the revealing of that man of sin. “The falling away" is a most reveal ing prophecy. Verse three is admit tedly a difficult verse to interpret. The difficulty lies in the fact that Greek words translated “a falling away” have both a primary and a secondary meaning. O u r English word “apostasy” comes from a Greek word, apostasia, and is most gen erally interpreted to mean “a depar ture or a defection in a doctrinal sense.” One of the signs of the end times is that there will be a wide spread apostasy or a falling away from the true apostolic Christianity as recorded in the Word of God, particularly in the New Testament. This apostasy will reach its zenith during the Great Tribulation. Our Lord predicted it in His Olivet Dis course. We do not want to overlook a sec ondary meaning which suggests “dis appearance or departure.” Dr. E. Schuyler English points out that many scholars have rendered the Greek word “a departing.” He cites Tyndale’s version of the New Testa ment in 1526, the Coverdale Bible in 1535, the Geneva Bible of 1557. He shows further that this noun comes from a verb which means “to remove or to cause to be removed.” His con clusion is that the day of the Lord will not come until the man of sin is revealed. Before he appears, there must be the departure or removal. This departure is one concerning which the Thessalonians had been instructed by letter, namely, the rap ture of the church (I Thess. 4:13- 18). The prophesied events in order are the rapture, followed by the reve lation of the man of sin, then, final ly, the day of the Lord. This may be the meaning of “a falling away.” We do know assuredly that the Lord Jesus Christ can come at any moment to receive His own to Himself. Are you ready? If you are not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, trust the Saviour at once. Decide for Him now!
The first is, “by spirit.” This means some sort of supernatural revelation; one which is divinely communicated. The second is, “by word.” No doubt there was some small statement, may be a sermon, or something which re portedly had been heard. The third is, “by letter as from us.” This sug gests a spurious communication re portedly from Paul, but which the Apostle denied ever having written. This might have occasioned the clos ing comment in 3:17. The Thessa- lonians were clearly told that what ever they heard about the day of the Lord being then upon them was un authorized teaching. Paul denies hav ing taught this. He flatly contradicts this as having come from God. It is important to understand the term, “the day of the Lord.” The ex pression, “the day of Christ” in this particular verse, and “the day of the Lord” are not synonymous. They are not to be used interchangeably. The day of the Lord is mentioned in II Thessalonians 5 :2-3, where it is de scribed as that time when “sudden destruction cometh upon them as tra vail upon a woman with child.” It is the same time as the day of Jehovah in the Old Testament. This is a time of divine judgment. It commences with the Tribulation, following the Rapture of the Church. It leads to the second advent of Christ to the earth. It continues through the end- time millennial reign of the Saviour. It is the day when God will deal judiciously and directly with human sin. Our present age is man’s day. God is dealing in grace. When this time has run its course, judgment will not vary from its course (Isa. 2:12; 13:9-11; Joel 1:15; Zeph. 1: 14-16; Mai. 4:5; and many others). Let me assure you that day of the Great Tribulation upon the earth will not arrive before the Church is rap tured. In verse 3 there is a prophecy revealing giving two things as neces sary, first occurrences. There is to be the falling away and there is to be 6
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