2 Thessalonians 2: God Remains Sovereign Until Jesus Returns

Introduction

"God is sovereign over everything, or he is not sovereign over anything at all." Patrice Berger, of the Église Évangélique AB Renens near Lausanne, continues his verse-by-verse reading of Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians. The previous Sunday focused on the lordship of Jesus. This time, he invites us to reflect on God's sovereignty, even over what he has announced: the return of Jesus.

The subject troubles even believers, he says. A childhood friend, a sister in Christ, arrives at church one Sunday in an industrial park in Montbéliard. Nobody is there. She immediately thinks the Lord has returned and that she was left behind. In tears, she calls her mother, who answers: it's the clock change.

The Christians in Thessalonica were already shaken by this question. In chapter 2, the apostle Paul gives them landmarks for what will come before the Lord's return. Patrice Berger notes several signs, then closes with four questions: what the text teaches us about God, about humanity, what it pushes us to do, and what it pushes us to pass on.

Message Outline

1. God Is Sovereign Over Everything, Even the Occult World

God is sovereign over creation, over great empires and their dictators like Nebuchadnezzar, and even over our choices. "How we make a conscious choice while God remains sovereign is beyond us."
He is also sovereign over the occult world, which is not autonomous. The preacher reads 1 Kings 22, near the end of the life of Ahab, the idolatrous king of Israel and "the archetype of the leader who stood against God."
Ahab wants to retake Ramoth Gilead with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. Four hundred prophets promise him victory. Only Micaiah, son of Imlah, whom the king hates, announces disaster.
Micaiah saw the Lord on his throne: a spirit offers to be a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets, and God sends him: "Go out, and do so." God channels this lying spirit so that Ahab's rebellions reach their end.
It is the same with Pharaoh: his heart was already hard, but God hardened it so that the outcome of what he had done would be revealed.

2. The Return of Jesus Troubles People, Then and Now

Over the last fifty years, the preacher has counted 13 theories about the end of the world spread almost everywhere on the planet, and 11 about the return of Christ.
He remembers the craze around the end of the Mayan calendar, which circulated on the early social networks. He was surprised to see believers grounded in the Word shaken, even disturbed.
In Thessalonica, some thought the day of the Lord had already come, because they were going through direct persecution. Paul writes: do not be easily shaken in your thinking, or troubled (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2).
Chapter 1 had shown that the return of Jesus will be obvious, impossible to miss. Chapter 2 spells out the signs that announce it.

3. The Apostasy and the Man of Lawlessness

The word apostasy has two axes: defection and abandonment on one side, revolt and rebellion on the other, like a troop rising up. Paul describes a widespread phenomenon of opposition to God.
Jesus sums up this climate in the parable of the widow and the unjust judge: "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8)
This rejection of God will reach its climax in one person: the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction. He opposes the God revealed in the Bible and everything that is worshiped, "a sort of atheistic totalitarianism."
He will commit a major desecration by sitting in the temple of God and proclaiming himself to be God. According to the preacher, the natural reading points to the temple in Jerusalem, which would mean it has to be rebuilt.
Such a temple would have no use for salvation. During the first forty years of the Church in Jerusalem, the temple was there, and it added nothing to the faith of believers and took nothing away.

4. The Mystery of Lawlessness Is Already at Work

In the Bible, a mystery is not a secret reserved for insiders, but what God reveals at the perfect moment (verse 7).
Lawlessness targets civil laws less than the way of life God offers in his Word. The preacher gives some examples: humanism that puts humanity at the center in place of God, materialism as a protecting god.
"We must act wisely," he says about savings and investments. But do these tangible lifebuoys matter more than relying on God?
He also mentions ideologies that erase God from our origins, from life and from the afterlife, and a moral permissiveness, more or less imposed, that belittles human life and touches sexuality, family and marriage.
In the West, we do not face direct persecution for our faith, but perhaps we understand this mystery of lawlessness already at work better than people elsewhere do. Greco-Roman antiquity already knew similar things.

5. The One Who Restrains: Learning to Stay Humble

Someone or something restrains the coming of the man of lawlessness, until that restraint is taken out of the way. "If you came here to find out who it is, you will be disappointed."
Paul had spoken about it in person to the Thessalonians, but no other text in the Bible says more. Listing every hypothesis would clutter our minds with things that cannot be affirmed.
"It is good to know, but what is the use of knowing?" God tells us what is necessary and sufficient to build our faith and to live in the light of these indications.
John 20:30-31 and John 21:25 point the same way: Jesus did many other things, but what is written is written so that we may believe and have life in his name. Knowing whether Paul preferred pink or blue is of no use to our faith.

6. Lying Wonders, a Certain End

The man of lawlessness will act by the power of Satan, with all kinds of miracles, signs and lying wonders (verses 9-10). Satan is nowhere near God's equal: he is a created heavenly being, but he uses for his rebellion abilities that God gave him.
What we take for a miracle is not necessarily a sign that the person comes from God. Something spectacular, yet deceptive, may happen.
When Jesus heals the woman with the flow of blood, he says that power went out from him: the power of the Creator who gives by grace. By contrast, healers, people who have "the secret," or folk bonesetters use incantations in which there is always an exchange. "In the occult world, there is never the idea of giving, but always of exchanging in order to keep a hold on the person."
The first victims will be those who refused everything that comes from God and did not receive the love of the truth. God is very patient, but at some point he acknowledges people's choices and reveals their final fruit. God is just and sovereign.
At his return, Jesus will silence this figure with great ease, by the breath of his mouth (verse 8).
When will this happen? It is impossible to give a date. Apostasy and ungodliness mark our so-called progressive society, but the biblical texts speak of a phenomenon that spreads across all of humanity, which is not yet the case. What is new in our time is the immediacy and the global scale of events.

7. What This Text Teaches Us and Pushes Us to Live

About God. God and Jesus are sovereign. The greatest organization this figure will unite will be only "a wisp of straw in the wind" before the greatness of Jesus, just as Babel collapsed very quickly. God is just: he takes everyone's choices into account.
Before the first coming of Jesus, contextual clues had been given, and the Magi found them again in Jerusalem. For his second coming, we likewise have contextual clues. His return is as certain as his birth, that historical fact from which we date our years.
About humanity. All of humanity is fundamentally rebellious toward God. Without the love of the truth found in Jesus, "I am a person in opposition to God." Our humanity is like a frog in water that is heating up: it lets itself cook slowly without realizing it. Yet each person remains responsible for their choices before God.
What this pushes us to do. Look ahead to the return of Jesus with wisdom, that is, think and act according to God and with God, with Jesus at the heart of your life. Do not let yourself be unsettled by videos from pseudo-preachers on YouTube or by books that offer charts to sell a few more copies.
Rejoice in advance: Jesus returns, not first of all to put an end to chaos, but to take back his rightful place in the midst of his creation. "This is truly a text that leads to worship."
What this pushes us to pass on. There is no need to walk around Lausanne in a fur coat shouting that the Lord is coming back. The point is to have and to pass on the right information about the return of Jesus, and to seize the opportunity when non-believers talk about the end of the world: Jesus himself talks about it a lot in his parables.
Among believers, it is better for conversations to lead to worship and to our present responsibility, rather than to endless debates about the details of the return: "Let us worship him, and let our lives already be an act of worship in the light of this certain return."

Key Takeaways

God is sovereign over everything, including the occult world and the events that will precede the return of Jesus.
Before this return will come the apostasy and the man of lawlessness, against the backdrop of a mystery of lawlessness already at work today.
Not everything spectacular comes from God: Jesus gives by grace, while the occult world exchanges in order to keep a hold on people.
No one can fix a date, and the Bible does not answer all our curiosities: it gives what is necessary and sufficient for faith.
The return of Jesus is as certain as his first coming. It calls us to wisdom, joy and worship starting now.

Personal Application

What troubles you most when you hear about the end of the world or the return of Jesus, and what does this text say to your worry?
Which "tangible lifebuoys" do you count on more than God to feel secure?
In which areas of your life have you let the water heat up without realizing it, in the face of the mystery of lawlessness?
Do your conversations about the return of Jesus lead you to worship, or to endless debates about the details?
Who around you could you open the discussion with the next time the subject of the end of the world comes up?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the apostasy in 2 Thessalonians 2?

Patrice Berger notes two senses of the word: defection and abandonment on one side, revolt and rebellion on the other. Paul describes a widespread phenomenon of opposition to God before the return of Jesus. Jesus sums it up in Luke 18:8: "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

Who is the one who restrains the man of lawlessness?

The preacher admits it is a riddle. Paul had spoken about it in person to the Thessalonians, but no other biblical text makes it possible to identify him. Rather than multiplying hypotheses, he invites humility: God tells us in his Word what is necessary and sufficient for faith (John 20:30-31).

Can we know the date of the return of Jesus?

No. Patrice Berger states that it is impossible to determine. Some signs, such as apostasy and ungodliness, are becoming more concrete, but the Bible speaks of a phenomenon that spreads across all of humanity, which is not yet the case. The return of Jesus remains as certain as his first coming.