1Now, brothers and sisters, we have something to say about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him.
2Don’t let your minds be easily confused or troubled, either by a spiritual message, a word of mouth, or a letter supposedly from us, suggesting that the day of Christ has already come.
3Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come until there is a rebellion first, and the man of sin, the one doomed to destruction, is revealed.
4He will oppose and exalt himself above everything that people call God or worship. So he will even sit in God’s temple, claiming to be God.
5Don’t you remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?
6And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at his proper time.
7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. But there is one who is now holding him back, until he is taken out of the way.
8Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the brightness of his coming.
9The coming of the lawless one will be by the power of Satan, with all sorts of fake miracles, signs, and wonders.
10And with every kind of evil deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
11For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie,
12and so that all will be condemned who did not believe the truth but delighted in wickedness.
13But we must always thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved through the Holy Spirit making you holy and through your belief in the truth.
14He called you to this through our Good News, so that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold on 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 loved us and gave us lasting encouragement and a good hope through his grace,
17comfort your hearts and make you strong in every good thing you do and say.