What is the "Restrainer" that hinders the Antichrist from appearing?

FireAngel · Sep 8, 2004

I am new at this posting, so forgive me if this has already been discussed in a previous post. I would like to know your beliefs about who the "Restrainer" is in Thessalonians. I know that many people teach it is the Holy Spirit that is taken out of the way when the church is raptured but I know there must be other interpretations of it. Can anyone out there share with me their thoughts on this and any good scriptures to study? Thanks in advance!

FireAngel

Just The Facts · Sep 8, 2004

Hi Fire

Oh you will hear it is the church or the holy Spirit .of course NOT ONE VERSE TO BACK ANY OF IT UP.

This is soooooooo easy IF YOU TRUST GOD's WORDS.

Where is the Beast right now??????????????????????

20:8: The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition:

he is in the Pit

Who is He???????????????????

9:11: And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

He is King of the Pit.......................He is king of the Fallen Angels

When does he Get out?????????????????????????????

9:1: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2: And he opened the bottomless pit;

Why is he locked in the Pit..........and WHAT HOLDS HIM THERE ????????????????????????

2Pt:2:4: For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

Jude:1:6: And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

He is in the pit because of his Great Sin and he is held there by chains of Darkness that God holds the Key to..God will give the Angel the key to the pit at the Fifth Trumpet and the Beast the Son of perdition will be revealed.

Of course you have to trust the word to see this and put aside all those doctrines of men.

FireAngel · Sep 8, 2004

Just The Facts said:
Hi Fire

Oh you will hear it is the church or the holy Spirit .of course NOT ONE VERSE TO BACK ANY OF IT UP.

This is soooooooo easy IF YOU TRUST GOD's WORDS.

Where is the Beast right now??????????????????????

20:8: The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition:

he is in the Pit

Who is He???????????????????

9:11: And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

He is King of the Pit.......................He is king of the Fallen Angels

When does he Get out?????????????????????????????

9:1: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2: And he opened the bottomless pit;

Why is he locked in the Pit..........and WHAT HOLDS HIM THERE ????????????????????????

2Pt:2:4: For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

Jude:1:6: And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

He is in the pit because of his Great Sin and he is held there by chains of Darkness that God holds the Key to………..God will give the Angel the key to the pit at the Fifth Trumpet and the Beast the Son of perdition will be revealed.

Of course you have to trust the word to see this and put aside all those doctrines of men.

Thank you JTF! I never looked at it that way and I've been troubled with the pre-trib rapture belief for a long time; it seems like they make the scriptures fit the doctrine rather than the other way around and I am trying to read scripture in a perspective to get rid of this bias when I read. Your scriptures are a very helpful!

Archangel · Sep 8, 2004

Why don't we examine the passage that this can be found in before we venture to the rest of the prophecies reguarding the lawless one.

'3Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
5Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7For 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. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.'

[2 Thess. 3-8]

Paul is writing to the Thessalonian church for the second time as they are worried that they have missed the second coming of Christ. Paul writes to encourage them that they are to stand firm and not to worry because Christ cannot return until the man of lawlessness comes [antichrist in other words].

Now what we have to understand is that we do not have the same insight into this text as Paul's readers, the Thessalonian Church, had. Look at verse 5:

"Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?"

The Thessalonians had already been taught by Paul what the message in this passage is. They had been taught about the return of Christ and what must happen. In verse 6 Paul says, "and now you know what is holding him back" the Thessalonians already knew who this restrainer was.

The unfortunate problem for us is that we honestly do not know what Paul taught the Thessalonian Church when he was with them, so we have had to examine, and cross examine this text.

Lets take a look at how Paul talks about this 'restrainer'.

Firstly we see that the restrainer is both referred to as neuter and masculine, the restrainer is both something and someone:

'And now you know what is holding him back' [2:6]

'But the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.' [2:7]

So, what we know from the text is that both the lawlessness is at work, but the restrainer is at work holding it back.

We have three main explainations on who and what the restrainer is.

1 The Holy Spirit and the work of the church

The Holy Spirit would fit the place of the someone, and the church the place of the something. This would mean that when the church, which has the Spirit in it, is removed [raptured?] from the earth, then the lawless one will be completly free to act [rising of antichrist?]

2 Apostles and preaching of gospel

The restraint in this case would be a delay until the world is evangelisied and all have heard the gospel. In this case the masculine restraint would be an apostle [Paul?] and the neuter would be the mission of preaching. The error with this however is how would Pauls removal bring about the return of Christ?

3 The Roman Empire

It could also be that the Emperor and the Roman Empire were the obstacles in the way of the lawlessness, what power could overthrow the empire? And not just the Roman Empire, but most states. The view is that when the state is removed, lawlessness takes control. Also Paul reguarded the state as God's agent for the punishment of eveil [Romans 13:1] So this view may also make sense.

Those are three views I managed to find that I widely hear. If I were to choose, even without knowledge of any of them, I think I would go for the Holy Spirit.

To me it makes sense that with the removal of the Church and the Spirit from the earth that lawlessness can take control.

Below I have a small timeline of possible order of events up to the coming of Christ, remember this is just an overall view of mine.

1 Removal of Church 2 Establishment of Antigod system under Antichrist 3 Period of Antichrist reign 4 Return of Christ

[Sorry forgot to paste in the top paragraph of what I had written earlier, no changes were made to the original post]

In Christ Forever · Sep 8, 2004

"Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?"
The Thessalonians had already been taught by Paul what the message in this passage is. They had been taught about the return of Christ and what must happen. In verse 6 Paul says, "and now you know what is holding him back" the Thessalonians already knew who this restrainer was.

The restrainer could be Christ Himself[restraining the roman army maybe in a sense, don't know but studying on it?].
People trying to put this in the future will have a really hard time with this passage, and instead need to keep it in Paul's age I believe[just to try and understand it better].
One of the chief restrainers was Paul himself!! He was a chosen vessel of Christ to preach the gospel and what is so ironic is, as soon as he was martyred, the roman army was sent by God into Israel to destroy the temple and city.
The man of lawlessness was already there. Whether this was just one man or a religious system I don't know.
But this one passage sticks out at me a lot and why I am looking at what Paul was talking about in "that age".

Ezekiel tells of a "wicked prince" wearing a "diadem or turban which the high priest wore.

ezekiel 21:25 'Now to you, O profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose iniquity [shall] end, 26 'thus says the Lord GOD: "Remove the turban, and take off the crown; Nothing [shall remain] the same. Exalt the humble, and humble the exalted. 27 Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown! It shall be no [longer,] Until He comes whose right it is, And I will give it [to Him."] '

Mark 14:60 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, "Do You answer nothing? What [is it] these men testify against You?" 61 But He kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" 62 Jesus said, "I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." 63 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "What further need do we have of witnesses? 64 "You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.

ephesian 5:6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now [you are] light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit [is] in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose [them.]

FireAngel · Sep 8, 2004

Thanks Archangel and ICF! Great answers and scriptures which will be helpful to my study. I appreciate your in depth posts!

Blessings,

FireAngel

Archangel · Sep 8, 2004

Your welcome Fireangel

ICF, that is a possiblity [even tho i still take it as future] Are you talking about Antiochus Epiphanes being the man of lawlessness?

Barraco · Sep 8, 2004

Archangel said:
Why don't we examine the passage that this can be found in before we venture to the rest of the prophecies reguarding the lawless one.

'3Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
5Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7For 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. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.'

[2 Thess. 3-8]

Paul is writing to the Thessalonian church for the second time as they are worried that they have missed the second coming of Christ. Paul writes to encourage them that they are to stand firm and not to worry because Christ cannot return until the man of lawlessness comes [antichrist in other words].

Now what we have to understand is that we do not have the same insight into this text as Paul's readers, the Thessalonian Church, had. Look at verse 5:

"Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?"

The Thessalonians had already been taught by Paul what the message in this passage is. They had been taught about the return of Christ and what must happen. In verse 6 Paul says, "and now you know what is holding him back" the Thessalonians already knew who this restrainer was.

The unfortunate problem for us is that we honestly do not know what Paul taught the Thessalonian Church when he was with them, so we have had to examine, and cross examine this text.

Lets take a look at how Paul talks about this 'restrainer'.

Firstly we see that the restrainer is both referred to as neuter and masculine, the restrainer is both something and someone:

'And now you know what is holding him back' [2:6]

'But the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.' [2:7]

So, what we know from the text is that both the lawlessness is at work, but the restrainer is at work holding it back.

We have three main explainations on who and what the restrainer is.

1 The Holy Spirit and the work of the church

The Holy Spirit would fit the place of the someone, and the church the place of the something. This would mean that when the church, which has the Spirit in it, is removed [raptured?] from the earth, then the lawless one will be completly free to act [rising of antichrist?]

2 Apostles and preaching of gospel

The restraint in this case would be a delay until the world is evangelisied and all have heard the gospel. In this case the masculine restraint would be an apostle [Paul?] and the neuter would be the mission of preaching. The error with this however is how would Pauls removal bring about the return of Christ?

3 The Roman Empire

It could also be that the Emperor and the Roman Empire were the obstacles in the way of the lawlessness, what power could overthrow the empire? And not just the Roman Empire, but most states. The view is that when the state is removed, lawlessness takes control. Also Paul reguarded the state as God's agent for the punishment of eveil [Romans 13:1] So this view may also make sense.

Those are three views I managed to find that I widely hear. If I were to choose, even without knowledge of any of them, I think I would go for the Holy Spirit.

To me it makes sense that with the removal of the Church and the Spirit from the earth that lawlessness can take control.

Below I have a small timeline of possible order of events up to the coming of Christ, remember this is just an overall view of mine.

1 Removal of Church 2 Establishment of Antigod system under Antichrist 3 Period of Antichrist reign 4 Return of Christ

[Sorry forgot to paste in the top paragraph of what I had written earlier, no changes were made to the original post]

My Opinion is that the lawless one will be revealed when his name comes into effect. The law must be taken out of the way. That or the truth. There couldn't possible be a pre-trib rapture because Daniel 7 says that the saints would be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time, it also says he will intend to change the times and the law. That is why he called the lawless one. The rebellion you spoke of is lawlessness. My opinion is that he comes about from apostasy. Because of falsehood, many will fall away from faith, and thus the lawless one will change things. Look, the Sabbath has been changed to Sunday instead of Saturday. We celebrate Jesus's Birthday with pagan items such as Santa Clause and even go as far as calling him St. Nick, so that people do good for presents on Christmas instead of pleasing God. They have homosexual bishops in the Episcople Church, (DIRECT CONTRADICTION TO THE LAW!!!) There is Saint worship, when in truth we are all saints and should not be praying to ourselves! There is Mary worship when Mary is just a servant that was blameless. What about Enoch? He was blameless, should we pray to him too? They make statues of someone who they havn't seen and they pray to pictures of people long dead. I believe what was holding back the lawlessone is now out of the way, I belive it is the truth; or the Spirit of Truth in most of the Church. It is very sad.

In Christ Forever · Sep 8, 2004

Firstly we see that the restrainer is both referred to as neuter and masculine, the restrainer is both something and someone:

'And now you know what is holding him back' [2:6]

'But the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.' [2:7]

So, what we know from the text is that both the lawlessness is at work, but the restrainer is at work holding it back.

Click to expand...

My Opinion is that the lawless one will be revealed when his name comes into effect. The law must be taken out of the way. That or the truth. There couldn't possible be a pre-trib rapture because Daniel 7 says that the saints would be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time, it also says he will intend to change the times and the law. That is why he called the lawless one. The rebellion you spoke of is lawlessness. My opinion is that he comes about from apostasy. Because of falsehood, many will fall away from faith, and thus the lawless one will change things. Look, the Sabbath has been changed to Sunday instead of Saturday.

At least you don't believe in a rapture Is that changing the mosaic law? I will have to read on that.

reve 19:17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, 18 "that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men,

Ezekiel 39: 17 " And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: "Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan. .

I KINGS 12:21 And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the House of Judah[southern kingdom] with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the House of Israel[northern kingdom], that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

Revelation 13:1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 16 "And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 18 "And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."

Barraco · Sep 8, 2004

In Christ Forever said:
At least you don't believe in a rapture Is that changing the mosaic law? I will have to read on that.

reve 19:17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, 18 "that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men,

Ezekiel 39: 17 " And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: "Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan. .

I KINGS 12:21 And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the House of Judah[southern kingdom] with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the House of Israel[northern kingdom], that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

Revelation 13:1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 16 "And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 18 "And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."

so who is the restrainer in your opinion

good4u · Sep 8, 2004

FireAngel said:
I would like to know your beliefs about who the "Restrainer" is in Thessalonians. Can anyone out there share with me their thoughts on this and any good scriptures to study?

The Restrainer in Thessalonians is Michael, the Archangel, the Commander of the Heavenly Angelic Host and Protector of Israel. Michael will one day in the future stop his protecting, at the direction of the Lord, for it will be the time of Jacob's trouble. Boy, I'll say! Israel is nearly destroyed at that time had it not been for the return of the Lord. Sorry, I don't remember exactly the verses. I'll have to look it up and get back to you.

In Christ Forever · Sep 8, 2004

good4u said:
The Restrainer in Thessalonians is Michael, the Archangel, the Commander of the Heavenly Angelic Host and Protector of Israel. Michael will one day in the future stop his protecting, at the direction of the Lord, for it will be the time of Jacob's trouble. Boy, I'll say! Israel is nearly destroyed at that time had it not been for the return of the Lord. Sorry, I don't remember exactly the verses. I'll have to look it up and get back to you.

That is about what I said!!! I am still wondering if the man of sin and man of lawlessnes are the same or 2 different ones. The "man of sin" could symbolically be Christ as He did die on the CROSS for our sins.:o

The restrainer could be Christ Himself[restraining the roman army maybe in a sense, don't know but studying on it?].
People trying to put this in the future will have a really hard time with this passage, and instead need to keep it in Paul's age I believe[just to try and understand it better].
One of the chief restrainers was Paul himself!! He was a chosen vessel of Christ to preach the gospel and what is so ironic is, as soon as he was martyred, the roman army was sent by God into Israel to destroy the temple and city.
The man of lawlessness was already there. Whether this was just one man or a religious system I don't know.

prophet? · Sep 8, 2004

Judas. According to many theologians the lowest pit of Hell is reserved for the Juddeca, or "like Judas." If you remember, Judas betrayed Jesus. (I don't mean to insult your intelligence) It can't be Satan. He is the AntiChrist. therefore, Judas is the restrainer.

brad_religion · Sep 8, 2004

It is easy. The restrainer is something Paul didn't name in his letter, but he told them in private. If you read chapter 1, you will know why he didn't name what it was. If it was Christ, the Holy Spirit or the church, then Paul would have said so. There was no reason to hide what the restrainer was if it was any of those. But it isn't any of those. Who was persecuting the Thessalonians in chapter 1? The Romans. Had Paul said that the Roman caesars had been "taken out of the way", then if the letter was found by the Romans, the persecution would have gotten worse because the letter would be "traitor" like. The restrainer was the Roman empire, and the man of sin came after the fall of Rome.

Justme · Sep 9, 2004

Hi forum,

What is the restrainer?

It is a he and a what. The Holy Spirit would fit that bill. The Holy Spirit could continue to restrain Satanic forces until the end of the 1000 years, perhaps.

However, the thing here to notice is that this restrainer is doing the restraining as Paul speaks. Present tense. That means the he or the what that is being restrained was in Pauls time as well. So don't bother trying to determmine what mortal man it is/was/will be. That what was being restrained was not a man. He who restrained was not a man either.

So there is no real need to know the precise identity of either the restrainer or the restrained. Suffice it to know that whether you are a preterist or a futurist, you can use this set of verses to illustrate your belief.

Justme

Just The Facts · Sep 9, 2004

Hi

Gee I am feeling like A prophet

Like I said ...people say it is the church ....people say it is the Holy Spirit.................................

Like I also said.. NOT ONE SINGLE VERSE TO BACK IT UP...........................

NOT ONE

Mt:15:9[9] in vain do they worship me,teaching as doctrines the precepts of men."

Barraco · Sep 9, 2004

prophet? said:
Judas. According to many theologians the lowest pit of Hell is reserved for the Juddeca, or "like Judas." If you remember, Judas betrayed Jesus. (I don't mean to insult your intelligence) It can't be Satan. He is the AntiChrist. therefore, Judas is the restrainer.

I would disagree, the beast is the antichrist. And the antichrist is thrown into the lake of fire (Rev.19) before Satan is bound (Rev.20), so.....

Just The Facts · Sep 9, 2004

Hi Bracco

What that proves is that the Beast is not the Devil.................not that the Ac is not the Beast ..in reality there is no "Anti Christ" that term means to deny Christ...................the Beast or Son of perdition does not deny that Jesus came he says he is Jesus returned hardly an Anti Christ.......................But alas that is the name the masses use so we must too so as not to confuse everyone.

So the Ac is the Beast but he is not the Devil ..............................he is in the Pit the Devil roams free waiting to devour you...........................the beast is just another tool of the master of lies to try and deceive those who actually have salvation ie: Christianity. The Devil is not going to waste his time trying to fool the Muslims or the Hindus or Jews .............why waste his time there are lost and will go to the lake of fire.

he is out to deceive one group and one group only THOSE WHO HAVE SALVATION.

His Great illusion his Prime tool is the Beast in the pit the King of the Pit. He will use him to try and deceive Christianity into believing he is Jesus returned.

Barraco · Sep 10, 2004

Just The Facts said:
Hi Bracco

What that proves is that the Beast is not the Devil.................not that the Ac is not the Beast ..in reality there is no "Anti Christ" that term means to deny Christ...................the Beast or Son of perdition does not deny that Jesus came he says he is Jesus returned hardly an Anti Christ.......................But alas that is the name the masses use so we must too so as not to confuse everyone.

So the Ac is the Beast but he is not the Devil ..............................he is in the Pit the Devil roams free waiting to devour you...........................the beast is just another tool of the master of lies to try and deceive those who actually have salvation ie: Christianity. The Devil is not going to waste his time trying to fool the Muslims or the Hindus or Jews .............why waste his time there are lost and will go to the lake of fire.

he is out to deceive one group and one group only THOSE WHO HAVE SALVATION.

His Great illusion his Prime tool is the Beast in the pit the King of the Pit. He will use him to try and deceive Christianity into believing he is Jesus returned.

Like you said, the beast was made in the image of the dragon(the father of lies) so thus he is the antichrist, because by assuming the identity of Christ, he opposes Christ, because Christ died on the cross and rose again three days later, anything opposed to this gospel is antichrist, so yes the beast is the antichrist, shaped in the image of the father of lies. The false prophet on the other hand is just gonna do what John the Baptist did for Jesus, he's gonna hail his return. That's all I have on that.

In Christ Forever · Sep 10, 2004

What that proves is that the Beast is not the Devil.................not that the Ac is not the Beast ..in reality there is no "Anti Christ" that term means to deny Christ...................the Beast or Son of perdition does not deny that Jesus came he says he is Jesus returned hardly an Anti Christ.......................But alas that is the name the masses use so we must too so as not to confuse everyone.

They can believe in God, but not in God coming down in the flesh and dying for us, Jesus.
So who are the ones today that deny Christ? Everyone that doesn't believe in Christ right?
The bible tells us in every way possible who the "devil" is. John is shown measuring a Temple[earthly house of God], an Altar[for the earthly offerings] and those who Worship there[high priest]. I am trying to see if those have any significance to the 3 "entities".

It shows Death and Hades being thrown in the "lake of fire", and those not written in the Book of Life. Why did Jesus mention to the rulers that only they were condemned to HELL?

The only ones the bible shows making a convenant with Death and Hades is in Isaiah. Kind of ironic this is mentioned with the rulers of Jerusalem

Isaiah 28:14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, Who rule this people who [are] in Jerusalem, 15 Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with Death, And with Hades we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves." 16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a

John the Baptist and Jesus used these "hellfire" in the gospels, they used language familiar to the Jews[rulers] whom they taught. The Jews had heard this language no other way than in scenes of national judgment. While it is easy for us to read these passages in the New Testament from the point of view of enduring conscious punishment, we should read them as the Jews[rulers] who heard them first.

What is the "Restrainer" that hinders the Antichrist from appearing?

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