You may have read some of what follows before, but please read it again. In the clearest message the Lord has given me in a long time, He said to write these things now. I was in bed and half asleep when the message came to me. Fearful of forgetting it, I got up and made a bunch of random notes and then went back to bed. When they still made sense the next morning I decided it must have really been Him. Here’s the message I received.

Man’s religion tells us:

For our salvation, it’s faith plus works. For our health, it’s faith plus modern medicine. For our life, it’s faith plus self reliance.

The majority of religious people believe that faith is only part of the equation that leads to success. They think it’s a good beginning, but it has to be supplemented by human effort to produce the result we want.

But God’s Word tells us:

You can’t serve two masters (Matt. 6:24). A double minded man shouldn’t expect anything (James 1:7-8). Don’t store up treasure on Earth (Matt. 6:19). Sell everything you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in Heaven (Mark 10:21).

According to the Bible faith is not just one part of the equation, it’s the whole thing. We’re either walking by faith or we’re not. There’s no middle ground, no balanced approach, no hedging our bets.

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be for anyone who stores things up for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21)

This called the Parable of the Rich Fool for a reason. He was preparing for a future that would never come and in the process missed a bunch of opportunities to express his gratitude for the way the Lord had blessed him (being rich toward God). Who among us can guarantee that the future we’re preparing for will come to pass for us? In the meantime how many opportunities to express our gratitude to God through our generosity to others are we missing? There are people in every community who don’t have enough to eat today. How can we justify storing up for ourselves against the possibility of hard times in the future when there are urgent needs all around us today? The Lord told us not to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself. Instead we should seek His Kingdom and His righteousness and let Him meet our needs day by day (Matt. 6:31-34).

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Cor. 9:6-8)

The Lord hasn’t called us to store up goods for ourselves in case we’ll need them in the future, but He has called us to share what we have now, promising to give us more as we do. And before you say, “What about Joseph in Egypt?” readGenesis 41 again.

Upon learning of the coming famine, Joseph didn’t tell the Egyptians to begin storing up their excess. Instead, he imposed a 20% levy on the harvest and collected the all the extra grain in Egypt during seven years of plenty. When the famine came he sold it back to the very people he had taken it from. When he had all their money, he took their animals, and when he had all their animals he took their land, and finally he took them. By the end of the famine the people ofEgypt were destitute slaves who literally belonged to Pharaoh (Genesis 47:13-21). Joseph had made him the richest man in the world.

The only free people left in Egypt were Pharaoh, the priests he supported, and the 70 members of Jacob’s family, who had never contributed anything to Egyptbut were given its most fertile land. Until a few years ago it was most likely the biggest government orchestrated transfer of wealth in history. I’m convinced the main purpose of the famine was to move Jacob’s family to Egypt and restore Joseph to them. It certainly wasn’t meant to improve the lot of the Egyptian people.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:19-21)

But even if you don’t consider the outcome, the famine in Egypt is not a model for our times. Unlike Joseph, we’re not being told to store up treasure on Earth to prepare for a temporary time of hardship here. We’re being told to store up treasure in Heaven to prepare for a permanent relocation there.

Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.(Matt. 10:9-10)

This was the Lord’s instruction to the 12 disciples as He sent them out to preach the good news. When you’re working for Him, He takes care of the expenses. Even when He was alerting them to the difficult times ahead, as in Luke 21:12-19, He never advised them to create a secret stash in the mountains, but to stand firm in their faith that He would keep His promise to them. And His warning to people in Israel when the Great Tribulation begins is to not take anything with them when they flee (Matt. 24:15-18).

Paul complimented the Macedonian churches when out of their own severe trials came overflowing joy at the opportunity to help others, and who in their extreme poverty demonstrated rich generosity. Paul called this a manifestation of God’s grace (2 Cor. 8:1-2). They had every reason to save up what little extra they had against an uncertain future but instead delighted in the opportunity to help others even worse off than they were.

Some who advocate storing things up for the future claim it’s a demonstration of good stewardship. But the Bible’s definition of stewardship is to think of ourselves as a distribution channel for the Lord’s blessings. Give and it will be given to you, Jesus said, for with the measure you use it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38). Our job is to begin the process by giving out of our excess. The Lord, who loves a generous giver, will send us more so we’ll have more to give.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. (2 Cor. 9:6)

A farmer knows the size of his harvest will ultimately be determined by the manner in which he sows the seed. Would he therefore sow as little as possible and hide the rest for fear that he wouldn’t have enough in the future? Sowing generously brings a bountiful harvest assuring there will plenty for consumption now as well as sufficient seed for future sowing.

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Cor. 9:10-11)

It’s the same with God. Generously sowing the blessings God has given us will assure a bountiful harvest. We’ll have more than enough for ourselves leaving plenty to share with others. And the more generously we sow, the more generously we’ll reap.

No where is this advice conditioned upon making sure we first have our own future needs met. Instead we’re told that generously sharing what we have now is the one thing that can guarantee our future needs will be met.

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. (Deut. 8:17-18)

Like the Israelites, you could say, “It’s my money and I can do whatever I want with it.” Once again, the Bible disagrees. There are plenty of people just as smart and just as talented as you are. They also work as hard as you work, but what they have doesn’t come close to what you have. The difference is you were blessed by God. It may have come in the form of an opportunity you happened upon, or the family you were born into, or even the country in which you live. But whatever it was, there is no exclusive connection between your capability and your reward. You are not the proverbial self made man. The fact is you’ve been blessed and your generosity is a demonstration of the extent to which you understand this and are grateful for it.

After a previous message like this someone asked, What are we supposed to do? Give away everything and just live hand to mouth? Based on Mark 10:21 the answer would be yes, but remember, it’s from God’s hand to our mouth and we can depend on Him.

This doesn’t have to begin as a big deal and you don’t have to work through your church if you don’t want to, although some churches have great programs for helping others. If yours doesn’t have such a program you could help start one, or you can go through a local Food Bank, Homeless Shelter, Rescue Mission or equivalent. You could start by just reducing your stock of “emergency” supplies and making a contribution to one of these organizations. Or you could hold a garage sale and get rid of a bunch of stuff you don’t use any more and hand them a check.

While you’re there ask some questions to find out what they do and how great the need is. Check out all the local programs and pitch in where you see the Lord working. I promise you it will soon become the most personally rewarding thing you do, and you’ll thank the Lord for blessing you so richly.

This is not meant to be a complete commentary on 2 Thes. 2. Instead, I want to demonstrate that Paul had to have taught the Thessalonians that the rapture of the Church would precede the End Times judgments. Think of it as a supplement to your study of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.

By most accounts Paul stayed in Thessalonica for only about 3 weeks and during that time he founded a Church and taught them the doctrines of salvation and sanctification, the Trinity, the nature of man, the assurance of pardon, and the Day of the Lord. He continued teaching them after he left with his first letter, written from Corinth in 51 AD, in which he introduced the doctrine of the rapture (1 Thes. 4:16-17). Shortly after that they received another letter appearing to be from him, announcing that the Day of the Lord had come. They reacted with fear and confusion and immediately sought clarification.

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus and our being gathered to Him, we ask you brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy report or letter supposed to have come from us saying that the Day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let any one deceive you in any way for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. (2 Thes 2:1-3)

From Paul’s response it’s clear the previous letter had been a forgery, sent by someone pretending to be him and designed to frighten them. It worked. The Greek words for unsettle and alarm literally mean to agitate, incite, and frighten. Something in the letter had contradicted their understanding of his teaching and they were upset. Reading 2 Thes 2:1-3 we see that the forgery must have disputed Paul’s teaching on events leading up to the Day of the Lord. This is the only logical explanation for his 2nd letter to the Thessalonians.

Notice that right from the beginning Paul separated the coming of the Lord from our being gathered to Him. That’s because they’re two different events. We can’t tell their relative timing from this, but we can tell they’re not the same thing. One is when He comes back down to Earth, while from 1 Thes. 4:16-17 we know the other has us going up to meet Him in the air and continuing to Heaven. The 2nd coming will be witnessed by everyone (Matt. 24:30), but the rapture is an instantaneous disappearance (1 Cor. 15:51-52) that happens without warning.

Everything That Was Written In The Past Was Written To Teach Us
This quote from Romans 15:4 tell us that Paul wasn’t just writing to the Thessalonian believers. He was also writing to us. Think about it. The Day of the Lord is a term that always refers to the End Times and most often to the Great Tribulation. If Paul had taught them to expect a post-tribulation rapture would they have been agitated and frightened upon receiving the forgery? No! It would more likely have made them think the 2nd coming was only a few years away and many of them would live to see it.

The only justification for their fear and confusion would be if Paul had taught them a pre-trib rapture. In that case a letter telling them the Day of the Lord had come would mean they had missed the rapture, and that would mean they weren’t saved. Now we can see how they would be agitated, angry and afraid. Imagine how you would you feel in a situation like that.

From 2 Thes 2:1-3 we can begin to construct Paul’s teaching on the chronology of events leading up to the Day of the Lord. Remember, there’s an abundance of proof from his other letters showing that Paul taught the doctrine of eternal security, aka once saved always saved. Some of the most obvious references are Romans 8:38-39, Romans 10:9-10, 2 Cor 1:21-22, Ephes. 1:13-14, and Titus 3:4-7. In all of them Paul taught that true believers cannot fall away from faith for any reason. He said the Lord guaranteed our inheritance and sealed the Holy Spirit inside us as a deposit.

But Paul spoke of a rebellion (falling away) in 2 Thes 2:3 that would have to precede the Day of the Lord. The Greek word translated rebellion is apostasia, from which we get apostasy. It means people would abandon something they once considered themselves to be part of and the context implies that it’s the church. You can’t fall away from something unless you first think of yourself as being part of it. But true believers can’t fall away at all. Therefore this rebellion or apostasy has to manifest itself in what’s left of the church after the rapture removes all the true believers.

Don’t be confused about this. We see believers-in-name-only leaving traditional churches to join the Emerging Church all around us, but rebellion is as much attitude as it is action and they don’t think they’re rebelling against God. They see themselves as still being in the Church. In fact they think they’re the best part of it. Far from being rebellious, they call themselves followers of Christ, not just believers in him, and doers of the word, not just hearers. They’re not sitting in Churches on Sunday listening to the same tired old messages on sin and salvation and coming forward to be born again. No. They’re out there in the world, thinking they’re changing it for Jesus.

These advocates of the so-called social gospel don’t realize it’s not what you do for the Lord that matters, it’s what you believe He’s done for you. The only work the Lord requires of us is that we believe in the one He sent (John 6:29). That means to believe God chose to send His Son to Earth to die for our sins so we can choose to live with Him in Eternity (John 3:16). The righteous work of a thousand lifetimes will not suffice in place of this belief.

When these believers-in-name-only discover we’ve disappeared while they’ve been left behind, that’s when they’ll rebel against God and join the other side. By the time the anti-Christ makes his claim to deity, the whole world will follow him (Rev. 13:8) and they’ll be right in the forefront.

The End Times According To Paul

After the rapture and the falling away of believers-in-name-only into His world-wide counterfeit religion, the anti-Christ will be revealed for who he really is by proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thes. 2:4). Remember, the sequence Paul gave was first the apostasy, and then the man of lawlessness will be revealed.

Paul confirmed this sequence in 2 Thes. 2:7-8, saying a restrainer is currently holding things back. After the restrainer is taken out of the way the anti-Christ will be revealed. This restrainer is the Holy Spirit, sealed with in the Church. After the rapture, the Holy Spirit will be out of the way, the rebellion will take place, and the anti-Christ will be revealed. These things can’t happen until the church is gone.

Most likely, the anti-Christ will already be known as a great statesman and leader, but by declaring himself to be God he’ll be laying claim to Planet Earth. This claim will kick off the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:15-21) and will be accompanied by all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders that will deceive those who have fallen away into thinking they have finally found the truth. But in reality they will have rejected the truth and embraced a lie. At the end of the Great Tribulation the Lord will return to over throw the anti-Christ and destroy him by the splendor of His coming and those who believe the lie will perish as well (2 Thes. 2:9-12).

In his letters to the Thessalonians Paul didn’t reveal the actual timing of the Rapture except as it relates to other events. It may be one of the things he was forbidden to speak about (2 Cor. 12:4). All we know is for reasons of His own the Lord has never given us a specific date for the rapture. But by carefully studying passages describing it and maintaining the view that the Bible cannot contradict itself, the astute believer can obey the commandment to “know the times and seasons” and construct with some assurance the correct sequence of events. Paul criticized the Thessalonians for not figuring this out back then (2 Thes 2:5) and would even more strongly criticize the church today for the same reason.