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, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 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. 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. (2 Thess. 2:3-8)
The absolutely definitive signs of the (great) tribulation is the revealing of the Antichrist through the act of great apostasy, and the hard condition for that is the removal of the "restrainer", and that raises the question - who or what is the "restrainer"?
So far there're three most plausible answers - 1. the Holy Spirit, which has been suppressing the Antichrist's spirit, even though it's been at work since the days of apostle Paul. When the time comes, the Holy Spirit will be gone, Antichrist freed; 2. Civil power, specifically, national governments. Whne the Antichrist rises, national sovereignty will be surrendered to a global government, which will rule over the entire world; 3. the church and all church organizations, no good church left, all will be incorporated into the false religion of Mystery Babylon.
I think the answer is heavily affected by each one's eschatalogical view. If you're pre-trib, it'll likely to be 1 or 3; if you're post-trib like me, though, it'll likely to be 2. It all depends on how you identify of the "saints" in Revelation. If they're "new converts" - even though the whole world is deceived by the Antichrist, the original church is gone, then it might be 3, I personally side with 2, as I identify them as the remnant church, the great multitude specifically identified as the followers of Christ coming "out of the great tribulation" (Rev. 7:14). However, in most translations, the "he" and the "restrainer" are both capped, indicating the Holy Spirit, which doesn't really make sense, considering the prophecy, "it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh," (Acts 2:17).
Paul tells identifies the restrainer for us. But to understand what he means we need to understand what is being restrained. The short answer is the Holy Spirit. In the passage, Paul sets up a contrast that we sometimes miss.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-14
that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, ;and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you see the contrast Paul has set up? In the first instance, we see a group of people who are being led by Satan because they did not receive a love for the truth. In the second instance, we see a group of people who were sanctified by the Spirit and faith in the truth. Paul credits the Holy Spirit for the existence of the second group. They exist because the Holy Spirit has sanctified them.
We might describe
2 Thessalonians 2:9–13 as portraying a kind of
Kairos moment, though in a darker, inverse sense. Paul seems to envision a divinely permitted season when deception reaches its full expression. The “man of lawlessness” doesn’t simply appear at random; his arrival coincides with a moral and spiritual climate that makes his influence possible.
Paul’s language about God sending a “delusion” to those who refused to love the truth suggests that this moment is not accidental but
timed—a period when human rebellion and divine judgment intersect. In that sense, it’s a
Kairos of exposure: the world’s rejection of truth ripens to the point where falsehood can fully manifest. The restraint is lifted, the deception is unveiled, and the contrast between truth and lie becomes unmistakable.
Paul never explicitly names “the restrainer” in
2 Thessalonians 2, which is why interpreters have proposed everything from angelic beings to governmental authority. But I propose that the restrainer is the
sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit expressed through the presence of the saints.
Paul describes a moment when deception becomes possible only because
God sends a delusion upon those who “did not welcome the love of the truth.” That means the satanic influence does not appear in a vacuum; it appears in a
prepared moral and spiritual environment. In other words, the “man of lawlessness” requires a
kairos of unbelief—a season in which truth has been rejected and the Spirit’s restraining influence is withdrawn.
If the Spirit’s sanctifying work is what produces faith, love of the truth, and moral clarity in the saints, then the removal of that influence would indeed create the conditions for deception to flourish. The saints themselves—indwelt, sanctified, and truth‑loving—function as a living barrier to the rise of lawlessness. Remove the Spirit’s influence and remove the community shaped by that influence, and the world becomes spiritually unprotected. In that sense, the restrainer is not a single figure but the
Spirit‑formed presence of the church, and the “removal” is the withdrawal of that sanctifying work.
