Many ‘mid-Acts-ers’ think 2 Thess 2:1 is about 2 different events, separated by ‘several more than 7 years’ of time. They describe ‘the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ as His 2nd coming to earth to establish a 1,000 year kingdom for the nation Israel .... and they believe ‘our gathering together unto Him’ is a ‘pre-tribulation rapture’ that occurs -- not AFTER (as is shown in the sequence of the verse) -- but way BEFORE Christ’s coming. They teach that a ‘pre-tribulation rapture’ will occur 7 years -- PLUS an unknown period of YEARS they call a ‘prophesied GAP’ covering the years of time for the events in Daniel chapter 11 to occur -- before the Lord’s return. You have to accept their paradigm first, in order to wrest a verse that way:
2 Thess 2:1-7 Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and by our gathering together unto him,
Verse 2 presents a huge problem for them as it assigns the term "the day of Christ" to the events in verse 1, because of what follows in verse 3:
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Verse 3 makes the day of Christ NOT be imminent. The day of Christ CANNOT come until 2 things happen FIRST: a falling away, and the man of sin be revealed:
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Verse 4 tells us how he will be revealed. It is by the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet (Dan 11:31, 12:11) and prophesied by Jesus (Matt 24:15, Mark 13:14):
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
‘Mid-Acts-ers’ really go berserk with verse 6. Out of nowhere, they insert ‘the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ’ into verse 6 to teach that ‘the presence of us on the earth is what holds back the wrath of God from being poured out’:
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
Then in verse 7, they continue their folly with the same scenario, saying that ‘he’ is ‘the body of Christ that must be raptured before the 70th week of Daniel can begin’:
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
Here is where we will start over, in order to see the pronoun ‘he’ in the context, flowing through the passage. We will even back up to chapter 1, where these same events are also found. Notice in the SAME sentence, that "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven .... taking vengeance" is the SAME DAY (the day of Christ) "when He shall come to be glorified in His saints" .... "in THAT day":
2 Thess 1:7-10 And to you who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints,
and to be admired in all them that believe
(because our testimony among you was believed)
in that day.
We are on the subject of "that day" ....
"when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven" ....
"when He shall come" .... as we begin chapter 2:
2 Thess 2:1-12 Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess 1:7,10),
and by our gathering together unto him (2 Thess 1:10),
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ (when Christ appears / comes .... to take vengeance on His enemies and be glorified in His saints) is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means:
for that day (what day? the day of Christ .... when He appears / comes) shall not come,
except there come a falling away first (see 1 Tim 4:1, Luke 8:13, Heb 6:4-6),
and that man of sin be revealed (remember ‘who’ will be ‘revealed’), the son of perdition;
4 Who (that man of sin, the son of perdition) opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he (that man of sin, the son of perdition) as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he (that man of sin, the son of perdition) is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth (withholdeth his true identity - that man of sin has been masquerading as a man of peace, but working deceitfully - Dan 11:23-24) that he (that man of sin, the son of perdition) might be revealed (when?) in his time. (what will reveal him? the abomination of desolation, when he proclaims himself to be God in the temple)
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work (see Matt 24:12, 13:41): only he (that man of sin, the son of perdition) who now letteth (this Greek word for ‘letteth’ is the same Greek word that was translated 'withholdeth' in verse 6) will let,
until he (that man of sin, the son of perdition) be taken out of the way. (how will he be taken out? the Lord will take him out!)
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed (this is who the entire passage has been talking about ‘being revealed’), whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (see Rev 19:11-16)
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (see 2 Thess 1:8-9)
‘Mid-Acts-ers’ are defending a paradigm that will not hold up to what the verses say.
This is David Dowell saying, "Happy New Year and think about it!"
