The Falling Away and Day of Christ

2 Thessalonians 2:1-4    
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. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

When will Jesus Christ return?  Has He done so already?  These questions were a great concern to the church at Thessaloniki.  Paul calms them first of all with the assurance that He has not come yet, so they do not need to be troubled or anxious that they missed Him, no matter what they are being told.  Paul brings God’s word to bear on their worries by the deceit of false teachings.  He assures them and us that certain events must take place before the second coming of Christ, one being an Antichrist who opposes God and makes himself to be as God.  This one will be made known and will even put himself over all religions and the true God as he seeks worship as if he is God.  This was foreshadowed in the Caesars of Rome who called themselves divine, but will be much worse than them or their successors in Rome.  When one sits in the temple and feigns the place of God in the holy of holies, beware.  When we are commanded to worship a man above God, know that the falling away is happening and Christ is at the doorstep.