BULLSEYE!
ACCURATE BIBLE KNOWLEDGE!
QUESTION:
“WHO IS HE THAT ‘NOW LETTETH’?”
ANSWER: “THE
INDWELLING HOLY GHOST”
“For the
mystery of iniquity doth already work: only HE WHO NOW
LETTETH (prevents/hinders/stops) will let, until he be
taken out of
the way…” (2Thess 2:7)
BACKGROUND
Paul is
writing to the Thessalonian church assuring them that they were not in
the day
of the Lord (the Tribulation) in spite of their intense persecution
from the
Romans.
He
reminds
them that the Christians that had already died, the dead
in Christ (1Thess 4:16),
would be raised first, and be caught up together (1Thess 4:17), along with those still
living, to meet the Lord in the air (1Thess 4:17).
Paul
says
that the appearance of that Wicked, that
man of sin be revealed, the son of
perdition (2 Thess 2:3, 8) was being prevented or “let” (2Thess 2:7), and until this restrainer be taken
out of the way (2Thess 2:7), anti-christ was stopped from using all power and signs and lying wonders
(2Thess 2:9).
WHO IS HE
THAT “NOW LETTETH”?
Is it …
1. The
Roman Empire
2. Human government and the law
3. Satan
4. Michael the archangel
5. The church
6. The permanent indwelling Holy Ghost
We
can
dispense with the first two for the
following reasons.
“That
wicked” operates in the realm of the spiritual and therefore the
“he who
now letteth” must also likewise be a person and a spiritual being, in
order to
hold antichrist in check until the time of his revealing. It would be
impossible that mere human agencies or impersonal spiritual forces
would be up
to the job. Furthermore, the first two will continue in a measure after
the
manifestation of antichrist.
We
can
eliminate Satan from the list of
candidates for the following reasons:
Satan surely would
have fulfilled his evil program on the world before the coming
Tribulation.
If
Satan has
the power to restrain antichrist from appearing, would he allow the
production
of the King James Bible and the worldwide missionary program that
followed it? Hardly.
As Satan’s
work is evil he would not stand by and see the world evangelized by
missionaries and so on.
Furthermore, Satan
is not in control of the timing of the rapture and the events
following.
COULD THE
RESTRAINER BE MICHAEL?
We can delete
him from the list of possibilities for the following reasons:
To
“let” (restrain, prevent) antichrist, an equal
and opposite power would be necessary.
Michael
is
mentioned in the Old Testament as having helped to withstand the Prince
of
Persia … a local power.
However,
in
Thessalonians, a greater level of power would be needed to “let” a
superior
power to the prince of Persia.
Hence
we have
antichrist who will operate over the whole world and not just Persia as
in the
prince of Persia’s case.
Hence,
a
greater power is needed than Michael will be required to “letteth”
antichrist.
Indeed, Michael in Jude 9,
when contending with the devil reverted to the
higher authority of the Lord, as Michael was out of his realm of
authority.
Furthermore,
it is to be noted that Paul in his thirteen epistles lays little
emphasis on
the work of angels. Why? The angels were very important to the Jews as
they
didn’t have the permanent indwelling Holy Ghost as protector and guide.
CAN THE
RESTRAINER BE THE VISIBLE CHURCH?
The true church
is used of God to hinder the full manifestation of antichrist and Satan
in this
present age, but he who effectively “letteth” is not the believer as
such, but
the Holy Ghost in the believer, which is the indwelling Holy Spirit.
THE TRUE
CHURCH, THAT IS THE CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE THE PERMANENT INDWELLING HOLY
GHOST,
PREVENT THE APPEARANCE OF ANTICHRIST.
Human
agencies, the government, the law, Satan or Michael the archangel, are
not the
restrainer.
**** ****
Harley
Hitchcock
This
website’s front page is:
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com
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