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. 2 Thessalonians 2:2
Today’s text, and the verse that follows it, are probably the clearest Scripture to refute the false doctrine of the mid-tribulationists and post-tribulationists. Those people believe that the rapture of the believers will not occur until the middle or the end of the great tribulation as described in the book of the Revelation. According to the mid-trib crowd, the rapture occurs three and a half years after the antichrist signs his fatal agreement with Israel. The post-trib folks believe the saints will all go through the entire tribulation period – at least those who survive the terrible persecutions. In our text, Paul is declaring that the Christians are to disregard those false teachings, because they will lead only to grief and worry about something that is not going to happen. Sounds a bit like the worry some Christians are enduring over the global warming hoax that has gripped much of our world today.
If we read the next verse, we discover that major events are to occur before the return of Jesus Christ as King (the day of Christ). But some false teachers had visited the Thessalonian Assembly to spread the doctrine that the Day of Christ is about to occur. This caused two problems for the Christians there. Some of them were experiencing serious doubts about what Paul had already taught them concerning God’s program for the future. And some of them were deeply worried about the terrible perils that they believed were about to befall them. God did not want the Thessalonians to experience these problems. So He directed Paul to pen today’s text.
Doubts as to what the Word of God says have always been a major tool of the devil. Remember how the serpent in the garden asked Eve the sneaky question, ‘Yea hath God said?. The devil loves to confuse us as to what the Scriptures say, and what they mean. And he had the Thessalonian saints confused. They were doubting the Word of God as delivered by Paul. This was serious, because, if Paul had been wrong about the Rapture, he might have been wrong about other things, including the Gospel. So Paul writes to encourage them, to assure them that the Word of God is true, and to prevent them – and us today – from being shaken in their minds.
Not that we should worry, but Christians have enough to worry about today without having to be in perpetual terror about undergoing the avalanche of persecutions described in the Revelation. Especially when we won’t be encountering those persecutions. We are not told to be watching for wrath, but ‘to wait for His Son from Heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come’ (1 Thessalonians 1:10). God has not appointed us to wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9). It is the Rapture, not the wrath, that we are to be working, waiting, and watching for.
Take comfort and encouragement today in what God has planned for us. There is nothing to worry about, end everything to joyfully anticipate. – Jim MacIntosh