βEven him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be savedβΒ (2 Thessalonians 2:9,10).
Romans 5:8 tells us,Β βBut God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.βΒ TheΒ βlove of the truthβΒ in todayβs Scripture is the love of God manifested in the truth of God, and the truth of God is the Word of God (particularly the Gospel of Grace). The people in todayβs Scripture rejected Godβs love to them as He offered it to them in the Gospel of the Cross of Jesus Christ. That is, theyΒ βbelieved not the truthβΒ (verse 12), andΒ βthe truthβΒ is the Gospel mentioned in chapter 1.
Chapter 1 already said:Β β[7] And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, [8] In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:β¦.βΒ Those individuals consumed in the fiery wrath at Christβs Second Coming, God had a controversy with them. They didΒ notΒ have an intimate relationship with Him. Why did they lack that personal bond with Him? TheyΒ βobey[ed] not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.βΒ Our Gospel is that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ without works (Ephesians 2:8,9). These peopleΒ refusedΒ to come Godβs way, so they willΒ notΒ be saved from Godβs judgment (short-term, the Antichristβs deception [todayβs Scripture]; ultimately, hell and the lake of fire).
Returning to chapter 2, we see their punishment for their receiving not the love of the truth, that they might be saved:Β β[11] And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: [12] That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.βΒ They rejected Godβs love manifested in the truth, so He has given them over to the lie that the Antichrist is the true Christ. source
