Let no one deceive you according to any means, because unless the standing away comes first then the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, will be revealed, the one opposing and exalting himself over all which is called god or worshiped, so that he sits in the holy of holies of God as god, proclaiming himself to be deity, 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4.
The apostasy is the standing away of the Church from the earth. This event is also referred to as the rapture, when Christ returns and calls the Church to meet Him in the air. Although the English concept of apostasy implies leaving the faith, the original Greek word conveys the idea of standing away from something. What is being stood away from depends on the context. In Acts 21:21, Paul is accused of standing away from Moses. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, the term refers to a standing away that will permit the man of lawlessness to rise. In Acts 5:37, it describes the drawing away of people in a rebellion against Rome. In Acts 5:38, Gamaliel advises the Jewish council to stand away from the apostles.
The removal—or standing away—of the Church occurs before the man of lawlessness is revealed. Therefore, grace believers will not know his identity prior to the rapture. When the man of lawlessness is revealed, he will use religion as the means by which he comes onto the world stage, being accepted as the ruler who will save them (Revelation 17:3). At the midpoint of the Tribulation—three and a half years after the signing of the peace treaty with Israel—he will break the covenant, set himself up in the temple at Jerusalem as a god, and demanding to be worshiped above all that is called god or worshiped (Revelation 13:15; Daniel 9:27).