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3 Let [exapatao] no [me] man [tis] deceive [exapatao] you [humas] by [kata] any [medeis] means: [tropos] for [hoti] that day shall not come,
except [ean me] there
come [erchomai] a
falling away [apostasia] first, [proton] and [kai] that man [anthropos] of sin [hamartia] be revealed, [apokalupto] the son [huios] of perdition; [apoleia]KJV-Interlinear
3 Let no one in any way deceive
you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of
lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, NASB
First, Paul warns that
you should not fall prey to the deceptions of men. Those deceptions were listed
in the previous verse.There will come
along many sources of deceptions, from the word of mouth in Pauls day, to the massive media technology we have in
our current day.
You will see movies,
and documentaries, stories in books and publications, even conversations
between people that will describe the end of days concept,
or deny it or mock at it.
But certainly since Pauls day, when this was written
over 1950 years ago, the Rapture has not yet occurred, and the second advent
has not yet occurred.Why?Well Paul gives us a very general reason,
which reason will only make sense to us, since we live in the days much closer
than those folks back then.Obviously we
are over 1950 years closer, even though we do not yet know the century, the
generation, the decade or anything close to that eventual date.
But, unlike those folks
in their day, we have hindsight and we have the historical record of humanity
to help guide us in the evaluation of our observations.
What good does that do
us?It helps us put history in
perspective, and more than that, it should help us rekindle or strengthen our
faith in Gods ultimate promise that history will indeed occur as He has stated,
as we observe His hand in our contemporary history.
Paul begins by
identifying two great events which will occur prior to Christ s return (the
Second Advent).
First there is going to
be a great apostasy, and second, after that great apostasy, the man of sin will
be revealed.
First we consider the
man of sin.This is singular and refers
to one person, not a sequence of people throughout the ages, as thought by
some.This is chronological, therefore
the apostasy will occur prior to the revealing of the man of sin.Here the terms, perdition, lawlessness and son
of destruction, are used to describe this person, as well as describing his
sole intention and eminent wickedness.
The great apostasy,
means a falling away.And since one
cannot fall away from something that has not first been attained, then this
falling away has to occur after some form of spiritual awakening has already
been accomplished.That spiritual
awakening that I am referring to is the spread of the gospel to the gentile
nations throughout the world, mentioned elsewhere in the Bible.
We have already
witnessed this spreading of the gospel from our hindsight historical
perspective.
Therefore, the apostasy
is something that will occur after the world has been populated and evangelized,
in effect. And that population and evangelization has already occurred or is an
ongoing process of occurrence in our contemporary time.
However,
chronologically, the apostasy will occur near the end of our current
dispensation.It will occur over a
period of time (not defined), but we can look to history for examples.
In Noahs day, apostasy occurred slowly over many
centuries.Noah and his party of eight
were all that were left of the believers on earth when the rains began to fall.
In the book of Judges,
the nation of Israel rose and fell spiritually over the course of mere
generations, but the nation on the whole did not disappear.
After Solomons time, the Nation of Israel was finally disintegrated
over the course of fewer centuries.
In our current day, events
in our time are described in terms of increasing frequency. Therefore, we can legitimately assume that
this apostasy will occur on some form of rapid timetable, which would be much
quicker than in past history.
Apostasy means a
falling away, a departure from, a defection from truth, or a forsaking of
faith.This implies that Christian
beliefs will be nearly wiped out, not just in a single or group of countries,
but across the entire world (similarities to Noahs
day, in pattern but not in terms of numbers).
Likewise, the mention
of the man of sin, after this spiritual decline, also implies that his rise to
power will be a direct result of that decline.We have already studied the anti-christ, and
you should recall that he is going to be a very personable fellow, very
popular, very smooth, and people will slobber all over themselves just to get
close to him.You have to go to
Revelation and Daniel for that study. It is quite an extensive study.
Now this mentioning of
the two events (apostasy and the anti-christ) are linked together here, because they are related.When people lose their spiritual values, then
they turn to evil.There are only two
views in life truth and lies.Spiritual values are truth, and everything else makes up the body of
lies.
When this departure
occurs across the world, and since blessings come from God to believers who are
functioning within their spiritual lives, then fewer functioning believers or
fewer believers, means less blessing.Less blessing means greater turmoil.
And when you factor in
the massive changes that this world is in for, namely accelerated population
growth for one, then there will be many problems associated with that single
element alone (unemployment, food, homes, public services, crime, etc), not to
mention the increased problems that will occur because of storms or natural
disasters.And when you factor in mans
efforts to solve his own problems, which is almost always through government
programs (which never work), then you have huge trouble.And in this case, it will be on a global
scale.
So the great apostasy that
will be in existence, will contribute to the anti-christs
assumption of power.People will want
him in power.Spiritually dysfunctional
people look to spiritually dysfunctional leaders.
And one more thing, the
man of sin is also referred to as the son of disaster.That means that he is here to pursue disaster.His natural course in life will be nothing
but disaster.Not that he is doing it intentionally
(at first), but that everything that he does will result is greater and greater
disaster, and his policies will finally end in the attempted extermination of
the greater human population, for which he cannot solve their problems.Get rid of the people and you get rid of the
problems.
Stalin tried this when
he could not feed or employ millions, so they were shipped off to Siberia to
die.Our Church Age history provides many
examples of problems and solutions that will be dramatically increased when the
Tribulation occurs.
Even our contemporary
legislative efforts from this health care law being proposed, is a good example
of the corruption that is raising its head.Where health care would be withheld from the very old, where health care
would be rationed, where people would be penalized if they do not get the
government insurance, where access to personal bank accounts will be mandated
so that government can collect what they deem is due them, and things of this
nature.
A global government, a
global currency, and other similar concepts that seem to be taking root in the
world are only precursors to what appears to be a departure from Biblical
principles.
So, Paul paints a
picture of the end times.We already
know the picture of the world during the Tribulation with its phenomenal
disasters.But when the Rapture occurs,
this dysfunctional spiritual state of the world will already be in place.Thus the end of our dispensation has its
destiny already painted for us.
And by the way, the man
if sin, the anti-christ will not be revealed during
our dispensation. There is a current
restraint preventing his identity.And
he will not be revealed until that restraint is removed namely the removal of
the Holy Spirit (we will get to that study, so be patient).
The Holy Spirit is
resident in all believers, so the Rapture will occur, removing believers, and
then the restraint will be gone and the anti-christ will
be revealed to a then very unbelieving world.
So, if the Rapture did
occur now, then this anti-christ person would already
be alive somewhere in the world.But if
the Rapture does not occur for another century, then this person will not have
been born yet.In either case, no one will
be able to identify him during our dispensation, as he is hidden in obscurity.
Now is the time to post a prayer.
End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
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