And one of the more important statements for my theology is that about the ones who have refused to love the truth. There are many who claim they have the truth and love the truth, but yet don’t have the truth in them. And one of the signs of this is shutting people up when they ask questions about the ‘proclaimed truth’ or ‘received truth’.
And whenever one is unable to ask questions or told which questions are proper, then there’s good reason to question whether what is being taught is the truth. I’ve seen this adoration of what is received in many fashions. Whether it is in the distortion of the word objective by saying ‘we have the most objective source on the planet since our scripture was written by God and so is from a completely outside source.” or “If one thin in the Bible is proved false, then I can’t believe any of the Bible and can no longer be a Christian.” or a multitude of other formulations that come down to, ‘if it isn’t the way I think it should be, then I’m going to stop playing and go home.’
The lawless one is not the one who asks questions, but the one who wants things their own way. The lawless one is not the one who wants to discuss the questions, but the one who wants to dictate the answers. The lawless one wants things there very own way.
But seeking the truth and following God is about wanting to give up our own way and searching for where God is guiding. The emptying of self is not to fill with one doctrine, but to open self to hearing the Word of God.
A couple of thousand years after this letter to Thessalonica we still are waiting for the day of the Lord that is already here. We are called to live as though it is in the next minute and ass though it may be another thousand years. Scripture may say we don’t know the day or the hour and some groups have used this to proclaim the month or the year. That sense of Scripture is that we are in the now and not yet of waiting. We are in the koinonia, but don’t know the chronos.
Many of the people who set themselves up as those to be worshipped, don’t necessarily say that’s what they’re doing. They may not even realize that they’re setting themselves up in place of God. But whenever someone says, ‘this is the way that God wants us to act and don’t question me about it’, then they are setting themselves up in place of God. They’ve forgotten to look to make sure that what they are saying is the truth and set themselves up to be lawless even as they are very stringent in how they act and what they say. But what they say and how they act is not according to God’s design. Not when they stop the testing and avoid the questions.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 [1] As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, [2]
not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by
letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already
here. [3] Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless
the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for
destruction. [4] He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or
object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring
himself to be God. [5] Do you not remember that I told you these things when I
was still with you? [6] And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may
be revealed when his time comes. [7] For the mystery of lawlessness is already
at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed. [8] And then
the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the
breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. [9]
The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all
power, signs, lying wonders, [10] and every kind of wicked deception for those
who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. [11]
For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what
is false, [12] so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in
unrighteousness will be condemned.
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