The Falling Away

But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.

(Luke 8:13)

The first sign that Paul lists is an event he calls “the falling away.” What does Paul mean by this? He is referring to a time when a significant number of believers will choose to abandon their faith in Christ—when they will fall away from following Him.

The fact that Paul identifies this event as a clear sign of the Lord’s imminent return indicates that it will occur on a global scale, impacting the church universally and making it easily recognizable to believers when it happens.

Throughout the history of the church, there have always been individuals who have fallen away from following the Lord Jesus. The Lord Himself taught this truth in the parable of the sower quoted above. In that parable, Jesus described a category of people who receive the word of salvation with joy and believe for a time—in other words, they are born again.

However, Jesus said that these individuals “have no root in themselves,” meaning they never grow spiritually. He further explained that in times of tribulation or persecution, this category of believers eventually falls away. But what does it mean when the Lord says that these individuals fall away?

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

(Hebrews 6:4-6)

In the passage above, the Holy Spirit explains what it means when believers fall away. The context of this letter is that the Hebrew church was facing intense persecution from the Jews for their faith in Christ. As a result, some believers were contemplating abandoning their faith and returning to Judaism.

In this context, the Holy Spirit issues a solemn warning: it is impossible to renew such individuals again to repentance, for in falling away they “crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame.” In other words, those who fall away lose their salvation.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

(1 Timothy 4:1)

As we have seen, there has always been a category of believers who, during times of tribulation or persecution, eventually fall away from following Christ. However, when the apostle Paul speaks about the falling away event that must come first, he refers to a specific period during which a large number of believers will turn away from Christ.

Paul reinforces this idea in the passage above, where he writes that the Holy Spirit expressly warns the church that in the latter times, a widespread departure from the faith will occur. Because of its sheer scale, this event will be recognized throughout the global church as the falling away—one of the key signs that must take place before the rapture can occur.

As already discussed, two basic conditions must be met before believers become vulnerable to falling away. The first condition is spiritual weakness. Jesus spoke of believers who are not rooted in His word, while Paul described those who give heed to “doctrines of demons.” The second condition is significant persecution for their faith in Christ. Jesus mentioned believers falling away during tribulation and persecution, and the Holy Spirit warned the Hebrew church of the same danger.

Therefore, the falling away event that Paul describes must meet both of these conditions—widespread spiritual weakness among believers combined with severe persecution for the faith.

However, one further condition must also be met: scale.

What does this mean? It means that the falling away will involve a significant portion of the global church, quite possibly numbering in the multiple millions, departing from the faith over a relatively short period of time. Thus, the falling away event will not take place until all three conditions are met. Of these three, two have already been fulfilled, while the third remains unfulfilled.

1.1.           Scale

The first condition—scale—has already been fulfilled. In other words, the church now possesses sufficient numbers to absorb the departure of millions of believers within a compressed timeframe.

Over the past five decades, the church has experienced a global harvest of approximately 250 million new believers, bringing its total numbers to unprecedented levels. Consequently, the church now possesses, for the first time in its history, the capacity to endure the loss of multiple millions of believers within a short span of time.

As an aside, statistics already show a steady decline in global believer numbers, suggesting that the peak of the great harvest has passed. This trend indicates that the falling away event may occur sooner rather than later.

Michael E.B. Maher

Resurrection of the Dead

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