What will the falling away look like

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Amil
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Sorry, but this is a very poor translation. Go back and look at earlier English translations: This is Tyndale:

Let no ma deceave you by eny meanes for the lorde commeth not excepte ther come a departynge fyrst and that that synfnll man be opened ye sonne of perdicion

The departing or gathering must come FIRST. Then and only then can the man of sin be revealed.
That would be impossible since the "gathering" happens on the last day, as Jesus said.

John 6:39
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

John 6:40
For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

John 6:44
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:54
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

And on that last day, the sun will never set. (that's why it's called the last day, obviously)

Rev 22:5
There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
 
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Copperhead

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Sure, the HS could simultaneously escort raptured believers up to Heaven while hanging around on the Earth for new believers coming out of the Great Tribulation. But that's not the argument the pre-tribbers make when it comes to this particular verse. They say the HS leaves the Earth.

I realize that many do make that claim. As a pre-millienial / pre-trib adherent myself, I view the HS as restraining evil like a offensive lineman restrains the opposition from sacking the quarterback. Once the believers are handed off to Jesus by the HS at the rapture, then he just steps aside and allows evil to have it's way on the earth. And the tribulation period is God's wrath poured out on the earth for that rebellion. The HS is still working here, and will be doing the same job of testifying of Jesus and indwelling those who do come to faith in Jesus during that time. But evil persecution will fall on them in a way that has not happened before since the HS is not restraining evil any longer. The tribulation that these believers experience is the same as believers for 2 millennia have experienced... brought about by evil. And with the full effort of Satan, unhindered by the HS, that is going to be something that has never been experienced in the history of the earth. God's wrath is a response to that evil and is poured out on the unbelieving world with the goal of driving them, and Israel, to the wall and turning to God. Most won't. But Israel will cry out during this time for their Messiah and he will then come. Hosea 5:15 - 6:2

The passage 2 Thes 2:7 says that "He is taken out of the way" does not say He is removed. Only that He is taken out of the way so that the Lawless One (antichrist) can be revealed.
 
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jgr

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The passage 2 Thes 2:7 says that "He is taken out of the way" does not say He is removed. Only that He is taken out of the way so that the Lawless One (antichrist) can be revealed.

Why didn't Paul explicitly identify who "he" was? If "he" was the Holy Spirit, there was no reason for Paul not to name Him.
 
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Copperhead

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It was implied. The church is viewed as the bride of Christ. And what is the HS main job? Is it not to testify of Jesus, seal and indwell the believers, and restrain evil?

Also, keep in mind the focus of this letter to the Thesalonians. Paul was reminding them of what he had already taught them as he stated in 2 Thes 2:5 He wasn't trying to make a argument for something they were not already aware of so he did not go into micro detail for you or me. Paul had already taught them these things. He was just reminding them. They knew what he was talking about. The HS is restraining evil, as Jesus himself stated... I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Yet, after the rapture, evil is allowed to flourish and the antichrist is revealed, and especially the last 3.5 years of the 70th week of Daniel, or Great Tribulation, any who become believers (and no one can become a believer without the influence of the HS) are slaughtered wholesale as expounded upon in The Revelation and Satan prevails against those tribulation believers in Rev 13:7. That can only happen if the HS is no longer restraining evil. The "He" can only mean the HS.
 
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jgr

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It was implied. The church is viewed as the bride of Christ. And what is the HS main job? Is it not to testify of Jesus, seal and indwell the believers, and restrain evil?

Also, keep in mind the focus of this letter to the Thesalonians. Paul was reminding them of what he had already taught them as he stated in 2 Thes 2:5 He wasn't trying to make a argument for something they were not already aware of so he did not go into micro detail for you or me. Paul had already taught them these things. He was just reminding them. They knew what he was talking about. The HS is restraining evil, as Jesus himself stated... I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Yet, after the rapture, evil is allowed to flourish and the antichrist is revealed, and especially the last 3.5 years of the 70th week of Daniel, or Great Tribulation, any who become believers (and no one can become a believer without the influence of the HS) are slaughtered wholesale as expounded upon in The Revelation and Satan prevails against those tribulation believers in Rev 13:7. That can only happen if the HS is no longer restraining evil. The "He" can only mean the HS.

John Chrysostom:

"Because if he meant to say the Spirit, he would not have spoken obscurely, but plainly, that even now the grace of the Spirit, that is the gifts, withhold him. And otherwise he ought now to have come, if he was about to come when the gifts ceased; for they have long since ceased. But because he said this of the Roman empire, he naturally glanced at it, and speaks covertly and darkly. For he did not wish to bring upon himself superfluous enmities, and useless dangers. For if he had said that after a little while the Roman empire would be dissolved, they would immediately have even overwhelmed him, as a pestilent person, and all the faithful, as living and warring to this end."
 
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