Dual Panel1Now we implore you, brothers, by the certainty of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our meeting him together,
2to keep your heads and not be thrown off your balance by any prediction or message or letter purporting to come from us, and saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
3Don't let anyone deceive you by any means whatever. That day will not come before there first arises a definite rejection of God and the appearance of the lawless man.
4He is the product of all that leads to death, and he sets himself up in opposition to every religion. He even takes his seat in the Sanctuary of God, to show that he really claims to be God.
5You must surely remember how I talked about this when I was with you.
6You now know about the "restraining power" which prevents him from being revealed until the proper time.
7Evil is already insidiously at work but its activities are secret until what I have called the "restraining power" is removed.
8When that happens the lawless man will be plainly seenthough the words from the mouth of the Lord Jesus spell his doom, and the radiance of his coming will be his utter destruction.
9The lawless man is produced by the power of Satan and armed with all the force, wonders and signs that falsehood can devise.
10To these doomed to perish he will come with evil's undiluted power to deceive, for they have refused to love the truth which could have saved them.
11God sends upon them, therefore, the full force of evil's delusion, so that they put their faith in an utter fraud
12and meet the inevitable judgment of all who have refused to believe the truth and who have made evil their pleasure.
13But we must thank God continually for you, brothers, whom the Lord loves. He has chosen you as the first to be saved, to make you holy by the work of his Spirit and your own belief in the truth.
14It was for this that he called you when we preached the gospel you, and he wanted you to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15So stand firm, and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
16May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father (who has loved us and given us unending encouragement and unfailing hope by his grace)
17inspire you with courage and confidence in every good thing you say or do.