God’s Word for You

Acts 18:19-22 The journey ends, the Antichrist

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, October 31, 2020

19 They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left them. He went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to spend more time there, he declined, 21 but as he was saying good-bye, he said, “I will come back again if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.

Some witnesses to the text include an extra phrase in verse 21: “By all means I have to keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will come back…” This is probably an addition to the text here based on Acts 20:16. There would be no reason to omit it if it were not part of Luke’s original.

Paul had planned to begin ministry here in Ephesus earlier in this journey (Acts 16:6), but the Spirit drove or compelled him to travel to Troas instead. Now he arrived on the return journey, bringing with him two workers who would be able to stay here and continue the work without him. He could be confident that things were in capable hands.

Verse 22 neatly and rapidly brings to an and Paul’s Second Missionary Journey. He had spent three years traveling. He and Barnabas had parted ways, but he had picked up Luke as another companion along the way. The gospel had been taken into a new continent, and churches were begun in Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth and other places.

We believe that Paul wrote both his letters to the Thessalonians during the third year of this trip, while he was still in Corinth. 1 Thessalonians is a letter of encouragement to the new converts Paul had met only briefly, over the course of three sabbath days (Acts 17:2). He had time to share the key doctrines of salvation with them, but some things were not explained as fully as might have happened if Paul had been able to spend more time there. He gave them encouragement about coming trials and persecutions (1 Thessalonians 3:3-5), instructions about godly living (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8), he urged them not to neglect their daily work (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12), and he assured them of the truth of the physical resurrection from the dead (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Greeks tended to reject any idea of physical resurrection, and Paul wanted them to be sure about what the Bible teaches (Job 19:25-27; John 14:3). In 2 Thessalonians, he also warned about the coming antichrist, the enemy of the gospel who would appear from within the church. Although we touched on these things in our study of 2 Thessalonians, that was back in 2004, and many of today’s readers may not be aware of this list, so I will include it again here (based on observations by Prof. David Kuske):

1. There will be a falling away from the truth through the Antichrist’s preaching. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-5; 2 John 7)
2. The Antichrist will exalt himself as equal to God and his word (2 Thessalonians 2:4)
3. This opposition to Christ was at work when Paul was alive, but God was holding it back from working openly. (2 Thessalonians 2:6; 1 John 4:3)
4. God would later permit it to work openly and be revealed as opposing God. (2 Thessalonians 2:7; 1 John 2:18; 1 John 4:3)
5. Jesus will overthrow the Antichrist with his word. (2 Thessalonians 2:7)
6. When he comes again, Jesus will completely destroy the Antichrist. (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 7)
7. Satan will support the Antichrist with false miracles to mislead many. (2 Thessalonians 2:9)
8. The Antichrist’s followers will deny the truth of salvation. (2 Thessalonians 2:10)
9. God will harden the Antichrist’s followers in the delusion that they are on the path of salvation when really, they will be perishing. (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)
10. The Antichrist is clearly a religious teacher at work from inside the Christian Church. (2 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 John 2:22; 2 John 7)
11. The span of the Antichrist’s time stretches from Paul’s day until the end of the world. (2 Thessalonians 2:6-11; 1 John 2:18)

These things lead us to believe that the Antichrist is not an individual, but an office held by a long line of individuals down to the present day.

Paul was about to continue the work of his ministry with hardly a break. The Third Missionary Journey begins, not with the next chapter, but with the very next verse of this chapter. Paul’s work leaves us breathless, but it was a labor of love; love for God’s people, love for God’s word, and love for God, our Savior Jesus Christ. His love compels us to labor in his name, no matter what our labor today might be.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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