No one ever believes it is possible for someone else to deceive him. Yet, many folks get deceived at one time or another. Folks give their hard earned money to scammers who promise them something that the buyer simply can’t afford to pass up. At other times, folks are deceived in their faith. Peter talks about that in his second epistle (2Peter 2:1) to folks living in what is now modern Turkey. Peter claimed just as: “…there were false prophets among the people (under the Old Covenant), there will (also) be false teachers among you (under the New Covenant; parenthesis mine).” Who, ever—at any time, wakes up in the morning and says to himself: “I think I’ll be deceived, today!” No one does, because no one ever expects that would happen. Yet, Peter claimed it would happen in the Church.
Imagine with me that one Sunday morning you are listening to your pastor speaking, and he tells the congregation that the Day of the Lord happened yesterday! Would you believe him? It makes no difference whether you believe in the rapture, or that the Day of the Lord would be an earth-burning, time-ending event. Could you believe what the pastor claimed? My guess is, if you actually believe the Day of the Lord is the end of time, where all of the elements would be burned up, no one could convince you that such a thing had already occurred in your lifetime. But, does this mean you cannot still be deceived?
Well, nearly 2000 years ago Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:
Now we ask you, brothers, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and our gathering together to him, not to be so quickly upset or alarmed when someone claims that we said, either by some spirit, conversation, or letter that the Day of the Lord has already come. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2; emphasis mine)
Think about Paul’s warning for a moment. If the Day of the Lord was an earth shattering event, how could anyone convince the Thessalonians that it had already occurred. Why would Paul even bring it up? Wouldn’t that be like telling someone, don’t let anyone convince you that a tornado just hit your house yesterday, and you are standing in your own yard looking at you own home sitting unharmed before your very eyes? Was Paul being absurd? If you believe the Day of the Lord is, indeed, a time-ending, earth-burning event, then either Paul was being absurd and you are correct, or Paul’s warning is serious, and what you believe is a false doctrine!
Consider this same text from a different perspective. Many Christians believe that the Day of the Lord is the end of the Christian Age. According to Daniel 2:44, the Christian Age never ends, but let’s just say for argument’s sake, that Scripture means something else. The Rapture occurs at the coming of the Day of the Lord, and the Church is caught up to heaven. But, how is this possible? Paul wrote his letters to the Thessalonians about the year 53 AD or 20 years (rounding down) after Jesus’ crucifixion. If someone convinced the Thessalonian church that the Day of the Lord had already come, wouldn’t that have meant they all had been left behind? Wouldn’t that mean they were also convinced that Paul had been left behind?
Moreover, think about Paul’s warning above in the context of the first century AD being the beginning of the Christian Age. How could anyone be convinced that, not only had the rapture already occurred, and everyone they knew were left behind, but the end of the Christian Age had also occurred after only 20 years since it had begun? Does this make sense or was Paul being absurd? Who would ever believe such a ridiculous statement: the Christian Age ended 20 years after it began? However, if the Christian Age doesn’t end (Daniel 2:44, and see also Hebrews 12:28), then Paul’s warning does make sense, and folks could be deceived about the Day of the Lord occurring cir. 53 AD, because the only age that would ever come to an end would be Age of the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:13; cp. Matthew 24:3; Deuteronomy 31:29).
If Paul’s warning is serious in 2Thessalonians 2:1-2, then the Day of the Lord couldn’t be a time-ending, earth-burning kind of event, and such doctrines are false, and they hinder us believing and obeying the real word of God (Mark 7:9-13). Neither could it be the time of the end of the Christian Age, because, not only doesn’t the Christian Age ever end, but it would have been completely absurd to think it could have ended only 20 years after it had begun. So, the question is can you ever be deceived, as Peter claimed many would be? If it’s possible for you to be deceived, are you deceived now concerning what you believe about the Day of the Lord? If you cannot defend what you believe against the arguments in this study, you need to consider whether or not you’ve been deceived, and that your eschatology – belief about end things – is false.
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