Does the “Falling Away” of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Refer to the Rapture?

This is just a very short video on a subject I may not have specifically covered before, and I thought I’d take a minute to get that out of the way. That subject is whether the “falling away” mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 refers to the rapture.

Here’s the verse that we’re talking about: “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;”

This verse came up earlier today in a comment on an older video of mine. The comment stated: “The falling away of the Church is when Christ comes for His Bride/The Church. The Church will be separated from the Earth, then the Antichrist is revealed.”

As I was writing a response to this comment a few minutes ago it occurred to me that I probably never addressed this particular verse – as far as I remember, anyway. Or, if I did, perhaps I didn’t explain it too clearly. So let’s get right to this.

Here’s the response I wrote to the brother who left the comment:

Brother, please note that 2 Thessalonians 2:3 reads: “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 words THAT DAY refer to the subject being discussed in the previous verses. The subject is the “coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him”.

How could the “falling away” mean when Christ comes for his bride, when the “falling away” is to happen BEFORE Christ comes for his bride? It would be as if Paul said “Let no man deceive you by any means, for Jesus won’t return until Jesus first returns.“

Hopefully my reply didn’t come across as mocking his comment, because I certainly didn’t mean it that way. I intended it as being more instructive, because this IS a verse that a lot of people get wrong.

As most of us probably know, it’s one of those go-to verses for those who say we CAN’T know who the Antichrist is because the church will be raptured away before he is revealed. But, again, that’s not what’s being said here.

So, let’s make this as clear as possible:

1. The subject of the first verse of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, is the “coming of our Lord Jesus and our gathering together unto him.” That’s what’s being discussed, and it’s what verse 3 refers to as “that day.”
2. Following up on verse one, verse two seeks to reassure the church of the Thessalonians that the return of Jesus wasn’t about to happen at any moment.
3. Verse three explains WHY “that day” wasn’t at hand, and it’s because something must happen first: the “falling away” and the man of sin is revealed.

Whatever the falling away is, it must happen BEFORE the return of Jesus and our gathering together unto him.

It can NOT mean the rapture because that would make the entire passage redundant in the most ridiculous way: It would be saying “the return of Jesus won’t happen until the return of Jesus!” We can be sure that the bible is NOT saying that.

Instead of referring to the rapture of the church, the falling away mentioned in verse 3 is talking about a falling away from the faith, a topic that is discussed in numerous passages. In the last days, many will fall away from the faith.

And it’s this falling away that actually reveals the Man of Sin. Those who fall away FROM the faith will fall TOWARD the Antichrist. These two things go hand in hand, and it’s what helps us to identify the Man of Sin.

This is, of course, exactly what we’ve seen over the past 6 or 7 years, as millions upon millions of Christians have left the teachings of Jesus behind and gravitated more and more toward someone who is TRULY a man of sin.

Let no man deceive you by any means: the Antichrist … is Donald J. Trump.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another video, and that video will deal with whether the Red Horse of Revelation 6 is now on the scene, and if the rider of that Red Horse could be Vladimir Putin.

Thanks for watching, and if you care to leave a comment, please do. As always, kindly be respectful in any comment you leave, especially toward those with whom you disagree. I’ll talk to you guys soon. ♦