What's Withholding TOP

                                   A Discussion of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8

      2 Thes. 2:1-8  - Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord        
      Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2)  That ye be not
      soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by
      letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.  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;  4)
      Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
      worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing
      himself that he is God.  5)  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you,
      I told you these things?  6)  And now ye know what withholdeth that he
      might be revealed in his time.  7)  For the mystery of iniquity doth already
      work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.  8)
      And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with
      the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

In Verse 1 the Apostle Paul refers to a particular event during which time the Lord Jesus will come to gather the saints Which event is he talking about?  Obviously he’s  referring to either the Rapture or he’s referring to the Lord’s Second Coming.  Why?  Because during both of these events the Lord will gather those who will have attained sainthood at the time of that event.  If we want to rightly divide the Word, then obviously we’re going to have to first determine to which event Paul is referring.

THE GATHERING OF THE SAINTS AT THE TIME OF THE RAPTURE:

At the time of the Rapture the “dead in Christ” and the “alive in Christ” will be gathered together.  The Scriptures indicate that at that time the Lord will not be returning to Earth’s surface, but will stop in the clouds (1 Thes. 4:17).  At that time all of the Old Testament deceased saints, all of the New Testament deceased saints, and the New Testament living saints will be gathered together.  First, all of the deceased saints will be “resurrected”.  Then all of the living saints will be “changed” into a glorified spiritual body.  The living saints will not be resurrected since they will have never experienced death. Next all of those saints will be “caught up” together to meet the Lord in the air where He will be waiting for them.   So could the Rapture be the saint gathering event Paul is talking about in Verse 1?

THE GATHERING OF THE SAINTS AT THE TIME OF THE SECOND ADVENT:

On the other hand, at the Second Coming event, the New Testament saints (the Church) those who will have previously been caught up to Heaven will be gathered together from the uttermost part of Heaven (Mark 13:27b) for the purpose of returning  to Earth when they come back with the Lord. 

And there’s also a second group of saints who must also be gathered at that same time.  The surviving Tribulation saints will need to be gathered as well.  But, of course, they will not be returning from Heaven with the Lord.  They will have to be gathered from all around the Earth (Mark 13:27a) to meet up with the Lord.  And where will the Lord be at that time?  Rev 16:16 says, “And He gathered them together unto a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon”.  So could the Second Advent be the gathering event to which Paul refers in Verse 1?  Since there’s a saint gathering associated with both the Rapture event and the Second Advent, then we still don’t know for sure which event Paul is talking about.  So let’s continue reading and see if we can come up with some clues that might help us determine which event is the correct one. 

Verses 2 & 3 - That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that  the day of Christ is at hand.  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 ORDER OF EVENTS TO OCCUR BEFORE THE DAY OF CHRIST:

Verse 1 refers to our mystery event as, “the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ,” and  in Verse 2 it’s called, “the day of Christ”.  In Verse 3 we’re given the order of events that must first occur before “the day of Christ” can begin.  First, “a falling away” must occur.  Second, “that man of sin must be revealed”.  So let’s focus on these two prerequisite events and see if we can identify our mystery event.

In Verse 3 the first event is called, “a falling away”.  And in the same verse, it tells us that a “falling away” must first take place, before “that man of sin can be revealed”. And so both of these events must take place, in that order, before our saint gathering event can begin.  Evidently “that man of sin” to which Paul refers is the Antichrist.  We know it’s not Satan because he’s not a man.  Satan is a fallen angel. 

Verses 4-6 - Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.  5)  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?  6) And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

Verses 4 and 5 further describe the Antichrist.   But then in Verse 6, Paul says, “And NOW you know” - - in other words, Paul believes they now know for sure what’s withholding (or preventing) the Antichrist from being revealed before he should be.  Obviously Paul must have just written to the Church at Thessalonica in this epistle about something or someone (previous to Verse 6) that’s currently preventing the Antichrist from coming upon the World scene and being revealed until the proper time.  When Paul says, “and now you know”, it’s much like when Paul Harvey enlightened his listeners about a subject and then spoke his famous statement, “And NOW you know - - the rest of the story”.

The traditional teaching on “ a falling away” is that of “an apostasy within the body of Christ - - a falling away from the Truth”.  Certainly we see considerable evidence of that happening today.  But maybe we ought to do a word study on this before proceeding any further.  We probably ought to find that Greek word that was translated  “a falling away” and look closely at how it was interpreted.

THE RESTRAINER AND A WORD STUDY OF “A FALLING AWAY”:

When we hear “falling away”, we automatically see, in our mind’s eye, something or someone traveling in a vertical direction from an upward position, downward.  Well, when we look up the phrase, “a falling away,” it takes us to the Greek word, apostasia”.  After much searching for the Truth, I personally believe the KJV phrase translated “a falling away” is a mistranslation and should have been rendered as “a departure” - - in other words, “except there come a departure first”.  When we look closer at “apostasia” we see that its root word is, “aphistemi”.  This word is found 15 times in the New Testament, and 11 of those 15 times the predominant contextual meaning is: “the act of a person departing from another person or from a location.”   

Is it possible that Paul was actually saying the opposite of what we’ve always thought he was saying?  Could he have been referring to a “departure from the Earth” instead of “a falling away from the faith”?  If he was, then he could have easily been referring to the departure of the Church from Earth.  He could have been alluding to the “Rapture”!  Assuming he was, then the restrainer would be none other than the Earthly presence of the Holy Spirit Empowered Church.  And that could also be the “what” of Verse 6 that’s withholding the Antichrist from coming forth, even at this present time.  Now that makes better sense to me. 

Now that we have acquired more light on these Scriptures and what the Apostle Paul was truly trying to convey, our saint gathering mystery event of Verse 1 and 2 would have to be the Second Advent  - - not the Rapture.  In other words, from Verse 1, “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (also called “the day of Christ”) has to be referring to the Second coming of Jesus Christ - - to the Second Advent, not the Rapture.  Why?  Because if it was the Rapture of the Church, the scriptures would then read:  “The Rapture cannot come except there first come a Rapture”.   And that, of course, wouldn’t make any sense at all.   Amen?

So Paul must be saying (and I paraphrase here for clarity sake), “Before our Lord Jesus Christ makes His second return to Earth, the Antichrist will be revealed.  But before the Antichrist can be revealed, the restrainer, the Holy Spirit Empowered Church, must first be removed from the Earth.”  

If we now have this correct, knowing that the Antichrist won’t  be revealed until the approximate mid point of the Tribulation, then what we’ve just learned goes a long way as a confirmation of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church.  It seems to me that any view, other than that of the pre-tribulation Rapture view, would violate the doctrine of imminence, which is commonly found throughout the scriptures.

2 Thes. 2:7-8- For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who   now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.  8)  And then shall that Wicked be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

WHO IS THE ‘HE’ THAT WILL BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY?

If you ask ten people to identify the “he” that will be taken out of the way of Verse 7, most likely you’ll get ten different answers!  Some say it’s the Holy Spirit, some say it’s the Church, and some even say it’s the Antichrist!   Well, one thing we do know.  It’s a “who” and not a “what” because the Word refers to him as a “he” - - to the pronoun “he”. 

The Holy Spirit is a “He”, because He’s the Holy Spirit of the Son of God.  Of course the Antichrist is also a “he”, because the Word refers to him as that “man of sin”.  But what about the Church?  Is the Church masculine or feminine?  Many see the Church as a “she” because they refer to it as being the bride of Christ.  But in reality the Church, is a “he”.  How so?   Well, the Church is the body of Christ who came to us as a male.  It’s not spiritually correct to refer to the Body of Christ as a “she”.  The Church is the Earthly body of the male Christ (1 Cor. 12:27).  Listen closely to the words of Paul’s epistle to the Church at Ephesus:   

Eph 4:11-13 -  And he (Christ) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;  12)  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:  13)  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the  knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect MAN, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 

Because of these verses and other reasons as well, I submit to you that the “he” of Verse 7 - - the one who will be removed - - refers to the Holy Spirit.  A further Word study reveals that the latter part of Verse 7 literally says, “until he be out of (or from) your midst”.  We must remember to whom this epistle was written.  It was written to the Church (the body of Christ) at Thessalonica and it says, “out of your midst”.   In other words, “until he be (or become) out of the midst of you believers”. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE SPIRITUAL SAINTS:

Most of us have never thought about what happens to a saint’s spiritual relationship with the Holy Spirit when he or she leaves this physical World.  In other words, what is the Holy Spirit’s relationship with a Church saint when he or she vacates their physical body and goes to the spirit world to live with Christ.   

THE HOLY SPIRIT SEAL:

When we became believers we were sealed with the Lord’s Holy Spirit.  But seals are only temporary.  They are meant to be removed at some pre-determined time.  For example:  Consider that little book of judgment of Rev. 5:2 - - the little book that only the Lamb of God was found worthy to remove its seals.  A seal is a lock and only protects until a pre-determined time or condition that’s deemed appropriate for its removal.  It’s the same with believers and the Holy Spirit.  A time will come when our Seal (the Holy Spirit) will be removed from our midst.  According to the Scriptures, that will occur on “The Day of Redemption” - - when the Lord Jesus returns to redeem His saints.   

Eph 1:13-14  - In whom (Christ) ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,  4)  Which is the earnest of our inheritance UNTIL the redemption of the purchased possession (that’s the saints), unto the praise of his glory. 

Eph 4:30 - And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto (until) the day of redemption.

According to these verses when “The Day of Redemption” finally arrives, our seal (the Holy Spirit) will no longer be necessary.  Even now, when a saint dies, he or she leaves this physical world and goes to Paradise to be with the Lord Himself (2 Cor. 5:8).  When the  Rapture occurs and the “alive” in Christ” are changed (1 Cor. 15:51-53), they too will no longer need to be sealed with, led by, taught by, protected by, and comforted by the Lord’s Holy Spirit. 

That being so, then we shouldn’t be surprised when the Apostle Paul indicates that, at the time of the Rapture, the Holy Spirit will be removed from our midst - - from the midst of the Body of Christ.   We shouldn’t be surprised at that because, at the Rapture, we’re going to PERSONALLY BE WITH THE LORD, “and so shall we ever be with the Lord”  (1 Thes. 4:17).  But as long as we’re still here on Earth and sealed with the Lord’s Holy Spirit, everywhere we go, He also goes, because He’s in us.  But at the time of the Rapture, when we’ll depart from this Earth, everywhere He goes, we’ll go.  At this present time He’s with us.  But then, we’ll be with Him.  So, at the time of the Rapture, the Holy Spirit will be removed out of our midst!

Following the Rapture, the Holy Spirit will still be here on Earth, of course, but He will no longer reside within each member of the Church.   At that time, the Church will literally be with the Lord from that moment forward throughout eternity.  There are two basic reasons The Holy Spirit will remain on Earth - - 1) because there will be multitudes of unbelievers here who will need to be converted;  2) because of His omnipresence - - His divine ability to be everywhere at once (Col. 3:11).  1 John 4:4 tells us, “. . . .greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world”.   But what will happen when the Church is no longer here and no longer has Him within?   Won’t that tend to bring about some changes here on Earth?  The Earthly absence of the Church will cause a giant vacuum of righteousness and pave the way for the Antichrist and his forces to come forth!  That’s when it will finally become the proper time for the Antichrist to be revealed to those who remain on Earth.  You see, the absence of the Holy Spirit empowered Church on Earth is going to create a great void of God’s Word and righteousness here! 

Amos 8:11-12,  “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:  12)  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek  the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.”

THE BOTTOM LINE:  (1 Thes. 5:9).

So according to God’s plan and His Word, these first eight verses are talking about some events that will precede the Second Coming of Christ.  They also inform us of what’s  currently preventing the Antichrist from arriving before he should.  They reveal that the “what” that’s withholding the Antichrist from coming forth, is the empowered, energized, and anointed Church with the Holy Spirit residing within each of its individual members.   As long as the Church is present upon Earth, the Antichrist cannot come forth.  Why?  Because “greater is He that’s within us than he that’s in the World”.  At the time of the Rapture, when the Church leaves Earth, the Antichrist will come forth to kill, steal, and destroy.  He will receive his strength and power from Satan.  Then, after seven years, Christ will return with all of His saints to the Battle of Armageddon and destroy them all.  I’m so thankful my Lord will return for me and save me from His wrath, just as He promised He would (John 14:2-3).  Many fail to realize that while we have been appointed to persecution from the World and its systems, we’ve not been appointed to His wrath - - to those awful Seven Years of Tribulation when He will unleash His wrath upon Earth!    

HOW THIS EPISTLE MIGHT BE WRITTEN TODAY?

Once again, for the sake of clarity, please allow me to utilize our modern grammar and apply it to this epistle.  The following is the way I think it might sound if it had been written today:

2 Thessalonians  2:1-8 (Paraphrased)

1 Now we (Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy) beg you brethren, concerning the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathering together unto him at that time,  2 That ye be not shaken in mind or troubled; by someone, or by something you’ve read, or by a letter supposedly from us, saying that the Second Advent has already occurred and that the day of Christ, Christ’s kingdom, has already come.

3 Don’t let anyone deceive you, by any means: because before our Lord Jesus Christ makes His second return, two events must first occur;   First the Church must be removed from Earth and Secondly, the man of sin  must be revealed.  4 I’m talking about the Antichrist, the one who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is Godly, or that is worshipped - - the one who calls himself God and sits in God’s temple, acting as though he is God.  5 Don’t you remember?  When I was previously with you I told you about these things?  6 And now, since I’ve reminded you and explained it further, you know fully well that it’s the Holy Spirit empowered Church of the Lord Jesus Christ who’s restraining and keeping the Antichrist from being revealed before the proper time.  7 Even though the mystery of sin is already working here among us, only He, the Holy Spirit, currently manifested by and through the presence of the Lord’s empowered and anointed Church, is currently withholding the Antichrist from being revealed. He, the Holy Spirit, will withhold and continue to withhold the Antichrist until He’s taken out of your midst.  This will occur when the Church departs from Earth.  8 Once the Church has been removed from the Earth, then and only then, will that wicked one, the Antichrist,  be allowed to come forth and be revealed.  He’s that wicked one whom the Lord will consume with His Word and destroy with His brightness when He comes back to Earth:

Well that’s not perfect, of course, but maybe it’ll help us get a better idea of what the Apostle Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy were trying to convey in their epistle to the Church at Thessalonica.

                                                                   A M E N

                                                                                                         By: Gerald D. Benbow