Question

I go to a Bible Study and we were discussing 2 Thessalonians, and we got into chapter 2, and discussing the Rapture.  I have always been along the lines of a "Pre-Trib" Rapture, and I got into chapter 2 there, and some things seem to contradict themselves.  If you could just comment on what the "Apostasy" is, and what "The Day of the Lord" is.

Answer

Chapter 2:1 of 2 Thessalonians, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that you be not shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter. . . ."  What was happening in the Thessalonian Church was that some people were fearful that they had missed the Rapture.  They were afraid that they had already missed it, so Paul is writing to inform them that, that has not happened.  So verse 3, says, "don't let anybody deceive you," don't let anybody tell you that you have missed the Rapture, and not only that, but the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The whole idea of that phrase in verse 1, "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him" maybe a more comprehensive statement, but it certainly would include, I think, the Rapture.  The whole idea--they were being told that everything had happened and they had been left out.  "So don't let anybody deceive you, that's not going to happen, until first of all there is an 'apostasy,' and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God. . . ."  I just think what he is saying there is: the whole idea of the coming of Christ cannot come to fullness and fruition until these things take place--and they have not taken place.

[The 'apostasy'] is a progressive falling away from the truth.  In the first place, I don't think that it is the Rapture--some people believe that it is the "snatching away," they make it the rapture.  I think it is an "apostasizing."  Now the question is, "Is it an apostasy in the Tribulation, after the Rapture, or is it an apostasy that begins before the Tribulation?"  I think the answer to that is that it is before [the Tribulation], because it says, verse 7, "the mystery of iniquity is already at work."  So the mystery of iniquity is already at work; the apostasy, in a sense, is already at work; the culmination of all of this is the coming of the Lord--don't think that it has happened because the rest of this stuff hasn't even unfolded fully yet: the "man of sin" hasn't been revealed, and so forth. 

The "Day of the Lord" is always associated with judgment, and what he is saying is, that the judgment has not happened because this hasn't happened.  It's not a question that sorts out the Rapture here, I don't see that you can sort that out, he's just saying, somebody may be telling you that you have missed it all--whatever, part of it.  But, I'm telling you that the final end hasn't come, the "Day of the Lord," the time of judgment he focuses on hasn't come, because the "man of sin" isn't revealed, and so forth.  He is not necessarily saying that you are going to see that, he's just saying that it can't of happened because this event has not taken place.

Let me just say this, this question comes up a lot.  Second Thessalonians is basically a book that needs great intense study, it's got some very unique features in trying to sort out all these factors.  But, in general, I believe that the Pre-tribulation Rapture is the only doctrine that makes any sense in Scripture.  You can come to Scripture, and you can "shoot it down," I mean you can follow some of the people that has wanted to postulate a Post-trib Rapture, a Mid-trib Rapture, or whatever, that means that we are going to be raptured at the end of the Tribulation, or in the middle, rather than before.  But the problem is, you can knock down the Pre-trib theory by reinterpreting words and reinterpreting verses, but you will find it (I do anyway) almost impossible to build up a Post-trib theory--it just doesn't survive scrutiny. 

So, I really believe that the Church will be raptured first, then the Tribulation, and then comes the Lord in judgment.  And I think that is all that the writer here is saying, is that you didn't miss that, because before that happens there has to be the "falling away."  Now, some people say that, that is the rapture--the "catching away," and they say that "apostasia" (Greek) means "rapture."  I don't feel that way, I think it's apostasy, "and then the man of sin, who opposes and exalts himself," and it's already working that way--verse 7 says, "but then that wicked one will be revealed, and lying wonders," and after that is going to come the "Day of the Lord."  So, I don't think the Rapture is even in the discussion really, I think that he is just talking about the "Day of the Lord," of course, before that will be the Rapture.