Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, (12) that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2:1) Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, (2) not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
The Apostle Paul wrote the 2nd letter to the Thessalonians. Paul founded the church there on his second missionary journey – Thessalonica was a geographic center chosen for its strategic location for the spread of the gospel. Because of Pauls success there the Judaizers – false teachers – started distorting the gospel Paul preached and in particular the doctrine concerning the second coming of Christ Jesus. This second letter was written as to correct this and to warn the faithful to be wary of those pretending to be from/of Paul.
The first verses we look at today take us into Paul’s prayer life. In all of his letters Paul uses – always uses – the word always when addressing the faithful. His prayer is unending and on the foundational level of his daily life. Because this letter is occasioned by the confusion of the end times, Paul is reminding the faithful that they have been chosen by God and that they are enabled by Gods grace and power to endure and be worthy of being called.
In chapter 2, Paul is specific as to why the chosen have not missed return of Christ Jesus – and that they already know what is to come. He means that the Jewish faithful are familiar with the Old Testament and the prophecies of Daniel. What will happen before the second coming of Christ has not yet occurred and the Christians are children of the light, not of darkness. Paul warns them not to be deceived by “word or letter” into believing other than the gospel he has preached.
What I found so fascinating was Paul’s description of what is to come – we are told of the coming of persecutions and the time of the Antichrist – the rapture and the day of the Lord. This was also prophesied by Daniel and again written about in Revelation. I had not realized that Paul’s description of the end times was so thorough and specific until I researched the context of the verses for this Sunday.