God’s Victory Over Death and Deception: Standing Firm Against Deception
November 9, 2025, Proper 27c –
EUMC, BCUMC – Alan Swartz
What causes conflict and distress in your family? We see
that the deepest divisions arise not from a lack of care, but from deeply held,
conflicting beliefs. In our homes and in our churches, we can find ourselves at
odds over matters that feel profoundly important, threatening the very unity we
cherish. The Apostle Paul addresses this very challenge, calling a fractured
community back to what is most essential. He reminds them, and us, that the
bonds of love must be stronger than the forces of division. For the
Thessalonians, those forces of division came in the form of false teachers,
false letters, and people who profoundly misunderstood the message of the
Gospel that Paul preached.
I know that when my own family gathers for Thanksgiving, it
can sometimes feel like walking through a field of landmines. We have all sorts
of opinions with family members coming from different perspectives holding
different views on almost any social issue imaginable. We could easily spend
the afternoon arguing, but we know that would only lead to everyone getting up
and leaving in frustration. So what keeps us together? The only thing that can
is the unspoken pact that our love for each other is far more important than
our disagreements. We have learned that for the sake of that love, and for the
sake of the relationship that we have with each other through Jesus Christ, we
will not let those differences come between us.
John Wesley once posed a question, “Though we cannot think
alike, may we not love alike?”[i]
These are words we need to take to heart, for we are a people who need to be
prodded and pushed to remember that Christ has given us a mission, and we must
not let anything get in the way of it.
There is a story about the preacher Dwight L. Moody in
Chicago. A church member came to him and said, “Mr. Moody, I don’t like the way
you do evangelism!” Moody asked, “Well, ma’am, let me ask you, how do you do
it?” She replied, “I don’t!” Moody responded, “Well, I like my way of doing it
better than your way of not doing it!”[ii]
The lesson is clear: we must be willing to put aside personal preferences and
secondary disagreements to move forward as the best possible witness to Christ.
This was precisely the challenge facing the ancient church in Thessalonica, a
community so distracted by fear and conflict that it was in danger of losing
its way.
The Thessalonian Crisis: A First-Century Challenge
To understand Paul’s counsel, we must first appreciate the
historical context of his second letter to the Thessalonians. These letters are
believed to be among the earliest Christian writings we possess, older even
than the Gospels. They offer a window into a young church grappling with urgent
questions, particularly concerning the return of Christ. There was a palpable
sense of immediacy in the early church, fueled by promises that “these things
will happen soon.” While this urgency was meant to keep believers focused on
what is most important, it was also easily abused, leading to fear and
misinformation.
Paul wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians to address
several specific concerns. Some people feared that Christ had already returned
and they had “missed the boat.” Others were deeply worried that their relatives
who had died would be excluded from salvation because they did not live to see
the Lord’s return. But the problems persisted. After his first letter, false
teachers continued to pass through Thessalonica, preaching a gospel contrary to
the one Paul had delivered. Worse, fraudulent letters began to circulate,
perhaps even using Paul’s name, stirring up the people and causing widespread
alarm. This deception became so severe that Paul began to autograph his
letters, adding a personal note in his own hand—with the large letters he had
to use due to his poor vision—to prove their authenticity.
It is in this context of fear, fraud, and division that Paul
writes his second letter. He pleads with the believers directly, framing the
core of the crisis with these words:
As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our being
gathered together to him. We beg you brothers and sisters 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. 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.
When the Thessalonians first heard these words, they likely
understood Paul’s references. For us, separated by two millennia, his warning
can seem cryptic. To grasp his message, we must first seek to understand the
mysterious and menacing figure he mentions: the “lawless one.”
Unmasking the Deceiver: The “Lawless One” and the Spirit
of Antichrist
The concept of the Antichrist has been a source of
fascination and fear for centuries, but it is often misunderstood. The figure
Paul calls the “lawless one” is part of a broader biblical theme. He seems to
be drawing from the Old Testament, making references to the book of Daniel and
the ancient concept of Belial, the lawless one. This is not a single,
identifiable person, but a type of spirit or mindset that stands in opposition
to God. It is crucial to understand that the “lawless one” is not Satan
himself; rather, it is somebody who serves Satan, perhaps without even
realizing it. It is a spirit of rebellion that has been at work throughout
history.
It may surprise you to learn that the Book of Revelation
never once uses the word “antichrist.” The term appears in the letters of John,
and significantly, he also uses it in the plural. John writes that “many
antichrists have come,” and he defines them clearly. They are people who were
once part of the Christian community but eventually left it to preach a message
contrary to the gospel of Christ. They were insiders who became outsiders,
sowing division and falsehood.
So, what is the work of an antichrist in practical terms?
It is the work of anyone or anything that actively opposes the gospel of Jesus.
This opposition is often subtle and insidious. Paul describes people who will
use the church, people who will use the Bible, people who will use good people’s
faith and trust in a way that is abusive. What is the gospel they oppose? It is
the mission of making disciples of Jesus. It is a message that calls us to
reach out to the poor, to give food to the hungry, to care for the orphaned and
the widowed, and to embrace the disenfranchised who have been pushed to the
edges of society. Anything that prevents the church from fulfilling this
mission is embodying the spirit of antichrist.
The futility of trying to pinpoint a single, historical
Antichrist is proven by the long and failed history of such predictions. People
have pointed fingers for centuries, and the list of candidates is long and
varied:
- Various
popes throughout history
- Martin
Luther or John Calvin, depending on who was making the accusation
- John
F. Kennedy
- Richard
Nixon
- Ronald
Wilson Reagan, whose three six-letter names—Ronald, Wilson, Reagan—seemed
to fit the “666” mark
- Barack
Obama or Donald Trump
This impulse comes from a flawed approach to scripture—the
idea that the Bible is a secret coded message that can only be understood with
a special “decoder ring.” Just as it may be surprising to learn that just as
the word “antichrist” never appears in Revelation, neither does the word “rapture.”
This whole “secret decoder” mindset, popularized by books like the Left
Behind series, reduces God’s word to a puzzle to be solved rather than a
truth to be lived. People have been making these predictions for two thousand
years, and the success rate has been zero. It is a 100% failure rate. But this
obsession is more than just a foolish hobby; it is a satanic distraction. When
believers are concerned about these things, they are not being concerned about
Christ’s things. This is the very trap Paul warned against. The foolishness of
human speculation must give way to the wisdom of God’s perfect timing.
Divine Patience vs. Human Impatience
The constant failed predictions about the End Times force us
to ask a better question. Instead of obsessing over when Christ will
return, we should ask why he has not yet returned. The answer reveals
something profound about the character of God. The Apostle Peter addresses this
directly, explaining that what we perceive as a delay is, in fact, an act of
divine mercy. He writes in his second letter:
...with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a
thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow about his promise... but he
is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. (2 Peter
3:8-9)
God’s timing is not our timing. His patience is extended to
give the world more time to turn to him, and to give us more time to reach
people because the Lord is “not wanting any to perish but all to come to
repentance.” The Lord’s desire is for all to be saved. This divine patience
should inspire humility, not arrogance. Jesus himself stated unequivocally that
“about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36) If Jesus claimed no such knowledge,
how can anyone else be so arrogant as to set dates and timetables? Such an
abuse of scripture distracts us from the very work God’s patience gives us time
to do.
Paul adds another layer to this mystery, mentioning a “restrainer”—a
force that is actively holding back the full tide of lawlessness.
Traditionally, this restrainer has been identified as St. Michael the
Archangel. But this restraint is not arbitrary; it has a profound purpose. St.
Michael holds back evil specifically to enable the church to accomplish its
mission. This divine intervention creates the time and space needed to preach
the gospel, make disciples of all nations, and proclaim Jesus as Messiah. The “delay,”
then, is a gift of grace. It is an opportunity to fulfill our mission before we
are confronted with the dangerous alternative: the powerful delusion that comes
from rejecting the truth.
Conclusion: The Mission to Stand Firm and Hold Fast
In the face of widespread confusion and deception, both
ancient and modern, the believer’s response is not to decode mysteries but to
embody the clear and unchanging truth of the gospel. Paul warns that the coming
of the lawless one is marked by the working of Satan, who uses power, signs,
lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception. This deception is
particularly potent for those “who refuse to love the truth and to be saved.”
For this reason, Paul says, God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to
believe what is false, so that all who have not believed the truth but took
pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.
My friends, hear these words. Heed these words. Have we
bought into a delusion? We live in a world where people hold fast to what is
really false, taking pleasure in unrighteousness. We must ask ourselves if we
are faithfully living into the gospel of Jesus. You know what Jesus teaches.
You know what he called his disciples to do. We have heard him say, “When I was
hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was in
prison, you visited me.”
This is the church’s true mission. It is not to get so hung
up on speculation that we neglect our primary calling. Christ does not want
these pews to be empty; he wants us to fill them by embracing the Great
Commission. Our task is to go into our world, making disciples of Jesus Christ,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to be obedient to the gospel. That is the mission. That is
the tradition we must hold fast to.
So, in a world of confusion and lies, what are we to do?
Paul gives us our final charge, a command that is as relevant today as it was
in first-century Thessalonica. It is our anchor in the storm of deception. Paul
says we must:
“Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were
taught by us either by word of mouth or by letter.”
+ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
[i]
Wesley, John. Sermon 39 Catholic Spirit. https://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-39-catholic-spirit/
-- This is not to say that doctrinal matters were unimportant to Wesley. Wesley
certainly believed that there are essential beliefs.
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