30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 21 20-24 WATCH AND PRAY III 04 Luke 21 20 The restraining work of the Holy Spirit through His church
📖 Luke 21:20-24
FRIEND OF GOD
27May2021 - The restraining work of the Holy Spirit through His church - Luke 21:20-24 - WATCH AND PRAY III (04) - John 16:8-11
The Lord is calling us as His church to be the salt and the light of the world, to the very end. This is our central role and this our task that we must fulfil as His people.
Soon, all that is restraining the work of sin in our world will be taken away and then the world will experience the full horror of sin and its consequences, here on earth. We, as His people, must be conscious that we are here as part of the restraining work of God, in the enablement of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.
Given here are the two specific signs of the end times or the day of the Lord. II Thessalonians 2:3 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,
We have considered the implication of what is the falling away and the description of the son of perdition.
II Thessalonians 2: (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.
The spirit of the antichrist is already in the world. I John 2:18, 2:22, 4:3, II John 1:7 The mystery of lawlessness is already at work in the world, but the lawless one is yet to be revealed. The real character and nature of the son of perdition will be revealed when He who restrains is taken out of the way.
Currently, the restrainer holds back lawlessness, but he will be removed one day. When he is out of the way, lawless activities will increase and culminate through the man of lawlessness.
Who is the restrainer?
The restrainer is the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit has the power to hold back sin from becoming full-blown. He does this through His convicting ministry. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8).
The Holy Spirit, the restrainer, will do so through Jesus' followers, but at the rapture, Jesus' followers will be removed from the earth, and the earthly influence of Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, will be greatly diminished.
While the Holy Spirit will still be on the earth, His unique sin-restraining ministry through saved believers will be gone: He will no longer convict the world of sin through believers. Therefore, lawlessness will reach an unprecedented level and manifestation.
The church needs to realise that the Holy Spirit is operating through us in bringing about a restraining effect of sin in our world. This is our very specific task till the close of this age.
There will come a time when the restraining work of the Holy Spirit in the world will be removed. What does this mean? This is when the rapture will take place and the church will be taken away from the world.
We can only imagine the full-scale outworking of sin in our world and all of its terrible consequences. This is when the actual face of the son of perdition will be revealed.
There are three specific areas of restraining that Jesus has shown to us.
John 16:8-11 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (9) of sin, because they do not believe in Me; (10) of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; (11) of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The church has to be aligned with the Holy Spirit in spreading a restraining influence across the world in these three areas, sin, righteousness and judgement.
We will look at these three areas more closely because this is the activity of the church at the end of the age. We are to be aligned and in sync with the Holy Spirit in being God’s restrainers.
Thought to ponder
Do you see yourself as a co-worker with the Holy Spirit, in restraining sin our world today?