Who is He who now restrains the lawless one in 2 Thessalonians 2?

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. 2 Thessalonians 2.6-7

Okay, let’s move on because there’s another issue which comes in. The issue of the departure and the restrainer (who now restrains). Go on to verse 7 in 2 Thessalonians 2. It says,

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. 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8

So there’s something which is rest restraining the arrival of the Antichrist, the man of sin, the lawless one, called the restrainer in Greek it’s ὁ κατέχων [ho katechōn] .

This katechōn or restrainer is holding back the arrival of the man of sin or the Antichrist. What is it? According to the mid-tribulation view or the post-tribulation view, it’s some kind of political or moral force which is holding back the appearance of the Antichrist which will be removed before he comes.

It is interesting that, when the early church tried to interpret this they said that the restrainer was the Roman Empire. And that, when the Roman Empire was removed then, the Roman Empire would collapse into the 10 kingdoms, and that, out of the 10 kingdoms, would come the Antichrist pretty much after the destruction of the Roman Empire.

So there will be something which would be restraining the Antichrist’s coming and they said it was the Roman Empire.

The Protestant reformers actually gave a of version of this as well, because they said that what was restraining the arrival of who they think is the Antichrist, the Pope, was the Roman Empire. When the Roman Empire fell then the Pope would arise as the counterfeit leader of the church, and the counterfeit Roman Emperor.

In fact, you know the Pope did take some of the titles of the Roman Emperor for himself and that the restrainer for the arrival of Roman Catholicism with the Roman Empire when it’s gone then the Roman Catholic Church would emerge as a dominant force which is actually what happened in Christendom.

Therefore, you have these different ideas. But the pre-tribulation view is that what is removed is the Spirit-filled church and the Holy Spirit is taken in some way (not the Holy Spirit since He can never be taken from the Earth) but the Holy Spirit in the sense of Him indwelling the church is removed and then the Antichrist appears.

A man called Kenneth Samuel Wuest who is a Greek scholar from the Moody Bible Institute said then the ἡ ἀποστασία [hē apostasia] of which Paul is speaking (2 Thessalonians 2:3) precedes the revelation of the Antichrist and his true identity and is to ὁ κατέχων [ho katechōn] as that which holds back his revelation. The ἡ ἀποστασία [hē apostasia] therefore cannot be either a general apostasy in Christendom which does precede the coming of the Antichrist nor can it be the particular apostasy which is the result of his activities in making himself alone the worship or object of worship. That which holds back this revelation is vitally connected to who ὁ κατέχων [ho katechōn] is, He who holds back the same event, the restrainer. The latter in my opinion is the Holy Spirit and his activities in the church.

All of which means that I’m driven to the inescapable conclusion that ἡ ἀποστασία [hē apostasia] refers to the Rapture of the church which precedes the day of the Lord and holds back or restrains ὁ κατέχων [ho katechōn]the revelation of the man of sin who ushers in the world aspect of that period.

So, hopefully, you have followed at least some of what I’ve said.

There are two possibilities of how this scripture can be interpreted:

1. That the Antichrist, the falling away comes first, and then the Antichrist appears in which case, you as a Christian, are going to go through the Great Tribulation if you’re still alive at that time.
2. The other possibility is that the Rapture, the departure, comes first and you’re taken out before this happens. Which could happen at any time now.

Either way, the way to be prepared for this is to believe in Jesus and be ready for the coming of the Lord.