`We beseech you, brethren ... that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be

troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as

that the day of Christ (or the Lord) is at hand.  Let no man deceive you

by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling

away first' (2 Thess. 2:1 -3).

Before the hope of the church at Thessalonica could be realized, certain

important prophecies awaited fulfilment.  As we have seen, the hope during the

period of the Acts (and therefore that of 1 Thess. 4) was essentially the hope

of Israel.  When 1 Thessalonians 4 was written, Israel were still God's people.

The Temple still stood, and the possibility (speaking humanly) of Israel's

repentance had still to be reckoned with.  If the hope of Israel was about to

be fulfilled, then Daniel 9 -12 must be fulfilled also, together with many

other prophecies of the time of the end.  This we have seen to have been the

testimony of the Lord Himself in Matthew 24, and so far Israel had not been set

aside (i.e. when the epistles to the Thessalonians were written).

The following predicted events must precede the coming of the Lord as

revealed in 1 and 2 Thessalonians:

(1).  The apostasy must come first (`falling away', Greek apostasia).

(2).  The Man of Sin must be revealed in the Temple (the word `Temple' is

the same as in Matthew 23:16).

(3).  The coming of this Wicked One will be preceded by a Satanic

travesty of Pentecostal gifts.  (The same words are used as of Pentecost,

with the addition of the word `lying').

(4).  This Wicked One (see Isaiah 11:4, revised reading) shall be

`consumed' and `destroyed' with the brightness of the Lord's coming.

All this the apostle had told the Thessalonian church when he was with

them, before he wrote 1 Thessalonians 4 (see 2 Thess. 2:5).

The Thessalonians had already been taught by the apostle himself

concerning the events of prophecy, and would doubtless have read 1

Thessalonians 4 in harmony with his teaching had they not been deceived by

false interpretations.  The reference to the Archangel (1 Thess. 4:16) would

have taken them back to Daniel 10 to 12.  The epistle of Jude uses exactly the

same word as is used here, and tells us that the Archangel's name is Michael

(Jude 9).  Immediately following the great prophecy of the seventy weeks, with

its climax in the `Abomination of desolation', we have the revelation of Daniel

10.  There the veil is partially withdrawn, and a glimpse is given of the

Satanic forces behind the `powers that be'.  Michael is said to be `your

Prince' and in Daniel 12 we read:

`And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth

for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble,

such as never was since there was a nation ... and many of them that

sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake' (Dan. 12:1,2).

Here we have Michael identified with the people of Israel, and when he

stands up the great tribulation and the resurrection take place.  This follows

the events of Daniel 11, which are briefly summarized in 2 Thessalonians 2.

Compare, for example, the following passages:

`He shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall

speak marvellous things against the God of gods' (Dan. 11:36).