:14. That gospel has been the calling voice of God. In that way He has called you and you have believed it. You may know that you will partake of the glory of the Lord Jesus. That is awesome, isn’t it? We are not there yet, we still have to wait, but this is a certainty. You will obtain the glory which belongs to the Lord Jesus. In its fullness this goes beyond the inheritance in the kingdom of peace. You may consider this the glory that the Lord Jesus has received from the Father because of His work on the cross, where He glorified the Father (John 17:4-5). He will share that glory with all who will be with Him in the house of the Father (John 17:22). That is great, isn’t it?

2 Thessalonians 2:15. Therefore, if this has been reserved for you, you must not let yourself be confused. The enemy will do his utmost to take this perspective out of your mind. But it should actually motivate you to stand firm, which means that the thought of your calling will make you spiritually stable. That firmness does not lie in the so-called letters or revelations that people have so-called received (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:2). That firmness is in the fact that they take to heart what the apostle has taught them. He reminds them of the traditions that he has taught them.

He first has done that orally when he was with them. Later he did that by his first letter to them and also by this second letter. If they take those traditions seriously, if they acknowledge that they are given on God’s behalf, because Paul has received them from God (cf. Galatians 1:12), they will keep them. Then they will not become prey to the false teachers with their destructive and miserable making teachings.

By putting first in writing what he had told them orally, the traditions have gotten a permanent and therefore unchangeable character. That is important to us. We have no new traditions by word or by letter to be expected anymore. Everyone who comes with a ‘new’ message in order to add something to the Scripture can be unmasked as a deceiver. The Scripture is complete. You can be assured about that. Everything that God wants you to know, is fixed in the Bible which is in your hand. If you use that to test what a person wants to make you believe, you will not run the risk to lose your steadfastness.

2 Thessalonians 2:16. In the concluding words of this chapter Paul adds something more. He has shown us the importance of holding fast to the traditions, which is the Scripture. Now he still emphatically refers them to two Divine Persons. He makes holding on to the Scripture a matter of the Lord Jesus and God. You may think of the love that both these Divine Persons have for you. All of Their love goes out to you. They have shown Their love for you when the Lord Jesus died for you under the judgment of God (John 3:16; Galatians 2:20).

Due to that you have received “eternal comfort”. When you were still unconverted, the moment came that you feared the wrath of God. You were discouraged. Then you came to faith in the Lord Jesus and God’s wrath was taken away from you and you found comfort with Them (Isaiah 12:1). Also as a believer you experienced comfort from Them in all kinds of situations of sorrow and even despair, for God is the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Therefore you will experience that comfort forever (cf. Luke 16:25; Revelation 7:17).

Both these Divine Persons have also given you “good hope”. If you open yourself to false teachers you will have insecurity. You will lose the sight of what God has prepared for you. The good hope is the opposite of that. The biblical hope is a security. God is after all “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). Nothing is insecure with Him. There is mention of hope because the fulfillment is in the future and God ensures that. If you may know that that comfort and hope are your portion, it is not something to boast about. It is your portion because of God’s “grace”. To Him be all honor for that!

2 Thessalonians 2:17. Paul closes with a wish. He wishes that the Lord Jesus and God the Father will do something with the hearts of the Thessalonians. Even though they know the love of these Divine Persons and that they also know to have gained eternal comfort and good hope, they still have a way to go. It is not meant that you will wait for the fulfillment of hope with your arms crossed. No, the purpose is that everything (“every”) that you do (“work”) and what you say (“word”) is “good”, is useful, is a help or benefit for others.

Because from your heart all your activities flow (Proverbs 4:23), Paul looks up to God and the Lord Jesus, that They may “comfort” and “strengthen” you with a view to that. In the next chapter you will receive practical teaching on that.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 again.

Reflection: What do you learn from these verses about election and calling?

2 Timothy 4:15

Pray for Us

2 Thessalonians 3:1. Paul has highlighted his main subject. Now he wants to address some other things. These are actually additional remarks. You can derive that from the introductory word “finally”. That does not mean that these things are less important, as if you could read them if you have some time left or if you feel in the mood to do it. No, what he wants to add is a result of the ‘brotherly relationship’ he has with them.

The first thing he mentions is prayer. He is asking for intercession. In that way he calls upon their bond with him. But it is not so much that he asks for intercession concerning himself, but for the sake of the rapidly spreading and glorifying of “the word of the Lord”. That’s what his life was all about. The Word transforms lives. Whenever there is something which is pleasing to God, it is owed to the work of His Word. The world as a whole “lies in [the power of] the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Wherever the Word does its work and is being accepted, the connection with the world is abandoned and something begins which is related to God.

A victory was won there over the power of the world, sin and satan. The power of the Word is seen there. Whenever the power of the Word becomes visible in a human’s life, it is a glorification of the Word, a tribute to the Word (Acts 13:48). You may consider the word “glorified” here in the sense of ‘crowned’. The Word has completed its full course when it is accepted in faith and has its full effect in the recipient.

The thought that is embedded in the word “spread rapidly”, regards an athlete who runs over the racetrack and tries to be the first to cross the finish line (Psalms 147:15). This way of spreading rapidly can be applied to areas where the gospel is being preached and also to the hearts where the Word has entered into. The Word is not static but dynamic.

The Thessalonians are a proof of that. In order to spread ‘the Word of the Lord’ rapidly, Paul could refer to themselves. As the Word is spreading rapidly among them and with them, they are to pray that it would happen everywhere. Their lives are so to say a promotion for the rapid spreading of the Word. Is your life also a promotion for this purpose? The message of the gospel is as attractive as your life is reflecting.

2 Thessalonians 3:2. After his request for intercession for the Word, he continues with requesting intercession for himself. He would like to be freed from people who are hindering the spreading of the Word (Romans 15:31; 2 Timothy 4:18). Those people behave themselves indecently, inappropriately toward the gospel. Don’t be surprised about that. That is the kind of response the gospel evokes. People who do not want to bow themselves to it feel threatened in their position. Therefore they attack it by unreasonable means.

If they would think soberly, they would see that the gospel causes only profit. But they are not able to because they are inwardly wrong. They have a perverse and evil mind. They do not want to surrender to God and the Lord Jesus.

If you are engaged with a service for the Lord you will meet adversaries on your way. Here you see that you can pray that those adversaries will not be able to go on with their work. These people are adversaries of the gospel because they are not faithful to the Word of God. They do not believe in it, they do not acknowledge its authority. They only accept those parts they agree with. In that way they make themselves judges of the Word, but they do not allow themselves to be judged by it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3. While unfaithfulness is the characteristic of those who do not take God’s Word seriously, the feature of the Lord is that He is always faithful. You can always trust Him, count on Him. He will not deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). At the end of the first letter is written that God is faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24); here you read that the Lord is faithful. It doesn’t matter of course. Both Divine Persons are faithful. In the midst of all unfaithfulness the Lord is a mighty fortress. He is faithful as He was when He called us (1 Corinthians 1:9). Because He is faithful He will protect us (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) and will fulfill His promises (Hebrews 10:23). He is called “Faithful” (Revelation 19:11).

Paul refers to the faithfulness of the Lord to then point you to what He does. He strengthens and protects against the evil one. He grants power so that one is able to deal with the pressure. He will also stand beside you as a Guard to keep the evil away from you so that it will not harm you (2 Timothy 4:18; Matthew 6:13). He cares about you and takes care of you. From Him comes strength and protection. His capability is just as great as His care. In His hands you are safe and no enemy can come near you.

2 Thessalonians 3:4. Security doesn’t make one careless. Safety doesn’t make one inactive. On the one hand you may know that the Lord strengthens and protects you. On the other hand it is asked here of you to keep the commandments of Paul, which means that you obey God’s Word. Paul trusts that the Thessalonians will obey his commandments. The reason of his confidence was due to the fact that they were living in fellowship with the Lord. If you have a relationship with the Lord, then others may trust that you will obey what He says in His Word.

2 Thessalonians 3:5. There is not a more wonderful motive to obey than to look at “the love of God”. There is not a more wonderful motive to endure suffering than to look at “the steadfastness of Christ”. Paul desires that the Lord will focus their heart on that. The word ‘direct’ implies that the way is kept free from hindrances, so that the heart may concentrate unhinderedly. We again and again need to become more and more aware of ‘the love of God’. God’s love for us is unchangeable, but our consciousness of that is quite subject to fluctuations.

In his letter Jude appeals to the believers to keep themselves in the love of God (Jude 1:21). That is the same thought here. You may know that the love of God has been poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), but only if you are engaged with it, if it means to you that God loves you, your heart is focused on it. Circumstances or wrong deeds may easily slide in between God’s love for you and your awareness of it. Because of what is it that you sometimes find it difficult to obey God’s Word? Is it not often because you do not think about God’s love for you in that case?

If you live with the awareness in your heart of God’s love for you, then you will live a happy life. Then you will be in God’s presence. You experience the same as the Lord Jesus always experienced. Has there ever been a moment that His heart was not focused on the love of God? He was always aware of that. Due to that He went His way in perfect peace, even though it was so difficult. If you are continually conscious of the love of God, you will be lifted above the circumstances.

In situations of suffering and lack of recognition because you are related to the Lord Jesus, it is an encouragement if your heart is focused on ‘the steadfastness of Christ’. Look up to Him, just as He went His way on earth, and look up to Him as He is now in heaven. On earth you see Him with His eye fixed on the joy set before Him. Therefore He endured the cross and despised the shame (Hebrews 12:2-3). He steadfastly went on, without letting Himself be drawn away from the way of obedience and suffering. Follow His example, His life on earth.

Also in heaven He is your example of steadfastness. Don’t you think that He would love to make an end to all suffering of His own? And how much did the Father promise Him as a reward for His work? He waits for the moment that the Father will make His enemies a footstool for His feet (Hebrews 10:13). If your heart gets focused on His steadfastness, you will also be able to be steadfast.

‘The love of God’ and ‘the steadfastness of Christ’ are completely strange to the world in which you live. The love of God is being rejected. Questions that start with ‘if God is love’, are often the beginning of a debate on God’s love. They are more a call to God to account. Also steadfastness and patience in tests and sufferings are not accepted. There should be an outcome immediately. The man of the world wants to have satisfaction of his needs immediately.

If your heart is focused on the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ, it will, besides the fact that it makes you happy yourself, be a testimony to your environment. Not that it will deliver you applause, but then the Lord Jesus will become visible in your life. That means a blessing for your environment, as the life of the Lord Jesus was a blessing to everyone with whom He came into contact.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 again.

Reflection: How could you apply Paul’s request for intercession in your life?

2 Timothy 4:16

Pray for Us

2 Thessalonians 3:1. Paul has highlighted his main subject. Now he wants to address some other things. These are actually additional remarks. You can derive that from the introductory word “finally”. That does not mean that these things are less important, as if you could read them if you have some time left or if you feel in the mood to do it. No, what he wants to add is a result of the ‘brotherly relationship’ he has with them.

The first thing he mentions is prayer. He is asking for intercession. In that way he calls upon their bond with him. But it is not so much that he asks for intercession concerning himself, but for the sake of the rapidly spreading and glorifying of “the word of the Lord”. That’s what his life was all about. The Word transforms lives. Whenever there is something which is pleasing to God, it is owed to the work of His Word. The world as a whole “lies in [the power of] the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Wherever the Word does its work and is being accepted, the connection with the world is abandoned and something begins which is related to God.

A victory was won there over the power of the world, sin and satan. The power of the Word is seen there. Whenever the power of the Word becomes visible in a human’s life, it is a glorification of the Word, a tribute to the Word (Acts 13:48). You may consider the word “glorified” here in the sense of ‘crowned’. The Word has completed its full course when it is accepted in faith and has its full effect in the recipient.

The thought that is embedded in the word “spread rapidly”, regards an athlete who runs over the racetrack and tries to be the first to cross the finish line (Psalms 147:15). This way of spreading rapidly can be applied to areas where the gospel is being preached and also to the hearts where the Word has entered into. The Word is not static but dynamic.

The Thessalonians are a proof of that. In order to spread ‘the Word of the Lord’ rapidly, Paul could refer to themselves. As the Word is spreading rapidly among them and with them, they are to pray that it would happen everywhere. Their lives are so to say a promotion for the rapid spreading of the Word. Is your life also a promotion for this purpose? The message of the gospel is as attractive as your life is reflecting.

2 Thessalonians 3:2. After his request for intercession for the Word, he continues with requesting intercession for himself. He would like to be freed from people who are hindering the spreading of the Word (Romans 15:31; 2 Timothy 4:18). Those people behave themselves indecently, inappropriately toward the gospel. Don’t be surprised about that. That is the kind of response the gospel evokes. People who do not want to bow themselves to it feel threatened in their position. Therefore they attack it by unreasonable means.

If they would think soberly, they would see that the gospel causes only profit. But they are not able to because they are inwardly wrong. They have a perverse and evil mind. They do not want to surrender to God and the Lord Jesus.

If you are engaged with a service for the Lord you will meet adversaries on your way. Here you see that you can pray that those adversaries will not be able to go on with their work. These people are adversaries of the gospel because they are not faithful to the Word of God. They do not believe in it, they do not acknowledge its authority. They only accept those parts they agree with. In that way they make themselves judges of the Word, but they do not allow themselves to be judged by it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3. While unfaithfulness is the characteristic of those who do not take God’s Word seriously, the feature of the Lord is that He is always faithful. You can always trust Him, count on Him. He will not deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). At the end of the first letter is written that God is faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24); here you read that the Lord is faithful. It doesn’t matter of course. Both Divine Persons are faithful. In the midst of all unfaithfulness the Lord is a mighty fortress. He is faithful as He was when He called us (1 Corinthians 1:9). Because He is faithful He will protect us (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) and will fulfill His promises (Hebrews 10:23). He is called “Faithful” (Revelation 19:11).

Paul refers to the faithfulness of the Lord to then point you to what He does. He strengthens and protects against the evil one. He grants power so that one is able to deal with the pressure. He will also stand beside you as a Guard to keep the evil away from you so that it will not harm you (2 Timothy 4:18; Matthew 6:13). He cares about you and takes care of you. From Him comes strength and protection. His capability is just as great as His care. In His hands you are safe and no enemy can come near you.

2 Thessalonians 3:4. Security doesn’t make one careless. Safety doesn’t make one inactive. On the one hand you may know that the Lord strengthens and protects you. On the other hand it is asked here of you to keep the commandments of Paul, which means that you obey God’s Word. Paul trusts that the Thessalonians will obey his commandments. The reason of his confidence was due to the fact that they were living in fellowship with the Lord. If you have a relationship with the Lord, then others may trust that you will obey what He says in His Word.

2 Thessalonians 3:5. There is not a more wonderful motive to obey than to look at “the love of God”. There is not a more wonderful motive to endure suffering than to look at “the steadfastness of Christ”. Paul desires that the Lord will focus their heart on that. The word ‘direct’ implies that the way is kept free from hindrances, so that the heart may concentrate unhinderedly. We again and again need to become more and more aware of ‘the love of God’. God’s love for us is unchangeable, but our consciousness of that is quite subject to fluctuations.

In his letter Jude appeals to the believers to keep themselves in the love of God (Jude 1:21). That is the same thought here. You may know that the love of God has been poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), but only if you are engaged with it, if it means to you that God loves you, your heart is focused on it. Circumstances or wrong deeds may easily slide in between God’s love for you and your awareness of it. Because of what is it that you sometimes find it difficult to obey God’s Word? Is it not often because you do not think about God’s love for you in that case?

If you live with the awareness in your heart of God’s love for you, then you will live a happy life. Then you will be in God’s presence. You experience the same as the Lord Jesus always experienced. Has there ever been a moment that His heart was not focused on the love of God? He was always aware of that. Due to that He went His way in perfect peace, even though it was so difficult. If you are continually conscious of the love of God, you will be lifted above the circumstances.

In situations of suffering and lack of recognition because you are related to the Lord Jesus, it is an encouragement if your heart is focused on ‘the steadfastness of Christ’. Look up to Him, just as He went His way on earth, and look up to Him as He is now in heaven. On earth you see Him with His eye fixed on the joy set before Him. Therefore He endured the cross and despised the shame (Hebrews 12:2-3). He steadfastly went on, without letting Himself be drawn away from the way of obedience and suffering. Follow His example, His life on earth.

Also in heaven He is your example of steadfastness. Don’t you think that He would love to make an end to all suffering of His own? And how much did the Father promise Him as a reward for His work? He waits for the moment that the Father will make His enemies a footstool for His feet (Hebrews 10:13). If your heart gets focused on His steadfastness, you will also be able to be steadfast.

‘The love of God’ and ‘the steadfastness of Christ’ are completely strange to the world in which you live. The love of God is being rejected. Questions that start with ‘if God is love’, are often the beginning of a debate on God’s love. They are more a call to God to account. Also steadfastness and patience in tests and sufferings are not accepted. There should be an outcome immediately. The man of the world wants to have satisfaction of his needs immediately.

If your heart is focused on the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ, it will, besides the fact that it makes you happy yourself, be a testimony to your environment. Not that it will deliver you applause, but then the Lord Jesus will become visible in your life. That means a blessing for your environment, as the life of the Lord Jesus was a blessing to everyone with whom He came into contact.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 again.

Reflection: How could you apply Paul’s request for intercession in your life?

2 Timothy 4:17

Pray for Us

2 Thessalonians 3:1. Paul has highlighted his main subject. Now he wants to address some other things. These are actually additional remarks. You can derive that from the introductory word “finally”. That does not mean that these things are less important, as if you could read them if you have some time left or if you feel in the mood to do it. No, what he wants to add is a result of the ‘brotherly relationship’ he has with them.

The first thing he mentions is prayer. He is asking for intercession. In that way he calls upon their bond with him. But it is not so much that he asks for intercession concerning himself, but for the sake of the rapidly spreading and glorifying of “the word of the Lord”. That’s what his life was all about. The Word transforms lives. Whenever there is something which is pleasing to God, it is owed to the work of His Word. The world as a whole “lies in [the power of] the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Wherever the Word does its work and is being accepted, the connection with the world is abandoned and something begins which is related to God.

A victory was won there over the power of the world, sin and satan. The power of the Word is seen there. Whenever the power of the Word becomes visible in a human’s life, it is a glorification of the Word, a tribute to the Word (Acts 13:48). You may consider the word “glorified” here in the sense of ‘crowned’. The Word has completed its full course when it is accepted in faith and has its full effect in the recipient.

The thought that is embedded in the word “spread rapidly”, regards an athlete who runs over the racetrack and tries to be the first to cross the finish line (Psalms 147:15). This way of spreading rapidly can be applied to areas where the gospel is being preached and also to the hearts where the Word has entered into. The Word is not static but dynamic.

The Thessalonians are a proof of that. In order to spread ‘the Word of the Lord’ rapidly, Paul could refer to themselves. As the Word is spreading rapidly among them and with them, they are to pray that it would happen everywhere. Their lives are so to say a promotion for the rapid spreading of the Word. Is your life also a promotion for this purpose? The message of the gospel is as attractive as your life is reflecting.

2 Thessalonians 3:2. After his request for intercession for the Word, he continues with requesting intercession for himself. He would like to be freed from people who are hindering the spreading of the Word (Romans 15:31; 2 Timothy 4:18). Those people behave themselves indecently, inappropriately toward the gospel. Don’t be surprised about that. That is the kind of response the gospel evokes. People who do not want to bow themselves to it feel threatened in their position. Therefore they attack it by unreasonable means.

If they would think soberly, they would see that the gospel causes only profit. But they are not able to because they are inwardly wrong. They have a perverse and evil mind. They do not want to surrender to God and the Lord Jesus.

If you are engaged with a service for the Lord you will meet adversaries on your way. Here you see that you can pray that those adversaries will not be able to go on with their work. These people are adversaries of the gospel because they are not faithful to the Word of God. They do not believe in it, they do not acknowledge its authority. They only accept those parts they agree with. In that way they make themselves judges of the Word, but they do not allow themselves to be judged by it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3. While unfaithfulness is the characteristic of those who do not take God’s Word seriously, the feature of the Lord is that He is always faithful. You can always trust Him, count on Him. He will not deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). At the end of the first letter is written that God is faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24); here you read that the Lord is faithful. It doesn’t matter of course. Both Divine Persons are faithful. In the midst of all unfaithfulness the Lord is a mighty fortress. He is faithful as He was when He called us (1 Corinthians 1:9). Because He is faithful He will protect us (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) and will fulfill His promises (Hebrews 10:23). He is called “Faithful” (Revelation 19:11).

Paul refers to the faithfulness of the Lord to then point you to what He does. He strengthens and protects against the evil one. He grants power so that one is able to deal with the pressure. He will also stand beside you as a Guard to keep the evil away from you so that it will not harm you (2 Timothy 4:18; Matthew 6:13). He cares about you and takes care of you. From Him comes strength and protection. His capability is just as great as His care. In His hands you are safe and no enemy can come near you.

2 Thessalonians 3:4. Security doesn’t make one careless. Safety doesn’t make one inactive. On the one hand you may know that the Lord strengthens and protects you. On the other hand it is asked here of you to keep the commandments of Paul, which means that you obey God’s Word. Paul trusts that the Thessalonians will obey his commandments. The reason of his confidence was due to the fact that they were living in fellowship with the Lord. If you have a relationship with the Lord, then others may trust that you will obey what He says in His Word.

2 Thessalonians 3:5. There is not a more wonderful motive to obey than to look at “the love of God”. There is not a more wonderful motive to endure suffering than to look at “the steadfastness of Christ”. Paul desires that the Lord will focus their heart on that. The word ‘direct’ implies that the way is kept free from hindrances, so that the heart may concentrate unhinderedly. We again and again need to become more and more aware of ‘the love of God’. God’s love for us is unchangeable, but our consciousness of that is quite subject to fluctuations.

In his letter Jude appeals to the believers to keep themselves in the love of God (Jude 1:21). That is the same thought here. You may know that the love of God has been poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), but only if you are engaged with it, if it means to you that God loves you, your heart is focused on it. Circumstances or wrong deeds may easily slide in between God’s love for you and your awareness of it. Because of what is it that you sometimes find it difficult to obey God’s Word? Is it not often because you do not think about God’s love for you in that case?

If you live with the awareness in your heart of God’s love for you, then you will live a happy life. Then you will be in God’s presence. You experience the same as the Lord Jesus always experienced. Has there ever been a moment that His heart was not focused on the love of God? He was always aware of that. Due to that He went His way in perfect peace, even though it was so difficult. If you are continually conscious of the love of God, you will be lifted above the circumstances.

In situations of suffering and lack of recognition because you are related to the Lord Jesus, it is an encouragement if your heart is focused on ‘the steadfastness of Christ’. Look up to Him, just as He went His way on earth, and look up to Him as He is now in heaven. On earth you see Him with His eye fixed on the joy set before Him. Therefore He endured the cross and despised the shame (Hebrews 12:2-3). He steadfastly went on, without letting Himself be drawn away from the way of obedience and suffering. Follow His example, His life on earth.

Also in heaven He is your example of steadfastness. Don’t you think that He would love to make an end to all suffering of His own? And how much did the Father promise Him as a reward for His work? He waits for the moment that the Father will make His enemies a footstool for His feet (Hebrews 10:13). If your heart gets focused on His steadfastness, you will also be able to be steadfast.

‘The love of God’ and ‘the steadfastness of Christ’ are completely strange to the world in which you live. The love of God is being rejected. Questions that start with ‘if God is love’, are often the beginning of a debate on God’s love. They are more a call to God to account. Also steadfastness and patience in tests and sufferings are not accepted. There should be an outcome immediately. The man of the world wants to have satisfaction of his needs immediately.

If your heart is focused on the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ, it will, besides the fact that it makes you happy yourself, be a testimony to your environment. Not that it will deliver you applause, but then the Lord Jesus will become visible in your life. That means a blessing for your environment, as the life of the Lord Jesus was a blessing to everyone with whom He came into contact.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 again.

Reflection: How could you apply Paul’s request for intercession in your life?

2 Timothy 4:18

Pray for Us

2 Thessalonians 3:1. Paul has highlighted his main subject. Now he wants to address some other things. These are actually additional remarks. You can derive that from the introductory word “finally”. That does not mean that these things are less important, as if you could read them if you have some time left or if you feel in the mood to do it. No, what he wants to add is a result of the ‘brotherly relationship’ he has with them.

The first thing he mentions is prayer. He is asking for intercession. In that way he calls upon their bond with him. But it is not so much that he asks for intercession concerning himself, but for the sake of the rapidly spreading and glorifying of “the word of the Lord”. That’s what his life was all about. The Word transforms lives. Whenever there is something which is pleasing to God, it is owed to the work of His Word. The world as a whole “lies in [the power of] the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Wherever the Word does its work and is being accepted, the connection with the world is abandoned and something begins which is related to God.

A victory was won there over the power of the world, sin and satan. The power of the Word is seen there. Whenever the power of the Word becomes visible in a human’s life, it is a glorification of the Word, a tribute to the Word (Acts 13:48). You may consider the word “glorified” here in the sense of ‘crowned’. The Word has completed its full course when it is accepted in faith and has its full effect in the recipient.

The thought that is embedded in the word “spread rapidly”, regards an athlete who runs over the racetrack and tries to be the first to cross the finish line (Psalms 147:15). This way of spreading rapidly can be applied to areas where the gospel is being preached and also to the hearts where the Word has entered into. The Word is not static but dynamic.

The Thessalonians are a proof of that. In order to spread ‘the Word of the Lord’ rapidly, Paul could refer to themselves. As the Word is spreading rapidly among them and with them, they are to pray that it would happen everywhere. Their lives are so to say a promotion for the rapid spreading of the Word. Is your life also a promotion for this purpose? The message of the gospel is as attractive as your life is reflecting.

2 Thessalonians 3:2. After his request for intercession for the Word, he continues with requesting intercession for himself. He would like to be freed from people who are hindering the spreading of the Word (Romans 15:31; 2 Timothy 4:18). Those people behave themselves indecently, inappropriately toward the gospel. Don’t be surprised about that. That is the kind of response the gospel evokes. People who do not want to bow themselves to it feel threatened in their position. Therefore they attack it by unreasonable means.

If they would think soberly, they would see that the gospel causes only profit. But they are not able to because they are inwardly wrong. They have a perverse and evil mind. They do not want to surrender to God and the Lord Jesus.

If you are engaged with a service for the Lord you will meet adversaries on your way. Here you see that you can pray that those adversaries will not be able to go on with their work. These people are adversaries of the gospel because they are not faithful to the Word of God. They do not believe in it, they do not acknowledge its authority. They only accept those parts they agree with. In that way they make themselves judges of the Word, but they do not allow themselves to be judged by it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3. While unfaithfulness is the characteristic of those who do not take God’s Word seriously, the feature of the Lord is that He is always faithful. You can always trust Him, count on Him. He will not deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). At the end of the first letter is written that God is faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24); here you read that the Lord is faithful. It doesn’t matter of course. Both Divine Persons are faithful. In the midst of all unfaithfulness the Lord is a mighty fortress. He is faithful as He was when He called us (1 Corinthians 1:9). Because He is faithful He will protect us (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) and will fulfill His promises (Hebrews 10:23). He is called “Faithful” (Revelation 19:11).

Paul refers to the faithfulness of the Lord to then point you to what He does. He strengthens and protects against the evil one. He grants power so that one is able to deal with the pressure. He will also stand beside you as a Guard to keep the evil away from you so that it will not harm you (2 Timothy 4:18; Matthew 6:13). He cares about you and takes care of you. From Him comes strength and protection. His capability is just as great as His care. In His hands you are safe and no enemy can come near you.

2 Thessalonians 3:4. Security doesn’t make one careless. Safety doesn’t make one inactive. On the one hand you may know that the Lord strengthens and protects you. On the other hand it is asked here of you to keep the commandments of Paul, which means that you obey God’s Word. Paul trusts that the Thessalonians will obey his commandments. The reason of his confidence was due to the fact that they were living in fellowship with the Lord. If you have a relationship with the Lord, then others may trust that you will obey what He says in His Word.

2 Thessalonians 3:5. There is not a more wonderful motive to obey than to look at “the love of God”. There is not a more wonderful motive to endure suffering than to look at “the steadfastness of Christ”. Paul desires that the Lord will focus their heart on that. The word ‘direct’ implies that the way is kept free from hindrances, so that the heart may concentrate unhinderedly. We again and again need to become more and more aware of ‘the love of God’. God’s love for us is unchangeable, but our consciousness of that is quite subject to fluctuations.

In his letter Jude appeals to the believers to keep themselves in the love of God (Jude 1:21). That is the same thought here. You may know that the love of God has been poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), but only if you are engaged with it, if it means to you that God loves you, your heart is focused on it. Circumstances or wrong deeds may easily slide in between God’s love for you and your awareness of it. Because of what is it that you sometimes find it difficult to obey God’s Word? Is it not often because you do not think about God’s love for you in that case?

If you live with the awareness in your heart of God’s love for you, then you will live a happy life. Then you will be in God’s presence. You experience the same as the Lord Jesus always experienced. Has there ever been a moment that His heart was not focused on the love of God? He was always aware of that. Due to that He went His way in perfect peace, even though it was so difficult. If you are continually conscious of the love of God, you will be lifted above the circumstances.

In situations of suffering and lack of recognition because you are related to the Lord Jesus, it is an encouragement if your heart is focused on ‘the steadfastness of Christ’. Look up to Him, just as He went His way on earth, and look up to Him as He is now in heaven. On earth you see Him with His eye fixed on the joy set before Him. Therefore He endured the cross and despised the shame (Hebrews 12:2-3). He steadfastly went on, without letting Himself be drawn away from the way of obedience and suffering. Follow His example, His life on earth.

Also in heaven He is your example of steadfastness. Don’t you think that He would love to make an end to all suffering of His own? And how much did the Father promise Him as a reward for His work? He waits for the moment that the Father will make His enemies a footstool for His feet (Hebrews 10:13). If your heart gets focused on His steadfastness, you will also be able to be steadfast.

‘The love of God’ and ‘the steadfastness of Christ’ are completely strange to the world in which you live. The love of God is being rejected. Questions that start with ‘if God is love’, are often the beginning of a debate on God’s love. They are more a call to God to account. Also steadfastness and patience in tests and sufferings are not accepted. There should be an outcome immediately. The man of the world wants to have satisfaction of his needs immediately.

If your heart is focused on the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ, it will, besides the fact that it makes you happy yourself, be a testimony to your environment. Not that it will deliver you applause, but then the Lord Jesus will become visible in your life. That means a blessing for your environment, as the life of the Lord Jesus was a blessing to everyone with whom He came into contact.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 again.

Reflection: How could you apply Paul’s request for intercession in your life?

2 Timothy 4:19

Pray for Us

2 Thessalonians 3:1. Paul has highlighted his main subject. Now he wants to address some other things. These are actually additional remarks. You can derive that from the introductory word “finally”. That does not mean that these things are less important, as if you could read them if you have some time left or if you feel in the mood to do it. No, what he wants to add is a result of the ‘brotherly relationship’ he has with them.

The first thing he mentions is prayer. He is asking for intercession. In that way he calls upon their bond with him. But it is not so much that he asks for intercession concerning himself, but for the sake of the rapidly spreading and glorifying of “the word of the Lord”. That’s what his life was all about. The Word transforms lives. Whenever there is something which is pleasing to God, it is owed to the work of His Word. The world as a whole “lies in [the power of] the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Wherever the Word does its work and is being accepted, the connection with the world is abandoned and something begins which is related to God.

A victory was won there over the power of the world, sin and satan. The power of the Word is seen there. Whenever the power of the Word becomes visible in a human’s life, it is a glorification of the Word, a tribute to the Word (Acts 13:48). You may consider the word “glorified” here in the sense of ‘crowned’. The Word has completed its full course when it is accepted in faith and has its full effect in the recipient.

The thought that is embedded in the word “spread rapidly”, regards an athlete who runs over the racetrack and tries to be the first to cross the finish line (Psalms 147:15). This way of spreading rapidly can be applied to areas where the gospel is being preached and also to the hearts where the Word has entered into. The Word is not static but dynamic.

The Thessalonians are a proof of that. In order to spread ‘the Word of the Lord’ rapidly, Paul could refer to themselves. As the Word is spreading rapidly among them and with them, they are to pray that it would happen everywhere. Their lives are so to say a promotion for the rapid spreading of the Word. Is your life also a promotion for this purpose? The message of the gospel is as attractive as your life is reflecting.

2 Thessalonians 3:2. After his request for intercession for the Word, he continues with requesting intercession for himself. He would like to be freed from people who are hindering the spreading of the Word (Romans 15:31; 2 Timothy 4:18). Those people behave themselves indecently, inappropriately toward the gospel. Don’t be surprised about that. That is the kind of response the gospel evokes. People who do not want to bow themselves to it feel threatened in their position. Therefore they attack it by unreasonable means.

If they would think soberly, they would see that the gospel causes only profit. But they are not able to because they are inwardly wrong. They have a perverse and evil mind. They do not want to surrender to God and the Lord Jesus.

If you are engaged with a service for the Lord you will meet adversaries on your way. Here you see that you can pray that those adversaries will not be able to go on with their work. These people are adversaries of the gospel because they are not faithful to the Word of God. They do not believe in it, they do not acknowledge its authority. They only accept those parts they agree with. In that way they make themselves judges of the Word, but they do not allow themselves to be judged by it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3. While unfaithfulness is the characteristic of those who do not take God’s Word seriously, the feature of the Lord is that He is always faithful. You can always trust Him, count on Him. He will not deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). At the end of the first letter is written that God is faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24); here you read that the Lord is faithful. It doesn’t matter of course. Both Divine Persons are faithful. In the midst of all unfaithfulness the Lord is a mighty fortress. He is faithful as He was when He called us (1 Corinthians 1:9). Because He is faithful He will protect us (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) and will fulfill His promises (Hebrews 10:23). He is called “Faithful” (Revelation 19:11).

Paul refers to the faithfulness of the Lord to then point you to what He does. He strengthens and protects against the evil one. He grants power so that one is able to deal with the pressure. He will also stand beside you as a Guard to keep the evil away from you so that it will not harm you (2 Timothy 4:18; Matthew 6:13). He cares about you and takes care of you. From Him comes strength and protection. His capability is just as great as His care. In His hands you are safe and no enemy can come near you.

2 Thessalonians 3:4. Security doesn’t make one careless. Safety doesn’t make one inactive. On the one hand you may know that the Lord strengthens and protects you. On the other hand it is asked here of you to keep the commandments of Paul, which means that you obey God’s Word. Paul trusts that the Thessalonians will obey his commandments. The reason of his confidence was due to the fact that they were living in fellowship with the Lord. If you have a relationship with the Lord, then others may trust that you will obey what He says in His Word.

2 Thessalonians 3:5. There is not a more wonderful motive to obey than to look at “the love of God”. There is not a more wonderful motive to endure suffering than to look at “the steadfastness of Christ”. Paul desires that the Lord will focus their heart on that. The word ‘direct’ implies that the way is kept free from hindrances, so that the heart may concentrate unhinderedly. We again and again need to become more and more aware of ‘the love of God’. God’s love for us is unchangeable, but our consciousness of that is quite subject to fluctuations.

In his letter Jude appeals to the believers to keep themselves in the love of God (Jude 1:21). That is the same thought here. You may know that the love of God has been poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), but only if you are engaged with it, if it means to you that God loves you, your heart is focused on it. Circumstances or wrong deeds may easily slide in between God’s love for you and your awareness of it. Because of what is it that you sometimes find it difficult to obey God’s Word? Is it not often because you do not think about God’s love for you in that case?

If you live with the awareness in your heart of God’s love for you, then you will live a happy life. Then you will be in God’s presence. You experience the same as the Lord Jesus always experienced. Has there ever been a moment that His heart was not focused on the love of God? He was always aware of that. Due to that He went His way in perfect peace, even though it was so difficult. If you are continually conscious of the love of God, you will be lifted above the circumstances.

In situations of suffering and lack of recognition because you are related to the Lord Jesus, it is an encouragement if your heart is focused on ‘the steadfastness of Christ’. Look up to Him, just as He went His way on earth, and look up to Him as He is now in heaven. On earth you see Him with His eye fixed on the joy set before Him. Therefore He endured the cross and despised the shame (Hebrews 12:2-3). He steadfastly went on, without letting Himself be drawn away from the way of obedience and suffering. Follow His example, His life on earth.

Also in heaven He is your example of steadfastness. Don’t you think that He would love to make an end to all suffering of His own? And how much did the Father promise Him as a reward for His work? He waits for the moment that the Father will make His enemies a footstool for His feet (Hebrews 10:13). If your heart gets focused on His steadfastness, you will also be able to be steadfast.

‘The love of God’ and ‘the steadfastness of Christ’ are completely strange to the world in which you live. The love of God is being rejected. Questions that start with ‘if God is love’, are often the beginning of a debate on God’s love. They are more a call to God to account. Also steadfastness and patience in tests and sufferings are not accepted. There should be an outcome immediately. The man of the world wants to have satisfaction of his needs immediately.

If your heart is focused on the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ, it will, besides the fact that it makes you happy yourself, be a testimony to your environment. Not that it will deliver you applause, but then the Lord Jesus will become visible in your life. That means a blessing for your environment, as the life of the Lord Jesus was a blessing to everyone with whom He came into contact.

Now read 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 again.

Reflection: How could you apply Paul’s request for intercession in your life?

2 Timothy 4:20

An Unruly Life

2 Thessalonians 3:6. One more thing Paul needs to get off his chest.. The issue that he now raises is not that flattering for the Thessalonians. But it is necessary that he speaks to them on this issue. What is the matter? Among them there were believers who were leading an unruly life. They ignored the tradition they received from the apostle concerning the normal life of a Christian. What could be the cause of that?

It may have something to do with his teaching on the coming of the Lord Jesus, to which they have listened carefully. It could be that they had drawn the wrong conclusion from that. They may have thought: ‘The Lord is coming soon, isn’t it? Well, then it is no use to rush for your daily bread.’ Therefore they stopped working and were sitting with their arms crossed staring at heaven. Anyway, with their attitude of unemployment they could not count on Paul’s approval.

They may have thought that they were spiritual, for the earthly things did not matter much to them anymore. They after all had to leave behind everything if the Lord would come. Heaven was the only thing that counted. That looked very godly, but it is completely wrong. Paul calls their way of life “unruly”. He commands the Thessalonians to correct their conduct. And they absolutely should not think that this command is not that serious. He relates to it the full authority of the Name of the Lord Jesus.

It may have scared them a little bit when they heard this. Isn’t it loveless to withdraw yourself from a brother, not to be involved with him anymore? Did not Paul also talk about the love of God? And not to mention the way he does that. One would rather feel to be pressured by that!

That often is the (human) response whenever discipline is needed. That’s what it is all about here. How could you show someone any kindness if you in that way support his laziness? True love toward those who are erring, is not supporting their error, but rather remain faithful to the Lord Jesus.

There must be mention of discipline if there is evil in the church. Discipline always has the goal to get rid from the wrong so that the church becomes clean again and in that way the Lord will feel at home again. The evil that had entered Thessalonica was caused by some brothers who were a disgrace for the Christian testimony. Their walk was not like that of most believers in Thessalonica who on the contrary had a good testimony.

The ‘unruly ones’ were consciously disobedient to an apostolic commandment. ‘Unruly’ is the marching out of step of a soldier in the midst of soldiers that are marching in line. Such a soldier does not adhere to the prescribed order of battle arrangement. He behaves himself anti-socially toward his fellow soldiers and he is disobedient to his commander. Whoever walks unruly in the church, does the same toward his fellow believer and the Lord.

Such a person must be persuaded to comply with the rules again that apply to Christians. For, although the Christian is not under the law but under grace, it does not mean that he can do as he wants. He who loves the Lord will keep the commandments of the Lord (John 14:21). If you love the Lord, you will submit yourself to everything He says. A Christian has obligations and a sense of responsibility. He with whom that is lacking, has to learn that.

The method that Paul prescribes here is that the church keeps away or withdraws from such a person. By keeping away from him the church makes clear to him that his behavior is inappropriate. In his first letter Paul already has given a general admonition with a view to the unruly ones (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Apparently they did not heed it and Paul therefore has to be more specific about that here and instruct them how to deal with unruly ones.

To keep away is to avoid, which causes such a person to end up in an isolated position. Misplaced hospitality would cause him to continue his undisciplined life of not working. By the way, such a person is allowed to partake of the Lord’s Supper. He is not a wicked man one who has to be removed from among them.

2 Thessalonians 3:7. The deviation of the unruly ones becomes clear if you compare their behavior to Paul’s. He did not behave unruly. They themselves have observed that when he was with them. He showed them how he was supposed to be followed. His example does not imply a request but a command. They had the ability to act exactly in the same way as he had shown. They could as it were copy his behavior. The Thessalonians did not need any catalogue with prescriptions; they had an example before their eyes that lived like that. Paul does not say ‘do as I say’, which he could as an apostle, but ‘do as I did.’

In paganism there is the thought that saints do not work. It is also a pagan thought that believers who have quitted their job in the society to be involved with spiritual matters, are a higher kind of Christians. It is for purely practical reasons because there is so much to do on the spiritual field. One is allowed to do that only if the Lord makes that clear. Such Christians therefore do not stop working, but commit themselves with double diligence to the task that the Lord has ordered them to. He will therefore reward them.

2 Thessalonians 3:8. The normal situation for the Christian is that he has a job in society to provide for himself by his own efforts. Paul is the great example of hard working, whereby he is often engaged with normal handiwork in order to provide for himself and his companions (Acts 18:3; Acts 20:34). He wanted to prevent that there would be any suspicion that he was seeking financial profit (Acts 20:34; 1 Corinthians 9:12-19; 1 Corinthians 4:12). He was not seeking their goods, but he seeks good for them. Paul by the way, also knows how to value what the believers are sending him for his livelihood (Philippians 4:14-20).

2 Thessalonians 3:9. He knows that each servant that has been sent by the Lord, is entitled to support (1 Corinthians 9:14). The Lord Himself has said that the laborer is worthy of his wages (Luke 10:7). But one is not supposed to make use of each right. It is an exercise in the presence of the Lord whether you accept or do not accept something. The servant will, regarding himself, have to examine whether he is not being led by greed. Regarding the giver, the servant will have to examine whether this person gives according to the instruction of the Lord and not for exerting power on him. He is not to be manipulated by money.

Paul’s motive is clear. He himself wanted to serve as an example, without this clarity of his example to become cloudy because of money. You see how much Paul makes his own interests subject to the well-being of the believers. He presents himself as an example because he knew that they would in reality follow the Lord Jesus when they follow him (1 Corinthians 11:1). And it was all about His honor.

2 Thessalonians 3:10. Besides pointing them to the example that he had given when he was with them, he also reminds them of a command that he had given them when he was with them. He quotes for the forgetful ones: “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” So it refers to somebody who is not willing to work. Everyone who is involuntarily unemployed must go on making effort to find a job. The stimulus to do that may quite disappear after many disappointing attempts. What also may happen is, that a job is being offered to which a reduction in income is related. Then the danger is great that this job is being refused.

If it is clear that a person is not willing to work, then such a person must not be helped with food. Such persons very easily make use of the kindness of others. They often go that far that they claim that others are obliged to provide them with food. He who morally has deviated in such a way, has really lost his way. He doesn’t want to take his own responsibilities, while he exaggerates the extent of other people’s responsibilities for his own benefit.

The quote is clear: if you are not willing to work, then you will not eat either. That is not a command to the undisciplined ones. Those ones will absolutely not care about that and will eat everything they are being offered. It is a command to the believers, not to let their charitable heart speak when such a person comes to them and wants to eat with them. When they refuse him, he will get hungry and get started to work to satisfy his hunger (Proverbs 16:26).

Now read 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10 again.

Reflection: How do you think that the people in your environment know you: as a diligent person or as one who cuts the corners?

2 Timothy 4:21

An Unruly Life

2 Thessalonians 3:6. One more thing Paul needs to get off his chest.. The issue that he now raises is not that flattering for the Thessalonians. But it is necessary that he speaks to them on this issue. What is the matter? Among them there were believers who were leading an unruly life. They ignored the tradition they received from the apostle concerning the normal life of a Christian. What could be the cause of that?

It may have something to do with his teaching on the coming of the Lord Jesus, to which they have listened carefully. It could be that they had drawn the wrong conclusion from that. They may have thought: ‘The Lord is coming soon, isn’t it? Well, then it is no use to rush for your daily bread.’ Therefore they stopped working and were sitting with their arms crossed staring at heaven. Anyway, with their attitude of unemployment they could not count on Paul’s approval.

They may have thought that they were spiritual, for the earthly things did not matter much to them anymore. They after all had to leave behind everything if the Lord would come. Heaven was the only thing that counted. That looked very godly, but it is completely wrong. Paul calls their way of life “unruly”. He commands the Thessalonians to correct their conduct. And they absolutely should not think that this command is not that serious. He relates to it the full authority of the Name of the Lord Jesus.

It may have scared them a little bit when they heard this. Isn’t it loveless to withdraw yourself from a brother, not to be involved with him anymore? Did not Paul also talk about the love of God? And not to mention the way he does that. One would rather feel to be pressured by that!

That often is the (human) response whenever discipline is needed. That’s what it is all about here. How could you show someone any kindness if you in that way support his laziness? True love toward those who are erring, is not supporting their error, but rather remain faithful to the Lord Jesus.

There must be mention of discipline if there is evil in the church. Discipline always has the goal to get rid from the wrong so that the church becomes clean again and in that way the Lord will feel at home again. The evil that had entered Thessalonica was caused by some brothers who were a disgrace for the Christian testimony. Their walk was not like that of most believers in Thessalonica who on the contrary had a good testimony.

The ‘unruly ones’ were consciously disobedient to an apostolic commandment. ‘Unruly’ is the marching out of step of a soldier in the midst of soldiers that are marching in line. Such a soldier does not adhere to the prescribed order of battle arrangement. He behaves himself anti-socially toward his fellow soldiers and he is disobedient to his commander. Whoever walks unruly in the church, does the same toward his fellow believer and the Lord.

Such a person must be persuaded to comply with the rules again that apply to Christians. For, although the Christian is not under the law but under grace, it does not mean that he can do as he wants. He who loves the Lord will keep the commandments of the Lord (John 14:21). If you love the Lord, you will submit yourself to everything He says. A Christian has obligations and a sense of responsibility. He with whom that is lacking, has to learn that.

The method that Paul prescribes here is that the church keeps away or withdraws from such a person. By keeping away from him the church makes clear to him that his behavior is inappropriate. In his first letter Paul already has given a general admonition with a view to the unruly ones (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Apparently they did not heed it and Paul therefore has to be more specific about that here and instruct them how to deal with unruly ones.

To keep away is to avoid, which causes such a person to end up in an isolated position. Misplaced hospitality would cause him to continue his undisciplined life of not working. By the way, such a person is allowed to partake of the Lord’s Supper. He is not a wicked man one who has to be removed from among them.

2 Thessalonians 3:7. The deviation of the unruly ones becomes clear if you compare their behavior to Paul’s. He did not behave unruly. They themselves have observed that when he was with them. He showed them how he was supposed to be followed. His example does not imply a request but a command. They had the ability to act exactly in the same way as he had shown. They could as it were copy his behavior. The Thessalonians did not need any catalogue with prescriptions; they had an example before their eyes that lived like that. Paul does not say ‘do as I say’, which he could as an apostle, but ‘do as I did.’

In paganism there is the thought that saints do not work. It is also a pagan thought that believers who have quitted their job in the society to be involved with spiritual matters, are a higher kind of Christians. It is for purely practical reasons because there is so much to do on the spiritual field. One is allowed to do that only if the Lord makes that clear. Such Christians therefore do not stop working, but commit themselves with double diligence to the task that the Lord has ordered them to. He will therefore reward them.

2 Thessalonians 3:8. The normal situation for the Christian is that he has a job in society to provide for himself by his own efforts. Paul is the great example of hard working, whereby he is often engaged with normal handiwork in order to provide for himself and his companions (Acts 18:3; Acts 20:34). He wanted to prevent that there would be any suspicion that he was seeking financial profit (Acts 20:34; 1 Corinthians 9:12-19; 1 Corinthians 4:12). He was not seeking their goods, but he seeks good for them. Paul by the way, also knows how to value what the believers are sending him for his livelihood (Philippians 4:14-20).

2 Thessalonians 3:9. He knows that each servant that has been sent by the Lord, is entitled to support (1 Corinthians 9:14). The Lord Himself has said that the laborer is worthy of his wages (Luke 10:7). But one is not supposed to make use of each right. It is an exercise in the presence of the Lord whether you accept or do not accept something. The servant will, regarding himself, have to examine whether he is not being led by greed. Regarding the giver, the servant will have to examine whether this person gives according to the instruction of the Lord and not for exerting power on him. He is not to be manipulated by money.

Paul’s motive is clear. He himself wanted to serve as an example, without this clarity of his example to become cloudy because of money. You see how much Paul makes his own interests subject to the well-being of the believers. He presents himself as an example because he knew that they would in reality follow the Lord Jesus when they follow him (1 Corinthians 11:1). And it was all about His honor.

2 Thessalonians 3:10. Besides pointing them to the example that he had given when he was with them, he also reminds them of a command that he had given them when he was with them. He quotes for the forgetful ones: “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” So it refers to somebody who is not willing to work. Everyone who is involuntarily unemployed must go on making effort to find a job. The stimulus to do that may quite disappear after many disappointing attempts. What also may happen is, that a job is being offered to which a reduction in income is related. Then the danger is great that this job is being refused.

If it is clear that a person is not willing to work, then such a person must not be helped with food. Such persons very easily make use of the kindness of others. They often go that far that they claim that others are obliged to provide them with food. He who morally has deviated in such a way, has really lost his way. He doesn’t want to take his own responsibilities, while he exaggerates the extent of other people’s responsibilities for his own benefit.

The quote is clear: if you are not willing to work, then you will not eat either. That is not a command to the undisciplined ones. Those ones will absolutely not care about that and will eat everything they are being offered. It is a command to the believers, not to let their charitable heart speak when such a person comes to them and wants to eat with them. When they refuse him, he will get hungry and get started to work to satisfy his hunger (Proverbs 16:26).

Now read 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10 again.

Reflection: How do you think that the people in your environment know you: as a diligent person or as one who cuts the corners?

2 Timothy 4:22

An Unruly Life

2 Thessalonians 3:6. One more thing Paul needs to get off his chest.. The issue that he now raises is not that flattering for the Thessalonians. But it is necessary that he speaks to them on this issue. What is the matter? Among them there were believers who were leading an unruly life. They ignored the tradition they received from the apostle concerning the normal life of a Christian. What could be the cause of that?

It may have something to do with his teaching on the coming of the Lord Jesus, to which they have listened carefully. It could be that they had drawn the wrong conclusion from that. They may have thought: ‘The Lord is coming soon, isn’t it? Well, then it is no use to rush for your daily bread.’ Therefore they stopped working and were sitting with their arms crossed staring at heaven. Anyway, with their attitude of unemployment they could not count on Paul’s approval.

They may have thought that they were spiritual, for the earthly things did not matter much to them anymore. They after all had to leave behind everything if the Lord would come. Heaven was the only thing that counted. That looked very godly, but it is completely wrong. Paul calls their way of life “unruly”. He commands the Thessalonians to correct their conduct. And they absolutely should not think that this command is not that serious. He relates to it the full authority of the Name of the Lord Jesus.

It may have scared them a little bit when they heard this. Isn’t it loveless to withdraw yourself from a brother, not to be involved with him anymore? Did not Paul also talk about the love of God? And not to mention the way he does that. One would rather feel to be pressured by that!

That often is the (human) response whenever discipline is needed. That’s what it is all about here. How could you show someone any kindness if you in that way support his laziness? True love toward those who are erring, is not supporting their error, but rather remain faithful to the Lord Jesus.

There must be mention of discipline if there is evil in the church. Discipline always has the goal to get rid from the wrong so that the church becomes clean again and in that way the Lord will feel at home again. The evil that had entered Thessalonica was caused by some brothers who were a disgrace for the Christian testimony. Their walk was not like that of most believers in Thessalonica who on the contrary had a good testimony.

The ‘unruly ones’ were consciously disobedient to an apostolic commandment. ‘Unruly’ is the marching out of step of a soldier in the midst of soldiers that are marching in line. Such a soldier does not adhere to the prescribed order of battle arrangement. He behaves himself anti-socially toward his fellow soldiers and he is disobedient to his commander. Whoever walks unruly in the church, does the same toward his fellow believer and the Lord.

Such a person must be persuaded to comply with the rules again that apply to Christians. For, although the Christian is not under the law but under grace, it does not mean that he can do as he wants. He who loves the Lord will keep the commandments of the Lord (John 14:21). If you love the Lord, you will submit yourself to everything He says. A Christian has obligations and a sense of responsibility. He with whom that is lacking, has to learn that.

The method that Paul prescribes here is that the church keeps away or withdraws from such a person. By keeping away from him the church makes clear to him that his behavior is inappropriate. In his first letter Paul already has given a general admonition with a view to the unruly ones (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Apparently they did not heed it and Paul therefore has to be more specific about that here and instruct them how to deal with unruly ones.

To keep away is to avoid, which causes such a person to end up in an isolated position. Misplaced hospitality would cause him to continue his undisciplined life of not working. By the way, such a person is allowed to partake of the Lord’s Supper. He is not a wicked man one who has to be removed from among them.

2 Thessalonians 3:7. The deviation of the unruly ones becomes clear if you compare their behavior to Paul’s. He did not behave unruly. They themselves have observed that when he was with them. He showed them how he was supposed to be followed. His example does not imply a request but a command. They had the ability to act exactly in the same way as he had shown. They could as it were copy his behavior. The Thessalonians did not need any catalogue with prescriptions; they had an example before their eyes that lived like that. Paul does not say ‘do as I say’, which he could as an apostle, but ‘do as I did.’

In paganism there is the thought that saints do not work. It is also a pagan thought that believers who have quitted their job in the society to be involved with spiritual matters, are a higher kind of Christians. It is for purely practical reasons because there is so much to do on the spiritual field. One is allowed to do that only if the Lord makes that clear. Such Christians therefore do not stop working, but commit themselves with double diligence to the task that the Lord has ordered them to. He will therefore reward them.

2 Thessalonians 3:8. The normal situation for the Christian is that he has a job in society to provide for himself by his own efforts. Paul is the great example of hard working, whereby he is often engaged with normal handiwork in order to provide for himself and his companions (Acts 18:3; Acts 20:34). He wanted to prevent that there would be any suspicion that he was seeking financial profit (Acts 20:34; 1 Corinthians 9:12-19; 1 Corinthians 4:12). He was not seeking their goods, but he seeks good for them. Paul by the way, also knows how to value what the believers are sending him for his livelihood (Philippians 4:14-20).

2 Thessalonians 3:9. He knows that each servant that has been sent by the Lord, is entitled to support (1 Corinthians 9:14). The Lord Himself has said that the laborer is worthy of his wages (Luke 10:7). But one is not supposed to make use of each right. It is an exercise in the presence of the Lord whether you accept or do not accept something. The servant will, regarding himself, have to examine whether he is not being led by greed. Regarding the giver, the servant will have to examine whether this person gives according to the instruction of the Lord and not for exerting power on him. He is not to be manipulated by money.

Paul’s motive is clear. He himself wanted to serve as an example, without this clarity of his example to become cloudy because of money. You see how much Paul makes his own interests subject to the well-being of the believers. He presents himself as an example because he knew that they would in reality follow the Lord Jesus when they follow him (1 Corinthians 11:1). And it was all about His honor.

2 Thessalonians 3:10. Besides pointing them to the example that he had given when he was with them, he also reminds them of a command that he had given them when he was with them. He quotes for the forgetful ones: “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” So it refers to somebody who is not willing to work. Everyone who is involuntarily unemployed must go on making effort to find a job. The stimulus to do that may quite disappear after many disappointing attempts. What also may happen is, that a job is being offered to which a reduction in income is related. Then the danger is great that this job is being refused.

If it is clear that a person is not willing to work, then such a person must not be helped with food. Such persons very easily make use of the kindness of others. They often go that far that they claim that others are obliged to provide them with food. He who morally has deviated in such a way, has really lost his way. He doesn’t want to take his own responsibilities, while he exaggerates the extent of other people’s responsibilities for his own benefit.

The quote is clear: if you are not willing to work, then you will not eat either. That is not a command to the undisciplined ones. Those ones will absolutely not care about that and will eat everything they are being offered. It is a command to the believers, not to let their charitable heart speak when such a person comes to them and wants to eat with them. When they refuse him, he will get hungry and get started to work to satisfy his hunger (Proverbs 16:26).

Now read 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10 again.

Reflection: How do you think that the people in your environment know you: as a diligent person or as one who cuts the corners?