1 As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our final muster before Him, we beg you, brothers,
2 not to let your minds be easily unsettled or even be excited, whether by some message by the Spirit or by some saying or letter that is claimed as coming from me, saying that the day of the Lord is already here.
3 Do not let anybody at all deceive you about this, because that cannot take place until the great revolt occurs and the representative of lawlessness is uncovered, the one who is doomed to destruction,
4 the one who keeps up his opposition and so far exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, that he actually takes his seat in the sanctuary of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
5 Do you not remember that while I was with you I used to tell you this?
6 So now you know the power that is holding him back, that he is to be unveiled at His own appointed time.
7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but only until he who is holding it back has been gotten out of the way.
8 Then the representative of lawlessness will be uncovered, and the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth and put a stop to his operations by His appearance and coming;
9 that is, the representative of lawlessness, whose coming is in accordance with the working of Satan, with his plenitude of power and pretended signs and wonders,
10 and with a completely wicked deception for men who are on the way to destruction, because they refused to love the truth so as to be saved.
11 This is why God sends them a misleading influence till they actually believe what is false,
12 so that all who have refused to believe the truth but have chosen unrighteousness instead might be condemned.
13 We ought always to be thanking God for you, brothers dearly loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through the Spirit's consecration of you and through your faith in the truth,
14 and to this end He called you by our preaching of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brothers, continue to stand firm and keep a tight grip on the teachings you have received from us, whether by word of mouth or by letter.