These passages were compiled by our brother, Alan E. Kurschner, Ph.D., Eschatos Mimistries. I have the pleasure and liberty to comment on them briefly.
In passage #3, we looked at the inseparability of the Rapture from the Second Coming of Christ. In passage #4, we shall focus on the person and activity of the restrainer.
PASSAGE #4
2 Thessalonians 2:8
“and then the lawless one [aka Antichrist] will be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy by the breath of his mouth and wipe out by the manifestation of his coming [parousia].”
The KJV says:
“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:”(2 Thess.2:8).
“And then” shows that there is a precedent. The precedent is in verses 6 & 7. “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”(2 Thess.2:6-7).
The mystery of iniquity is already at work in the world, but it cannot come to its full orbe until the restrainer is taken out of the way. The restrainer is not identified by our brother Apostles Paul in this passage of the Holy Writ probably because he was well known to his immediate audience some of whom were Jewish. However, the restrainer is revealed in the OT book of Daniel(Dan.12:1). The restrainer is an OT concept. We do not need to look to NT scholars to reveal his identity because his identity is pretty well known to the Jewish people before New Testament times. He is archangel Michael who standeth for the people of God in both the Old Testament times and in the present. He contended with Satan over the body of Moses(Jud.9), and he will wrestle Satan and his fallen evil angels down to the Earth from the Dark Void and starry heavens at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel(Rev.12:7-9). Then shall he desist from his restraining duty as the archangel that defends the people of God. When he “amads” then shall the lawless one(antiChrist) be revealed, and then, there shall be Great Tribulation.
This event occurs precisely at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel when Satan and his hordes of fallen evil angels are cast down to the Earth from the starry heavens and the Dark Void. Satan will be very angry, full of wrath because he knows it will only be a short time of three and one-half years before he will be cast into the bottomless pit and incarcerated for a thousand years which is the length of the Millennial reign of Christ and the saints in the kingdom(Rev.12:12). Out of wrath, he will possess the Beast, give him his power, seat, and great authority to reign on his behalf(Rev.13:2). It will be a reign of terror. He will make war with the saints and overcome them(Rev.13:7). When the woman(Israel) flees into the wilderness, he will be after her in pursuit. He will wage war against the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God(observant Jews who repudiate his authority) and have the testimony of Jesus(believers who refuse his mark of allegiance). It is the unveiling of the antiChrist, the man of lawlessness at the midpoint of the 70th week of Daniel that will precipitate the Great Tribulation.
When the complement of the saints to be martyred is reached(Rev.6:9-11), Christ will paralyze(Greek: katergeo) him by the breath of His mouth and the brightness of His Coming. This is not outright destruction but masterly inactivation and total incapacition. The only things he can do are to kill the two witnesses at the expiry of their ministry, and to gather his forces to be annihilated by Christ at Armageddon(Rev.11:7, 19:11-21).The lawlessness one will still be alive but rendered more or less powerless and redundant until finally destroyed at Armageddon a few years later(Rev.19:11-21).
Avraham Shallom.
Mt Zion Heritage Ministries 