14 December
Bible in 365 Days 
2 Thessalonians 1-3
2 Thessalonians 1
Evidently, this letter was intended primarily to correct certain mistakes which the Thessalonians were making concerning the Second Advent. They were failing to distinguish between the two phases, the Day of the Lord and the coming of the Lord. In his introduction the apostle again referred to their faith and their love, but not to their hope. The peculiar peril now threatening them was to be found in this matter.
The apostle proceeded to deal with "the revelation of the Lord Jesus." He is to be revealed "from heaven with the angels of His power in flaming fire." The revealing is to be for a definite purpose. It will exclude from His face and His glory all who are disobedient. The connection of the saints with that apocalypse is declared to be rest first, and, finally, they are to constitute the medium through which the Lord Jesus' glory will be manifested and marveled at. The terrors of His revealing are not for the saints, and in the age following His revelation the saints are to be associated with Him, and to be the channels through which the truth of His glory will be made known.
"To that end," that is, with such a consummation in view, the apostle proved that God might count them worthy of such calling, fulfilling every desire and good work, the deepest desire of his heart being that at last, in the fulness of interrelation, Christ might be glorified in them, and they in Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2
Evidently, this letter was intended primarily to correct certain mistakes which the Thessalonians were making concerning the Second Advent. They were failing to distinguish between the two phases, the Day of the Lord and the coming of the Lord. In his introduction the apostle again referred to their faith and their love, but not to their hope. The peculiar peril now threatening them was to be found in this matter.
The apostle proceeded to deal with "the revelation of the Lord Jesus." He is to be revealed "from heaven with the angels of His power in flaming fire." The revealing is to be for a definite purpose. It will exclude from His face and His glory all who are disobedient. The connection of the saints with that apocalypse is declared to be rest first, and, finally, they are to constitute the medium through which the Lord Jesus' glory will be manifested and marveled at. The terrors of His revealing are not for the saints, and in the age following His revelation the saints are to be associated with Him, and to be the channels through which the truth of His glory will be made known.
"To that end," that is, with such a consummation in view, the apostle proved that God might count them worthy of such calling, fulfilling every desire and good work, the deepest desire of his heart being that at last, in the fulness of interrelation, Christ might be glorified in them, and they in Christ.
2 Thessalonians 3
The apostle now stated clearly the order of events connected with the Second Advent of Jesus. He first announced the distinction between the two things that they were evidently confusing: ''the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" and "the Day of the Lord." For the first they are to wait, for it is to be the occasion of the gathering together of the saints to Himself. The second cannot come until certain other matters have been accomplished. He earnestly warns them against confusing the hope of the coming of Jesus with the fact of His manifestation to the world, in which "the Day of the Lord" will be ushered in. The signs of that Day will be a falling away, and, finally, the manifestation of evil in a person whom he now describes.
Having thus referred to that manifestation of the man of sin the apostle described the then present condition of affairs, which condition, by the way, remains until this time. Two forces are in confliict. The one he described as "the mystery of lawlessness," and the other as "One that restraineth." The first is the essential spirit of evil. It is described as a mystery on account of the secret and subtle method of its working. The other force is referred to as a Person. That Person is holding the mystery of lawlessness in check. Clearly, the reference is to the work of the Holy Spirit. This will continue until the Spirit is "taken out of the way." That will be the occasion for the heading up of evil in a person, and so also the occasion of the revelation of Jesus, and the destruction of the man of sin. The Apostle charged the Thessalonians to "stand fast, and hold the traditions."
