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2 Thessalonians 2:7
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7 For [gar] the mystery [musterion] of iniquity [anomia] doth [energeo] already [ede] work: [energeo] only [monon] he who now [arti] letteth [katecho] will let, until [heos] he be taken [ginomai] out of [ek] the way. [mesos] KJV-Interlinear
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. NASB
The word for mystery, ‘musterion,’ means something which was before now, unknown to all, a secret kept by someone who did not reveal the secret, therefore all who had no knowledge of it, were not even aware that the secret even existed.
For example, we all know about the atoms and molecules and distant galaxies and germs and so forth, but for centuries, even thousands of years, people knew nothing about these things. They existed all around them, but their secrets were not revealed until science began the long discovery process which reveals their existence.
This is of course an example of our temporal world. Within our temporal world, God has given us the tools to discover how it works. It just took humanity a long time to make the basic discoveries. And even now, in our high tech and rapid period of discovery, the more we learn, the more we realize that we do not know, the more questions are raised, thus perpetuating the search for more discoveries, and so forth.
And just as God placed a vast universe between heaven and earth, denoting the vast distance between knowledge and ability and wisdom and so forth, in order to demonstrate just how far apart man and God are in reality, so too, we now have an example of just how weak and naïve humanity is with regard to the truths that rule our current dispensation, even our contemporary times.
God has a plan. We call that plan the Divine Decrees. Within those Decrees, God set out all of the details of history. Your life, every detail of your life, is contained within those decrees. God looked down through the tunnel of time and saw every detail of history, regarding everything that is in existence, and then He recorded those details, thoughts, motivations, decisions, and events, and then He turned history loose.
If you were to record a movie or a game, and watched it, then you know the details of that recording. Then you rewind it and replay it. You can watch it all again, knowing everything that will be said, everything that will occur, and so forth. And you do not change anything, nor coerce anyone into doing what they do within that recording. You just know in advance what is going to happen. That is similar to the Divine Decrees. Only now we are living history of the first time. God does not change anything, nor do anything that would make us do whatever it is that we do.
But God does have one big advantage. He foreknows everything that is going to happen, and thus He can place anyone or anything into history in order to cause history to terminate in His desired result, namely good, and not evil. And His decisions as to when to place people into history, and when various things will occur, were made in eternity past, when He developed the Divine Decrees. God controls history.
God represents good. Satan represents evil. God is the only one who can control evil. And in this case, restrain it to such a degree that its full force cannot be unleashed into history, unless and until God allows it.
Man cannot control evil. Man cannot even control man. Angels cannot control evil. The angel Michael wrestled with Satan over the body of Moses, but the angel could not control evil. God is the only one who can control evil.
There are three members of the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that the Father authored the divine plan, the Son executes the plan, and the Holy Spirit sustains that plan. But the Holy Spirit has yet another role to play in history, and that is one of restraint.
The anti-christ is under restraint by the Holy Spirit, John 14:26, 15:26, 16:13. John uses the masculine pronoun together with the neuter gender to describe this action of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit battled wickedness before the flood of Noah, ‘My Spirit will not strive with man forever …,’ Gen 6:3.
The Holy Spirit ‘convicts’ the world with regard to sin, Jn. 16:8.
The Holy Spirit is referenced when Israel was declared a ‘stiff-necked’ people resisting the Spirit, Acts 7:51.
In Rom. 1:18-20, 1:21-23, 1:24-25, 1:26-28, three statements are used (‘gave them up,’ ‘gave them over to’) to describe the removal of the restraint from evil man. Refer also to Psa. 81:11-12, Prov. 1:23-31, Hos. 4:17 for similar divine policy.
Likewise, since God has sent His Son, Satan would similarly desire to send his own personal representative such that he could then rule the world through him. But that representative is under current restraint.
And here we are taught that there are two levels of evil. The first level is that which is loose in the world today and has been for all of history. Here Paul calls it ‘lawlessness.’ This is the sin and corruption and tyranny and lawlessness, including human self-righteousness, that exists today. We have seen in history, many examples of just how bad this kind of lawlessness can get. From the gossips of social clubs to the radicals of terrorism, to the Hitlers and so forth, this world is not without its bad people.
But there is a level of evil, the likes of which this world has never seen, but one day, will see in all of its fury.
There have been books and movies and things that attempt to present the events of the Tribulation, but they generally romanticize the human aspects, the human endeavors, the human efforts to thwart that future evil. But none of them have ever come close to the real deal.
The restraint that exists today, is controlled by the Holy Spirit, preventing Satan from having his very own personal representative turned loose on the world. But even though that evil has been delayed, Satan, since the very first promise of a Savior, given to Adam, a long time ago, has been plotting his own pseudo-savior to counter the real one, Jesus Christ.
All of Satans plans are centered around his own plan of evil and his own last attempt to either rule the world, to cause God to make an error, or to destroy the world. And it is that last effort which will be the final effort of Satan, when all else fails.
When the time was right, God restored the world. When the time was right, God created Adam and Eve. When the time was right, God caused the flood to come in Noahs day. When the time was right, God brought the Savior into the world.
When the time is right ….. then God will release the restraint against evil, and that will occur at the Rapture.
Ours is said to be the Age of the Royal Family. Royalty has privilege and when the world is about to turn into total corruption, the Royal Family is removed so as not to see the carnage that is about to occur.
While the world presumes that it is going to solve mans problems, solve the environment, solve any warming or cooling, solve evil as it were, and bring in some new hope or utopia, Satan is working his plan, behind the scenes, unknown to humanity, to the best of his ability, that will turn the world upside down.
Your responsibility in all of this? Study each and every day. Grow up in your spiritual life, be responsible, and be ready, spiritually ready, for whatever God has in His plan for your life.
In the night sky we can see stars that we could never reach. We can look through telescopes so powerful that we can see to vast distances, that are most certainly beyond our reach. But we cannot see heaven, and most of humanity cannot see the plans of greater powers that are unfolding right before their eyes.
Don’t be one of those who are blind and sightless.
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