And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 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.
2 Thessalonians 2:6-7
The popular narrative is that the Holy Spirit, acting through Spirit-filled believers on the earth, is restraining evil until the rapture. Once the church is removed – again according to the popular narrative – evil on earth will be unrestrained.
I see no clear Biblical evidence that the church has a role in restraining evil in the world, except to the extent that we’re not to participate in it. There’s certainly little evidence to support that evil is being restrained. In fact, we’re to expect that things will continue to grow worse (2 Tim. 3:1-13) and while we would hope that Christian influence in any society would tend to retard its decay, this is not necessarily what “restrain” means. Something is being held back, which means it is prevented from proceeding. When the Secret Service restrains the crowd from approaching the President, they give no ground. The crowd is absolutely prevented from advancing. We know what it’s like when a police officer restrains a suspect.
The Greek word is katechō (Strongs G2722) and its primary meaning is “hold back, detain, retain.” There are additional possible meanings or nuances, determined by context. If one of the activities of the Holy Spirit in this post-resurrection world was to attenuate evil, we would expect to see some mention of it in the new testament. We see in John 14:26 that he will teach us all things, in John 16:13 that guide us into all truth, and John 16:18 that He will convict the world of sin. But if you want to see what God established to actually RESTRAIN sin, you must look in Romans 13. God established civil government to restrain man’s sinful nature. The Holy Spirit certainly convicts of sin, but He does not restrain. We’re still free-will creatures.
That being said, I’d like to suggest that there is some restraining going on, but it’s not what we’ve been told. It is Jesus Christ, our High Priest, who is the Restrainer. As High Priest, He is restraining the wrath of God against the sin and unrepentant sinners on earth.
This suggestion needs some context, so let’s start with a couple of modern American evangelical suppositions, often articulated as part of what we call “presenting the gospel.” We’ve all heard things like this: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” A second belief is that “God hates the sin but loves the sinner.” As lovers of truth and students of the Word, we need to explore these and similar statements and discern whether or not they are true. Because if they are NOT true, or cannot be Biblically supported, then everything built on them is suspect.
It’s unquestioned that “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.” God made the first move, and is not willing that any should perish. But it seems to be a limited love, in that if it’s rejected, it does not turn into pining, or into wistful hoping that the object of the spurned love will have a change of heart. Rather, it’s a tolerant love that is willing to endure for a season the obscenity of the sins of the world, allowing for repentance and reconciliation. God’s hatred of sin still exists, but is held back for the sake of His creation.
I personally think that the “God has a wonderful plan for your life” misrepresents the glory of the gospel, and “sells Jesus” as a means to an end. God does not offer a “wonderful plan.” He offers Himself. If that’s not good enough, then the sinner should honestly reject reconciliation with God and accept the consequences of that rejection. God’s plan seems to be to allow sinners enough time to decide whether they want reconciliation. For that reason, God’s wrath against sin – its results as well as those who embrace it – is restrained.
When the Restrainer is removed, that wrath will no longer be held back. There is an Old Testament picture of that in Deuteronomy 9:14-23. The wrath of God was kindled against the children of Israel and God wanted to destroy them all, but Moses restrained Him. Another shadow of this theme appears in the story of Lot, where the wrath of God was restrained by Lot’s presence in the city. Once Lot was taken out of the way, judgment swiftly followed. My point is that in both cases, it was WRATH that was restrained, not evil.
Whether “He who now restrains” is the corporate church, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit or someone else is obscure and, for our purposes, secondary. Primary for us is that the wrath of God is on the very near horizon, and when the Restrainer is removed, there is NO REMAINING DEFENSE against the wrath of God. No make-up classes, no “second chances” or universalism or “tribulation salvation.” The “mystery of lawlessness” will be fully manifested when the “god of this world” governs the planet for 42 months. It will be truly horrifying.
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