Page 75 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

Thf Rapture Question: Revised and Enlarged Edition

The Holy Spirit as the Restrainer of Sin

Just as Christ was omnipresent in the Old Testament,
incarnate and present in the world in the Gospels, and re­
turned to heaven in the Aets, so the Holy Spirit, after His
period of ministry on the earth in the present age, will return
to heaven. The chief proof text concerning the return of the
Holy Spirit to heaven is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8, in
connection with the revelation of the coming lawless one, de­
scribed as “the man of sin” and “the son of perdition” (KJV).
This character is usually identified with the coming Antichrist
or world ruler of the tribulation period. The passage of Scrip­
ture dealing with this subject states that the man of sin cannot
be revealed until the restrainer is “taken out of the way.” But
who is the restrainer?
Expositors of all classes have had a field day in attempt­
ing to identify this restrainer. Ellicott cited Schott as suggest­
ing Paul himself.1 As another suggestion, Ellicott referred to
Wieseler who identified it as a collection of the saints at Jeru­
salem.2 Still more “plausible,” according to Ellicott, is that it
refers to “the succession of Roman emperors,” which he
traced to Wordsworth.3 His final suggestion, which he
thought was best, was that it was merely a “personification”
of "what was previously expressed by the more abstract to
katechon.”4
Thiessen noted that a popular view is one that identifies
the restrainer with the Roman Empire.5 Thiessen stated,
“Denney, Findlay, Alford. Moffatt, hold that this refers to law
and order, especially embodied in the Roman Empire.”6
Another suggestion given by Thiessen, but discarded, is that
of Mrs. George C. Needham, who identified the restrainer as
Satan himself.7
All these suggestions break down upon careful examina­
tion, however. If students of prophecy are correct that a revi-

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