2 Thess 2, The True King – the One You’re Waiting For.

Class Outline:

Wednesday August 16, 2023

 

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of the colt of a donkey, just as Zechariah prophesied. This event began the final week of His ministry. He would make a final offer of Himself to Israel, but they had already rejected Him.

 

LUK 19:41-44

When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

 

Christ would return. He keeps His covenants out of love for the world.

 

His teaching during this week (in a new series of parables) would be of a future kingdom that would come when He came again - suddenly, with signs, in glory and in power.

 

In Luke’s account the first of these parables listed is of the wicked vine-growers.

 

LUK 20:9-18

And He began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time.  10 "At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 "And he proceeded to send another slave; and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. 12 "And he proceeded to send a third; and this one also they wounded and cast out. 13 "The owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' 14 "But when the vine-growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, 'This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.' 15 "So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 "He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others." When they heard it, they said, "May it never be!" 17 But Jesus looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written:

 

'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,

THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone'?

 

18 "Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."

 

The priests and scribes and Pharisees who heard this understood that it was about them.

 

LUK 20:19

The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and they feared the people; for they understood that He spoke this parable against them.

 

He is the Chief corner stone. The eternal house of mankind is built upon Him and by Him and according to His specifications.

 

Those who reject Him are broken and scattered. They will not become a part of the house. To enter the house, one simply has to accept Him by faith.

 

Christ would return to establish His kingdom after God dealt with the sins of Israel and the nations by pouring out His wrath in the age that would be the sign of His coming.

 

During that time, God will allow Satan to set up his own counterfeit king, the abomination of desolation. He is a false christ.

 

The false christ represents all that is wrong with sin. His pride, lust, selfish desire are the pinnacle of our own temptations with the same sins. God sets before us life and death; the true and false Messiah.  

 

To miss the understanding of Christ’s person is to miss life itself.

 

And this is Paul’s point in 2Th 2.

 

2Th 2

Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

 

13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.

 

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, 17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

 

During this passion week, the Lord came into His final conflict with Israel’s rulers. The parables of the two sons (MAT 21:28-32), the wicked vine-growers (33-41), and the king’s marriage feast (22:1-14) were spoken against them.

 

As Christ revealed Himself, revealed His future coming in glory, in the clouds, and as He condemned the Jewish leadership, they sought to entrap Him in His words. They wanted to arrest Him, but He was too popular with the people. So they thought, if they could tarnish His reputation they could turn favor away from Him, and then they could arrest Him with popular support.

 

LUK 20:20

So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement, so that they could deliver Him to the rule and the authority of the governor.

 

This plan will fail, and they will think up another, more insidious one.

 

In our study, I don’t want you to focus so much on the evil of the unbelieving leaders and how they are made fools of, but on Christ’s use of wisdom.

 

Our King is out Savior and hero. We are to adore and admire Him, and we are also to be like Him. When He returns we will return with Him and He will be glorified in us.

 

2TH 1:10

He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed.

 

In our lives now, we must never underestimate the power of His Person in our lives, now fail to reveal His Person in our lives.

 

It is His Person that matters most. Who is He and what is He about? That’s what matters.

 

As their plot to trap Him in His words fails, the Lord then becomes the questioner.

 

Cutting through all of their nonsensical, trivial projections, He gets right to the point - the divine character of the true King, the Messiah, whom He was now publicly claiming to be.

 

MAT 22:41-42

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: 42 "What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of David."

 

Without hesitation they reply, “The son of David.”

 

JER 23:5

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;

And He will reign as king and act wisely

And do justice and righteousness in the land.”

 

Then Jesus refers to Psa 110.

 

MAT 22:43-45

He said to them, "Then how does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying,

 

44 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,

"SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,

UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET"'?

 

45 "If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his son?"

 

It is the Lord who wants the question of who He is to be about origin. “Whose son is He?” In the parable of the wicked vine-growers, He refers to Himself as the beloved son of the vineyard owner. Is He the Son of David, or is He the Son of God?

 

In the East, at that time, you would never refer to your son as lord.

 

If David calls Him lord, He is clearly the Son of someone far superior to David.

 

Peter would reveal to them at Pentecost that for Jesus to sit at the right hand of the Father, He would have to be resurrected bodily.

 

It would not be a spirit of Christ that sat on the throne of heaven, but a real man who was God.

 

ACT 2:36

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified."

 

But what lies ahead of the Son of God and Son of David from Mat 22, is not a triumphant reign over God’s people but rejection by them, not a royal throne but a humiliating execution.

Jesus would allow Himself to be crucified, offering up Himself as our High Priest. He is fully human. He is David’s Son and so heir to the throne.

 

As God He has all authority to give life and judge. He made the covenant promises and has the power to fulfill them. But without being a Man, Son of David, He would not have died for our sins by which we can enter into His glory.

 

Mysteries abound here, but He is. “I am.”

 

To His true interpretation to Psa 110, no one was able to answer Him.

 

MAT 22:46

No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.

 

Thus our Lord laid clearly before the rulers of Israel His claim of Messianic Deity, for which He would be put to death.

 

MAT 26:59-68

Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. 60 They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, 61 and said, "This man stated, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.'" 62 The high priest stood up and said to Him, "Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?" 63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, "I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God." 64 Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN."

 

65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; 66 what do you think?" They answered, "He deserves death!"

 

67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, 68 and said, "Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?"

 

Prior to this, years before, the people of His own Nazareth wanted to throw Him off a cliff after He made a Messianic claim.

 

Their response to His claim is a type of what the abomination of desolation will be.

 

Do you honor Him? Do you stand in awe of Him? Do you know Him enough to do those things? Do you long for Him to return? Not to get relief from a hard life so much as you long for Him?

 

Who or what we worship determines what kingdom we want to be a part of.