Glory in the Wait

2 Thessalonians 2

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Man of Lawlessness

2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, ² not 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. ³ Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. ⁸ 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. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, ¹² in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Firm

¹³ But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. ¹⁴ To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts andestablish them in every good work and word.

The second coming of Christ has always been a source of contention among the church... But why? Going through the story of Genesis and you see why. Eve thought Cain would be her savior. Sarah thought that her child would be the one threw which God blessed her and he was; however, she had to wait until she was in her 90's before she meet her son. Waiting for blessing is hard. It makes people cranky and dissentious. Paul in answer to their confused and befuddled theology reminds them that the second coming of Christ will be accompanied by much confusion. Many people will not understand what is happening. Many people will be given over to delusions and pleasure in unrighteousness. 
Paul thanks God that the Thessalonians were among the firstfruit. This also means they will be waiting a really long time. Yet this means they must stand firm. They must be sustained by Christ in the long journey. 

Father, sustain my spirit. I fear growing weary of doing good. I am drawn into the worlds pleasures. Give me a heart after Your own heart. I want to pleasure in the good things that You have given me and promised me. I need You to sustain me as I wait for Your second coming. I enjoy being industrious. Give me good work to do that draws my heart closer to You. Supply relationships that point me to Your goodness that I can work along side. Give me You to sustain me. Amen.