The Falling Away Two other events in scripture that must occur before the great Day of the Lord are found in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. God, through the apostle Paul, in referring to the Day of the Lord, says, “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.” The Thessalonians had been deceived into thinking that they missed the rapture and were in the Day of the Lord period. Paul tells them that the falling away must occur before the Day of the Lord. The word used in the Greek for falling away is apostasia, from which we get our word “apostasy,” which basically means “backsliding.” Clarke’s commentary describes it like this: “a dereliction of the essential principles of religious truth—either a total abandonment of Christianity itself, or such a corruption of its doctrines as renders the whole system completely inefficient to salvation.”11 The great falling away will be a time when professing Christians, in large numbers, will turn away from the faith. “The article makes it even more significant; this is not a falling away, but the falling away, the great and final rebellion.”12 J. Hampton Keathley, III , Th.M. describes the coming apostasy like this: “The apostasy or rebellion clearly refers to a special departure and rebellion against the true God. This will become a worldwide movement and will provide the seed bed for the great system of revolt which will be headed up in the person of the Beast who will be the very personification of satan himself.”13 In order for a great falling away to take place, I believe 11
Clarke’s Commentary, Hhttp://www.godrules.net/library/clarke/clarke2the2.htmH David Guzik, Study Guide for II Thessalonians, Hhttp://blueletterbible.org/Comm/david_guzik/sg/2Th_2.htmlH. 13 Hhttp://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=1696H 27 12