Chapter 2

1 Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, we ask you, brothers and sisters,⁠ 2 not to be easily shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly 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 arrive until the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.⁠ 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship,⁠ and as a result he takes his seat in God’s temple, displaying himself as God.⁠ 5 Surely you recall that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you. 6 And so you know what holds him back, so that he will be revealed in his own time. 7 For the hidden power of lawlessness is already at work.⁠ However, the one who holds him back will do so until he is taken out of the way, 8 and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy by the breath of his mouth⁠ and wipe out by the manifestation of his arrival.⁠ 9 The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders, 10 and with every kind of evil deception directed against those who are perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved. 11 Consequently God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.⁠ 12 And so all of them who have not believed the truth but have delighted in evil will be condemned. 13 But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 14 He called you to this salvation through our gospel, so that you may possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold on to the traditions that we taught you, whether by speech or by letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good thing you do or say.

Texts in conversation

Compare Ascension of Isaiah 4:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · New Testament

Summary

2 Thessalonians and the Ascension of Isaiah describe a rebellious “man of lawlessness.” In 2 Thessalonians, this person will exalt himself and be destroyed at the end of the age, and in the Ascension, it is Beliar, identified with the corrupt Nero.

Passages

Ascension of Isaiah 4:2

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

1 And now Hezekiah and Josab my son, these are the days of the completion of the world. 2 After it is accomplished, Beliar the great ruler, the king of this world, will descend, who has ruled it since it came into being; yes, he will descend from his firmament in the likeness of a man, a lawless king, the slayer of his mother: who himself even this king. 3 Will persecute the plant which the Twelve Apostles of the Beloved have planted. Of the Twelve one will be delivered into his hands. 4 This ruler in the form of that king will come and there will come with him all the powers of this world, and they will listen to him in all that he desires. 5 And at his word the sun will rise at night and he will make the moon appear at the sixth hour. 6 And all that he has desired he will do in the world: he will do and speak like the Beloved and he will say: I am God and before me there has been none. 7 And all the people in the world will believe in him. 8. And they will sacrifice to him and they will serve him saying: This is God and beside him there is no other.

70–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Ascension of Isaiah

2 Thessalonians 2:3

New Testament

1 Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to be easily shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly 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 arrive until the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat in God’s temple, displaying himself as God. 5 Surely you recall that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you. 6 And so you know what holds him back, so that he will be revealed in his own time. 7 For the hidden power of lawlessness is already at work. However, the one who holds him back will do so until he is taken out of the way, 8 and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy by the breath of his mouth and wipe out by the manifestation of his arrival.

80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Thessalonians

References

"... John foresees the end-product of the beast’s regime to be a social and economic boycott of all who refuse to worship him, cutting them off from access to the necessities of life. But, as in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, the man of lawlessness is destroyed by the Advent of Christ, so in Revelation 19:20 the beast and the false prophet are consigned to perdition by the victorious Word of God at his appearing ... The Ascension of Isaiah, an early Christian document, incorporates a Testament of Hezekiah, in which the ultimate Antichrist appears as an incarnation of Beliar (the Greek spelling of Belial, as in 2 Corinthians 6:15), the spirit of evil in the world. This expected incarnation of Beliar, moreover, is identified with the returning Nero, described by King Hezekiah as “a lawless king, the slayer of his mother” - a reference to Nero’s widely suspected responsibility for the killing of the younger Agrippina ..."

F. F. Bruce, Word Biblical Commentary: 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Waco, TX: Word, 1982), 322–323.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

2 Thessalonians3 chapters

Compare Ascension of Isaiah 4:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Summary

Passages

Ascension of Isaiah 4:2

2 Thessalonians 2:3

References

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