The Restrainer 2 Thessalonians 2

[Music] whenever the subject of the end times the last days is race usually soon thereafter there's a very frequent question that is asked and what is that question who or what is the restrainer you see the apostle paul in second thessalonians chapter 2 and verses 6 and 7 he speaks about that which restrains and the one who restraints and for some reason there is a great interest in knowing who that one is but here's the problem the bible does not reveal who the restrainer is and there's a very important rule that one who teaches the bible should follow if the scripture does not answer the question then we should not answer it either it is dangerous to put forth something that the word of god does not answer does not reveal and usually why people are so interested in answering that question is one of a couple reasons first of all they want to sensationalize their their ministry they'll have a video that is all about revealing who the restrainer is to kind of pull in the viewers another reason is because they are attached to a denomination a movement an organization and they because of a theology sometimes related theological doctrine they believe they have to answer that question in order to support in order to hold together something else that they teach and that in and of itself is rather problematic what we see is that there are many different answers to that question who the restrainer is and what i'll say share with you is this when you look at one who teaches it usually they are more concerned with a theological position than they are in doing an accurate job of of teaching the texts so with that said take out your bible and look with me to 2 thessalonians chapter 2. now i want to for the most part simply speak about verses 6 and 7. but the problem is unless we have the right perspective that we see the context that leads up to what paul says in verses 6 and 7 unless we see that we're not going to be able to understand what he's saying and what he is not saying what he reveals and what he does not reveal so this is going to give us hopefully a few points to remember when we hear other people teach about the last days so let's begin the first thing we see in this chapter is that paul is speaking to believers how do i know that because the text tells me we should always be able to form theological beliefs perspectives doctrines based upon what the scripture says we read in verse one but we beseech you brethren now that word brethren is speaking about believers it can be male believers or female believers he's speaking to those who are part of that congregation in thessaloniki and they and i'm not the only one that sees it this way and fast fact most commentators do they have a question they have a concern they've been listening to others and others have been telling them that they've missed out on something and missing out on this has caused them great concern great fear they're very uneasy about where they are because they have believed what they've heard rather than believing what has been written to them and what paul personally has taught them so look again we see what the subject is but we beseech you brethren in behalf of the parochia now that word parochia simply is the word for coming the word for arrival and in the scripture it has to do with messiah's coming but here's the problem it is not clear just in this word alone whether it's the second coming at the end of the day the lord now let's learn this term the day of the lord that is an old testament term that appears frequently in the old testament prophetically in those writings but it's very rare it only appears i believe one time in the new testament the day of the lord and that's in first thessalonians chapter 5. what's more common is another term in the new testament that most people have never heard of and this is the day of christ or the day of the lord jesus or the lord jesus christ so the day of christ what is that well whereas the day of the lord speaks about god's judgment his wrath being poured out upon this world the day of christ as we'll see in a moment speaks of a day whereby we the believers are gathered to him in fact that we are removed from this world in order that we do not experience the wrath of god now here again let's just read what the scripture says verse 1 we beseech you brethren in behalf of the coming of our lord messiah yeshua so it has to do with the coming of our lord messiah yeshua but until this time we don't know it is speaking about the second coming at the end of god's judgment the period of his wrath or are we speaking about our blessed hope the rapture what happens before god's wrath is poured out upon this world up until now we do not know but as we keep reading it gets clearer and not just clearer it becomes very clear most clear because it continues and are gathering unto him now that has to be the rapture why well let me give you a scripture first thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 13. it tells us that when messiah comes and here we're speaking about his second coming when he comes the second time at the end of the day of the lord the saints that's you and me we're going to be coming with him so the second coming is not believers being gathered unto him that has nothing to do with the second coming it has to do with the rapture with the blessed hope so he says here and are being gathered together unto unto him now did you hear that unto unto him the word epi it appears twice here with the verb being gathered together unto and then unto him it's redundant but it has the purpose of emphasizing us being with him being gathered to him and that is a clear description of the rapture him gathering us up unto him not the second coming and and i would argue that most people see it this way he says trying to reassure this these believers this congregation and thessaloniki he says that you not be quickly shaken from the the proper perspective the right vantage point what is that based upon the word of god and paul's teaching he said don't allow what others are saying and as we read on in this this this verse it says don't let you be troubled by by some spiritual happening or some word that's said or even some epistle that is written that purports to be from us paul said we have nothing different to tell you what we told you the first time what we discipled you on it stands so don't believe because of some spiritual event some word that you hear or some epistle that that purportedly is from us that what notice what he says as that the day of christ has has come has has happened has drowned nears what it literally says has approached now again it's very important that we translate this the day of christ and not the day of the lord the day of the lord we we don't need to be asking questions is this the day of the lord we know in the book of revelation these these trump judgment these bold judgments what things that are going to be happening things that have never taken place things that there's no other explanation than they are are the wrath of god when you are in the wrath of god you don't need to say to someone do you do you think this is god's wrath it's going to be and here's the word painfully obvious this is god's wrath praise god we won't be in that situation if you're a believer if you accepted the gospel this is not what they're asking they're saying because they are being persecuted wait have we missed out on the day of of christ the rapture the blessed hope and paul says don't change your vantage point don't change your perspective don't be troubled don't let anyone deceive you that this day has come the blessed hope the rapture because he says what has to happen first now let's be real clear look if you would to verse 3 he says don't let a certain one that means anyone deceive you by any means i think that's pretty clear and the reason why he's saying this is because we know messiah's taught this in the end times leading up to it and within it there's going to be many false teachers many false prophets and also many many individuals that are going to be proclaiming that they are messiah all of this is false i think it's very significant in our days when this is being recorded there is a movement that's saying that god has restored the apostles and the prophets this lays the foundation for false teachers for these false prophets to say i come with authority i'm an apostle sent by god no you're not not in that way that the early apostles were you don't have the authority we're all brothers the authority is in this word not in a man or a woman they are dangerous be clear on that so he says don't let anyone deceive you by any means that it should not come now the language here is a little bit confusing that day of messiah will not come it will not be until first there should be a few things and what is that well it tells us that day will not come unless first there's the apostasy what's the apostasy well this word refers to a departure now i have a friend and i have great respect for him but we disagree on this issue that's okay doesn't mean that we stop being friends that we stop respecting one another but but he says and he's not alone there's others that teach no no this apostasy they say is not false teaching but the word here is simply the word for departure that's true and they say it's the departure it's the rapture that the apostate apostasy refers to no it's not the term apostasy do you know where it appears in the scripture it appears for example in acts 21 verse 21 where paul is being accused of heresy of false teaching of departing from the torah truth and teaching false things paul didn't do that he was falsely being accused of of apostasy and likewise in matthew for example matthew chapter 5 messiah is talking about divorce and giving a certificate of divorce and he calls that a certificate of apostasy why because moving away from marriage you're leaving that which is good and departing for something that's not good something that's rooted in disobedience so he says before the day of christ comes the rapture he says first of all there's the apostasy and the apostasy after saying this the apostasy should come first and this is important conjunction it unites the apostasy as the foundation as laying the foundation for another event and what is that and the man of sin to be revealed notice to be resil revealed is in the passive something causes it and what causes it it's the apostasy they are linked together and notice something else this one who is called the the man of sin he's also called the son of perdition and what is this revealing how is he revealed it tells us the one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god or that is worship so that that he in the temple of god now literally it's not the word temple that would be heron it's the word naos here it is in the form of it's in the the accusative so it's the word sanctuary the sanctuary of god that's why it's so important to pay attention to the original language not temple but sanctuary referring to the holy of holies now what paul is doing is what paul frequently does in order to support what the holy spirit has inspired him to write down he uses the old testament this verse when he says here look at it carefully i'm reading from verse 4 where it says in the middle of verse 4 the one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god or that worship that he sits as god in the temple or the sanctuary of god manifesting himself to be god this is paul referring back to the book of daniel chapter 11 and verse 36 now if you're wise you'll stop the video and you'll go there and look at that verse and you'll see the con the the connection the consistency so paul says that before the day of christ comes what's going to happen we see that there is going to be the revealing of the man of sin the son of perdition who commits the abomination of desolation when he speaks about the abomination of desolation the first time and in the book of daniel chapter nine he just gives us its name but it's later on in chapter 11 and chapter 12 he defines it he gives a description and that is him going into the holy of holies the sanctuary of god where he sits upon the the the ark of the covenant and where he proclaims that he is god and that he has to be worshiped that event's going to happen isn't it interesting that yeshua himself in matthew 24 he says before the end comes what end is he speaking about the end of the church age because he's speaking to disciples he says you're going to be persecuted all these horrible things are going to happen you're going to be betrayed you're going to be delivered over to death but before the end should come the gospel is going to be preached the gospel of the kingdom to all nations then the end will happen and he says when you still speaking to the disciples when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by daniel notice the pronoun second person plural you when you see speaking to believers and right after that abomination of desolation that's mentioned in matthew 24 verse 15 he turns to israel why because the rapture has happened now because of israel's refusal to accept the antichrist israel goes through that time of jacob's trouble so we see here that before the day of christ now this is what many people do there's a well-known teacher from from the los angeles area and he has a video on this he does a very good job pointing out many sound biblical truths and he points out what we're speaking about in this section verses 4 for example and in verse 3 and 4 where it talks about the apostasy the revealing of the man of sin and the abomination desolation he says it all happens at the midway point but he says it has nothing to do with the rapture the rapture happens before the seven years begin he claims and this is after my question for him is this but the context is the day of messiah they're not asking about what's going to begin this this wrath of god what event they're not asking for that they want to know about the day of messiah the rapture and what he says is that day will not happen until the apostasy takes place which is connected to the revealing of the antichrist this man of sin the son of perdition and how is he going to be revealed he's going to be revealed by committing the abomination of desolation which daniel tells us in daniel 11 verse 36 is him going into the sanctuary and proclaiming himself god and demanding all people worship him that's what paul is saying he's following what daniel's revealing now look if you would to to verse verse five do you not remember that while i was still being with you these things i said to you verse six so now we've we've spoken around 22 minutes and we're ready now for the two primary verses and what i want you to see here is that paul is not revealing who the restrainer is but what the restrainer does i want to say it again paul is not interested in revealing who the restrainer is but rather what the restrainer does let's look at verse 6. and now this is the greek word noon it means at this moment and what he's speaking about here is now at this moment i want to reveal something more to you and what is that that which restraints so we're here at this issue the restrainer now most people that teach on this ignores the fact uh the the individual from los angeles he did an excellent job being faithful to the text in these next two verses he he wanted to unhitch this whole issue from the rapture which i believe is wrong based upon the day of christ he wants to say it's the day of the lord but that doesn't fit the context the the the clues within the text about us being gathered together unto unto him and the term day of christ but putting that aside he points out that in verse six we have a participle a participle is a a verb and an adjective that's put together that's the best understanding of a participle what does a verb do a verb speaks about an action an adjective is a particle of describing so this describes one who does the action it's very frequent in the greek language and what's important here is that this participle is neuter what does that mean well whoever the subject is whoever whatever it's neuter now this eliminates the church because the church is a a feminine noun so it can't be speaking about the church here and if you for example and i agree with this individual if you believe that the rapture takes place prior to just before those last seven years and the events that he's been speaking about is in the middle of course this has nothing to do with with the church the church cannot be the restrainer so anyone who says the church is what restraints they have a serious problem so he says here verse 6 and now that which restraints you know for the revealing of him that for him to be revealed in its season i want to read that again see here's the problem most people understand this passage thing this and that which which restrains you know they put the you knowing with the restrainer now most people will say this is because paul perhaps revealed it to them earlier maybe he did maybe he didn't we don't know he taught them things but and of course the previous verse verse 5 says do you not remember that while being still with you these things i taught you so maybe he did but we don't know and the text doesn't reveal it but the key thing here is this this phrase does not go with knowing the restraint we should not read it and now you know what restraints it's not in that order it says and now that which restrains and then he goes on to say you know you know why he restraints for him meaning the antichrist should be revealed in his season so what we know is not who the restrainer is but we know why he restraints or or why it in this case it's neuter why it restraints and that is so the antichrist is not revealed prior to his time who sets that time not the antichrist not satan but god does god says you are going to be restrained who or what is restraining him we don't know why he's being restrained this we know he tells us you know for him to be revealed in his season so the restrainer in verse 6 is neuter it speaks about it that could refer to a force a power or a noun that is in the neuter construction then it says look at verse verse 7 for the mystery of lawlessness now this word lawlessness is very important it's a word that speaks of one or a characteristic that is against the torah the word law nomos is in hebrew torah so it's a being against the law what we learned is this that the antichrist he's a man of lawlessness he's against the torah so it's very dangerous if you have a theology that is against the torah that you see that is bad you're agreeing with the antichrist it's that spirit that that character that is going to to really characterize the work of the antichrist and what paul says here look again verse verse 7 for now the mystery of lawlessness is already at work this is true in his day and it's true now the antichrist has not been revealed but the characteristic the behavior the attitude of the antichrist his uh character has been and is functioning mightily in this world that's why it's a world of darkness a world of sin a world of falsehood a world of darkness because the the character of the antichrist is is at work in this world he goes on only and this is the word known from mano meaning one or only only and notice what he says the one who restrains now the one who restrains is in the third person and it's masculine so it would be he now there's a bible teacher and he goes through saying that there are strangers he he he and he he points out that the pronoun that is used to to describe him is the greek word whole but the problem is that's in this verse he totally ignored what it says in verse 6 when the pronoun that describes him is the word toe not ho but neuter so this reveals a different description of that same restraint it talks about his power his power to restrain and his power to to restrain for him not to be revealed only in his season but in verse 7 it says for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work only he who restrains and it says he who is restraining now he's doing so now and he will continue to do so until out of the midst he should be now here's a problem hopefully you're following along and you should check many translations so many times and many of the the the people who teach on it their videos talks about the restrainer being removed he is not removed this goes along with the false teaching that the restrainer is is tied in some way to the church they'll say it's the holy spirit now i have no problem the holy spirit because the the greek word that that's that is used for spirit the holy spirit is the word panuma and if you know greek that ending that ma shows a neuter noun so the the force could be the power of the holy spirit restraining him but in verse 7 it uses the term he referring to the holy spirit and in our friend from california he pointed out how the holy spirit is described with the neuter but also the masculine so it may very well be a reference to the holy spirit in this passage but we can't be dogmatic about it and these people who teach that the holy spirit is removed we should understand the holy spirit is part of the trinity therefore he is omnipresent he's everywhere he cannot be removed and we should not associate the holy spirit define him by their church saying well if the holy spirit is removed the church has to go with them that's ridiculous it's heresy to to unite them in this close way certainly those who are part of the church have the holy spirit or they wouldn't be part of the congregation of the redeemed but the holy spirit is beyond the church very important that we see this so what the scripture says here is simply verse 7. for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work only he who restrains now is a different word for now the word rt not the word noon until simply here it's in the genitive because the word ek is always in the genitive so it takes a genitive misu mesu means out of the middle it does not at all refer to a removal but simply moving aside think of it this way two people walking and they block each other until one moves aside he's not removed he's not taken away he just stands aside and it's a reference to the holy spirit simply allowing for the revealing of the antichrist so it says he is restraining now until he moves aside and this moving aside is going to i believe is what's going to allow him to do that abomination of desolation and it's the abomination of desolation based upon what paul says is going to be the last event that the congregation of redeemed sees now this happens in the middle point but the rapture is soon thereafter no man knows the day or the hour but what you find is this everyone who wants to put it before daniel's 17th week they have a theological problem they have to say oh this is speaking about the day of the lord no speaking about the day of christ they have to say that what paul is saying i want to give you a sign a few indicators that that day won't occur until first these things happen they are forced like our friend from california to say no all of these things unrelated to the rapture when that the heart of this question that paul is addressing has to do with the rapture it's just an example of individuals wanting to hold on to a theological doctrine at all costs even if it brings about confusion and not being true to the the desire of the text what the text is desiring to answer we need to be people to take the study of god's word with the utmost seriousness i'll close with that thank you for watching you

Channel: LoveIsrael.org

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Length: 37min 0sec (2220 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 21 2021