Who Is The Antichrist Person?
Dear Saints:
Today, we will by the help of the Holy Spirit study and understand one of the difficult passages of the end time Scriptures that answers the question: Who is the “Restrainer” of the Antichrist person from being yet revealed in the world?
Recalling from our study of 1 John 2, Apostle John wrote, “18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”
It is clear that the Antichrist person is not yet here. Many in the past and present have tried to tell us who the Antichrist was/is or would be. Some said past or present Presidents, Heads of states, even the Pope and other names. The Antichrist person is not here but many antichrist spirits are here and are being manifested daily.
Apostle John defines the Antichrist as follows: “22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:22-23.
We can see it everywhere that people and governments are opposing and establishing laws and lifestyles that contradict Christ and the truth of Scripture. They love darkness rather than the light of Jesus Christ. Evil and opposition of God and ungodly lifestyles will continue to increase. We haven’t seen nothing yet. At same time God's grace will continue to abound to save sinners from His coming wrath.
We now come to our main text of investigation, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12:
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
I thank God I will not be here when he, the lawless one, the antichrist is revealed. But who is restraining him, the Antichrist in verses 6-7 above? For this, we need to go back to Jesus’ words before He left the earth.
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” John 16:7-10.
Most Bible scholars agree that the one restraining the revelation of the antichrist is the person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person and not a “force” and Scriptures refer to Him as “He”. Presently the Holy Spirit is doing the work of implementing and bringing to reality the work of Christ on the cross. He is the One who convicted you and me of our sins and opened our eyes to see and say yes to Jesus. The Holy Spirit lives in every believer and leads and guides us to live for God’s glory.
I believe, once we the believers (in whom the Holy Spirit dwell in for we are His Temple), the Church are “Raptured” when we are taken up to be with Christ (see 1 Thessalonians 4) all hell will break loose on earth. “He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” In other words, the Holy Spirit will step aside and allow the wrath of God to come on the unbelievers in Christ as described as follows:
"God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” vs. 11 and 12.
The church is the salt of the earth that is preserving the earth from the ultimate decay. That is the function of “Salt” as Jesus called us (Matthew 5:13-16).
So what should we be doing now? Live for God in all manner and keeping in mind that this world is not our home. We should also be warning our families, friends, neighbors, co-workers and everyone of the wrath of God that is surely coming. Jesus Christ’s work on the cross is the only solution and THE ONLY SALVATION for the yet-to-believe in Christ. We should live with great passion for Christ and HOPE because of our salvation and for where we are going and for how He is taking care of us even now.
We should live with great passion to see the lost, even our worst enemies to be saved. This year, please proactively speak to someone about Christ; give someone a Gospel tract, pray for someone to see Christ. Support the work of spreading the Gospel through giving your money. Key word is proactive. If you don’t plan for it you will do as much or less than what you did last year in obeying the command “to go and make disciples of Christ”. It is not a suggestion by Christ. May God help us and may the Holy Spirit enable us. Amen.
Now perhaps you have not yet repented of your sins and have not yet prayed to ask God for forgiveness and have not yet accepted the gift of salvation secured by Christ's death, burial and resurrection from the dead. This is your chance. Tomorrow may be too late. Please don't miss the rapture and don't wait for the Antichrist to be revealed and don't wait for the Great Tribulation and don't be a mini antichrist. May God help you in Jesus name. Amen.
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