The end?
Readings: 2 Thessalonians 2
Every year when I come to preach on Remembrance Sunday, without fail, there is more violence, war and innocent blood shed than the previous year I had preached. So the end must be near right? Jesus is coming back soon, look at all the signs, right?
We’re in Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians again, one of Paul’s earliest letters and therefore one of the earliest texts in the New Testament. And having spoken into the suffering of the Thessalonians in chapter 1, assuring them of God’s justice and care for them, Paul now turns to the first of two issues which are troubling the church there; the question of Jesus’ return.
It seems that someone, or some group, has been pushing teaching that contradicts what Paul and the other Apostles have taught, saying that Jesus’ return has either already happened or is imminent. From the way Paul puts it they may even have been saying that this teaching came from Paul, which he is vigorously denying. And this teaching, that either the Thessalonians have missed Jesus’ return or that it’s about to happen and they risk missing it, is causing huge upset amongst the church there.
So Paul urges them, don’t be so quickly shaken. And by this he doesn’t mean emotionally shaken but shaken from the truth they have been taught. Basically, don’t be so easily led to throw away what you’ve been taught in favour of something new, hold firm. But he also addresses the worry and fear this teaching is causing; don’t be alarmed, don’t be fearful.
We don’t know why this false teaching has infected the church in Thessalonica, whether they were unhappy with what Paul had already taught and went looking for teaching that satisfied them, that better fitted with what they wanted or felt they needed. Or perhaps these false teachers came claiming authority and they just believed them, not checking their credentials or their teaching against what they already knew. Either way it’s caused huge amounts of harm.
And the same is true in our day, when we find ourselves dissatisfied with what the Bible says or what sound teaching says, we can leave ourselves open to being led away from the truth. That’s not to say we can’t wrestle with passages in the Bible or question teaching, that’s part of a healthy faith, we’re not to be blind subservient robots. But when we decide that we actually don’t want to believe what the Bible says, we find ourselves open to believing anything that will better fit with what we want, and that’s a dangerous place to be for there are always teachers and preachers willing to say what we want them to to bring us into their fold. But once we start to dig into what they say, its implications and consequences, we find ourselves not comforted but unsettled, not at peace but fearful. As we explored earlier this year in the Nicene Creed sermon series, false teaching and heresy may seem appealing at first, but it always leaves us hurt, confused and abandoned in the end. It’s like a moth eaten blanket, offering comfort and security but leaving us cold and vulnerable.
So in addressing this false teaching the first message Paul wants us to take from this passage is to test what we are taught, to open the Scriptures and see for ourselves if the Bible teaches what we are being told. Not just to abandon it for the sake of something that seems more appealing or better fits with what we want to hear. Just because someone has a slot on the radio or a TV show, or a social media following, or has recorded teaching, or even is in the pulpit, none of these are guarantees that the person is teaching what the Bible teaches. And that may be unsettling, we want to be able to trust these people, but this isn’t a new phenomenon, it has always been so, from the earliest days of our faith. We are not immune in our day, and if anything we are more at risk if we are undiscerning because anyone with a phone can now set themselves up as a Christian teacher or influencer, but it doesn’t mean they should be.
To get the Thessalonians back on the right track Paul reminds them of what he taught when he was with them, that it hasn’t changed. When Jesus returns they won’t be left behind, they’re not about to be caught out. They, with all the Church, will be gathered to the Lord when he comes but when that is, no-one knows.
As Paul starts to describe what will happen and what he taught we’re at something of a disadvantage. Paul is recounting to them what he’s previously taught them in person, so he’s not going into great detail, but we have no record of what he taught in Thessalonica on this topic. So we’re left with all these gaps in our understanding; no-one actually knows who the man of lawlessness is, or what or who is holding him back. There are all sorts of theories, but none can be proven. We simply don’t know, to the point that the lectionary actually skips out most of that bit.
And rather ironically, despite Paul’s motivation here being to reassure the Thessalonians that they will not miss Christ’s return and that his coming is for them a cause for joy and peace rather than fear and anxiety, people ever since have used this passage to try to map it onto current events to say the end is near and get people worked up and fearful and anxious. That’s the precise opposite of the purpose of this passage. And yet there are many in our day who do the same, constantly trying to map events to prophecies in the Bible, trying to riddle out how far along we are.
And whenever I see people doing this my only question is why? Jesus is coming, we know this, he’s coming soon, sooner than he was 2000 years ago. But what is gained by trying to riddle it out? Jesus doesn’t tell us to do that. He tells us to be alert to the signs, and allow them to remind us that he is coming, that’s a good thing isn’t it. When we hear of wars and rumours of wars we find ourselves anxious, but Jesus says these should remind us that he is coming to put an end to such things, and that’s a comfort. But trying to nail it all down, all it creates is anxiousness, fear. Back in October a self-proclaimed preacher and prophet went viral online for saying Jesus was coming back in a few days time, he’d worked it out! And it caused a huge amount of worry and upset, people doing stuff while they still had time, making all sorts of decisions based on that message. The day arrived and, unless I’m mistaken, Jesus didn’t come back. And late in the day he posted to say he’d slightly miscalculated and it was happening the day after or something like that. But Jesus didn’t, and the guy has disappeared into the internet. Another one will pop up again before long I’m sure.
These passages aren’t given to us to riddle out and unlock some secret. They’re there to remind us that we are citizens of a Kingdom that is coming, that is not fully here yet. Our hope is not in events, but in Jesus, and our faith in him. Do not fear, do not be anxious Paul says, hold firm to the truth, to the Gospel, and keep going.
And until that day when Jesus does return lawlessness will always be at work, Paul says. Lawlessness simply means not living in accordance with God’s commands. Sin basically. All that causes suffering and pain and misery in this world comes from lawlessness and sin. And it will always be so says Paul, until Jesus returns and when he does all this will be overthrown by Jesus ‘with the breath of his mouth and destroyed by the splendour of his coming’. And the way Paul writes there doesn’t even seem to be a struggle. Jesus comes back, sin and lawlessness are dealt with forever.
And what a comfort that is when we look at a world that seems to be tearing itself apart, lawlessness and sin and violence abound, and we, as citizens of that coming Kingdom, should work to lessen those things, bring about healing and peace and righteousness. But even as we work we are to remember that the things we are working against don’t have the last laugh, we’re not circling the drain ready to drop. We’re not to despair as the world does, but to live in confident hope of Jesus’ coming Kingdom, even in the face of lawlessness and people setting themselves up against God and against us, even in the face of increasing sin and suffering and violence. Jesus is coming, and when he does all of that will pass away simply by his presence.
In the face of rising violence and hostility, increasing wars and suffering, the sense of society tearing at the seams, we do not need to fear. In fact in the face of it all we can gently and calmly work for good, for peace and justice and righteousness, even when everyone else has given up hope. Because our hope is not in our fight for good, it is not in events or the tide rolling in or out. Our hope is in Jesus, in his victory over the world, in his coming again and in his promise to gather us to him, no longer scattered amongst the nations but gathered to him as one people at last.
In the face of lawlessness and sin, violence and suffering hold fast to the Gospel. Paul reminds the Thessalonians, and us, that we are loved by the Lord, because God chose us, to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth, so hold fast to that truth. We were called through the Gospel, handed down to us from the Apostles, to share in the glory of Jesus on that day when he returns. That’s where all this is headed, glory. We need not fear, our destiny is to be gathered to Jesus, to share in his glory, when all is at last made right.
And so, as I end, I once again want to pray for you as Paul does for the Thessalonians at the end of this passage. ‘May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word until he comes again and gathers you to himself. Amen.