The key to what starts the Great Tribulation is found in a passage of Scripture that I have addressed in a previous article. That passage is Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verses one through three.
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.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 be revealed, the son of perdition;
The King James translates the Greek word apostasia as "a falling away". There are just a handful of other translations that do the same. Most Bible versions translate apostasia as "apostasy" or "rebellion".
If you would go to the wonderful website, blueletterbible.org, and look up this passage of Scripture then you would see some great Bible tools. One of those tools is called An Outline of Bible Usage. In this category the word apostasia can mean a falling away, defection or apostasy. The word apostasia does not always mean religious apostasy.
If you were to Google the word defection you would find these synonyms ...absence or desertion. It is interesting that the earliest English Bible translations such as Coverdale, Tyndale and Geneva Bible all translated apostasia as "departure". I am not alone in asserting that the Apostle Paul said that before the man of sin or Antichrist can come on the world scene there must "first" come a departure!
I believe that this departure is the rapture of the church. If the great sign preceding the coming of Antichrist was going to be religious apostasy then I would submit that this represents a pretty weak sign because of the multitude of heresies in the first century to this present hour. Take your pick!
During its early centuries, the Christian church dealt with many heresies. They included, among others, docetism, Montanism, adoptionism, Sabellianism, Arianism, Pelagianism, and gnosticism.
Today we are absolutely deluged by heresy in the church. Here are just a few, the redefinition of marriage, the approval of mass murder of the unborn, the rejection of the inerrant Scripture, the rejection of the creation account as found in the Bible, the rejection of the Bible as literal truth, the denial of Jesus being the only way to Heaven, the rejection of the eternality and deity of Jesus, the denial of a bodily resurrection of Christ, the belief that humans are basically good, the denial of a literal Devil and literal evil and I could go on and on and on.
So I would challenge this interpretation of apostasia in Second Thessalonians, chapter two and verse three. Religious apostasy is so prevalent that trying to find one key indicator that the tribulation has started would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Bible teacher, Brian Brodersen, agrees with the "departure" meaning of apostasia...
The word “apostasy” is only used two times in the New Testament. Second Thessalonians 2:3 is one of them, and the other is in Acts 21:21, where there is a reference to the Jews forsaking the teachings of Moses. The word apostasia is translated “forsaking” there. And interestingly, in 1 Timothy 4:1, where the very words appear, “In the latter times, some will depart from the faith, the word apostasia is not used. Also, in Hebrews 6:6, where it says, “If they fall away,” a different word is used. My point is this, the word apostasia does not necessarily mean a falling away from the faith. That is why Miles Coverdale, John Tyndale, and the translators of the Geneva Bible simply translated it as “departure”. Source
The Apostle Paul made it abundantly clear, before the tribulation starts, before the Antichrist is revealed, there is going to be a mass departure of millions of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The same man, Paul, referred to this event as the "blessed hope" and our "gathering together unto Him".
Curtis Mayfield wrote the soulful hit, People Get Ready. The lyrics of that song are appropriate to our topic.
People get ready
There's a train a comin'
You don't need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear the diesels hummin'
You don't need no ticket
You just thank the Lord
There is a departure coming for those who have trusted Jesus as Savior.
The great escape is imminent, it could happen at any time. Have you believed
on Jesus for eternal life?
All aboard!
