2 Thessalonians – Chapter 2

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 2 Thessalonians 2:8 – Know this lawless one isn’t just anyone, this is the Antichrist we’re reading about here. What I want you to look at is how Jesus handles this “premier tool” of our enemy. Not only does Jesus take care of him, but it’s says with the breath of His mouth will he do this. Sometimes we can be so deceived by our enemy that he is the one with all the power. Yet if we look at scripture we see clearly our God is far greater in power than our enemy. As God’s follower, never fear that God can’t protect you or save you from our enemy’s schemes. If just the spoken word our our God was able to bring our world into existence, I believe He is big enough to handle whatever our enemy can bring. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 – Now I’ll be honest with you and say I don’t have everything figured out from this chapter, not even within the few verses we chose to talk about. But after a little studying I believe I understand somewhat of what these difficult verses are saying. Imagine you have a dog on a leash and it is pulling crazy hard after something. You keep trying to get it to walk with you yet it never turns but just pulls harder away. So you disconnect the leash so the dog can chase after what it wants. This is what I see happening here. People are seeing all the false signs and wonders of Satan and they are pulling hard after him. After many opportunities to grab their attention they still refuse to listen to the truth, so God disconnects the leash so they can run. It’s not God’s desire but somehow it’s in God’s plans. As I said before, I don’t fully understand it, but what I’ve seen throughout scripture is this desire of God for His people to be with Him, yet He allows us to choose what we run after. Know today you have a choice as to what you chase after. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1552

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, ²not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 – Paul now addresses in this second letter one of the main reasons why he is even writing the church a letter. He has heard that the church in Thessalonica had been shaken in their faith due to believing that the Lord had already returned and the end times were upon them. Whether through a word someone spoke, a letter they thought was from Paul, or even because an evil spirit said it to them, they somehow had been told the Day of the Lord had come and they were panicking. Paul tells them to be wiser than this and to not let their lives be shaken by such announcements. For they knew the word and what God teaches about the end times and its order. For us today, if we want to find ourselves not being quickly shaken or alarmed at the messages we hear within life, let us grow in our knowledge and familiarity with what God says in His word. Whether it’s things to come in the distant future or things to come tomorrow, God’s word gives clarity and peace around such things. When it comes to the end times, God lays out His plan so we can have an idea of what’s going to happen. When it comes to tomorrow and our future life, God’s word reveals how sovereign and powerful He is to provide and care well for us. So be not quickly shaken or alarmed by the words of the world that is in panic about things to come. We have a God who is over all things and in all things. Lean into His word for knowledge, and lean into Him for peace, for both are available to you today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2778