According to Paul there is to be a "falling away" and an evil figure, one called "that man of sin," is to be clearly revealed. These two momentous events must precede the Day of the Lord. The construction of the Greek text suggests that the apostasy and the revealing of the man of sin are intimately related. By how much time they will precede the Day of the Lord we are not told, but that they precede it is patently clear.

This raises an exceedingly awkward and knotty problem for pretribulation rapturism. Their traditional view teaches that the Day of the Lord commences at the beginning of Daniel's seventieth week and that the Rapture, which immediately precedes the Day of the Lord, is imminent. By their definition, the Rapture is signless, any-moment, and without the need for the fulfillment of any prophesied events. Paul's teaching, however, places two conspicuous events, the apostasy and the revealing of the man of sin, prior to the commencement of the Day of the Lord. This makes imminence (the heart of pretribulation rapturism) a theological impossibility.

But exactly what is in view when Paul speaks of "a falling away"? The Greek word translated "falling away" is apostasia (apostasy). In context, apostasia is accompanied by the definite article "the." It is not simply "a" falling away, it is "the" falling away. It is something that was known, expected, and identifiable. Apostasy carries with it the idea of defection or revolt, of a falling away or total abandonment of something or someone. It is an extremely powerful word.

The traditional view has held that the "apostasy" or "falling away" refers to Christians who will renounce Christ at the end of the age (1 Tim. 4:1-2; 2 Tim. 3:1-9). But these texts do not use the word apostasy, nor are they speaking to the point of what Paul has in view in 2 Thessalonians 2.

The word apostasy is used only twice in the entire Word of God; therefore, how it is used becomes exceedingly important. Dr. Luke used the word apostasy in describing an important occasion when the apostle Paul met with the Jewish elders at Jerusalem. Many Jews had accepted Christ, but they continued to adhere to the old covenant and the Mosaic Law (Acts 21:20). They wanted to believe in Jesus, but within the confines of Old Testament Judaism. They did not understand that Jesus had initiated a new covenant. Speaking of those recent converts, the elders in Jerusalem said to Paul, "And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake {"forsake" is the translation of apostasia -- to "fall away" or "utterly abandon"} Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs" (Acts 21:21). Here, then, is one of the only two times the word apostasy is used in the Bible. And it is used in the context of the apostle Paul being repudiated for supposedly asking Jews to renounce (1) Moses, (2) circumcision as the basis of convenantal relationship, and (3) the Jewish customs.

When Paul used the word apostasy in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, he did so in exactly the same way as Dr. Luke in Acts. He was speaking of Jews who, during the seventieth week of Daniel, will totally abandon the God of their fathers and the messianic hope in favor of a false religion (humanism) and a false messiah (the Antichrist, 2 Th. 2:2-12).

The future ascendancy of the Antichrist is foreshadowed in the Bible by the past emergence of the Syrian leader Antiochus Epiphanes. So important is this personage in history and prophecy that no less than three major passages of the Word of God are given over to his career (Dan. 8:9-25; 11:21-35; Zech. 9:13-17). He is clearly and indisputably set forth in Scripture as an illustration of the Antichrist. The apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees, recognized by Bible-believing scholars as possessing significant historical worth, is primarily given over to a consideration of this man and his insidious career. The first-century historian Josephus is also a major source on the life of this infamous man.

Antiochus sought to defeat surrounding nations through military conquest and then to assimilate them into his kingdom through adoption of the Hellenistic (Greek) culture. He believed that if he could get conquered nations to speak the Greek language, wear Greek clothing, adopt the Greek philosophy of life, and above all, worship the Greek gods, he could quickly and effectively assimilate them into his empire. With that accomplishment, conquered nations would pay tribute to him, serve in his army, be buffers between his empire and enemy nations, and allow his troops to be withdrawn from successfully assimilated nations to fight elsewhere. To achieve that end, in 168 B.C. the troops of Antiochus Ephiphanes marched into Israel. On this occasion, history records that they sought to turn the Jewish people from Moses and the Law, from circumcision as an identification of covenant relationship with Jehovah, and from their religious customs (exactly what Paul had been accused of doing {Acts 21:21} and what was described as apostasy). History notes that Antiochus initially met with a great measure of success in converting the Jewish people to Greek culture and gods. A large segment of the nonreligious Jews entered into a covenant with him and willingly capitulated to his demands. An account of that event, written shortly after it occurred, is recorded in the First Book of the Maccabees.

"In those days {i.e., of Antiochus Epiphanes} lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many, saying, "Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us." This proposal pleased them, and some of the people eagerly went to the king {Antiochus}. He authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles. So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem {for Greek education}, according to Gentile custom, and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined themselves with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil" (1 Macc. 1:11-14).

The ancient historian continues the story of Antiochus and the Jews:

"Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, and that each should give up his customs. All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath. And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and feasts, to defile the sanctuary and the priests, to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, so that they should forget the law and change all the ordinances" (1 Macc. 1:41-49).

This covenant which many of the Jews entered into with Antiochus Epiphanes prefigures the covenant which many from among Israel will enter into with the Antichrist in a future day. The prophet Daniel spoke of that covenant in this way: "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease" (Dan. 9:27).

The events surrounding Antiochus Epiphanes, his defilement of the Temple, and the apostasy of many of the Jewish people is one of the most conspicuous events in Jewish history. It would, therefore, be both appropriate and natural to use the same term (apostasy) concerning the same people (the Jews) regarding an event to occur at the same place (the Temple at Jerusalem) in describing a future day when many of the Jews will totally abandon the God of their fathers in the same way they did in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, only to embrace a heathen religion and a false messiah.

The parallels between the historically fulfilled events under Antiochus Epiphanes and the prophetic events awaiting fulfillment under the Antichrist are amazingly parallel. There can be no question but that in the Olivet Discourse (Mt. 24-25) the Lord assumed that His hearers were familiar with the events surrounding Antiochus Epiphanes and Israel's great apostasy. Some of the more conspicuous parallels are these.

1. Both Antiochus and the Antichrist enter into a covenant to protect Israel. Concerning Antiochus it is written, "In those days lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many, saying, 'Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us.' He {Antiochus} authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles" (1 Macc. 1:11-12). Of Antichrist it is written, "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week" (Dan. 9:27a).

2. Both make their covenants with the many within Israel. Although Antiochus Epiphanes and the Antichrist make covenants with Israel, it is of great significance that neither man gets unanimous support. This truth is carefully stressed in both 1 Maccabees and the Bible. The historian wrote, "In those days lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many" (1 Macc. 1:11). And again, "Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion" (1 Macc. 1:43). And once more, "Many of the people, every one who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land" (1 Macc. 1:52). Of the Antichrist it is written, "He shall confirm the covenant with many" (Dan. 9:27a). This is the only occasion in the Bible where a covenant is said to be made with many.

3. Those Jews who enter into the covenant are, in both instances, said to apostatize. Concerning Antiochus it is written, "Then the king's officers who were enforcing the APOSTASY came to the city of Modein to make them offer sacrifice" (1 Macc. 2:15). Paul wrote of the Antichrist and the future Day of the Lord, "Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come the falling away {apostasy} first, and that man of sin {Antichrist} be revealed, the son of perdition" (2 Th. 2:3).

4. Both Antiochus and the Antichrist break their covenant. "After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned . . . He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils" (1 Macc. 1:20-21). The Bible describes the same event. Of Antiochus it is written, "And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate" (Dan. 11:31). Of the Antichrist it is also recorded, "In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease" (Dan. 9:27b); that is, he will break the covenant in the midst of the week (cf. Mt. 24:15). Not only do both men, Antichous and the Antichrist, break their covenants, they break them at the same place -- the Temple.

5. Both Antiochus and Antichrist break the covenants by introducing a false god into the Temple. Of Antiochus it is said, "He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary {Temple}" (1 Macc. 1:20-21). History records that on that occasion he set up an image of his chief deity Zeus Olympus. Significantly, this deity was made in the likeness of a man (humanism). Paul wrote of the Antichrist, "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Th. 2:4; see also Mt. 24:15; Rev. 13:15).

6. In both instances, some Jews oppose this false religion, and as a result many perish. Of that courageous band it is recorded: "But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die" (1 Macc. 1:62-63). Speaking of that future day when the Antichrist will seek to get the Jews to bow to his image and many will refuse, the Lord said, "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake" (Mt. 24:9).

7. In both instances, religious Jews flee to escape. "Then Mattathias {the righteous priest} cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: 'Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant {Mosaic} come out with me!' And he and his sons fled to the hills and left all that they had in the city. Then many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to dwell there" (1 Macc. 2:27-29). In the New Testament, in the context of the Tribulation, it is recorded of a righteous remnant: "Then let them who are in Judea flee into the mountains; Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; Neither let him who is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto those who are with child, and to those who nurse children in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day" (Mt. 24:16-20).

8. In both instances, many of these religious Jews will die because they will not violate the Sabbath. The past historical fact, in the days of Antiochus, graphically and traumatically portrays what will occur in that future day. "Then many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to dwell there {they were fleeing forced apostasy}, they, their sons, their wives, and their cattle, because evils pressed heavily upon them. And it was reported to the king's officers, and to the troops in Jerusalem the city of David, that men who had rejected the king's command had gone down to the hiding places in the wilderness. Many pursued them, and overtook them; they encamped opposite them and prepared for battle against them on the sabbath day. And they said to them, 'Enough of this! Come out and do what the king commands, and you will live.' But they said, 'We will not come out, nor will we do what the king commands and so profane the sabbath day.' Then the enemy hastened to attack them. But they did not answer them or hurl a stone at them or block up their hiding places, for they said, 'Let us all die in our innocence; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly'" (1 Macc. 2:29-37).

The Lord warned concerning that future day, "But pray that your flight be not . . . on the sabbath day" (Mt. 24:20).

9. In both instances, many women and children will perish. In an attempt to stamp out Judaism and the worship of Jehovah, Antiochus commanded that circumcision (an evidence of covenantal relationship) be abolished. Those who did not comply would die. Of that event the historian wrote, "According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers' necks" (1 Macc. 1:60-61).

Is it any wonder, therefore, that the Lord spoke of that coming time in these terms: "And woe unto those who are with child, and to those who nurse children in those days!" (Mt. 24:19)? Those Jewish women who will not renounce the God of their fathers, as evidenced by the circumcision of their sons, will, with them, be slain.

The career of the coming Antichrist and the plight of the Jews are clearly and with divine intention kaleidoscoped in the account of Antiochus Epiphanes and his barbaric treatment of the descendants of Jacob.

In that future day, the apostatizing Jews will believe that the covenant they are making will bring them protection from the surrounding nations. (We are seeing this begin to unfold before our eyes today.) That is precisely what such Jews thought when they made a covenant with Antiochus Epiphanes. In reality, it will be a covenant with death. It will be Israel's great apostasy. Not only will it not bring them the safety and peace they seek; it will, in fact, bring the nation to the very threshold of extinction. The Lord said, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved" (Mt. 24:22). This text is not speaking of universal annihilation. In Matthew 24:15-26 the topic is the abomination of desolation; the location is Israel; the participants are primarily Jews; the occasion is "the time of Jacob's {Israel's} trouble" (Jer. 30:7). It is, in the first instance, the believing Jews in Israel who would perish if the Great Tribulation were not cut short.

The prophet Isaiah, with sarcasm, wrote of the covenant that Israel will make in this way: "Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with sheol are we at agreement, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves" (Isa. 28:15).

Once again the prophet spoke of that coming apostasy: "And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trampled down by it" (Isa. 28:18). The "overflowing scourge" to which both of these verses ultimately refer and from which they will not escape is the Great Tribulation, "the time of Jacob's trouble." This covenant of apostasy into which Israel will enter is spoken of in the imagery of spiritual infidelity and unfaithfulness. How could it be thought otherwise when, in their ultimate day of unfaithfulness, having rejected their true Messiah, they embrace the anti-Messiah? "Behind the doors also and the doorposts hast thou set up thy remembrance; for thou hast uncovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it. And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto sheol" (Isa. 57:8-9).

All three texts (Isa. 28:15, 18; 57:8-9), in speaking of the covenant Israel will make with the Antichrist (Dan. 9:24-27), refer to it as a covenant with death.

The apostasy, then, to which Paul referred (2 Th. 2:3-4), will involve Israel. It will commence when many within the nation sign a covenant with the Antichrist (unknown to them, a covenant with death) at the beginning of that seventieth week. They will embrace a counterfeit religion (humanism) and a counterfeit Messiah (the Antichrist) who offers a counterfeit peace and solution to the Middle East dilemma.

In the middle of that seventieth week of Jewish apostasy, the Antichrist will break the covenant with Israel. Having entered Israel on the pretext of protecting her from her enemies, he will defeat Egypt and forces to the north of Israel. Then he will "plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas {the Mediterranean and Dead Seas} in the glorious holy mountain {Mount Zion}" (Dan. 11:42-45). Only then, in the middle of the seventieth week, with the setting up of his image in the Temple, will the Jews realize his true character and real identity and that they have made a covenant with death.

Some commentators, focusing on Paul's statement to the Thessalonians "and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition" (2 Th. 2:3), have placed that event at the signing of the covenant (Dan. 9:24-27) and, therefore, at the beginning of the seventieth week. In doing so they have missed the whole point of Paul's argument. Two facts are of utmost importance: (1) the apostasy must come first (that apostasy can only be understood as the total abandoning by "many" of the Jewish people of their covenantal relationship with the Lord during the first half of the seventieth week); (2) in the middle of the seventieth week, the man of sin will be revealed. Paul makes that clear in a most conspicuous way. After stating that the man of sin must be revealed, he does not relate that revelation to the time of the signing of the covenant but to the occasion of the setting up of Antichrist's image. The apostle described the revealing of the wicked one this way: "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Th. 2:4).

Paul was speaking of the time when the Antichrist will be recognized by the Jews for who he truly is. That recognition will occur when his image is erected in the Temple in the middle of the seventieth week (Dan. 9:27; cf. Mt. 24:15). It is then, and only then, that Israel will know she has made a covenant with death. The shock will be indescribable. It will be the worst of nightmares -- only it will be real. It will be the worst of horror stories -- only it will have substance. No wonder it is called the Great Tribulation (Mt. 24:21) or "the time of Jacob's {Israel's} trouble" (Jer. 30:7).

The apostasy will occur during the first three and one-half years of Daniel's seventieth week, and then, in the middle of the week, the Antichrist, the son of perdition (the seed of Satan), will be revealed to the Jewish people. That event will trigger a period of such severity that unless those days were cut short, no flesh (in context, Jewish believers and all elect) would survive.

The apostasy and revealing of the man of sin to Israel must occur inside the seventieth week, not before it begins. What Paul is teaching is that Israel, the nation with whom the covenant is made, will not recognize the Antichrist until the abomination of desolation occurs in the middle of the week. They would never have made a covenant with him if, at the beginning, they recognized him for who he is. According to the apostle Paul, the Day of the Lord judgment must take place after those events. Therefore, the Lord's coming and the outpouring of His wrath during the Day of the Lord cannot commence at the beginning of the seventieth week; and the Rapture, which occurs at the very outset of the Day of the Lord, cannot possibly be pretribulational.

Go To Part III