Jump to content
  • Welcome Guest

    For an ad free experience on Online Baptist, Please login or register for free

Could they be angels?


Recommended Posts

  • Members

There is a verse in 2 Thessalonians that is very interesting regarding an unnamed, "he," that letteth, (withholds) the power of the enemy until "he" be taken out of the way.

2 Thess. 2
[7] For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
[8] And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

In light of premillenial eschatology, most say this is the holy spirit, or the church. However, there are some who say it could be angels.
I've heard this before and it has some merit. It is based on the fact that the angels have charge to defend the saints and withhold the enemy. Notice:

Dan. 10
[19] And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.
[20] Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.
[21] But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.

That phrase, ". . . that holdeth. . . " is the same as our phrase in 2 Thess. 2:7, letteth.

2 Thess. 2
[7] For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
[8] And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

This could be in connection with the war in Heaven:

Rev. 12
[7] And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
[8] And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
[9] And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

As we see here, Michael, the great "military angel" wars against Satan and prevails. He has done this down the corridors of time.
It could be at this time, Satan takes possession of the body of the man that is antichrist. As it says in 2 Thess. 2, he will be busy trying to ". . . deceiveth the whole world. . . "

2 Thess. 2
[9] Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
[10] And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
[11] And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
[12] That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Again, as in Daniel, we see Michael stood against those demons that were trying to withstand God's ministry in the life of Daniel.

Dan. 10
[12] Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
[13] But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

The reason some have considered this alternative interpretation of who is doing the "letting" (withholding,) in 2 Thess. 2 is because we can only assume that he that letteth is the holy spirit or the church. It is subjective reasoning. There is no clear and conclusive evidence that it's the holy spirit, so we should consider other options.

A pastor brother once told me, "When you make strong statements about the Revelation, it is wise to put a "(?)" at least in parenthesis because there is that element of mystery in the interpretation of the second coming that is going to give God the trump card on all "theories."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Seems sort of irrelevant to me if he that "letteth" is specifically speaking of the Holy Spirit or an angel as it is six of one and a half dozen of the other. After all all the angels are is ministers of God and the the only reason their powers are superior to the powers of darkness is because of God.

"Jude 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...