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NASB | 2 Thessalonians 2:3 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, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one in any way deceive or entrap you, for that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first [that is, the great rebellion, the abandonment of the faith by professed Christians], and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction [the Antichrist, the one who is destined to be destroyed], [Dan 7:25; 8:25; 1 Tim 4:1] |
Bible Question: Will the church be there during the great tribulation? will they have seen the antichrist before the rapture? |
Bible Answer: Greetings Flo! Before I answer this question, please note that the following is MY PERSONAL position that I have embraced,at this point, after much study of the Scriptures.I remain teachable! The church is the body of born again believers in Jesus, not everyone who belongs to a church is a member of THIS spiritual body! SO this is what I presume you mean when you refer to the church in your post. "Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him," 2 Thess 2:1 From this passage, note the progression: first we (the church of Jesus Christ) will see apostacy or a falling away from the TRUE faith. ( And what have we seen in these days? an increased awareness of spirituality, increased occultic practices with New Age influences abounding!) Jesus also noted these and said the "love of many will grow cold" (Mt 24:10-12) which is also the description (lukewarm)of the last church in Rev 3:16. It is only reasonable to expect lawlessness (which does not necessarily mean criminal activity!) to increase as people stray farther from the absolute standards set forth in God's Word. Just look at what has been legislated:removal of God from our schools, etc, abortion, euthanasia, etc. Yet God's Word warns, "Woe unto those who call evil good and good evil!" Isa 5:20 So the stage is set. There is much debate about the order of our "being gathered to Him," but I stand upon the Word of God which states,"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" 1 Thess 5:9 "You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, . . . you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." 1 Thess 1:6,9,10 This wrath is different from tribulation mentioned in v6; even Jesus tells us to expect this! "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." John16:33 Many folks confuse these two words. The GREAT TRIBULATION of The Revelation refers to the time when God's WRATH is poured out on the WHOLE WORLD! This is the wrath that Jesus promises to rescue us from! So as you can see from these Scriptures, my position on the matter is that as a believer in Jesus Christ, I can expect to undergo tribulation, but I will never suffer the coming wrath of God. Secondly, according to 2 Thess 2:3, "it will not come" (meaning our gathering together to be with Christ) unless the apostasy comes first,(which we have just addressed) AND the man of lawlessness is revealed. Does this mean that we will see the REIGN of the antichrist? I don't know but God's Word says he will be revealed. Is this to be interpreted as a singular individual at this point in Scripture? I don't know that either, but it may not be too difficult to recognize the rise of a world order that offers a "moral code" to those who are seeking peace. These are my thoughts on the subject - do check out the search feature and dialog with other participants from there if you have questions about their thinking on the matter! Blessings, Mommapbs |