– Is The Man of Sin Revealed Before or After The Rapture? A Study of 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 –
2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 has been a major source of debate, question and confusion when it comes to discussion of the Rapture of the church and its timing. Many pastors, writers and Bible students cite this chapter as proof that the Rapture must occur after the Antichrist has been revealed, based on verse 3 of the chapter. But is this the case? This article will show a very simple interpretation of this much-debated verse and correct a common mistake in its interpretation that will show that in line with the timing outlined in the Beginning and End Rapture series, the Rapture of the Church indeed takes places before the Antichrist emerges on the global scene.
The Passage
The Passage
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 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. 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; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? – 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5.
The verses in bold are where the Apostle Paul gives two clear “prophetic signposts”: the apostasy or falling away of many people in the church from the Christian faith and the revealing of “the man of sin”, a title for the Antichrist, the Satanically-empowered False Messiah who rule the world in the final years before the Second Coming of Christ. The questions and debates arise over, what event comes after these 2 signs? What is Paul talking about? Is he saying that the Rapture will not happen until the falling away and the revealing of the Antichrist? Will the church be here to see the Antichrist in power before being Raptured? Or is there another meaning altogether? Let’s examine the Scriptures in detail.
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