THE MEANING OF THESSALONIANS CHAPTER 4

Paul received a letter from the people in Thessalonica because they had received false teaching. They had been taught the taking up to heaven of all born again believers had already happened and that they had missed it. Here Paul assures them that this is not true. Paul does not say that there will not be a snatching away of all born again believers so it is obvious then that he not only believed it himself but was actually teaching it.

If there was not going to be such an event he would have made that perfectly clear to them at the outset. However he does the exact opposite, he tells them how they can know that what they had been taught by others was completely untrue. He clearly states that the man of sin (the devil himself, that lying serpent cannot come while the church is on the earth.)

Many people have flooded the internet with trying to work out whose name equals 666, but we will probably never know because we will not be on earth when he comes. President Reagan said that he wonders how quickly there would be unity among the nations if the earth were threatened with an invasion from outer space. This may sound absurd but since 1945 people have been reporting sightings of UFOs unidentified flying objects and suggesting that they originate from other planets.

In fact these are demonic beings which will try to deceive mankind into thinking they can solve all the problems on earth by bringing unity among nations, peace on earth and a solution to global warming. This is profoundly untrue. Because so many people do not accept who Jesus really is and all that He has done for mankind they will invite the leader of these beings to take control of the earth and solve all their problems.

Their leader is the one who will draw up a treaty to bring peace to the middle east, the treaty will be for seven years, then after three and a half years he will suddenly appear in the third temple and claim to be their messiah and saviour. He will then bring what will seem like hell on earth with laws that say you must worship him and receive the mark of the beast, if you refuse it you will be tortured and if you are lucky put to death.

This will prove to the Jews and to many of the pagans that they had been fooled into believing that this man is the messiah and saviour of the world and realise that it is Jesus whom they should have been worshipping all along. This will be a vast number of Jews, pagans and countless others who are mentioned in the book of Revelation as the number that no man could count because it was far too large.

If you are not a born again Christian you will have to go through this period known as the Great Tribulation. This vast number in the book of Revelation will be looked after by God Himself until Jesus comes to set up His kingdom on earth forever. If you want to know what this vast number of people along with all born again believers before the man of sin comes then look out for the next study and all will be revealed.