The Restrainer

Well, it just keeps coming today. I think the Lord has done some clarification for me that once again (surprise!) points to the escape from all, pre-flood, pre-fire and brimstone, pre-trib rapture.

We know there is a restrainer at work today. This restrainer holds back the man of sin and what comes with the arrival of the man of sin..wrath (rev 6..the seals):

2 Thess 2:6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 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 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

To say that the lawless one is being restrained also says that everything that appears with the lawless one is being restrained along with the lawless one. We know there is a restainer, and we are told "you know what restrains him now." We know what restrains him now?

We are told that the coming of the Son of man will be just like the days of Noah and the days of Lot. We see a restraining of the evil one AND what comes with the evil one when he is revealed...destruction...the rider on the white horse shows up first, then wrath-sword famine pestilence etc.. Lets look a little closer at the days of Lot and see what we find relating to this topic of "what restrains..."

Gen 19:15 And when the dawn hath ascended, then the messengers press upon Lot, saying, 'Rise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters who are found present, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.' 16 And he lingereth, and the men lay hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, through the mercy of Jehovah unto him, and they bring him out, and cause him to rest without the city. 17 And it cometh to pass when he hath brought them out without, that he saith, 'Escape for thy life; look not expectingly behind thee, nor stand thou in all the circuit; to the mountain escape, lest thou be consumed.' 18 And Lot saith unto them, 'Not so, I pray thee, my lord; 19 lo, I pray thee, thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes, and thou dost make great thy kindness which thou hast done with me by saving my life, and I am unable to escape to the mountain, lest the evil cleave to me, and I have died; 20 lo, I pray thee, this city is near to flee thither, and it is little; let me escape, I pray thee, thither, (is it not little?) and my soul doth live.' 21 And he saith unto him, 'Lo, I have accepted thy face also for this thing, without overthrowing the city for which thou hast spoken; 22 haste, escape thither, for I am not able to do anything till thine entering thither;' therefore hath he calleth the name of the city Zoar.

First of all, you see any familiar words up there? How about that word ESCAPE, where have we seen that before? 36 watch ye, then, in every season, praying that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are about to come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.'

Now, here we tie together the escape and "what restrains" in the story of Lot which the bible specifically refers us to in order to understand the coming of the Son of man.

escape thither, for I am not able to do anything till thine entering thither

What did the angel explain to Lot? Destruction could not fall on Sodom until he, Lot (the righteous) were removed.

How could Paul tell us that "we know what restrains?" He knew we have the story of Lot, we know the Lord referenced both Noah and Lot, we know that it was explained to Lot that destruction COULD NOT FALL until the righteous (Lot) were removed....for I am not able to do anything (restrained) till thine entering thither..(till Lot enetered the safe city (Zoar)).

Lot's physical presence in the vicinity of the place that was about to face destruction restrained the destruction. Do we have any other cases of this? Glad you asked :-)

Gen 18 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes: 28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 32 And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. 33 And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

^^this story leaves off with the Lord agreeing with Abraham not to destroy the city for tens sake. We know that only one was found righteous, that was Lot. Destruction happened, but Lot was removed first.

I've seen it debated that the Holy Spirit is the restrainer, then I've seen people argue that the church is the restrainer. I would argue based on the stories of Noah and Lot (bible interprets the bible) that the presence of the righteous is the restrainer. Both camps are right in a way, the righteous are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, so they are one entity. The Holy Spirit won't leave the earth because he is everywhere all the time, but what happened on pentecost could indeed be reversed to put the floodlight back on the Lord's dealings with the people of Israel. The Holy Spirit worked with believers in a different way before pentecost than after pentecost.

The righteous who still exist on the face of the earth today "restrain" the coming destruction. We also know that our presence here restrains the unveiling of the man of sin. Does it make sense to you that light must be removed in order to allow darkness to roam freely? If you turn on a light in your house the darkness in the room does'nt get the option of whether it wants to leave or not, it MUST leave. Even a little light drives away much darkness. A little salt prevents much rotting. When the light and salt of the world are removed, darkness and rot will take their place. This "flood..hint hint" of darkness will bring forth the wrath of our God. The sword is wrath, famine is wrath, pestilence is wrath.....you can find that in your bibles.

Ezekiel 6:12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath upon them.

Sword pestilence and famine is what I see in Rev 6:1+ cpincidentally AFTER we see a door open in heaven then we see rewarded/redeemed men in heaven in Rev 4-5. How did rewarded/redeemed men get into heaven in Rev 4-5 if the escape has not happened yet? Doors open for a reason. Rev 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

A key? I wonder what that key does? Oh look, theres verse 8!

8 ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name

Gosh, a key, an open door? Hmm, I wonder what comes next?

10 ‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

A key, an open door, kept from something that will come upon the WHOLE WORLD. How exactly would we be kept from something that's coming upon the whole world? Well, I suppose we can look for an answer by determining where that door is....Do you think where the door is tells us anything about where the philadelphia church will be "kept" at? Where is the door?

Rev 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things

Well, there goes that whole argument that we'll somehow be "kept" on earth! The door is in heaven, not on earth.

The Lord has been heavy on this topic lately. Pay attention, be alert, be watching...BE READY.