As we continue to look at the four main passages from scripture that support the pre-tribulation rapture, we come to Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians.
2Thessalonians 2:1-2 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 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.
Evidently, the Thessalonians weren’t any more sure of their knowledge of prophetic events than are many in the church today. The KJV makes it read more like it could possibly be referencing two different things by adding the little word “by” (which is not in the Greek). It is obvious that he can’t be talking about the visible return of the Lord because that would be obvious. Paul is writing about the coming of Christ to take His Bride home with Him as He promised in John 14. That is an event that, as a professed believer, had you missed it would cause you great concern.
“gathering together” = This phrase is represented by one word in the Greek that means “a complete collection.” When I looked up the Greek, that definition made me smile. When Christ comes to gather the believers, it will be to get them all—not just some of them.
Paul tells them not to get “agitated or disturbed in their thinking” or to be “frightened” that the “day of Christ” had begun. The Thessalonian believers knew that the “day of Christ” (interchangeable with the “day of the Lord” and the “wrath to come” as referenced in his first letter to them) would be a terrible time of God’s wrath. They didn’t want to experience it and had been clearly taught that they wouldn’t.
1Thessalonians 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ….
In this letter Paul acknowledges that these believers were experiencing persecution and trouble. Maybe this time of suffering had increased such that they were more susceptible to the deceit that the “day of Christ” had begun. Paul is telling them to ignore any “spirit” (includes other humans as well as the possibility of demons), “word” (includes persuasive speakers or general conversation), or “letter” (written correspondence) that would tell them differently. The wording also implies that the Thessalonians had possibly received a letter from another source that either misrepresented Paul’s teaching or falsely claimed to be from Paul.
I think the best translation of the word “soon” would be “suddenly.” In other words, when someone confronts you with something that contradicts the truth as you know it, take the time to think about it carefully. Don’t make quick assumptions. You know the truth. Think it through.
2Thessalonians 2:3-4 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; 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.
This first phrase is restating the previous verse—Don’t let any person or thing deceive you in any way. Webster adds strength to the statement with his definition of “deceive,”—“ To lead into error; to cause to believe what is false, or disbelieve what is true; to impose upon; to mislead; to cheat; to disappoint; to delude; to insnare.”
Since I am not a Greek scholar, it was helpful to find a note in the NIV Commentary that was useful in understanding why the phrase “that day shall not come” was added by the translators: “In the second part of this verse, the Greek sentence is not complete; it presupposes something to be added from the previous verse; i.e., ‘that day will not come’ (lit., ‘that day is not present’).”
“falling away” = This phrase is one word in the Greek, and is one that causes much debate even among those who agree on a pre-tribulation rapture. I did quite a bit of research on this when I was preparing a topical study on the rapture. The following is a quote from a book by Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice regarding whether this phrase is a reference to a falling away from faith or a physical departure, i.e., the rapture; and it makes a lot of sense to me.
The words “falling away” were translated "departure" in the first 7 Bible translations. In 11/15 uses the root word for departure in the New Testament is used to reference departing from another person or place, a physical departure. The one time it is used re departing from the faith is 1Timothy 4:1, which uses the qualifying words “from the faith.”
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,”
The other uses are:
Luke 8:13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Acts 5:37 After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him:
Acts 5:38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men….
[End quote]
John Sweigert adds this information: “The history of translations of “apostasia” varied little for the first 15 centuries. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate contains the word “discessio” in 2Thess 2:3, meaning simply “departure.” Other translations up to the KJV of 1611 use variations of “departure.”
Though I am convinced the “falling away” is a physical departure, I believe the truth of a departure from the faith is also true, as stated in 1Timothy 4:1 above, as I observe how “Christian” leaders are putting their own spin on biblical truth, saying that the Bible doesn’t really mean what it says.
As I was listening to J. Vernon McGee this morning, I thought he tied together both understandings of the “apostasy” quite well. He, too, sees it as a departure or rapture of the true church that will result in the complete apostasy of the “church” that is left behind composed of people who profess but do not possess true faith.
Frankly, whichever you choose to believe, this is a proof point for the beginning of the “day of Christ,” not the rapture. The main truth is that after this falling away (be it the rapture or a mass departure from the faith), the man of sin will be revealed. The oldest Greek texts use “anomias” for the word sin in reference to no law, lawlessness, contempt for law and morality.
To be continued….
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