(II Thessalonians 2)
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord YAHSHUA the Messiah, and by our assembling unto Him, that you be not suddenly moved from your mind, nor troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as it were from us, as though the day of Messiah were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there comes a departing first, and that that man of sin be disclosed, even the son of perdition (II Thess. 2:1-3).
Paul’s reference to the term “that day” has to do with the tribulation. He begged the Thessalonians not to be troubled, disturbed with the news from some letter they had received that that day had arrived and they were found in it. Paul emphatically said, “Let no man deceive you.” For that to happen a departure must happen first and the man of perdition be revealed. Not until then. Don’t you remember that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? (Vs. 5) The departure will precede the revealing of the wicked man and the tribulation. This wicked man, the Bible says, is coming by the effectual working of Satan, with all power, and signs and lying wonders and in all deceivableness of unrighteousness, among them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Therefore, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe lies (vs.9-11).
When Satan comes in a person of the wicked man or man of perdition, he will not come for the bride of Christ, but for those who have “received not the love of the truth.” It is not to the believers that God is going to send a strong delusion for them to believe lies; they are not the recipients of that, but of the blessed hope of salvation. The Greek word apostasia in verse three was transliterated in English as apostasy, or the falling away from the faith, from the truth, etc. The word apostasia in ancient Greek is made of two words, hence the Bible scholar Bullinger in his commentary on the subject explains: “apo governs only one case (the genitive). (Genitive is a word or construction case of origin, according to Webster’s dictionary; in the English language it corresponds to the possessive case) and denotes motion from the surface of an object; it is used of motion away from a place (e.g. Matt. 3:16; 8:1; Acts 15: 38). It marks the distance which separates the two places, or the interval of time between two events (e.g. Matt. 19:4; Acts 20: 18). It also marks the origin or source whence anything comes, such as birth, descent, residence (e.g. Matt. 2:1; 15: 1). Apo may consequently be used of deliverance or passing away from any state or condition (e.g. Matt. 1: 21; 14: 2; Mark 5: 34; Acts 13:8; Heb. 6:1). Apo would imply a cause virtually passive and more remote.”
Light from the Word 