THURSDAY, APRIL 2
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-7

2 Thessalonians 2:1-7 states, “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 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[c] 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…” When we read verses 1-7 it is obvious whose job it is to restrain evil. That job is assigned to the church. Verse 7 says, “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…” So are we restraining? We have not been taken out of the way. The Holy Spirit is still being given to those who believe, with the assignment to restrain evil. The Greek word for restrain is kat-ekh-o. It means, ‘To take a stand against, to seize, to detain, to arrest, or to hold down.’ God the Father ordained that the church would be His anointed sheriff in the earth to seize, detain, arrest and hold down evil. We have the majority of the church that refuses to wear its badge – the authority of Christ. Most of today’s church refuses to seize, arrest, detain and hold down evil. But that is our job. That is an important reason why God established a covenant with Abraham. That covenant was to walk in righteousness and to do judgment. Abraham was God’s sheriff, and everyone who came after him was supposed to walk in that role. What happened to the present-day church’s badge and assignment? Have we accepted our assignment to restrain evil? We have a job, and that job is to restrain evil so that the Great Commission can flourish!