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7 For [gar] the mystery [musterion] of iniquity [anomia] doth [energeo] already [ede]
work: [energeo] only [monon] he who now [arti]letteth[katecho] will let,
until [heos] he be
taken [ginomai] out
of [ek] the way. [mesos]KJV-Interlinear
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. NASB
The word for mystery, musterion, means something which was before now, unknown
to all, a secret kept by someone who did not reveal the secret, therefore all
who had no knowledge of it, were not even aware that the secret even existed.
For example, we all
know about the atoms and molecules and distant galaxies and germs and so forth,
but for centuries, even thousands of years, people knew nothing about these
things.They existed all around them,
but their secrets were not revealed until science began the long discovery
process which reveals their existence.
This is of course an
example of our temporal world. Within our temporal world, God has given us the
tools to discover how it works.It just
took humanity a long time to make the basic discoveries.And even now, in our high tech and rapid
period of discovery, the more we learn, the more we realize that we do not
know, the more questions are raised, thus perpetuating the search for more
discoveries, and so forth.
And just as God placed
a vast universe between heaven and earth, denoting the vast distance between
knowledge and ability and wisdom and so forth, in order to demonstrate just how
far apart man and God are in reality, so too, we now have an example of just
how weak and na ve humanity is with regard to the truths that rule our current
dispensation, even our contemporary times.
God has a plan.We call that plan the Divine Decrees.Within those Decrees, God set out all of the
details of history.Your life, every detail
of your life, is contained within those decrees.God looked down through the tunnel of time
and saw every detail of history, regarding everything that is in existence, and
then He recorded those details, thoughts, motivations, decisions, and events,
and then He turned history loose.
If you were to record a
movie or a game, and watched it, then you know the details of that
recording.Then you rewind it and replay
it.You can watch it all again, knowing
everything that will be said, everything that will occur, and so forth.And you do not change anything, nor coerce
anyone into doing what they do within that recording. You just know in advance
what is going to happen.That is similar
to the Divine Decrees.Only now we are
living history of the first time.God
does not change anything, nor do anything that would
make us do whatever it is that we do.
But God does have one
big advantage.He foreknows everything
that is going to happen, and thus He can place anyone or anything into history
in order to cause history to terminate in His desired result, namely good, and
not evil.And His decisions as to when
to place people into history, and when various things will occur, were made in
eternity past, when He developed the Divine Decrees.God controls history.
God represents good.
Satan represents evil.God is the only
one who can control evil.And in this
case, restrain it to such a degree that its full force
cannot be unleashed into history, unless and until God allows it.
Man cannot control
evil.Man cannot even control man.Angels cannot control evil.The angel Michael wrestled with Satan over
the body of Moses, but the angel could not control evil.God is the only one who can control evil.
There are three members
of the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.The Bible tells us that the Father authored
the divine plan, the Son executes the plan, and the Holy Spirit sustains that
plan.But the Holy Spirit has yet
another role to play in history, and that is one of restraint.
The anti-christ is under restraint by the Holy Spirit, John 14:26,
15:26, 16:13.John uses the masculine pronoun together with the neuter gender to
describe this action of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit battled
wickedness before the flood of Noah, My Spirit will not strive with man forever
, Gen 6:3.
The Holy Spirit
convicts the world with regard to sin, Jn. 16:8.
The Holy Spirit is
referenced when Israel was declared a stiff-necked people resisting the
Spirit, Acts 7:51.
In Rom. 1:18-20,
1:21-23, 1:24-25, 1:26-28, three statements are used ( gave them up, gave
them over to ) to describe the removal of the restraint from evil man.Refer also to Psa. 81:11-12, Prov. 1:23-31,
Hos. 4:17 for similar divine policy.
Likewise, since God has
sent His Son, Satan would similarly desire to send his own personal
representative such that he could then rule the world through him.But that representative is under current
restraint.
And here we are taught
that there are two levels of evil.The
first level is that which is loose in the world today and has been for all of
history.Here Paul calls it
lawlessness. This is the sin and
corruption and tyranny and lawlessness, including human self-righteousness,
that exists today.We have seen
in history, many examples of just how bad this kind of lawlessness can get.From the gossips of social clubs to the
radicals of terrorism, to the Hitlers and so forth,
this world is not without its bad people.
But there is a level of
evil, the likes of which this world has never seen, but one day, will see in
all of its fury.
There have been books
and movies and things that attempt to present the events of the Tribulation, but
they generally romanticize the human aspects, the human endeavors, the human efforts to thwart that future evil.But none of them have ever come close to the
real deal.
The restraint that exists
today, is controlled by the Holy Spirit, preventing
Satan from having his very own personal representative turned loose on the
world.But even though that evil has
been delayed, Satan, since the very first promise of a Savior, given to Adam, a
long time ago, has been plotting his own pseudo-savior to counter the real one,
Jesus Christ.
All of Satans plans are centered around
his own plan of evil and his own last attempt to either rule the world, to
cause God to make an error, or to destroy the world.And it is that last effort which will be the
final effort of Satan, when all else fails.
When the time was
right, God restored the world. When the time was right, God created Adam and
Eve.When the time was right, God caused
the flood to come in Noahs
day.When the time was right, God
brought the Savior into the world.
When the time is right
..then God
will release the restraint against evil, and that will occur at the Rapture.
Ours is said to be the
Age of the Royal Family.Royalty has
privilege and when the world is about to turn into total corruption, the Royal
Family is removed so as not to see the carnage that is about to occur.
While the world
presumes that it is going to solve mans problems, solve the environment, solve
any warming or cooling, solve evil as it were, and bring in some new hope or
utopia, Satan is working his plan, behind the scenes, unknown to humanity, to the
best of his ability, that will turn the world upside down.
Your
responsibility in all of this?Study each and every day.Grow up in your spiritual life, be
responsible, and be ready, spiritually ready, for whatever God has in His plan
for your life.
In the night sky we can
see stars that we could never reach.We
can look through telescopes so powerful that we can see to vast distances, that are most certainly beyond our reach.But we cannot see heaven, and most of
humanity cannot see the plans of greater powers that are unfolding right before
their eyes.
Don t be one of those
who are blind and sightless.