For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way.
So two things must precede the day of the Lord's vengeance and wrath that is coming upon the earth. Number one, a great apostasy. Now this word "apostasy" has been argued by some as meaning departure. And there are some that try to relate it to the rapture of the church, referring to the departure. There are problems with that. And rather than trying to take a position on that, we only mention it as definitely a possibility. However, we do know that Jesus in speaking of His coming again said, "When the Son of man shall come again, will he find faith on the earth?" ( Luke 18:8 ) He questioned. And then again He said, "And because the iniquity of the earth will abound, the love of many will wax cold" ( Matthew 24:12 ). So Jesus seemed to indicate an apostasy.