“For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7 NIV). Lawlessness is evil . . .. Lawlessness is the work of Satan, even as righteousness is the work of God through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22 KJV). Lawlessness will be personified in the Antichrist, even as righteousness is personified in Jesus Christ. Indeed, the Bible refers to the Antichrist as “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:3 NIV). Lawlessness is active in the world through the work of Satan, but evil has also been and is being restrained by the presence and work of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the lives of believers (2 Thessalonians 2:7 KJV).[1] Jesus prayed that God would protect believers from the “evil” in this world (Matthew 6:13 KJV; John 17:15 KJV). As bad as evil is in the world today, it will become worse during the tribulation period. Imagine that. Indeed, Jesus says about the coming tribulation period: “[E]xcept those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:22 KJV). At the pretribulation rapture of the church, the Holy Spirit will be “taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7 KJV), resulting in the unrestrained, evil reign of the Antichrist during the tribulation (2 Thessalonians 2:8–10 KJV).[2] [However, when He returns, Jesus Christ will “overthrow” and “destroy” the Antichrist “with the breath of his mouth and . . . the splendor of his [second] coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8 NIV).]
[1]. Thieme Jr., The Divine Outline of History, 73; KJV Study Bible, 2020, footnote 2:6–7.
[2]. KJV Study Bible, 2020, footnote 2:6–7.
