II Thessalonians 2

II Thessalonians 2:1-4:
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to be easily disconcerted or alarmed by any spirit or message or letter presuming to be from us and alleging that the day of the Lord has already come.
3Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness (the son of destruction) is revealed. 4He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

In verse 4 Paul gives a further description of Antichrist: “Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or an object of worship, so that he seats himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself that he is God.” This fulfills the prophecy concerning Antichrist in Daniel 11:36 and 37. This will take place in the midst of the last week, as prophesied in Daniel 9:27.
The temple of God mentioned in verse 4 is “the holy place” in Matthew 24:15. Verse 4 indicates that the temple of God will be rebuilt before the Lord comes back. The temple was destroyed more than nineteen centuries ago. But this verse says that Antichrist will seat himself in the temple of God. Therefore, the temple must be rebuilt. The nation of Israel has been formed again, and the city of Jerusalem has been returned to Israel. However, the temple has not yet been built. Some Jews are deeply stirred concerning the rebuilding of the temple. One day, this temple will be rebuilt, and, according to the prophecy of Daniel, Antichrist will seat himself in it. [SOURCE: Living Stream Ministry]

The term falling away in Greek is apostacia, meaning an apostasy—a deliberate rejection of revealed truth. This verse offers two titles of the Antichrist. First, he is the man of sin—or man of lawlessness. He is the supreme embodiment of man’s rebellion against God and rejection of God’s laws. He is also called the son of perdition, the one who is headed for a lost eternity. Judas Iscariot is the only other person in the New Testament who is called son of perdition. He was a false apostle. So we see three different names for the same being: the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition. And we have one other important name in Revelation 13:1. This is part of a vision that John had in this revelation -Derek Prince

II Thessalonians 2:8:
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming

“And then shall that Wicked be revealed.” This revealing I think differs from that mentioned before (verse 3). He is first revealed… when he comes into being, and then… when he comes to be discovered. And this I suppose is meant here, because his destruction is mentioned as following upon it. For the discovering of him is the first step to his ruin…. At his first rising he is a man of sin; but after he has violated the laws of God and the laws of Christ by setting up his own, he is well called “Wicked” (ἄνομος anomos, Gk), that lawless one. And now he that pretended so highly for Christ is discovered to be antichrist. The mystery of iniquity (verse 7) that before lay hid comes to be revealed, God enlightening the eyes of many learned ministers and princes, yea, and of multitudes of people herein….

The stone cut out of the mountain without hands (Dan. 2:34) smites the image in the time of the fourth monarchy, when Christ came into the world, and in the latter end of it, under the antichristian state, it is broken in pieces.

“With the spirit of his mouth,” as was prophesied of him (Is. 11:4: “With the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked”), even this wicked one here in the text…. And this, as some interpret, He shall do with ease, as by a word speaking, or by a word of command…. Or, as we may read it, with the spirit of His lips, because of the power or spirit that goes along with His Word.

This mystery of iniquity (verse 7) will be unveiled by the clear preaching of the Word, and the primitive pure institutions of Christ, and doctrines of the Gospel, will be vindicated from the antichristian corruptions and innovations. And the spirit of Christ going forth with the Gospel will make it effectual hereunto….

“With the brightness of His coming”: the breath of His mouth wasted [this man of sin], and the brightness of His coming destroys him. Some interpret this of Christ’s personal coming to judgment, which will be with great brightness, as Matthew 24:27: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”… The apostle Paul here mentions nothing of a destruction by the material sword.… He will be destroyed… by the breath of Christ’s mouth, and the brightness of His coming.
---Herescope

II Thessalonians 2:10-12:
and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. 11For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, 12in order that judgment will come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21-22)
Paul goes on in the next few verses to describe the mindset and behaviors of those who disbelieve (see Romans 1:29-31). As a result of human foolishness and arrogant disdain of the things of God, “God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28). And correspondingly, “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things, but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:32).
God is not responsible (i.e., culpable) for those who go to hell. For it is because of their rejection of the Gospel that they eventually end up there, not because of God’s negligence. The context of this passage reveals that man has already rejected the Gospel of Christ.

Those who perish do so because they do not receive—in the sense of "welcome"—the love of the truth. Because they do not, God will send them strong delusion, so that they will believe the lie and be condemned. In reality, God is just giving them what they desire anyway. They prefer carnal delusion to spiritual reality, so God obliges them. The unrighteous in Romans 1 desire a worldview without a Creator so they can be sexually liberated. God gives them over to it and lets them reap the awful consequences. The Israelites in the time of Amos did not value God's truth, so He removed it, letting them experience how miserably they fare without it. If they were anything like modern Israelites, they thought of themselves as enlightened and progressive even as their blindness became more complete.
Amos 8:12 describes people wandering about in a vain attempt to regain the word of the Lord. Some of the people seem to realize that something is missing. They wander and even run "to and fro," but they do not find it. Part of the reason is that they are unwilling to look in the right place. Notice where they are willing and not willing to wander: They go "from sea to sea"—probably meaning from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea—so they will go from east to west. They will also go "from north to east." The only direction they will not go is toward the south. Why? -Bible Tools

II Thessalonians 2:13-14:
13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Doctrine affects the life. Truth leads to life and God; error leads to death and destruction. No one would think of saying it matters not what “god” one worships, so long as he is sincere, any more than he would think of saying it matters not what one eats or drinks, so long as he relishes what he eats and drinks; or what road he travels, so long as he thinks he is on the right road. Sincerity is a virtue; but it is not the test of so

Those who are called are those who, hearing the Gospel, have been so deeply convicted by the Holy Spirit that they have believed the truth and received the Saviour who died for their sins and rose again from the dead. They have been brought "out of darkness into his marvelous light" (I Peter 2:9). The Saviour issued the call, "Come unto me." -S. Maxwell Coder; Jude: The Acts of the Apostates; 1958

In Luke 10:25-28 we have some teaching of our Lord on the subject "And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and made trial of him saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? and he said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself, And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do and thou shalt live."
Here we have a question presented to the Lord by a lawyer. The question is, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Note that the question has to do with the human effort required to inherit eternal life. The one raising the question did not think that he could have eternal life in possession in this life as is evidenced by his question. He wanted to know what he could do to inherit eternal life. That the Lord did not believe nor teach that one can have eternal life in possession is evident from several considerations. He did not correct the lawyer on this point, but caused him to answer his own question and when the lawyer had answered his own question Christ endorsed his answer by saying, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live." Thus we learn that man must do something to live — that eternal life is had in prospect, that is, it is a thing to be inherited — and that love is doing.
The first part of the answer will serve as our text for this time. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength and with all thy mind." We are to love God with all the faculties of our being, with all our heart, which includes the emotions, with all our soul, which takes in all the spiritual faculties, with all our strength, the energy of our being, with all our mind, this involves the intellectual faculties. All the powers of our being are to be concentrated in love for God. But suppose we be a bit more specific. We are not only required to love God with our heart, soul, and mind but with our 'strength. How could we love God with our strength other than by exercising that strength in doing His will? That, my friends, is human effort.
But another passage on the subject of man's love for God. Romans 8:28, "And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose." "Them that are called according to his purpose" are here shown to be "them that love God." This clearly establishes that man has a part in being called, for them that love God are the ones called according to his purpose. Note that it is "them that love God," not, "them that God loves." If "them that are called" included all that God loved, then all men would be in that number for God loved the world. The number of them called according to God's purpose is limited to them that love God. We are called through the gospel. Second Thessalonians 2:14, "Whereunto he called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Thus we see that God does not arbitrarily and irresistibly call any individual but rather calls all through the gospel. Those who by obedience to the gospel accept this call constitute the "them that are called according to his purpose." But look at Romans 8:28 again to be fully assured that "them that love God" and "them that are called according to his purpose" are one and the same class. "And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose." Well, as "them that love God" and "them that are called according to his purpose" are the same class, the same ones, just described by different terms, we raise the question, Who is it that loves God? What is the gauge by which we can determine if we love God? Do you love God? How do you know? This is a vital thing for we have learned that if you do not love God you are not among "them called according to his purpose."
--Robert H Farish; The Gospel Guardian; Thou Shalt Love The Lord Thy God 8.12.54

II Thessalonians 2:15-17:
So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,
17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.