The Apostasy - Millenia old?

 2 Thess. 2:3 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,4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. [from www.biblegateway.com]

The great apostasy, which Rabbi Paul told us would happen before the coming of the Torah-less one! You say, "Chris, you are being so extreme calling the Antichrist the Torah-less one!"  Am I?  In English Bibles, the word translated to denote God's revelation of His ways and His character to man was translated as Law in the English language, to convey the depth and overarching supremacy of Yhwh's commands and their reach within and throughout creation.

But today that meaning has been lost.  In our lands of laws and rights, or lack thereof, we have come to see the Biblical word Law in a negative light, and so much so that a key Christians motto is "Christ has set me free from the Law!"  Let me suggest that the reason this is so is because Christians were separated from the Jews and therefore no longer understand the context of the Biblical authors in which they wrote.  The Biblical authors, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote out of a Hebraic theological context.

So many of us, who discuss the importance of interpreting scripture "in context" and "knowing the context" are missing the very deepest, and first and foremost context of all, the Hebraic worldview of the children of Abraham!  

 This issue is of first relevance when we come to the description of the arch-rebel against Yhwh, who has been working throughout all of human history to create an army of rebels, and destroy the Elohim's creation, and steal his praise (Is. 14:13-14).  Rabbi Paul describes him as the (as conveyed in the English text) the "lawless one."  I already dealt with this in a previous post.  To the mind of a Jewish rabbi (a "Hebrew of Hebrews" Phil. 3:5), certainly this meant "Torah-less one"  that is, one without and opposed to the revealed will of Yhwh Elohim.  

Now today the church says, "I am not under the Torah!  I have been set free from the Torah!"  Is this not the spirit of the Antichrist already, the son of perdition?  So we see that the spirit of the Antichrist is already in the Church, and most of "the Church" is ready for , and indeed, already under, the great deception!

So this brings us to the title of our post.  The apostasy, the great falling away... did it recently begin historically, as America banned bibles from school in the 60s, and the country saw a massive increase in sexual immorality and crime?  Or did it begin with the advent of human science ('knowledge'), discovering all it could learn about reality apart from the revealed will of the Creator?  Or did it begin, and this is what I think, when Christians were separated from their Jewish brethren in Messiah, and from the tribes and customs of the teachings of the Torah?

For what is the greata falling away supposed to mean?  Falling away from the ways of Yahweh, and from sound doctrine?  In the minds of the Hebrew authors of scripture, what denotes sound doctrine (2 Tim. 4:3)?  The Tanakh, the Torah.  

2 Tim. 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, (emphasis mine)

This is the Bible Adonai Yeshua used.  And again, He affirms it in John 17:17 when He says, "Yhwh, sanctify them by Your truth, Your Word is Truth."  

As Christians, followers of Messiah, we find ourselves in a bind.  We claim to follow the Truth, the person of Messiah Yeshua, who claims to be the Word in the flesh (Jn. 1:14), but yet we also claim to be free of the "Law," the Torah, found in the Tanakh, which Yeshua believed to be the Truth!  And what part of scripture is most often contested and rejected or so poorly taught in Christian churches today?  It's what Christians know as the Old Testament, which is really the Former Testament, or Covenant (that's still very much in force and validity, except where Messiah satisfied its requirements for our justification (Rom. 3:23-25).

So I propose, the great falling away did not begin only recently historically, but began ages ago... as the apostle John said: 1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. 

Go back, and read your Bibles anew with this new understanding, that Yeshua came to reveal to us the Tanakh, and the Torah (the instruction)!  We were not set free from Elohim's instruction (His Torah), but only from the curse of the Torah (for disobedience, the torah of sin and death).  Apply this understanding to your Bible study, and you will find a whole NEW BIBLE, one you have most likely never seen before!!!