For that day [the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ] will not come until there is a great rebellion against God. (2 Thessalonians 2:3, NLT 2015).
Musings – “A great rebellion against God.” Transliteration from the Greek, “apostasia,” or apostasy, meaning falling away or defection from the truth. Chistendom has been there before. It was a prolonged period of decline of the Church that roughly corresponded to that period time identified by historians as the dark ages, which culminated in the Protestant Reformation. Which also, coincidentally or not, corresponded with the beginning of the Renaissance.
The Protestant Reformation was driven by the five solas: sola scriptura (Scripture alone), sola gratia (grace alone), sola fide (faith alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), and soli Deo gloria (glory of God alone). It should be no surprise that the current “rebellion against God” is characterized by a generalized departure from these same five solas. Whether or not this falling away will be “great” enough to culminate in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ remains to be seen. But the trajectory does not appear to be leveling off, much less reversing course.
My Advice – The current situation is troublesome. Leaving us with two prayers we can offer up to God. “Will you not revive us again?” (Psalm 85:6, NIV 1984), or failing that, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:19, NIV 1984).
