The Restrainer is The Church

So, “what witholdeth”(v6) is “he who now letteth... until he be taken out of the way”. (v7) He is restraining the mystery of iniquity which emerged cancerously after the mystery of godliness as a contradiction to it. (1 Tim.3:16) The preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery (Rom.16:25) centers on the fact that God was manifest in the flesh in Christ. (Col.1:19,2:9) The mystery of iniquity thus denies that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh and is antichrist. (1 Jn.4:1-4) The mystery of godliness we are stewards of (1 Cor.4:1) as we oppose the mystery of iniquity. The “mystery of iniquity doth already work” which is “that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world”. (2 Thess.2:7, 1 Jn.4:3) This spirit of antichrist and the depths of Satan (Rev.2:24) are seen fully developed in falling away from the faith. (1 Jn.2:18-9) This lower degree of apostasy already working will increase in intensity in the latter times. (1 Tim.4:1) And will become a large-scale apostasy when he who witholdeth is taken out of the way. Then the “many antichrists” make way for the antichrist who shall come.

The restrainer is holding back the apostasy from the faith that Christ is come in the flesh, withholding the mystery of iniquity, and therefore the man of sin being revealed until the restrainer is taken out of the way. This restrainer would not be any governments as Christ’s kingdom is not of this world and thus not ordained to advance the preaching of Christ, but this whole world lieth in wickedness. (Jn.18:36, 1 Jn.5:19) They will become his in that day (Rev.11:15), but right now they are under the power of Satan (Lk.4:5-7) as God permits. Neither can it be understood that this restrainer is Michael the Archangel (Dan.10:13,21,12:1, Jd.1:9, Rv.12:7), for the selfsame reasons that he is not opposing the doctrines of the world denying Christ in the mystery of the gospel (Eph.6:19, Rom.16:25) “which things the angels desire to look into”. (1 Pt.1:12)