How Will The Professing Church & Christendom End? The Restraint On Total Apostasy & Judgment Of Damnation. Part 2.

The Restraint On Total Apostasy & Judgment Of Damnation. Part 2.

As noted in the first part, God's restraint in pouring out consummate judgment on iniquity & the wicked, is the righteous.
As long as the righteous are still found in the midst, God is restrained from pouring out judgment, but as soon as he removes the righteous from the midst, his judgment ensues. We have already seen several biblical examples of this undeniable truth.

Now we will consider a very important biblical prophecy which speaks of the mystery of iniquity, the restraint on it, the removal of the restraint, the total/open apostasy(falling away) of christendom and the revelation of the man of sin(the antichrist).

We will also consider how this prophecy tallies with the parable of the wheat and tares, and the parable of the leaven, which the Lord Jesus taught when he opened his mouth in Matthew 13 to reveal the mysteries of the kindgom of heaven.

Here's a juxtaposition of the prophecy and the two parables as lifted from the scriptures of truth:

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 6-12.
"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.
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

Matthew 13:24-30
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Matthew 13:33
Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was
leavened.

Mystery Of Iniquity.
Now in 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul speaking of what must precede the day of the Lord(the second coming/millennial coming of Christ) clearly stated a prophetic sequence....the mystery of iniquity already working, the restraint on it now & it's eventual removal which gives way for the manifest falling away/open apostasy of christendom & then the revelation of the man of sin.
The mystery of iniquity which is working unto apostasy, is working in christendom as clearly shown in both parables: parable of the wheat & tares, and parable of the three measures of meal & the leaven.

Parable Of The Wheat & Tares.
Here we see how the wicked one crept in unawares(while men slept) & sowed tares among the wheat, which will grow along and side by side with the wheat until the harvest, when the tares are bound in bundles and left on the field to be burnt, while the wheat is harvested off the field into the granary/barn.

The order of the harvest is first to "Gather together the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them." There is no actual burning yet, and there is no removal from the field. It is a separation of the tares in the field, so as to leave the wheat distinct and ready for the ingathering.
There will follow then, not the removal of the tares, but of the wheat. The tares are left in bundles on the field; the wheat are gathered into the barn/harvested off the field. The wheat being gathered out of the field, tares alone & the unfruitful ones from the parable of the sower, will be found in it.
The true saints once taken out of it, the door of grace will be closed forever upon those who have rejected grace & brought forth no fruit unto eternal life. Matthew 13:1-7,18-22; John 15:4-6; Hebrews 6:7-9.

Parable Of The Three Measures Of Meal & Leaven.
In this parable, we see how the woman took leaven and hid it in three measures of meal, until the whole of it was leavened.
Three measures of meal as in the old testament represents the meal/meat offering to God...an offering of fine flour(See Genesis 18:1-6). Of all the offerings in the book of Leviticus, the meat offering is the one that leaven is forbidden to be mixed with - "No meat offering which ye shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven."
See Leviticus 2:4-11.

Now in the parable, the "three measures of meal" are just this "fine flour" of the offering/meat offering unto God, which is also man's food...for Aaron & his sons(vs.10). The woman hid the leaven in three measures of meal, to the end that it may gradually corrupt the meat/word of God.

Like leaven, the mystery of iniquity was already at work in the early days of the church, and is still at work till this day; the leaven of sin, the leaven of malice, bitterness and wickedness, the leaven of legalism/judaism, the leaven of false brethren, of false teachers, of false doctrines/damnable heresies. etc.
1 Corinthians 5:1-8; Hebrews 12:15; Galatians 5:1-9; 2:4-5; Acts 15:24; 2 Peter 2:1-3, 18; Jude vs 3-5, 12-13.

The mystery of iniquity is that which is preparing the ground and paving way for the apostasy, however, it cannot have it's full sway, it cannot leaven the whole lump till the true people of God(the unleavened ones and wheat) are taken out of the way.
Of this the apostle says: "the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed..." (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8).

The word "letteth" here in the original greek is "katecho" and it means to hold back, to hinder, to detain, to restrain.
In other words, "only he who now restrains/hinders....until he is taken out of the way"

This same word(Katecho) is translated as "withholdeth" in verse 6 which reads:
"And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed..."
In other words: "you know what restrains/hinders him from being revealed"

The phrase "until he be taken out of the way" is "heos ginomai ek mesos" in the original greek and it means "till it becomes/comes to pass that he is taken out of and away from the midst".

Note: The singular pronoun "he" is silent in the greek, however, it's clear that whoever is been spoken of, is in the midst of where the mystery of iniquity is working, and is thus the one restraining it from having it's full sway, until 'he or they' are taken away from the midst.
As earlier established, God's restraint on evil has always been his righteous people in the midst.

The mystery and leaven of iniquity is working in the field of kingdom profession, and in the church, however by reason of the true people of God who are in the midst, it's being held back/restrained from having it's full sway; the man of sin is thus being held/kept back from being revealed, for he cannot be revealed until the mystery of iniquity gains the entire ground, until the whole lump is leavened and what is left on the field of kingdom profession(the world) are tares and unfruitful professors given over to apostasy and the awful prospect of damnation.

This is why the apostle went ahead to say in the later verses of 2nd Thessalonians 2(vs.11-12): "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

The harvest marks the end of christendom/dispensation of grace & the beginning of the end of the age(the last week of the 70 weeks determined upon Israel - the Jewish age); as the wheat are taken off the field(which is the world) & harvested into the heavenly granary/barn in the Father's house, the tares and unfruitful professors are left on the field as bound in bundles to be burnt up...they are given over to apostasy and the prospect of damnation, thus when the man of sin(son of perdition) shows up, their fate is sealed as God will send them a strong delusion to believe a lie and accept the man of sin(antichrist) as the Christ; thus solemnly the day of christian profession ends in open apostasy.

Falsehood Of The Left Behind/ Tribulation Purging Theory.

Scripture clearly shows that all left in the field of christendom/given over to apostasy, will all be damned so there's no such thing as some belonging to the professing church/christendom, that are left behind at the rapture, going through the tribulation to be purified.
Such a theory or doctrine is similar to that of the purgatory.

The Lord's preparation of the glorious church-bride he will present to himself, is by the washing of water by the word, and not by passing her through the furnace of the time of great tribulation with the rest of the world, to be purified.

If we reject/deny his word of the absolute rule it should have over us & refuse to submit ourselves to be washed by the washing of water by his word, we will have no part in him for he will also reject/deny us, and there will be no such thing as a second chance of passing through the tribulation to be purified.
Ephesians 5:25-27; John 13:8.

Anyone in the field of the professing church and christendom, who fails to make it at the appearing of Christ to take his bride home, becomes a castaway(reject) and an apostate, having fallen away from the faith of the coming one. Every drawing back from the faith of the coming one, is a draw back unto perdition.

Hebrews 10:37-39 says: "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

Also in Hebrews 12:12-17, the church is warned thus: "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."

Esau was the firstborn but he was profane as he had little or no value for his birthright(the right of the firstborn) & his inheritance. He didn't hesitate in trading/selling his birthright for a morsel of meat.
Now the church is called "the church of the firstborn one" in the 23rd verse of this same Hebrews 12 we're considering. Having cited the example of Esau who was a firstborn but for profanity, lost his birthright and inheritance, the church is in the 23rd verse called the church of the firstborn. Any profanity in lightly esteeming our heavenly inheritance and birthright & exchanging it for the pursuit of present hour gratification, comfort, and the treasures, pleasures/lusts of this world, then we will be rejected like Esau when the time comes for the church to be brought in/ushered into her heavenly inheritance.
The sad truth is that once rejected, there will be no place of repentance nor second chance. Scripture says of Esau "he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears" (vs.17)

The word translated as "repentance" in the text is "metanoia" in the original greek and it means compunction for guilt, or the reversal (of [another's] decision).

If rejected of the Lord at his coming, we can't have compunction or feel guilty enough to get the Lord to reverse his decision. As in Laodicea, the Lord's threat of rejection is to spue/vomit them out of his mouth if they remain lukewarm, once the threat is made real at his appearing/coming, he can't reverse it, as he cannot return to his vomit. Only a dog returns to his vomit. See Revelation 3:14-17;
2 Peter 2:22 & 1 John 2:28.

The only ones who stand a chance after the end/harvest of christendom will be the unbelieving gentile nations and the Jews; this is because the harvest God is going to have - of people coming out of the great tribulation, having gone through it - is the harvest of the Jews(chiefly the 144,000 sealed Jews) & the multitude from the gentile nations/sheep nations, who related/dealt well with Israel in the days of the tribulation.
Please read Revelation 7 & Matthew 25:31-40.

As for the church, everything about her on earth is concluded before the manifestation of the man of sin/Antichrist.

Professing christendom will thus end in open/manifest apostasy(falling away).
The harvest which God will take out of it before this open apostasy, are the wheat(true children of God) and they will be harvested off the field(which is the world) into the granary/barn in the Father's house(heaven).

Apostasy is sadly the result & fate of Christianity first perverted and then finally and openly renounced.

Now this is a terrible judgment unto perdition. The revelation of the wicked man will seal up the fate of all who, through perversion, are in the way that leads to apostasy. The man of sin will be the head and leader of the apostate.
This will be God's judgment of christendom as he will send them a strong delusion to believe in the lies/lying wonders of the man of sin(son of perdition).
It's a judgment unto perdition; thus will God's purging judgment begin first with his house and the field of christendom/ professing christians called by his name.