We have seen that the real error that had crept in at Thessalonica was that the day of the Lord was actually present, and not that it was at hand.
The coming of the Lord for His saints, and their gathering together unto Him in the air, was a truth so well known and so firmly believed among them that the Apostle can actually use it as an argument to disprove the false view that "the day" was already come. The truth of the rapture of the saints had been revealed before; it is now used as an argument.
But now a sad and terrible disclosure is made—"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that the day shall not come except there come a falling away first." It is not merely "a falling away" as if it were some vague or abstract declension, but "the" apostasy, a definite and complete abandonment of the Christian faith.
It is an awful thing to contemplate, but Scripture leaves no room to doubt, that the final phase of the professing church will be a universal giving up of faith. The apostasy will not be restricted to Christendom; for in the end both the Jew and those who at one time professed Christianity will find themselves in open revolt against God and Christ under the leadership of the man of sin.
The condition of the socalled churches is deplorable in the extreme. In a large number of cases they are mere worldly institutions, with which it is a marvel that any really converted person could be associated. An ever increasing number of unconverted ministers occupy the pulpits of Christendom. The so-called "higher criticism" has taken possession of the schools of theology; and the young men educated amid the poisoned atmosphere of this subtle form of infidelity are pouring into the towns and villages of the land, spreading unbelief from the pulpit and the Sunday School platform. This, we believe, is rapidly bringing about the apostasy of which we read in 2 Thessalonians 2.
But it is not only in this passage that we are told of these things. No doubt 2 Thessalonians 2 describes the complete and general departure from the Christian faith which precedes the manifestation of Christ in judgment; and this state of things has not yet been fully reached, though the influences are now at work which are surely and rapidly hurrying it on.
But in 1 Tim. 4:1 we read of what is now taking place. At the close of the previous chapter the assembly has been spoken of as "the pillar and ground of the truth." The great mystery of godliness is that which the assembly of the living God is called upon to uphold before the world. Christ is the truth, and hence the solemn responsibility and holy privilege of the assembly of God is to keep and maintain intact the great truth of the Person of Christ. The so-called churches are not the Church, or assembly, of the living God. The churches of today, as we have said, are in many cases mere worldly institutions, composed largely of unconverted men who care not for Christ, and who have long since given up the belief in His deity, if ever they even outwardly held it.
The Church of the living God is composed of all the true believers on the face of the earth. In these days of ruin, instead of being all gathered together in one, as they ought to be, they are scattered and divided. But so long as the assembly of God is on earth, even in its scattered condition, it is the only witness for the truth that is anywhere to be found. Alas! that so many true Christians should give an uncertain sound as regards the Person of Christ. The great conflict of the present day is concerning this very truth. On the one hand, the assembly, God's dwelling place through the Spirit, is here to maintain and uphold it; while on the other, the approaching apostasy, energized by Satan, will completely abandon it. May every reader wake up to realize this, and take their stand for the truth of Christ's Person. The days are too serious to be fighting for mere parties, but yield not a hair's breadth when the Person of Christ is involved.
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith." These latter times are upon us in fearful earnest. This passage is not speaking of Jews or heathen, but of those who once held the Christian faith; it is not describing the early phase of the Church, but that which was to take place at the close. The Spirit of God announced prophetically, nearly two thousand years ago, the very state of things now prevalent in Christendom.
Will matters improve? Will the Lord when He comes find faith on the earth? In the twinkling of an eye He will remove the assembly of the living God, which is the pillar and support of the truth; and the whole fabric of profession will crumble to the ground, leaving nothing behind but the apostasy.