The Work of the HOLY SPIRIT as the RESTRAINER

The Restrainer

Robert McLaughlin

Part 4. The Work of the HOLY SPIRIT as the RESTRAINER

(2TH 2:1-2).

2TH 2:1-2, “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.” In the Bible, “The day of the Lord” can include the Rapture, the last half of the Tribulation, Second Advent, and Millennium, all total 1007 years. It is also used for any portion of this period, the context dictating how long (ISA 2:12; ISA 13:6; Joel 1:15, 2:1; ZEC 14:1, 1TH 5:2; 2PE 3:10). The Thessalonians were concerned that the Rapture had already taken place, and that the day of the Lord was already there. This is because the persecutions which they were enduring at the time had given them a basis for this erroneous conclusion. Therefore, Paul writes to show them that such a thing was impossible. 2TH 2:3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, So, first he shows them in verse that the day of the Lord could not take place until there was a departure. In order to understand this we need to note the Greek word for apostasy in verse 3. It is apostasia and refers to a departure, it could either refer to the departure from the faith or the departure of the saints as mentioned in verse 1. Secondly, Paul reveals that there was to be the manifestation of the man of sin or the lawless one described in Rev 13. 2TH 2:3-7, “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.”

Note that this lawless one could not be manifested until the restrainer is taken out of the way. In other words, Someone is preventing Satan from coming to complete power at this time! The restrainer is the Holy Spirit that keeps on restraining Satan. As long as the Holy Spirit is resident within the Church, which is His temple, His restraining work will continue. 1CO 6:19 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” It is only when the Church or the temple is removed that this restraining ministry ceases. Then in DAN 9:27, Daniel reveals that this lawless one will be manifested at the beginning of the 70th week, “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

(to be continued)

Robert McLaughli

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