SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
10/14/2014 9:30 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Do Not Be
Ignorant PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Thess.
2:6-8a
Message of the
verses: “6 And you know what
restrains him now, so that
in his time he will be revealed. 7 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. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed “
We continue looking at the second chapter of 2
Thessalonians, and remember that we have been looking at six specific
exhortations to avoid fear about the endtimes.
We looked at the first two in our previous Spiritual Diaries, deceived,
and forgetful, and now we will begin to look at the last four in our future
Spiritual Diaries, ignorant, unbelieving, insecure, or weak. Now as we look at the third exhortation we
will note that there are four parts to it.
The exhortation that we will begin looking at this morning is “ignorant”
and it has four parts to it, “the revelation,” “his destruction,” “his power,”
and “his influence.” We will begin to
look at the revelation of the Antichrist in our SD for today and it covers the
verses seen above.
This is not the first time that I have looked at this
passage, and the question comes up as to what is it that restrains the
Antichrist from being revealed. Paul
told the Thessalonians what it was that prevents him to be revealed when he was
with them, but does not repeat it in his second letter to them. John MacArthur writes the following about the
verb ‘restrains” “The Greek verb translated restrains (katecho; ‘to hold back,’ ‘to hold down,’ ‘to suppress’) appears in
this text as a neuter participle prompting commentators to suggest numerous
options as to the identity of that restraining force.”
The following is a list of what some think this
means: “the preaching of the Gospel, the
nation of Israel, the alleged binding of Satan by believers, the church’s
influence as salt and light in the world, human government, the general
principle of law and morality in the world, the Roman Empire, and even Michael
the archangel (cf. Dan. 10:21).”
All of these suggestions but the last one has a big flaw,
and that is they are all human beings doing the restraining, and that cannot
happen, for human power cannot restrain the supernatural power of Satan who
seeks to release Antichrist. Let us look
at Jude 9 to show that even Michael the archangel cannot do this: “But Michael the archangel, when he disputed
with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce
against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"” I think that we are running out of
possibilities to stop the revealing of Antichrist and the reason is that all of
these options are too weak so we have to look at a Stronger One. I believe that it is the Person of the Holy
Spirit who now restrains the revealing of the Antichrist. When we studied the book of Mark a couple of
years ago we looked at the time that God planned to have Christ crucified, and
that time was exactly when the Passover lamb was to be killed. Satan did not want Christ to die at that time
and so we read in Mark, and other Gospels that the Pharisees did not want
Christ crucified during the Passover because they feared the people. God’s plan was fulfilled. Now when we look at Satan’s revealing of the
Antichrist we know that he does not want to do this at God’s timing either, but
just as the crucifixion of Christ, the Antichrist will be revealed at the time
that God wants him to be revealed. John
MacArthur writes “Though Antichrist may be restrained, evil will not be; in
fact, ‘the mystery of laslessness is already at work. Musterion
(mystery) describes something ‘which has been kept secret for long ages past’
(Rom. 16:25) and is incapable of being known unless revealed by God. The true character of lawlessness is already
at work (cf. 1 John 3:4); and ‘even now many antichrists have appeared’ (1 John
2:18; cf. 4:3). Evil, lies, hypocrisy,
immorality, and false religion permeate the world and grow increasingly worse,
so that every generation is more wicked than hose before (2 Tim. 2:3:13), but
sin’s ultimate manifestation is yet to come.
When the restraint is removed and Antichrist appears, the true character
of evil will be manifested. It should be
noted that not only will the man of lawlessness be revealed, but God will also
release demons from being bound in hell to inundate the earth (Rev. 9:1-19).”
I have already mentioned that it is my belief that it is
the Holy Spirit who restrains the revealing of the Antichrist. We looked at verse six “what restrains him”
stating that it was in the neuter gender.
Now in verse seven we see “only he who now restrains will do so until he
is taken out of the way.” This “he”
speaks of the Holy Spirit. MacArthur
writes “The sovereign, divine force that currently restrains Antichrist is
exerted by a person—the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13 where Jesus
used a masculine pronoun with the neuter noun translated ‘Spirit’). Only He has the supernatural power to hold
Satan in check.” Now I want to say at
this point that I have always been taught and believed that it is at the
rapture of the Church that the restraining of the Holy Spirit ends, but as I
read the following from John MacArthur I believe that belief was in error. “Only He has the supernatural power to hold
Satan in check. The Holy Spirit has
always battled wickedness in the world.
Addressing the wicked pre-flood generation, God declared, ‘My Spirit
shall not strive with man forever’ (Gen. 6:3).
Stephen issued this stinging rebuke to the leaders of Israel: ‘You men who are stiff-necked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are
doing just as your fathers did’ (Acts 7:51).
The Holy Spirit also opposes evil by ‘convict[ing] the world concerning
sin and righteousness and judgment’ (John 16:8). He will continue His restraining work until
the midpoint of the Tribulation. The removal
of the Holy Spirit’s restraint therefore cannot be identified with the Rapture
of the church, since that even takes place three and a half years earlier,
before the Tribulation.
“The phrase taken out of the way must not be interpreted
to mean that the Holy Spirit will be removed from the world. That is impossible, since He is
omnipresent. Nor could anyone be saved
during the Tribulation (cf. Rev. 7:14) apart from His regenerating work (John
3:3-8; Titus 3:5). The phrase refers not
to the removal of the Holy Spirit from the world, but rather to cessation of
His restraining work.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am thankful
that although the world is getting worse off by the moment that I will not have
to be here when the most horrible things go on during the tribulation
period. I am thankful for being able to
tell others about this upcoming evil that will come upon the entire world, and
how they too can be a part of the Rapture and miss the tribulation period.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust as these truths go out into the world
that the Holy Spirit of God will use them to bring many to Christ.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:8-11.
8 But now you also: put
them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your
mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another,
since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on
the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the One who
created him-11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and
Jew, circumcised, and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman,
but Christ is all and in all.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Judah and Israel or the
Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.
Today’s Bible Question: “What were Joseph’s brothers afraid of when
their father died?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/14/2014 10:57 AM
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