Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Oct 1951

In the two epistles to the Thessalonians the coming again of the Lord Jesus has a very prominent place. In the first epistle it is principally the Lord's coming for His saints, the Church of this dispensation, and in the second epistle it is His coming with His saints; the coming of the Son of God to the air and the coming of the Son of Man to the earth, His coining altogether in blessing and His coming in judgement.

It is alleged that these two epistles, said to have been written by Paul from Athens, were the first of Paul's epistles, and the first of the New Testament writings, save, perhaps, the Gospel according to Matthew. The church of the Thessalonians is said to have been a pattern assembly. Paul gives thanks for them as he remembers without ceasing their "work of faith" and "labour of love" and "patience of hope" in the Lord Jesus Christ. They had had a good beginning and their testimony was clear cut, and in every place their faith to God-ward had gone forth Paul recalls the entering of himself and his fellow-workers among them, when they turned unto God from idols, to serve God who is living and true, and to wait for His Son from heaven, who was their Deliverer from the wrath to come. The R.V. which reads, " which delivereth us from the wrath to come" (1 Thessalonians 1.10), does not mean that the Son of God is continually delivering the believer from God's wrath; the word in the original for delivereth is the present participle, which means that He is the delivering One, that is His character.

The Thessalonians turned to the true God to serve Him and to wait the coming of His Son. The words seem to fall from Paul's pen with a music that charms the mind. It is this wulting attitude which has so great an effect on the lives of all who so wait for their Lord. That attitude of heart contaid in the words, "My lord delayeth his coming" (Luke 12.45), is sure to breed the most unworthy acts, actions that are a denial of real faith in the coming of the Lord, whose coming is at hand. If we believed really in the soon coming of the Lord, it would temper all our actions and cause us to hold earthly things with a light grasp. Self pleasing and a grasping after fame and honour in the eyes of men would fade away, and the thing that would matter in life would be to please the Lord and to be had in honour by Him. Truly, nothing else matters!

Every one of the five chapters of 1 Thessalonians, ends with a reference to the Lord's coming. In chapter 1. they were waiting for the Lord; in chapter 2. they are declared by Paul to be his joy and crown of glorying before the Lord at His coming; in chapter 3. their hearts through love were to be established unblameable in holiness before God the Father at the Lord's coming; in chapter 4. we have Paul correcting wrong ideas about the saints who had fallen asleep, and here only we are told where the living and dead in Christ will meet the Lord in the resurrection morn, that they will meet Him in the air; and in chapter 5., the apostle's desire that the God of peace would sanctify them wholly, and that spirit, soul and body they would be preserved entire at the coming of the Lord. Could saints fail to be otherwise than in an excellent spiritual condition in whom thoughts of such things had a large place?

In this epistle also we have the assuring words, that all saints of this dispensation shall share in the coming of the Lord, and not simply those who arc waiting for Him, for we are told that He died for us, "that, whether we wake (watch, R.V.M.) or sleep, we should live together with Him" (1 Thessalonians 5.10). Here is one of the many things for which Christ died. We shall be with Him not because of our watchfulness or faithfulness, but because He died for us. Praise God for that.

We wrote recently on the coming lawless one, who is called the antichrist, the (wild) beast, and the man of sin, the son of perdition. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2. writes of the mystery of lawlessness and the revelation of the lawless one. if the mystery of lawlessness was already working in Paul's time (and who can doubt that?) it is in a very advanced stage in our time. Take one instance in proof of the lawlessness of these days, that of marriage, an important factor in human life which grips it at its heart; it was reported by the secretary of the Glasgow Marriage Guidance Council, that one in every five of Britain's 1047 marriages had broken down. What were the causes alleged for such a state of things? "unpreparedness for responsibility, lack of mutual understanding, and lack of discipline." In 1948 one marriage in ten broke down, and the pre-war ratio was one in forty. In a little over a decade lawlessness in regard to marriage is eight times worse, according to statistics given. Britain is hurtling down the slippery slope. But this in only one phase, lawlessness abounds in every walk in life, and what is true of Britain is not less true of other nations. Quickly the world is being made ready by Satan, the arch-deceiver of all the nations, for the closing scenes of what Paul calls "man's day" (1 Corinthians 4.8, R.V.M.), after which comes the day of the Lord.

The Thessalonians seemed to be leaning to the belief that the day of the Lord was then present, but they were told by Paul that this could not be, except (1) the falling away come first, and (2) the man of sin be revealed. He had told them these things when he was with them, but somehow their leaky memories (like our own) had allowed Paul's teaching on the point to go.

So Paul writes, "Now ye know that which restraineth to the end that he (the man of sin) may be revealed in his own season" (2 Thessalonians 2.). In this verse (verse 6) it is "that which "in contrast to verse 7, where it is" one that restraineth." In the first it is " a thing" in the second it is " a person." What is the thing, and who he person?

As we have seen from Paul's teaching, two things must come before the day of the Lord, (1) the falling away, and (2) the revealing of the man of sin, it seems clear enough that that which restrains or holds down is the falling away which must come first. German Higher Criticism, which has permeated almost every religious seminary, Rome, with her legions of priests and nuns, and American blatant antichristian sects are all hastening the progress of the apostasy, and men in general are throwing off all restraint and recognition of God.

Thus the falling away grows apace, but it must come first. The lawless one must be revealed in his own season. Season (Greek, Kairos) means proper time or opportunity. A time of apostasy is necessary to the great apostate, the man of sin. Now as to "he who restrains" of verse 7: the original reads

Monon ho katechonArti heos ekMesou Genetai

only the restraining (one),until out of;midst he may became;

which Dr. Young renders literally-" only there is he who is holding down just now, until he may come out of the midst." The one who will come out of the midst, is, I judge, the antichrist, and when he does, "then shaH be revealed the lawless one" (verse 8). Who is the one that restrains? He is, I judge, the one who is bringing about the apostasy (which must come first, before the man of sin is revealed). With great skill Satan, the master of deception, is restraining till the moment comes when his man will be present and who, we are told, shall arise out of the sea (Revelation 3. 1), the waters of which are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues (i7. 15).

That which restrains is not the Church, and h who restrains is not the Holy Spirit, for there will be a mighty out-pouring of the Spirit, as Joel 2.28-32 and Acts 2.17-21 clearly show, in that time prior to the coining of the day of the Lord. The Holy Spirit will not be taken out of the way so that the lawless one may be revealed.

J. Miller | Oct 1951
Jottings