The Katechon Restrainer: Who is He?
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 Thess. 2:6-7 NKJ)
One of the most baffling problems in the New Testament and in eschatology is the identity of the “restrainer” in 2 Thessalonians 2:6–7. Verse 6 has the neuter participle τὸ κατέχον (“what restrains”) and verse 7 has the masculine participle ὁ κατέχων (“he who restrains”). More than a dozen views have been proposed.-Powell, C. E. (1997). The Identity of the “Restrainer” in 2 Thessalonians 2:6–7. Bibliotheca Sacra, 154, 320.
The context identifies who the Restrainer is. He restrains the “mystery of lawlessness” that “is already at work” (2 Thess. 2:6-7). What “secret power of lawlessness” is working in this context affecting the Thessalonians? The “spirit…word….letter as if from us” that upset the Thessalonians the “Day of Christ” had come. The “mystery of lawlessness” is spiritism and only God can restrain that. He is “what restrains” and “He who restrains’ Satan’s power inspiring delusions.
Spiritism had inspired so much false prophecy Thessalonians were beginning to “despise” all prophecy (1 Thess. 5:20). The apostle John saw the same events occur in congregations he pastored. So many “antichrists” rose up it reminded John of the end time “hour” during which the Antichrist arrives:
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.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. (1 Jn. 2:18-19 NKJ)
The “mystery of lawlessness” is the opposite of the “mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16), “sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13 NKJ).
Therefore, the “mystery” or “secret power” inspiring heresy and apostasy is spiritism.
God “sends” the deluding “energy of spiritism“(2 Thess. 2:11) when He “takes out of their way the decree” (cp. Col. 2:14) that has prevented Satan and his angels from fully manifesting themselves on the earth.
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 Thess. 2:6-7 NKJ)
“The decree (enforced by the Holy Spirit) is taken out of the way” (2 Thess. 2:6-7 compare Col. 2:14). Revelation 9:1 refers to this event. A “star fallen from heaven”; what “restrained the fall of the Star (Rev. 9:1) was removed and it “free fell” (4098 πίπτω) to the earth. Now spiritual wickedness from heavenly places (Eph. 6:12) and from the Abyss are released onto the earth.
Removing the restraint of spiritism results in three “woes” (Rev. 9:12). The first woe was releasing the spirits of Demons imprisoned in the Abyss (Rev. 9:2-11). The second woe is removing what bound the four destroying angels in the Euphrates (Rev. 9:14-15). The third woe is Satan and his demons appearing on the earth after Michael and his angels cast them out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-12).
1 Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
3 Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. (Rev. 9:1-3 NKJ)
John could not describe the appearance of the “locusts” precisely (Rev. 9:7-10), as he does the demon cavalry (Rev. 9:16-19). This implies they are incorporeal, “spirits of demons” that can’t be clearly seen. John can only approximate what they “look like” Rev. 9:7-10.
[John identifies their king as “the angel of the abyss”. He is the reason why these spirits of demons are imprisoned in the Abyss. Two names are given to this angel “Abaddon” and “Apollyon” (Rev. 9:11), both point to “the destroyer” (1 Cor. 10:10; Num. 16:46-49; Heb. 11:28 compare 2 Sam. 24:16). This “Destroyer” is the same “destroyer” God restrained from destroying if there was “blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts” during Passover (Exod. 12:23). The text doesn’t say the angel ascends out of the abyss with the demons. This “angel” is the “king” of those in the Abyss, and as Demons have only one king, its Satan. That fits 2 Thess. 2:3 where the “seed of Satan” (Gen. 3:15) is called the “son of destruction (684 ἀπώλεια)”. In 1 Corinthians 5:5 Satan destroys the flesh of a sinner.]
The Second Woe is the demon cavalry under the authority of the four angels bound in the River Euphrates. This symbolizes the Nephilim army (corporeal as John describes them precisely) now permitted to enter our Matrix. Bound in the River Euphrates is symbolic of being restrained “at the border” of the Holy Land. The symbolism is clear, these leave the heavenly realm (TELEIOS) of the “sun rising” and enter our MEROS (1 Cor. 13:10), commanded by the “kings of the East” (Rev. 16:12).
The Third Woe is Satan and his angels (Nephilim) appearing on earth after Michael and his angels cast them out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-12). Then the End Time is just as it was in the Days of Noah, the Nephilim walk among men (Gen. 6:4).
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. (Rev. 12:7-12 KJV)
When the decree of God restraining the mystery of lawlessness is removed (2 Thess. 2:6-7), the tsunami of spiritism is just as it was in the Days of Noah (Luke 17:26 cp. Mat. 24:29, 37).
Therefore, the Katechon is God the Holy Spirit. Only He could restrain the reappearance of the Nephilim on the earth, and release the demonic captives in the Abyss.
Context confirms this, the “secret power of lawlessness” is opposite of the “secret power of godliness”, God the Holy Spirit inspiring Sanctification in God’s Holy Word of Truth:
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, (2 Thess. 2:13 NKJ)
Notice how Paul contrasted those inspired by spiritism who did not love the truth, and those inspired by the genuine Holy Spirit who are sanctified by the Holy Spirit via God’s Word of truth (John 17:17). They are in juxtaposition, polar opposites opposed to each other:
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.13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,
14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess. 2:9-14 NKJ)
In the end time many who believed themselves “Christian prophets” will hail the miracle working Adonikam as “The Christ”. Sometime after the “Elohiym” [Nephilim Fallen Ones] arrive, the miracle working false Christ “Man who condones Sin” morphs into the Big Mouth Beast, the Son of Perdition Antichrist, and the false prophets follow to their everlasting destruction.
On Judgement Day these apostates will Christ for Mercy claiming they knew Him:
22 “Many will say to Me in that day,`Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 “And then I will declare to them,`I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matt. 7:22-23 NKJ)
For more on this click
God Will Send a Strong Delusion: The Coming Tsunami of the Mystery of Lawlessness
Test The Spirits in Dreams Visions Abductions
Did the Witch of Endor raise Samuel or Satan?
God vs Devil How could Satan hope to win?
The Antichrist: His Names Titles and Descriptions
What did the apostle John reveal when he said: “It is the last hour”?
Where Is The Judgment Of Fallen Angels?
The Coming False Christ and His Followers Revealed
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