Message given at Wascana Fellowship September 6 2025.
Let’s talk about Paul’s relationship with the church in Thessalonica, and the church’s relationship with the Jewish community there before going into his letters to the Thessalonians. We start reading from the New International Version in Acts 17:1 (Transcribed by Otter AI).
When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was A Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead.
So notice what he’s having to do. He’s having to explain that Jesus died and rose from the dead. Okay, that’ll be important when it comes to that letter. Continuing in Acts 17:
“This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah” he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. But the but other Jews were jealous, so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot In the city.
They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. For when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials shouting. These men who have these men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They’re all defying Caesar’s decree, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.
When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil, and they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go. As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.
So notice how much trouble is being caused here. Things are so bad that they have to hide Paul and Silas and then send them away.
On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now, the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message was great eagerness and examine the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up.
The believers, immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
So now Paul has to be spirited out of that city too, because of Thessalonian Jews who are opposed to the gospel. Okay, this is going to be important when we get to the letter. So Paul didn’t get to spend much time in Thessalonica. He got there probably just a few weeks before he was basically kicked out of the city. So that’s that’s background. This is why Paul has to write a couple of letters to the Thessalonian church.
Dr. Roger Aus has noted a number of connections between the language of 2 Thessalonians and the last the last chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah 66. I learned about Dr. Aus through Dr. Michael Heiser, author of The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible in a podcast entitled The Falling Away and the Restrainer. Whatever you think of Michael Heiser, this podcast is about Heiser bringing to the fore the work of another biblical scholar.
Isaiah 66 is a passage about judgment and about hope. I’m going to read through the entire chapter here.
This is what the Lord says, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things so they came into being, declares the Lord. So just reminding them that he’s the creator. These are the ones I look on with favor, those who are humble and contrite in spirit and who tremble at my word. Okay, so he’s he’s setting us up to show who he favors, and he’s going to talk about who he doesn’t favor, okay?
But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a person, and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck. Whoever makes a great offering is like one who presents pig’s blood, and whoever burns Memorial incense is like one who worships an idol. Now what, who is he talking about?
They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations. So I also will choose harsh treatment for them, and will bring on them what they dread for when I called, no one answered. When I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.
Okay, so who is he talking about here? Is he talking about Gentiles who otherwise wouldn’t know him? No, he’s talking about Israelites that did the sacrifices without truly understanding and revering God. So these are the nominal Israelites, if you will, the ones who are doing their own thing, but pretend that they’re following God. We go on to verse 5:
Hear the word of the Lord, You who tremble at his word, your own people who hate you and exclude you, exclude you because of my name has said, Let the LORD be glorified that we may see your joy, yet they will be put to shame. [Emphasis is mine.]
So what’s going on here? Are they mocking? Yes, they’re mocking.
God is addressing the people who honor him, but he’s talking also to them about people who hate them, and who exclude them because of God’s name. So among the Israelites, there are people who hate true believers.
Hear that uproar from the city. Hear that noise from the temple. It is the sound of the Lord repaying his enemies all they deserve.
Well, what city might he be talking about? Jerusalem. So what sound is likely coming from the temple and the city? Babylonian or Roman conquest of Jerusalem and the temple. God is rendering judgment on people of Israel and Judah who are dishonoring him.
He’s repaying his enemies all that they deserve. Then verse seven is one that I think is misinterpreted a lot.
Before she goes into labor, she gives birth before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son who has ever heard of such things, who has ever seen things like this?
What does that remind you of a woman in labor having a son? Mary and Jesus or Revelation, chapter 12, right, literally giving birth to a messiah. And what happens when the Messiah comes to deliver Israel?
How long does it take for Jesus to deliver Israel when he comes back, moments?
Can a country be born in a day or a nation brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. Do I bring the moment of birth? But I give delivery, says the Lord.
God is saying, Look, when it’s time for things to happen, I make them happen. You don’t have to wonder if it’s going to happen. When he starts the process, he finishes the process. He who began a good work in you will complete it right?
Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her. All you who love her rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her, for you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts, so you’ll drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.
Now we go from God judging Jerusalem and the temple to now the temple and Jerusalem being glad. What does that sound like? Does that sound like the aftermath of ad 70? Or does that sound like the return of Jesus? If you’re Paul reading this, Jesus has already come, and you’re reading this post-resurrection. You’re reading this post-Holy Spirit.
For this is what the Lord says. I will extend peace to her like a river and the Wealth of Nations like a flooding stream. You will nurse and be carried on her arm and dangled on her knees as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you, and you will be comforted over Jerusalem. When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass. The hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes. See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind. He will bring down his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire and with his sword, the Lord will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the Lord.
Now we’re getting to the good news for the believers. But we’re also getting to the bad news for the unbelievers. What does that sound like? That kind of sounds like Ezekiel 39, doesn’t it? It sounds like gathering the birds for the supper of the great battle of the Lord Almighty. Okay, so now it’s not just Israel. Now it’s all people.
As an aside, and in case you’re wondering, this is actually the the context of verse 24:
They will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me, the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns and will not be quenched, and they’ll be loathsome to all mankind.
Why is there a whole bunch of bodies there? Well, because “the Lord executes judgment on all people,” and “many will be those slain by the Lord.” We’re not talking eternal punishment here we’re talking about battlefield dead. And according to Ezekiel, it’s going to take about seven months to get them married. So, so verse 17,
Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things, they will meet their end together, with the one they follow, declares the Lord.
So the gardens are a place of idolatry in this context. It kind of sounds like some Jews are following a Gentile Antichrist, like the “man of sin” in 2 Thessalonians, doesn’t it?
And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory.I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations, to Tarshish, to the Lydians, the Lydians famous as archers, to Tubal and Greece and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen by glory, they will proclaim My glory among the nations.
Now if you’re reading this prior to Jesus, what it sounds like is God is gathering people together for a huge battle, and that some people will survive that battle and go around and tell their their countrymen, “You might want to not try this again. Fighting Israel’s God is not a great idea.”
However, if you were the Apostle Paul and you were looking at this and you’re reading it in the Septuagint translation, this word “survive” is the same Greek word as “saved.” That being the case, Paul would see the “sign” among the Gentile nations as the proclamation of Jesus as Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Paul, who sees his entire mission as proclaiming Jesus’ glory among the nations, would naturally see his mission in this prophecy.
Where was Paul wanting to go when he was writing to the Romans? He wanted to go to Spain. Any geographically literate people here know what city in ancient times would have been located in what we now call Spain. Here is a hint: Jonah. Jonah tried to get to Tharshish.
Territories listed in Isaiah 66:19 are Tarshish, Libya, Lydia, Tubal and Greece. Did he make it to Greece? He sure did. Remember, Paul’s mission was to go to people who haven’t heard of Jesus and start churches – to people that “have not heard of [Jesus’] name or [His] fame or seen [His] glory.”
Paul wanted to go out to the Gentiles. He considered himself the apostle to the Gentiles, and his mission is an important mission. So not only that, but in verse 20,
They will bring all your people from all the nations to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord.
Now imagine a whole bunch of Gentiles bringing Jews with them and meeting in Jerusalem. When might something like that happen? What if the “people” of God now includes Gentiles?
And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the LORD. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels. And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the LORD.
And again, the way Paul would read, it would be about people like him, Timothy and Silas, who preach the word worldwide. But not only that, also among the people that Paul is training to be missionaries. God is calling those people to be His servants, to be as though they are priests and Levites.
As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me, declares the Lord, so will your name and descendants endure from one new moon to another, from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow before me. All mankind will come and bow before me, says the Lord, and they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me. The worms that eat them will not die. The fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.
Unburied dead bodies ss the ultimate in disgusting. Jewish people, even to this day, make sure that when a relative of their dies, that person is buried within 24 hours, or so I was told at the funeral home I worked at for a while.
With aggressive Jewish persecution of Paul and Paul’s ministry and the Jewish rebellion against God’s will in Isaiah 66 as background, we go to Second Thessalonians.
Paul begins Second Thessalonians, as he thanks God for them. He boasts about their perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials. And remember, they enduring the persecutions and trials from their Jewish colleagues. In verse five, he says,
All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result, you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering. God is just and he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus?
They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might on the day he comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed this includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
Doesn’t that sound a little bit like something we just read in Isaiah 66? Okay? So they are faced with people who are their own people working against them because they do not believe God’s word. So go down to chapter two now. Now he’s already talked about how their difficulties will be resolved when Jesus returns in fire and glory. Now he comes to a specific aspect of the trouble these Jews are causing: a claim that the “day of the Lord” has already come.
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus, Christ, and our being gathered to Him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by teaching, allegedly from us, whether by prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter, asserting that the day of The Lord has already come.
Being gathered to Him is another theme that we read in Isaiah 66:20.
So what was being taught to them? Why were the Jews so upset that he was telling the people about Jesus and about the resurrection? Didn’t they actually expect God to return? Or were they thinking that, okay, we’re kind of settled. The Roman Empire is in charge, but at least, you know, we get to live out our faith. Because the Roman Empire had actually adopted Judaism as one of the acceptable religions. Things are going okay out here in the in the wilderness.
“When is God going to bring us back to the land? Hasn’t He already? Well, I guess we’re okay for now.” What was the main objection? What did they try to claim that Jesus was doing? They’re trying to claim that Jesus was making himself out to be a king, and that was a very, very bad thing in the eyes of Caesar, because there can only be one king, right?
So they didn’t want their current situation upset by people who were claiming that Jesus was going to come and fix everything. And really, when, when there’s turmoil all around you, what do you want? You just want to be left alone, right? That’s why 70% of people will put up with whatever government tells them, just to be left alone.
They thought it was a similar situation when they were in Babylon, and God said, Wherever you go, raise a family and be content with your situation. So they’re they’re wanting to follow that advice, rather than the current message God is telling them: Jesus is Lord.
Paul has to tell them that the “day of the Lord” has not already come. Messiah has not yet returned, so he says,
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for the day, that day will not come until the rebellion [apostasia] occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
Well, where does he get that from? Well, in Daniel, for instance, there is a king who exalts himself and opposes everything that is called a God.
He will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple proclaiming himself to be God.
So none of this stuff can happen until these conditions are met. Jesus doesn’t return until certain conditions are met. Right? Rebellion has to occur. So that word in Greek can mean rebellion, it can mean I uh, it’s the word is apostasia, and it can be defection or or rebelling, or opposition, any, Any of those things. So Rebellion has a has a kind of fairly wide range of meanings. But this is massive numbers of people moving away from God, however you want to put that. It’s a massive moving away from God, or a massive opposition to God, and then the man of lawlessness is revealed. . So verse five, he says,
Don’t you remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back so that he may be revealed at the proper time.
First, none of this is news to them. Paul had already told them about all of this.
Second, There’s no “him” in the Greek. There’s there’s no pronoun and “holding back” is katechon, a neuter verb, not a masculine. They already know what is restraining … something or someone.
For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who holds it back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way.
In verse 7 there is a definite masculine article, indicating that there is someone restraining whatever it is that is being restrained. What is being restrained is “the secret power of lawlessness.”
Notice that there is a what holding back something or someone. There’s a what restraining and yet in verse seven, there is also a “who” doing the restraining. Lawlessness is already at work. And how does Paul know this? Well, he can tell the Thessalonians that because it’s happening all around them. They’re already being persecuted. Lawlessness is already at work, but it is being restrained.
So who’s the one who holds it back and will continue to do so until the restraint or restrainer is taken away?
Here is where trying to understand must get technical. There is a bit of a translation issue. The expression “taken away” in verse 7 comes from a Greek expression εκ μεσου that literally means “from the midst.” The μεσου is neuter, so it is not obvious that it is a “him” that is “taken from the midst.”
The word translated “taken” is also an issue. It is a form of the verb “to be” that shows it is being “acted upon” by the subject.” A literal translation of the entire expression would be, “until it might become from the midst.”
A review of the grammar of verse 7 on https://www.abarim-publications.com/DictionaryG/g/g-i-n-o-m-a-i.html shows that the word translated “taken” has the following characteristics.
The word γενηται is the 3rd person single form of the verb marked similar below. Its tense is 2nd aorist (which indicates the mere fact of the action, with deliberate silence about when the action takes place or how long it would last), its voice is middle deponent (which indicates that the subject performs the action, instead of receives it), and its mood is subjunctive (which expresses probability or possibility).
A translation must take into account the fact that the subject, “he,” is the one doing the “taking from the midst.”
And all kinds of people come up with all kinds of ideas about who, who is restraining it. And of course, you have to kind of know the what that’s being restrained, the what that is restraining it, and the who that’s restraining. Okay, so what is being restrained?
When the lawless one is revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming, the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He’ll use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They’re perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved.
So they’re refusing to be saved by refusing the truth. Verse 13:
But we always ought to thank God for you, brothers and sisters in, loved by the Lord because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work with the spirit and through belief in the truth.
And by the way, if you were reading Isaiah 66, in Greek, it’s the same word saved as the word, as the word those who survived. It’s the same word in Greek, “saved.”
He called you to this through our Gospel that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So I so the word apostasis or “opposed” appears in the Septuagint of Isaiah, 66 verse six, how the Jewish enemies of God are opposed to God’s true worshipers. And so Paul is seeing that in real life, in his time. What would Paul have already told them is holding back the Day of the Lord? ? Why is God restraining the “secret working of lawlessness” and the revealing of the Lawless One?
It’s God’s will and plan: the Gentile mission. I would only have understood this as a as Heiser was explaining that online. I would only have understood Aus’ analysis because of understanding the fifth seal in Revelation. This is where the already martyred saints in vision are crying out, “How long, O Lord, until you judge, until you avenge us?” God’s answer? Until the full number of believers are killed as you have been.
It’s the same thing. So what’s restraining the revealing of the “man of sin” is God’s plan to save not only Jews, but also Gentiles.
What’s holding the Day of the Lord back is basically, according to Paul, Paul’s own mission to spread the gospel to the world.
We have further evidence of that in Jesus’s own words in Matthew 24:4.
Watch out that no one deceives you, for many will come in My name, claiming I’m the Messiah, and will deceive many. You’ll hear of wars and rumors of war, but see to it that you’re not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There’ll be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Then you’ll be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you’ll be hated by all nations because of me.
Well, how are they hated by all nations because of Jesus, unless all nations find out, right?
At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other. Doesn’t that sound like a great apostasy? And many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will go cold. But the who stands firm to the end, will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.
So Paul is saying exactly the same thing that Jesus said. And by the way, you’ll find out if you read Peter’s letters, that Peter says basically the same thing too, and that John says in Revelation 7 that there is a large number of people, an uncountable multitude of Gentiles, that join the 144,000 at the throne when Jesus returns.
So the the “what” that is restraining is, in fact, God’s plan to reach all of the nations, and Paul is part of that plan. The opposition is mostly coming from Jews at the time that Paul is preaching. But even in Revelation 9, you’ll find that Jerusalem is not being considered in a good light. It’s being compared to Sodom and Egypt.
So Paul is actually basically giving them an overview of what Jesus already had told him, and had already told the other disciples. So the what that is restraining is the Gentile mission of the Gospel. The who that is doing the restraining is God.
What does Jesus say about the timing of His return? Who is the only person who knows exactly what the time is that Jesus will return?
But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. – Matthew 24:36
All of these things match what the rest of Scripture teaches. So the the “what” is God’s plan to save a certain specific number of Jews and Gentiles. The “who” is God himself. What is “taken away” is, of course, the restraint itself, when God’s plan for Gentiles is complete.
Compare that with Revelation 6:9-10 and 7:1-17, Where God is planning to seal a certain number of people, mostly Gentiles, some Jews, some some Israelites, but mostly Gentiles, many of whom are going to be persecuted and killed for their testimony about Jesus, and then will allow the end to come.
The scriptures do not contradict each other. The gospel has to go out to the world and a certain number of Christians around the world must be persecuted and martyred as a result, before the “man of sin” is revealed and the “day of the Lord,” which results in Jesus returning to establish His reign on earth, begins.
Just as a final note: Remember that the subject of 2 Thessalonians 2:1 is, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him…” If the coming of the Lord is being kept until the “rebellion” and the revealing of the “man of sin,” so is “our being gathered to him. That puts a definite timing limitation on the “immanence” of Jesus’ return for His saints.
The “rebellion” and the revealing of the “man of sin” will occur before the rapture.
John Valade 
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