Is the Apostasia a Spiritual or a Spatial Departure? :: By Jeff Van Hatten

Published on: December 12, 2021 by RR7

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 – “But in connection with the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and our gathering together to meet him, we ask you, brothers, not to be easily shaken in your thinking or anxious because of a spirit or a spoken message or a letter supposedly from us claiming that the Day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For the Day will not come until after the departure has come and the man who separates himself from Torah has been revealed, the one destined for doom.”

Prophecies often have dual fulfillment, so today, we will look at another topic linked to the pre-tribulation Rapture of the Bride of Yeshua – that of the apostasia to see if this word has been correctly translated or if it has been irresponsibly mistranslated. Does Paul’s use of the word apostasia indicate a spiritual departure, or a spatial departure, or both – let’s take a closer look:

Historical Translations

Several translations of the Greek New Covenant apostasia into English prior to the King James Authorized version of 1611 translate apostasia as either the departure or the departing. Those translations are:

The Tyndale Bible (1526 / 1534) a departynge fyrst
The Coverdale Bible (1539) a departynge come firft
The Cranmer Bible (1539) a departynge fyrst
and The Geneva Bible (1557) a departing first

One newer translation that also translates apostasia as departure is the Hebrew Names Version (1997).

Modern Translations

Modern translations of the Greek New Covenant apostasia into English use various words. For example:

The Complete Jewish Bible – apostasy
The New American Standard Bible – apostasy
The New English Translation – rebellion
The New Revised Standard Version – rebellion
The English Standard Version – rebellion
The King James Version – a falling away

The Word Apostasia

2 Thessalonians 2:3 – “The tribulation will not come until The Departure comes first…”

The words translated “the departure” are the Greek words he [G3588] apostasia [G646], meaning hé departure. The word hé simply means “the.” The Latin Vulgate (“ne quis vos seducat ullo modo quoniam nisi venerit discessio…“) uses the word “discessio,” which also translates as: a withdrawal, a dispersal, a separation, or a departure. A literal English translation, therefore, correctly reads “the departure comes first.”

A Spiritual Departure

2 Thessalonians 2:3 – “For the Day will not come until after the Apostasy has come…”

Apostasia [G646], formed from the conjunction of apo and stasia is defined literally as “a leaving, from a previous standing.” Today it has come to mean a defection from truth or rejection of truth; in other words, an apostasy.

Below are a couple of examples:

Genesis 6:5 – “Yahweh saw that the people on earth were very wicked, that all the imaginings of their hearts were always of evil only.” In the days of Noah, the people of the earth had departed from righteous living, which resulted in the earth being flooded and destroyed (Genesis 6:17; 9:11).

2 Chronicles 36:21 – “The land experienced its sabbatical years; it remained desolate for seventy years, as prophesied.” In the days when Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon, judgment against Israel was rendered for Israel’s departure from honoring the Sabbaths. The Temple was destroyed, and the people were exiled to Babylon.

John 11:48 – “The Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation.” By the time of Yeshua, the Pharisees and Sadducees had departed from the written Torah and were teaching primarily from the Oral Traditions of the rabbis. The Temple was destroyed again, and the people were exiled to all the nations of the world.

The First Spiritual Sequence:

First – Departure from righteous living as commanded by The Torah, Second – Destruction.

The historical patterns show a departure from scriptural or doctrinal principles prior to judgment leading to some form of destruction.

The Second Spiritual Sequence:

First – Departure, Second – Revealing.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 – “When our Lord Yeshua returns, we will be gathered up to meet him. So do not be easily upset or disturbed by people who claim that he has already come or that the Day of The Lord has begun… and do not let anyone in any way deceive you, for the tribulation will not come until The Departure comes first, and then the revealing of the Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Perdition, comes second.”

2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 – “He who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed.”

Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians describes the sequence of events regarding the gathering together of those in Mashiach (Christ) and confirms that that time had not yet happened – the Day of the Lord or tribulation period was still in the future. Paul admonishes the Thessalonians not to be deceived and then goes on to describe the future sequence of events. Note the parallel sequences in both verse three and then verses seven and eight of Second Thessalonians! First, the departure. Then, the Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Perdition, or as he is commonly known, the antichrist, is revealed.

A Spatial Departure

Apostasia is made up of two words, apo and stasia.

Apo [G575] means: a motion away from a place or person, the separation of apart from the whole. It is a state of separation, that is of distance – either physical: of distance of place, or temporal: of distance of time. It is graphically represented by a straight line going away from the circumference of a circle: o̸
Stasia means: a standing, to stand, exist, have stability. It comes from the root word: Stasis [G4714].

Together they mean a standing away from, a drawing out from, a separation away from, or a going out from among. This fits exactly with the images of the “great escape” and the “gathering together” of scripture.

Apostasia [G646] is the feminine form of apostasion [G647], which is a derivative form of aphistēmi [G868], all of which refer to a departure from someone or something. In other words, a separation of distance, either physical or temporal. Aphistēmi [G868] is translated “depart” 13 out of 16 times in the Newer Covenant scriptures, and as withdraw, drew away, or refrain from, in the other scriptures.

Below are a couple of examples:

Luke 2:37 – “Anna never departed the temple, serving night and day with fasting and prayer.”

Luke 13:27 – “And Yeshua will say, ‘Depart from me, all you evildoers.'”

Acts 12:10 – After the angel had released Peter from the prison, “immediately the angel departed from him.”

2 Corinthians 12:8 – “I implored Yeshua three times that the messenger of Satan might depart from me.”

The Spatial Sequence:

First – Departure as in the rapture, second – Destruction.

This historical pattern of rapture, or departure, before destruction can be seen in the raptures of Enoch, Elijah, and Yeshua. The Bride of Yeshua will also be raptured before the Day of the Lord, or Tribulation Period commences.

Another Apostasy (Speaking in English)

Acts 21:21 – “They have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses…”

The word apostasia (forsake) in this scripture may indeed indicate an apostasy, leaving, or rebellion of faith – a falling away from pure exposition of scriptural or doctrinal principles, or to a falling away from the Torah – a falling away from the teachings of Moses. However, it could also literally be translated to mean: “Just turn your back on Moses himself, and walk away from him.” Today we are seeing just such an abandonment or forsaking of scripture and sound doctrine, as well as a falling away from (or turning of the back on) the church and the church’s teachings as the time of Yeshua’s return draws near – in other words: a dual fulfillment.

Conclusions

Understanding the precise context of the scriptures in which the word apostasia is used clearly determines which meaning is being expressed. Paul’s Second Thessalonians letter may only be addressing the topic of a departure away from scriptural or doctrinal principles prior to the revealing of the antichrist, as in Acts 21:21.

However, If the word apostasia in Second Thessalonians is referring to the harpazō or departure of the Bride of Yeshua, this may be an additional meaning of the topic, and the Bride will also depart from earth prior to the commencement of the Tribulation Period.

In context of the harpazō (the gathering together, rapture, or departure) of the Bride of Yeshua, the Bride is gathered first, then secondly the antichrist is revealed. This agrees fully with Matthew 16:18, which states that the Church cannot be overcome by Satan or all the powers of Hell. That the apostasia is the harpazō also agrees with First Thessalonians in which Paul states that the Bride of Yeshua is to wait for Yeshua who “who rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:10) and also with Paul’s statement that “Yahweh did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Yeshua Ha’Mashiach” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

Website: https://raptureparty.net

Email: jeff@raptureparty.net

Why Are We Still Here? :: By Alice Childs

Published on: December 11, 2021 by RR7

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:57-58, KJV).

This was my response to a dear sister in the Lord who, like many of us, myself included, are facing serious and multiple health issues that the Enemy of Our Souls often uses to wear us down and cause doubt and depression to paralyze us. In answering her, God ministered to me again, lifting my spirit and reminding me that His plan and timing are perfect and that serving the Risen One who saved my soul from eternal Hell is my joy, my honor, and my privilege. In encouraging her, the Lord once again encouraged me. I hope this encourages you too.

“Dearest one, I have never thought you were ignoring me! I completely understand your situation. I also understand your frustration. It does indeed feel as if we are literally drowning in vapidness, lawlessness, despair, and outright demonic evil. We feel this way because this is the spiritual condition of a lost and dying world that even now teeters over the precipice of the abyss that is the coming Tribulation.

As for the question of why we are still here and the overarching question of the timing of the rapture, we must realize and accept that that event always has and always will be an ever-imminent occurrence.

I have never been one who believed that the rapture is necessarily attached to any particular feast day or event.

Perhaps I am wrong, but to my understanding, scripture clearly teaches the doctrine of imminence. From the beginning of the Church Age at Pentecost just after Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, until the end of the Church Age — which will occur with the rapture of the Remnant Church, on whatever day it happens — the rapture has always been imminent. The rapture could have happened any time after the birth of the church. It can still happen at any moment now. It will happen precisely on God’s schedule before the Tribulation begins, but only God knows the exact day and hour that will be. The rapture is always imminent.

The reason the Remnant Church is still here in this hell hole of evil that is growing darker and more demonic by the minute is because of God’s great mercy. It is as simple as that. Rest assured, though, that as bad as things are at this moment and the worse they will certainly get, our loving Father will not leave us here one second longer than is necessary in His perfect plan. As bad as it is now, we know this is nothing compared to what will happen during the Tribulation. Remember that we are promised by God Himself that His bride “is not destined” to endure His wrath – not one nanosecond of it.

Because He is love, God will give lost humanity every possible chance to be saved before He ends the Church Age. Because of His great mercy, He will even offer salvation after He will have removed His Church from the earth. Such is His love and desire that “none should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

His timing is always perfect. He knows the longing of our hearts. He longs for us to be with Him even more than we long to be with Him. Trust that truth. “… And the Spirit and the bride say COME… ” (Revelation 22:17).

As for feeling like you don’t belong here, well, that’s totally natural because we believers don’t belong here. Our citizenship is in Heaven. The truth is that we are here at our Lord’s command and for His service. We do not and cannot know who or how many we are reaching for the Lord. Every word spoken, every encouragement given, every prayer lifted on another’s behalf, every scripture shared – everything done to further the gospel, all of that is our service to our Lord – our testimony to Him – a testimony that will stand in eternity as a point of rejoicing for those who heeded the gospel or stand as a testimony against those who heard but ignored the Truth. The fact is that we cannot and will not know until we stand before our Lord at the Bema Seat just who or how many the Lord used us to impact.

In fact, I believe that the ones who may well earn the most crowns will be those who quietly served the Lord “in the background,” so to speak – those who are the billions of God’s unknown (to us) unsung heroes of the faith. Many who may have thought that they were making no impact at all may well have reached more and done more for Christ’s kingdom than those who openly had more of a public platform. We cannot know, nor are we meant to know this side of glory, how many souls our efforts, small or great, known or unknown, will have reached. This way, only God gets the glory lest we begin to be puffed up with pride, thus taking for ourselves the honor and glory due Only to God.

Don’t ever fall for the enemy’s lie that you aren’t making any effort or are not of any use or value to God. That’s Satan’s way of shutting you up and shutting down your service to God. It’s what Satan wants. Don’t fall for his tactics!

It is never our words or our deeds that make the difference in people’s lives anyway. It is the powerful, active, living Word of the living God that has the power to change one’s eternal destiny. We are only the mouthpieces that spread His Word. We are the hands and feet that distribute it and the fingers that type and disseminate His Word. The Holy Spirit, through God’s Word, does the changing of people’s hearts, not us or what we say. We are merely His vessels. God doesn’t need us; He wants us. He who spoke atoms into existence, He who created all that exists from nothing does not need us. But because He loves us, He has gifted fallen humanity the honor of serving Him for our eternal good and for His matchless glory.

To us who betrayed Him, He has gifted us, first with salvation and then with the privilege and honor to work alongside the very Creator God within whose hands and feet remain the scars of the nails that He suffered on our behalf. God the Son will bear for all eternity the scars our sin placed on Him when the very Creator of the universe gave Himself as a ransom for “whosoever will” believe. Within His own incarnate body, He will forever bear the evidence of His sacrifice as atonement and payment for our sins. Those scars will be eternally evident for all creation to witness. That is the proof of His unfathomable love and amazing grace towards us.

We in these mortal bodies of flesh cannot understand that kind of love! That is why we gladly serve Him even in the midst of such overwhelming and ever-increasing evil, horror, pain and suffering. We serve Him because our Lord left His throne of glory clothing Himself in the flesh of humanity, and as sin’s perfect sacrifice, came as the God/Man to redeem us – US!

We who are guilty have been offered complete pardon. We who deserve Hell are freely offered Heaven, if we only believe. This is why we serve Him. Never ever think or allow the Adversary to stop you from serving in whatever capacity and place God has placed you! Keep going. We are almost home! You do not know what impact you are having.

Don’t stop! We are not responsible for what others do with God’s message. That is on them. But we will be held to account for whether or not we remained faithful to what our Sovereign has placed us here to do.

We cannot go by our feelings. Our emotions and feelings are subjective, fickle, and are so easily manipulated and deceived. We go by what the Word of God has already told us. That is where we find what His will is. He has already given us everything we need to know to serve Him and to do His will, whatever He has called and placed us to do. Never trust your feelings or emotions because Satan can and does so easily deceive and manipulate us through them. Rely upon God’s already completed, always sufficient, permanently revealed Word. Everything we need to know, every answer we will ever need is already there. We just need to read, study, learn, and follow it.

As for waiting on the Lord, we must do that too with patience and longing, all the while serving Him in whatever way He leads, knowing that it is only His great love that “none should perish but that all should come to repentance” that stays His call for us until the very final nanosecond. Not all will heed our warning. Not all will come to salvation. We know this, but our Merciful Father will give the world every last chance both before and after He calls His body/bride home.

I know you’re tired. We all are. I know you’re discouraged. We all are. I know your body is broken and giving out. The rest of the body/bride of Christ is failing in body too, including myself. Still, we cannot give in to the fiery darts or the relentless attacks of the Evil One – not this close to the finish line!

Hang in there! Keep spreading the only truth that can save men’s souls from Hell, then leave the results in Jesus’ nail-scarred hands. We are only the vessels. The power that changes eternal destinies lies solely with the Holy Spirit of God.

Never allow Satan to stop or sidetrack you from doing what God has called and placed you here to do. Even if you feel your part is insignificant, know that it is not. Nothing God has given us to do is insignificant in His plan. Even five loaves of bread and two little fish fed multitudes in the hands that created all things! Nothing is too small or insignificant in the Master’s hands! Keep spreading the gospel everywhere you can, including on social media if you’re on it. Keep on posting scripture. Keep encouraging the brethren. Keep praying for the body of Christ. Keep warning the lost. Keep fellowshipping, praising, and worshiping together with other believers, and keep on keeping on until Jesus calls us Home. Keep on going!

I love you, and I’m praying for you.”

Alice

7thenovel@gmail.com