NO. 68 THE FALLING AWAY

TEXT 2 THESSALONIANS 2: 3- 12 3 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 revealed, the son of perdition;

4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the work of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (KJV)

Today I am going to give you a message entitled “THE FALLING AWAY.”

We see the word in the text “a falling away.” We would like to know what the falling away means.

The falling away has a nuance of disobedience to the teaching in Japanese language. The teaching is of the Christianity and those who disobey are the Christians. As the word says exactly in English, they fall away from the faith.

Then we see how this word in Greek is used and find some as below.

THE ACTS 21: 21 And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. (KJV)

MATTHEW 5: 31 It has been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. (KJV)

This word of falling away is also translated as forsake or put away. In short it can be considered as going away from others. So then the falling away means going away from God and loosing the faith. These things will happen in the end time.

There are in any age some people who go away from God and loose their faith. But the reason why Paul especially mentions of “a falling away” as to the end time is because we guess that such will be extraordinary and of large scale. At first we see the falling away by Christians and the appearance of the antichrist. For that reason we know that following verses are also basically for Christians.

Now we are going to learn through the text.

“So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God”

The temple of God is the Church and the antichrist becomes the head of the Church. He will deceive Christians. So we suppose that many Christians will worship him when he sits in the temple of God.

“And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.”

The one who withholds him is the Holy Spirit.

“Only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”

The Holy Spirit works to withhold him until He is taken out of the way. But the time will come when “He be taken out of the way.” Then the man of sin will appear.

Why does He stop His work in the end time though He has been so doing until now? Isn’t that unfair if we compare with other age?

But what the Bible says is this. It is not that He will go away voluntarily from us but that the Church will drive Him out at that time. We see the following word carefully.

“Only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”

As the word says, “he be taken out,” He will be literally taken out. The original Greek expresses the same.

We get the nuance that He will be shut out of the Church. Indeed we find the description of the church of Laodiceans, the last one among the seven churches, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” Doesn’t this exactly indicate the same thing? There come out the churches that will shut the Holy Spirit out.

If the father who is the head of the house is shut and locked out of it at night and knocks at the door, it is not the normal family. In the same manner this church of Laodiceans is not the normal one, either.

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.”

It is before the day of the Lord when the “man of sin,” the ultimate existence of sin, will appear. But Paul says that the same principle of sin or the mystery of iniquity has already worked. So this mystery has worked in his time. What he says is that the same principle has already worked in the church of his time though the extreme of such event as that the man of sin appears and sits in the temple, the Church, will occur at the end time world.

John says of the same principle.

1 JOHN 2: 18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” (KJV)

There is no word in the Bible that can be nonsense or neglected.

Although it is nineteen hundred years since John’s time, the end time has not yet come. Has he done a rash thing? No, he hasn’t. What he says is not of the time but of the principle or situation. He writes, “even now are there many antichrists.” I think what he says is that the teaching of antichrist that has already appeared in his time will enter some churches and bring the end of them. The leaven has been already sown from his time.

Let’s think of the history of Israel. The country of Judah is carried away to Babylon. This is the surprising event that God’s people are deported to the country of heresy. Yet we understand that this has not just happened suddenly but occurred due to their unbelief of many years if we read their history well.

So the cause of Babylonian captivity has not suddenly begun. The sign of their unbelief, the root of it, is already there since the early stage of their history. The climax is the captivity.

The same can be said of the Church. The destruction of the church will not happen suddenly in the end time. The teaching of the leaven has been sown and many wrong teachings have been permeated. And the appearance of the son of perdition will be the climax of their unbelief and the falling away of the Church.

King Nebchadnezzar has carried away Judah to Babylon, and the people are deported from their land of heritage of their ancestors.

The same thing will happen in the end time. Many people of the Church will be carried away from the promised land, the eternal life, by the principle of the man of sin, antichrist. That is the harlot Babylon written in Revelation.

“Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”

The word is typically for the Christians. It says that “with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them” will be done to the Christians.

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

The deluded prophecy is given to the four hundred false prophets through a spirit in prophet Micaiah’s time. They are confident of the prophecy to be from God but it is the deluded prophecy. King Ahab who goes out according to the prophecy is defeated in the battle of Ramothgilead and died. The same will happen to the Christians of the end time. The false prophets are many but are in delusion. And the people who are led by them will be judged.

Let’s do the will of the Lord in the end time.

End.