Falling away of the tares: Once "saved," not always saved.
While I believe in eternal salvation for born again believers, there are Christians who are Christians only in name, but not in substance. Consider this passage of scripture:
Jude 1:4 "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."
According to verse 4 of this passage of scripture, there are ungodly men who crept into the church unawares, false converts, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 5 tells us:
Jude 1:5 "I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not."
Notice these words "how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not?" Those were the ungodly men which God had saved out of Egypt together with the rest of the children of Israel. God saved those physical descendants of Abraham out of Egypt, but afterwards destroyed them which BELIEVED NOT. Those would be the Christians who are Christians only in name, but not in substance.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;"
The "falling away" will take place before "that day," which according to verse 1, is the "coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him." That would be the day of the Lord and the rapture. That would be the day whereby truly saved born again believers, both dead and living, will be gathered unto the Lord in one body of Christ, while the Christians who are only Christians in name, would have their portion in the “falling away,” and they must fall away first before the day of the Lord comes. Compare this to:
Matthew 13:30 "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."
What are tares in the nature?
"Lolium temulentum, typically known as darnel, poison darnel, darnel ryegrass or cockle, is an annual plant of the genus Lolium within the family Poaceae. The plant stem can grow up to one meter tall, with inflorescence in the ears and purple grain. It has a global distribution.
Darnel usually grows in the same production zones as wheat and was a serious weed of cultivation until modern sorting machinery enabled darnel seeds to be separated efficiently from seed wheat. The similarity between these two plants is so great that in some regions, darnel is referred to as "false wheat." It bears a close resemblance to wheat until the ear appears. The spikes of L. temulentum are more slender than those of wheat. The spikelets are oriented edgeways to the rachis and have only a single glume, while those of wheat are oriented with the flat side to the rachis and have two glumes. Wheat will appear brown when ripe, whereas darnel is black." - wikipedia
According to Jesus, the tares will be gathered first, and afterwards shall the wheat make it into the barn. Likewise, this has also happened with the children of Israel who believed not in the promise of God, and never made it into the promised land.
Numbers 14:32 "But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness."
Notice the word “fall” in this verse? Connect this to the “falling away” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. God made sure that those physical descendants of Abraham who believed not never made it into the promised land. Those would be the Christians who are Christians only in name, and are depending on their "good works" to save them, not knowing that there is a curse upon them:
Galatians 3:10 "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."
Those would be the Christians who are depending on their "sinner's prayer" and church attendance as evidence of salvation, while not having the actual substance of faith in them. They would be like the children of Israel who "believed not" according to Jude 1:5. God made sure their carcases fell in the wilderness, and they never made it into the promised land. Likewise, the same will also happen before the day of the Lord comes. Solomon tells us in:
Ecclesiastes 1:9 "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be. The tares will fall away first, and afterwards will the wheat make it into the promised land. God will make sure that those ungodly men who crept in unawares will not make it into the promised land. Those would be the tares who were never saved to begin with.