The Lord Will Triumph

April 28, 2013 Background Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2 Lesson Passage: 2 Thessalonians 2:1 – 4, 8 – 17 God is in control in heaven and on earth. Today, many believe that this world is on autopilot and speeding towards its own destruction. Here is a news flash: “This world will not destroy itself. God will destroy it when the time comes!” Universal destruction will not come as a result of man’s effort. If this were not the case, then it could have and would have happened many years ago. There have been two wars that were classified as “World Wars”. Even then, there were enough bombs and other weapons of mass destruction to completely demolish civilization. The world survived both wars. The end of life as we know it is not for man to decide. That is a decision that God will make and He doesn’t need man to decide when it should happen, or how it should happen, or to make it happen for Him. According to the book of Revelation, much of it will appear as natural disasters and not manmade catastrophes. This world will be judged by God because of wide-spread sin. God’s judgment will be followed by worldwide destruction under the absolute control of God. It will happen quickly but it will not happen without warning signs first. There will first be a great falling away by the church. In other words, the church will openly practice apostasy. This apostasy will not be isolated cases of local congregations following social extremists and practicing ungodly behavior. This apostasy will be widespread throughout the universal church that is the body of Christ. This will lead to the revealing of a man who is the epitome of abomination—the anti-Christ. He will believe that he is God or at least worthy to be worshiped as God. Today, the Holy Spirit keeps a restraint on this so that it does not happen yet. Again, God is in control. However, one day the Holy Spirit will remove the restraint and allow Satan to use the anti-Christ against the church. These things will signal the beginning of the end. This will set in motion the return of the Lord. He will not return as a meek and lowly Savior to give himself for the world but as a warrior to exact vengeance against all enemies of God. When it appears that Satan is at his strongest, Jesus will appear to soundly defeat him. The anti-Christ—who is Satan’s puppet—will be destroyed. But true Christians will be kept by the glory of God. Who are true Christians? True Christians are those who completely put their trust in the saving power of Jesus Christ. There is no other hope but that. No one can make himself acceptable to God through self-effort or will power. We cannot “get ourselves together”. We totally submit to God’s plan of salvation and that is the hope we live with. Our work beyond that is to submit to God’s will for our lives and to allow Him to be Lord of our lives. This is not done to receive salvation but it is done because we have been saved. The salvation that God places in us is brought out or manifested through this sanctification process. We thank God in prayer because He has chosen us to be His own. We thank God in prayer because we shall not be destroyed or condemned with the world. Jesus will triumph over Satan and his followers but Christians—not those who merely profess to be—but true Christians shall be spared and will glory in our savior’s victory. Robert C. Hudson April 19, 2013