What does "except there come a falling away first"
in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 mean?
"God's greatest concern is not what Christians are falling into but what they are falling away from! Multitudes of Christians - including pastors, deacons, ministry people of all kinds are losing their faith and confidence in the power of Jesus' name! They are turning away from Christ as the answer to everything. They are falling away from a childlike faith in Him alone as the solution to all life's problems. There is a wholesale turning to methods, to psychology, to human expertise, to the philosophies and doctrines of men."
- David Wilkerson, The Great Apostasy!
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 (KJV)
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 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 is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
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.
When I first became born again several years ago, one of the first teachings I received was on the rapture. The evangelicals I "churched" with were all pre-tribbers. At almost every service, the pastor would bring up the rapture. At the very least he would mention at the end of the service how he couldn't wait for the soon return of the Lord. And he'd always mention how that day could be that very day, or the next.
I'm going to have a teaching on how we can know when the Lord will come back. And I am not contradicting the Lord. Yes, He did say that he'll come like a thief in the night, but read a little further. He also said that we (his bride) are not in darkness that that day should overtake us like a thief. We may not know the EXACT hour, or even the exact day. But we can know the season. Even within a few days. The only way to know this, though, is by knowing His word. We must know the front of the book before we can totally understand the back.
Sadly, once again the church is divided on doctrine. This is not a good thing. All we need to do is allow scripture to interpret scripture rather then listen to men. When we listen to men, we become confused and divided. God is not the author of confusion. And if we just take the time to look into His Word, He'll reveal all to us. All we have to do is earnestly ask Him.
In verse 3 of 2 Thess. 2 it states:
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
There are a few trains of thought here. Men believe the term "a falling away" speaks of either a period of great "apostasy", or some believe it refers to the "departure", or "rapture" of the church. Interestingly enough, some even attribute this apostasy more so to the moral declination of the world than viewing its application to Christians turning away from their faith in Jesus Christ. The morality of mankind has been corrupt almost from its beginning. It's obvious it has not become more holy, nor can we view it as such in the future, any time soon. So, I believe we can safely eliminate the third option.
So, how do we know which one it is?
Actually the word "apostasy" cannot be found in the Bible, although many interpret it as such as the original Greek word in that verse is the noun apostasia (of which W.E. Vine's Greek Dictionary states it means "a defection, revolt, apostasy," is used in the NT of religious apostasy; in Acts 21:21, it is translated "to forsake," lit., "thou teachest apostasy from Moses." In 2 Thess. 2:3 "the falling away" signifies apostasy from the faith. In papyri documents it is used politically of rebels. Note: For "mighty fall," Rev. 18:21, RV).
The words defection, revolt, forsake, rebellion and falling away actually project a more defined meaning. One that the apostle Paul is telling us has to be applied to those people who had great faith in Jesus Christ. For those who believe that a Christian cannot lose their salvation once they accept Jesus Christ as their personal saviour, they need to reexamine the fact that they could (and will face) experiences and or circumstances in their future that could very well lump them into that group. I have a teaching on the false doctrine of "Once Saved, Always Saved". You can find it here at "Satan's Lies The Church Buys - Doctrine of Demons".
If you've read any of my other blog pages, you know that I do not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. However, I am not going to allow my belief in this area to persuade me as to one side or another on this issue. I am simply going to allow the Bible to interpret itself, with a little help from Strong's Concordance. Strong's basically states the same as W.E. Vine's Greek Dictionary. In the original manuscripts, the word used for "falling away" is "apostasia". Below is the definition of the word "apostasia". As you will see it means a "revolt", or "defection", or "forsake". It also says "a leaving, from a previous standing." I have supplied the url link for you to view the page for yourself. In the Greek, it means a "divorce", or "a forsaking". From all these definitions of the word, it leaves no room for error. I can not see where anyone could get the rapture from these.
Strong's Concordance #646. apostasia
apostasia: defection, revolt
Original Word: ἀποστασία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: apostasia
Phonetic Spelling: (ap-os-tas-ee'-ah)
Short Definition: defection, apostasy
Definition: defection, apostasy, revolt.
HELPS Word Studies
646 apostasía (from 868 /aphístēmi, "leave, depart," which is derived from 575 /apó, "away from" and 2476 /histémi, "stand") – properly, departure (implying desertion); apostasy – literally, "a leaving, from a previous standing."
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from aphistémi
Definition
defection, revolt
NASB Word Usage
apostasy (1), forsake (1).
Strong's Concordance
falling away, apostacy
Feminine of the same as apostasion; defection from truth (properly, the state) ("apostasy") -- falling away, forsake.
see GREEK apostasion
(I also looked up the Greek apostasies, and it means divorce, or bill of divorce,a forsaking, spec. (bill of) divorce, certificate of divorce (1), divorce (2).)
Now, with all this proof that "a falling away" means an apostate church, how can anybody get a rapture theory out of it? They are grasping at straws. This is exactly what the Lord originally told us before he said anything else, "Let no man deceive you." And this is exactly why we can't just listen to a preacher, because they can be deceived as easily as anyone else. Please, as I said, don't just read my blog page and believe it. Do the research yourself. We NEED to do our own research. This is exactly why there is so much division in the church. Satan loves to deceive believers. But, God loves to give us Truth.
Again, please don't forget the warning Jesus gave his disciples as he answered their questions about the timing of the end of the world: …"TAKE HEED THAT NO MAN DECEIVE YOU" (Matthew 24:5). "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good" (1 Th. 5:21). Be a Berean (Acts 17:10-11), and search the Scriptures to see if these things be so! If not, please let me know the truth, and I will change it. The Thessalonians did not search the scriptures daily, as the Bereans did. Acts 17:11 tells us "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."
Now, I said scripture interprets scripture. Let's look at a couple more verses that practically say the same thing as 2 Thess. 2:3. First let's look at Daniel 8:23. I particularly want you to notice the word transgressors. You may think this means non-believers, but, it actually refers to believers who have fallen away from the faith. I have a definition from the Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary below, along with the url link so you can check it for yourself.
Daniel 8:23 (KJV)
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
transgressors
H6586. pasha', paw-shah'; a prim. root [rather ident. with H6585 through the idea of expansion]; to break away (from just authority), i.e. trespass, apostatize, quarrel:--offend, rebel, revolt, transgress (-ion, -or).
As you can see above, Daniel 8:23 is talking about an apostate church. If you notice, Daniel 8:23 and 2 Thess 2:3 are saying the same thing. Let's compare . . .
2 Thess. 2:3 (KJV)
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Daniel 8:23 (KJV)
And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
• In 2 Thess. 2:3 Jesus is talking about the latter time.
• Daniel 8:23 is also talking about the latter time.
• Jesus says in 2 Thess 2:3 that the son of perdition (the Anti-Christ) will be revealed after some fall away (from the faith).
• Daniel 8:23 says when some fall away (transgress) from the faith a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences (the Anti-Christ), shall stand up (will be revealed).
Do you see how they are identical verses, speaking about the same thing? I don't know how it can be any plainer. Let's take a look at 1 Tim 4:1.
1 Timothy 4:1 (KJV)
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Also check out Matt. 24:10, Luke 12:45, 2 Peter 3:3, and 2 Tim 4:3-5. These all speak of believers falling away from the faith. Either because they are impatient for the Lord's return (they believe the pre-trib rapture, which isn't going to happen), or as 2 Tim 4:3-5 says, "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what they're itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."
Brother or sister, I hope you will not be one of those that Timothy is speaking of. It's very easy to fall into false doctrine. And there is a lot of it out there. But, is it worth losing your soul over?
Below is a disturbing interview, to say the least. Pam is from Australia and she shines a light on the darkness and exposes the New Age going on in the churches in Australia. But, it also is going on here in America. When the Bible speaks of a falling away, or an apostasy, it also refers to at the same time that some believers will give heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils (1 Tim 4:1). The New Age is definitely doctrines of demons. And, sadly, it has crept into the church big time. New Age and Occult practices could already be going on in your neighborhood church. Please listen and warn others.
NEW AGE PRACTICES IN THE CHURCH - SISTER PAM
Thu, Oct 27, 2011
Posted by lamarzulli on November 27, 2011
Prophecy Update! 11-24-2011
What does the word apostasy in 2nd Thessalonians really mean?
Mid-east update as the Russians move war ships off the Syria coast, and lot’s more!
Prophecy Update 2011-11-24 at 09.04 2
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