I used to believe that before the Antichrist comes to power, I would be raptured and thus saved from the soon coming persecution. One of the main passages which I believed supported that thought was this one, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12:
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
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.
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.
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.
I used to believe that the restrainer referred to the Church or at least the Holy Spirit living in the Church. That belief makes a great deal of since too.
Here is the reasoning for the church being the restrainer, in a nutshell:
When the Antichrist is revealed, it would seem as though, the followers of Jesus Christ here on Earth would make a stand against him, which would either cause his defeat, which cannot happen because that would go against prophecy. Or, the whole church would die trying to stop him. That cannot happen because God has promised to protect us from harm and will not let anything bad happen to us. (That last part is, excuse my French, a load of crap. Just ask Peter and the rest of the apostles, when you get see them. He is God, not Santa Claus. Sometimes his love fails to fit into our little box exceeding our comprehension of such things).
That all sounds well and good, but it does not line up with the rest of scripture. I have discussed in previous posts that the sun must turn to blood and the moon must become darkened before the Day of Lord("the rapture") can come. And, as seen in Matthew 24 as well as in Revelation 6, the sun and moon event will be preceded by a period of persecution of the "elect."
So, who is the restrainer?
Here is the definition of restrain as taken from dictionary.com:
To hold back, keep in check, control, limit, prevent from, or to deprive from freedom or liberty.
Now, pay attention to what is said in Daniel 12:
1 "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.
2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
4 But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge."
5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank.
6 One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?"
7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, "It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed."
8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, "My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?"
9 He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.
10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
11 "From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
13 "As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance."
Okay first of all, lets look at the time frame.
This passage is referring to the great tribulation!
How do we know?
The 1290 days in verse 11 = 3 1/2 years + 30 days
The Great tribulation begins at the point in which the "prince who is to come" sets up an abomination that causes desolation also mentioned in Daniel 9:27:
He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. "
The great tribulation will last 1260 days (3 1/2 years). The 30 days refers to the time frame in which Christ puts the smack down on the Antichrist and his peeps.
Now, back to the restrainer.
Lets look at some throne room imagery.
When a ruler or principality is seated on his throne, he or she is in control of their allotted territory. But, when the throne-bearer arises, they subjugate authority and therefore hand over control to another.
For instance, where is Jesus right now?
He is seated at the right hand of God. Therefore he is fulfilling his current purpose on that throne.
Lets take another look at Daniel 12:1
At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.
Michael's duty is to protect the people of God or to hold back their enemies. But, the time is coming when he will "arise", abandoning his territory in accordance with prophecy and with the will of God. What follow will be a period of never before seen distress and THEN deliverance and the resurrection.
Michael is the restrainer, not the Church nor the Holy Spirit within the Church. The time is coming when he(the protector) will arise. And, the deliverance comes after the persecution.
You may say, "wait a minute, how can we be delivered after the persecution has already passed?"
We will not be delivered from persecution. We will be delivered from the wrath of God which follows.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
It would do us all well to distinguish between physical death and spiritual death. For physical death is not as bad as what most have been led to believe. In fact: it could even be considered a very good thing. For the end of our time as a part of this world marks the end of the pain and suffering of this world. Whereas: spiritual death is a terrible, terrible thing: especially in a eternal sense. For eternal spiritual death marks the end of everything good.
Be assured that it is in regards unto eternal spiritual death that our Heavenly Father is concerened. For many of His children by faith will face horrible persecution during the reign of the antichrist, which will involve physical death; but they will all be given a means to escape eternal spiritual death. For it truly is as it is written: Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. {1 Corinthians 10:12-14 NAS}
Please forgive me getting off-topic somewhat. For I did find what you have been given to say about the Archangel Michael to be most intriguing; but I was still compelled to leave this comment.
It's quite alright. You are welcome to go off topic anytime you wish. And, you are right about the issue of death. For, the wages of sin are not merely physical death but also spiritual death. We whose name are found written in the book of life will be delivered from that spiritual death, whereas those whose names are absent will not.
Excellant post! Except I am under the belief that 1. Daniel 9:27 is actually refering to the time Christ was on the earth and the time when He returns. The week, is His ministry. The first half of the week was when He was on the earth, the second half is His return. The covenant confirmed is the covenant that God made with us that He would send a Deliverer to us. Not only did Christ come, but HE ended the sacrifice and oblation, as stated in Dan 9:27. Sacrifice is evident, but oblation...that means the worship of God. We worship God, but we tend to lean more towards Christ now. Ironically, this was the view of the people prior to Scoffield and others like him trying to make a buck off of a new twist of the Bible and a pre-trib rapture. They needed something to gleen off of, and what better verse?
If we were to be gone from the world prior to Christ's actual return, why does He not speak of it? Why does He not speak of a 7 years of Tribulation? He doesn't. He only speaks of the Great Tribulation, or as pre-tribbers call it, that last half of the Tribulation. You would think that Christ would have mentioned more of it than just the Great part of it.
Also, just because God says we aren't to be appointed to wrath, doesn't mean we are out of here. It means we are not appointed to it. Lot wasn't either, but he wasn't raptured. Noah wasn't raptured. The Israelites weren't raptured. They were 'protected'. And so will we be. The actual wrath of God doesn't begin until after Christ's appearance on earth...but until then...we have God with us, but that doesn't mean the persecution of the next few years wont be with us as well.
Will we be raptured? Absolutely! But not until Christ touches His precious feet to the earth. And that doesn't happen until the 6th seal is opened.
And yes, I have been telling people that the church isn't the restrainer ever since I read about Michael standing up. Look at today's church...do we actually look like a restrainer?? Umm...no!! We can't even stand up to sin! We can't keep our rights to believe what we do! Most so-called believers can't even confess that they believe in Christ for fear of being made fun of or condemned. Does this sound like someone who is going to stand up to the Antichrist? Puh-lease! We can't stand for Christ, how will we stand against the antichrist?
Good post. More people need to learn the truth and wake up. We will be here. We will have to stand up for our beliefs. We will be protected to a point, but we will be persecuted for His name's sake. God's love and mercy cannot be lumped into human terms. He doesn't live in a box...and what is just to Him may not seem so just to us. But we have to believe He has our greater good in His loving hands.
Amen.
PS...myword verification to post this comment, ironically was "yfeer" lol. Why fear? We have a greater power with us!! We have God!
Post a Comment