The Restrainer

In 2nd Thessalonians 2 the Bible speaks of a "Restrainer". Who is he? What does he do? When is he going to do it? And just what is he restraining?

"Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him," - 2 Thessalonians 2:1

Okay. It's about the Rapture of God's church - "the gathering together" to Him. Let's skip down to verse  three.

"Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness a is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God."

That's the Anti-Christ - the lawless one. Verse seven.

"For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way."

There he is - the restrainer - "the one who now holds it back." Verse seven also says that he will continue to restrain until God tells Him to stop.

Think about that for a moment. Why would the Holy Spirit be removed? He lives in each and every believer on earth! Why would God remove His Holy Spirit from us? Well, it's because we are no longer here. We have been gathered to Him as it said in verse one.

"And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Wow. Verse 10 sounds like what's going on in the world right now. Large numbers of people are being deceived already. They are ripe for a leader of that same lawlessness to lead them. And they will love him and follow him . . . all the way to hell.

Read the beginning of verse three again.

"Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way,"

The world is being deceived right now. And it's not going to change. Not until Jesus returns anyway. He will remove His church. In Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians he said this:

"For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Thessalonians 5:9

Until our Lord returns, we need to be doing His work - evangelizing, loving others, and in all ways point to Him. That is who we are. That is what we have been called to do.

Who/What is the Restrainer?