The Removal of the Restrainer
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him: We ask you, brothers and sisters… Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s temple, proclaiming that he himself is God. Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I used to tell you about this? And you know what currently restrains him, so that he will be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will bring him to nothing at the appearance of his coming (2 Thessalonians 2:1, 3-8).
This passage describes the revelation of the man of lawlessness, the Antichrist. Paul tells us about some of the things the man of lawlessness will do. Paul also tells us that for now his identity remains a secret until he is revealed. Then Paul says, and you know what currently restrains him, so that he will be revealed in his time. The natural question here is, what currently retrains him? Hitchcock explains that it is.
“God Himself. In this case it is God the Holy Spirit who is the restrainer. But that still leaves some loose ends—why is the Holy Spirit referred to as both a principle and as a person—as a what and a who? And how can the Holy Spirit, who is omnipresent, be removed from the earth? These are legitimate concerns. The Holy Spirit is omnipresent and cannot be removed from the earth. Moreover, millions of people will be saved during the Tribulation (Revelation 7:9–14). The convicting, drawing, regenerating ministry of the Holy Spirit is essential for anyone to be saved both now and in the Tribulation (John 3:5; 16:7–11; 1 Corinthians 12:3). So how can the Holy Spirit be the restrainer? I believe the answer is that the Holy Spirit is at work during this age in and through the church.
There are four key reasons for identifying the restrainer this way. First, this restraint requires omnipotent power. Second, this view adequately explains the change in gender—from neuter to masculine—in 2 Thessalonians 2:6–7. In Greek the word pneuma (Spirit) is neuter. But the Holy Spirit is also consistently referred to by the masculine pronoun He, especially in John 14–16. Third, Scripture speaks of the Holy Spirit as restraining sin and evil in the world (Genesis 6:3) and in the heart of the believer (Galatians 5:16–17). Finally, the Holy Spirit uses the church and its proclamation and portrayal of the gospel as the primary instrument in this age to restrain evil. We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13–16). We are the temple of the Holy Spirit both individually and corporately (1 Corinthians 3:17; 6:19; Ephesians 2:21–22).”1
The work of the Holy Spirit performed through God’s people is the restrainer in this present age. We get a glimpse of the powerful influence of this restraining when we compare the world today, prior to the rapture and the tribulation period, with the world after the restrainer is removed. The church’s salt and light are removed from the earth. Sin and evil will be unrestrained, Satan will execute his plan fully through the antichrist, unleashing wickedness like the world has never seen before.
Charles Swindoll puts it like this,
“When the church is “gathered together” and taken to be with Christ in the air, the salt and light will be withdrawn. Then every vestige of goodness will decay; every remnant of truth, unravel. It is at that time when the man of lawlessness will take center stage. Like cages in a zoo suddenly opened, so will it be when the Restrainer is taken out of the way and lawlessness runs wild and rampant in the streets. Ours is a day of grace in which sin, to a large degree, is restrained. It is a day when God does not deal directly with human sin. However, there will come a time when He will step on the scene to deal definitively with sin. And that will be a time of great destruction.”2
After the rapture, the antichrist will operate unrestrained by the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit does continue His work in bringing people to salvation. People will become saved in Jesus during the tribulation period (see Matthew 24:14; Revelation 7:9-14)
This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14).
After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb! All the angels stood around the throne, and along with the elders and the four living creatures they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people in white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” Then he told me: These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:9-14).
The Church Will Be in Heaven
In the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, the church is mentioned seventeen times, yet in chapters four through eighteen, the time of Jacob’s trouble, the church is not mentioned once. The church is once again mentioned or seen in chapter nineteen when she returns with Christ at His glorious appearing, His second coming. Clearly, the church is absent from the earth during the Tribulation period and with Christ in heaven appearing before the judgment seat of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11-4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10) and being united with Christ forever at the Marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9).
The Distinctions between the Church and Israel
Louis Barbieri says that,
“In Matthew 16:18 Jesus announced to His disciples that He was going to be building His church. His use of the future tense (“will build”) implies that the building of the church was something Jesus would be initiating in the future. While God’s program for the church was clearly in His mind from all eternity, the church has a specific beginning point and ending point in history. One must understand the distinction between God’s program for the church and His program for Israel to grasp properly His plan for the future.”3
The church and Israel are two distinct entities. Nowhere in the Bible does the term Israel refer to the church, it always refers to the physical posterity of Jacob. There are numerous passages in Scripture that clearly indicate after the birth of the church, Israel is still regarded as a distinct entity (i.e. Romans 9:6; 1 Corinthians 10:32). Nowhere does the Bible teach that the church has replaced of Israel or that the church has inherited the unconditional promises which God had made to Israel. During the church-age, the dispensation of grace, Paul clearly indicates that God has temporarily set aside Israel (Romans 11:17-25). At the rapture, God concludes His program for the church here on earth and resumes His program for the Jews.
Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, do not boast that you are better than those branches. But if you do boast—you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” True enough; they were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but beware, because if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Therefore, consider God’s kindness and severity: severity toward those who have fallen but God’s kindness toward you—if you remain in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from your native wild olive tree and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these—the natural branches—be grafted into their own olive tree? I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (Romans 11:17-25).
The Distinctions between the Rapture and the Second Coming
The rapture and the second coming are clearly two future distinct events in the Scriptures. A study of the passages dealing with both the rapture (John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17) and the second coming (Joel 3:12-16; Zechariah 14:1-5; Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 19:11-21) will highlight those differences.
(1) The Rapture. When Jesus returns for His church, the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:16), and then, “we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (4:17). During this event, Jesus will not return to the earth since both the risen and living believers will meet the Lord in the clouds.
The Rapture is the fulfillment of the promise Jesus had made to the disciples when He said, “If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).
It will be a time of blessing, for the saints will enter the final aspect of their salvation. No judgment is even hinted of in any of the rapture passages; therefore, judgment is not associated with this event. The rapture will occur prior to the wrath of God being poured out on the earth.
During this event, Jesus comes for His church so that the saints may appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and be rewarded for their faithful service to the Lord (1 Corinthians 3:11-4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10), and so the bride may be presented to the Bridegroom at the Marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9).
(2) The Second Coming. At this event, it is clear that Jesus’ feet will actually and literally touch the earth. “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half the mountain will move to the north and half to the south” (Zechariah 14:4). When He returns and His feet touch the earth an incredible topographical change will result.
In contrast with the rapture, the emphasis of His second coming has to do with the judgment that will fall on the unbelievers of this world. It will be a period when God’s wrath will be poured out on the earth. Unlike the rapture, judgment is very much a part of this event.
His second coming will be a fulfillment of the words spoken by the angels to the disciples during Christ’s ascension, “…Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
During this event, Jesus returns with the church, and the emphasis is on the establishment of His kingdom, to inaugurate the promised Davidic kingdom.
A Comparison Between the Rapture and the Second Coming
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The Rapture |
The Second Coming |
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Christ comes in the air (1 Thess. 4:16–17) |
Christ comes to the earth (Zech. 14:4) |
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Christ comes for his saints (1 Thess. 4:16–17) |
Christ comes with his saints (1 Thess. 3:13; Jude 1:14) |
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Christ claims his bride |
Christ comes with his bride |
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Not in the Old Testament |
Predicted often in the Old Testament |
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There are no signs—it is imminent (1 Cor. 15:52) |
Portended by many signs (Matt. 24:4–29) |
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A time of blessing and comfort (1 Thess. 4:18) |
A time of destruction and judgment (2 Thess. 2:8–12) |
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Involves believers only (John 14:1–3; 1 Cor. 15:51–55; 1 Thess. 4:13–18) |
Involves Israel and the Gentile nations (Matt. 24:1–25:46) |
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Will occur in a moment—only his own will see him (1 Cor. 15:51–52) |
Will be visible to the entire world (Matt. 24:27; Rev. 1:7) |
1 Mark M. Hitchcock, The End: Everything You’ll Want to Know about the Apocalypse (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2012), 164–165.
2 Charles R. Swindoll, Steadfast Christianity: A Study of Second Thessalonians (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1986).
3 Louis A. Barbieri, “The Church: Watching for Our Blessed Hope,” in Storm Clouds on the Horizon, Charles H. Dyer, ed., (Chicago: Moody, 2001), p. 34.
All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Copyright © 2021 by Miguel J Gonzalez Th.D.
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