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April 12, 2015 |
| The Great Falling Away | ||
The Bible speaks of a future event that is commonly called The Great Falling Away or the Great Apostasy, which mean the same thing. The verse that is the source of the name 'Great Falling Away' comes from 2 Thessalonians 2:3 in the King James Version.
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; (KJV)
More recent translations use different words.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means, to the effect that surely no revolt will first come and the Man of Sin, the Son of Destruction, be revealed, (Aramaic NT)
3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. (NIV)
3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (NASB)
Every one of these translations is expressing the same idea, however, that there will come a time when there is a sudden turning away from the truth of the gospel.
Jesus described the same event in a teaching called the Olivet Discourse where discussion future events. Matthew, Mark and Luke include this discussion but only Matthew and Mark talk about the falling away.
9 And then they will deliver you to suffering, and they will kill you and you will be hated by all the nations because of my name. 10 Then many will be subverted, and they will hate one another and will betray one another. 11 And many false Prophets will arise and will deceive many. (Matthew 24:9-11)
22 "And false Messiahs and lying Prophets will arise, and they will give signs and wonders and they will deceive if possible, even the chosen ones. 23 But pay attention; behold, I have anticipated this; I have told you everything." (Mark 13:22-23)
The book of Revelation also describes this, in symbolic terms of course, but it is unique in that it describes the quantities. It indicates that 1/3 of the elders of the church will lose faith to some degree, some probably totally.
In this lesson we will look at the great falling away and consider what could cause so many people to fall away and what hints the Bible gives us about it.
People have fallen away from the faith since the beginning. This was true even in the earliest days of the church. Paul talks about some of these people in his epistles. We also probably know people in our own lives who have done the same thing. But this Great Falling Away must be different to be worthy of mentioning it above all others.
Many things can shake the faith of Christians: death of loved ones, sickness and injury, persecution, and others. Instead of a significant event, some Christians just slowly wander away from the faith. What we are talking about here though is a sudden world-wide falling away.
In America we have seen a drop off in the number of believers that started around the 60s. Today we see a very sudden shift against Christianity. However that is only America. Europe made that change over a longer period. Other areas of the world, however, are increasing in faith. Especially in India and Africa and even parts of the Muslim world people are turning to Jesus in great numbers. What we see now is not world-wide, not simultaneous, and not sudden. So I think we can say the Great Falling Away is not happening now.
Persecution is absolutely going to be part of the cause. From the verses in Mathew 24 above we see "deliver you to suffering", "will kill you" and "you will be hated by all the nations." The Olivet Discourse from Luke 21 says much the same thing "they shall put some of you to death", and "you shall be hated by every man."
Persecution was a big part of the early church though, many Christians were tortured and killed. This came to an end when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman world. In modern history we also know of the persecution of Christians by the communist regimes. The USSR killed hundreds of thousands of Christians and only stopped because the non-believers were repelled by all the senseless killing.
Persecution does have the effect of causing many to fall away. But those who fall away are mostly the young in the faith, not the elders. The elders become stronger as a result of the testing. From this we see that persecution only cannot be the cause of the Great Falling Away that is prophesied. There must be more to it than just persecution.
This will absolutely be part of it as well. The verses above say "false Messiahs and lying Prophets will give signs and wonders." This is saying that certain people will do God-like things. The book of Daniel talks about these people making amazing claims against God and ultimately calling themselves God. From this we see that deception will also be a large part of the cause - smooth talking persons with crafty tales to tell.
Muslim eschatology, which is like the mirror view of Christian eschatology, talks about a person called Isa, which is the Arabic name for Jesus. Many Christians do expect one of the false Messiahs and false Prophets spoken of in these verses to claim to be Jesus and to do the same kind of miracles that he did.
Nothing in the Bible says this but many people expect that someone will come up with evidence that will be convincing to many that some core event or principle of the Bible is false. This would cause many to fall away. This evidence could come in many forms.
One form could be a newly discovered book from the time of Jesus that makes claims that contradict the Bible. The world would be happy to accept this but there are already many such false gospels and it would be difficult to prove a new one was authentic. Some people have speculated that, if the book was found in the Vatican, then it would gain legitimacy because it would appear the Catholic Church was trying to cover up the truth.
Another would be historical evidence. What if someone were to find the Ark of the Covenant and the tablets inside it said something very different from what the Bible says? What if someone were to find the tomb of Jesus with his bones still inside?
That last possible scenario is happening right now. "In 1980 and 1981 during construction of an apartment building in the East Tapiot neighborhood of Jerusalem a construction crew uncovered two nearby tombs from around the time of Jesus. One tomb revealed bone boxes upon which were inscribed names thought by some to include the name "Jesus son of Joseph" as well as other names associated with the family of the biblical Jesus. A storm of controversy erupted in 2007 when the Jesus Family Tomb book made the claim that this tomb in East Talpiot could be the family tomb of the biblical Jesus. Now, in recent months, the second tomb was examined with a remote camera by the same team behind the Jesus Family Tomb. In their new book, the Jesus Discovery: The New Archaeological Find that Reveals the Birth of Christianity the authors reveal dramatic symbols and an inscription that may lead to new insights regarding how the early followers of Jesus thought about the resurrection. How will the world react to these new discoveries and what implication will it have on the world's acceptance of the Talpiot Tomb as the burial location of the biblical Jesus?"1
The first tomb contained 10 ossuaries (bone boxes). The Israel Antiquity Authority (IAA) took possession of these boxes at the time but has since lost track of one of them. In 2002 a bone box showed up with writing on it that labeled it as belonging to "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus". The IAA charged the owner with fraud but was unable to prove its claim to the satisfaction of a jury. The recent news about these tombs is that dirt on the James box has been matched to the dirt on the other boxes. It could be the missing 10th box.
In Jesus' time sometimes the name of the person was written on the box, but not always. Some of these boxes from the tomb have names on them that are familiar to Christians.2
1. Mariamene e Mara (or Mariamene [also known as] Mara)
The rendering of this Greek inscription is hotly debated. For some, this
is a name by which Mary Magdalene, and very few others could be identified.
Other renderings have been proposed, including the possibility that it is
actually two distinct names - Mariame and Mara.
2. Judah, son of Jesus / Yehuda bar Yeshua
This rendering is opposed by some because there is no reference to a son named
Judah in the New Testament. Others argue that there actually may be New
Testament references to a potential son. Still others argue that failure to
mention a son is reasonable, especially given the Roman practice of killing the
sons of presumed trouble makers.
3. Matthew / Matia
There is no known direct link to the name Matthew in the Jesus family tree.
However, some supporters of the proposition note that Matthew is a common
name found in families that are perhaps related to the family of Jesus.
4. Jesus, son of Joseph / Yeshua bar Yosef
This inscription is the center of attention as it may refer to the biblical
Jesus. The inscription is difficult to read. As a result there has
been some suggestion that the name could be something other than Jesus son of
Joseph. The official reading is reinforced given the presence of another
"Yeshua" reference in the tomb.
5. Joseph / Yoseh
"Yoseh" is a somewhat rare variant or nickname for Joseph; in English it would
be something like Joey. For some experts this is the name we should
expect to see used to identify one of the brothers of Jesus, while others
suggest that this not correct. Also, it is noted by some that this could
refer to the Joseph referenced on ossuary #4.
6. Maria
For some this is the most likely form of the name Mary that could be ascribed
to Mary, the mother of Jesus. This is a latinized form of the name Mariam - as
in the Latin "Ave Maria". Others would suggest that it is just as likely she
would be identified by another form of the name Mariam.
"In 2012 Tabor and Jacobovici published a book called "The Jesus Discovery". This book describes the contents of the "Patio Tomb" which was found about 200 feet away from the Garden Tomb. This tomb holds ossuaries that contain several symbols and inscriptions that suggest to the authors that the family occupying this tomb professed a belief in a type of non-bodily resurrection that could be characterized as early Christian or Judeo-Christian. They also propose that these symbols and inscriptions clearly link the Patio Tomb to the Garden Tomb and thereby reinforcing the claim that the Garden Tomb is the family tomb of the biblical Jesus"3
We know that there will be a time when many people will fall away from the faith - the Bible makes that clear. We are also given some hints about the factors that will be in play at that time. Christians will be hated by the whole world. They will be persecuted and killed. There will be a couple people with God-like powers making amazing claims about God.
It's important for us to understand this so that we can be ready and armed if the time comes during our lives. Above all we need to understand that Satan is the father of lies and that lies come in many forms, including false evidence.
[2] This list comes from http://talpiottomb.com/background_guide.html