Q. “A. L. O. C.” There are some who maintain that when the Church is taken away, the Holy Spirit will then be withdrawn. Is it so? 2 Thess. 2:77For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:7) speaks of a restrainer till the “wicked” sets himself up as God?
A. The personal place in the Church on earth which the Holy Spirit assumed, as sent down from heaven at Pentecost, only remains true as long as the Church of God is here. You must distinguish between His actions on earth previously and Himself now personally dwelling in the Church, which is peculiar to Christianity. When it ceases as a system on earth, as existing only during Christ’s rejection and absence, the Holy Spirit’s personally dwelling on earth is no more needed; for Christ will then be present Himself and reigning in power. The Holy Spirit will then work, and His actions be known and manifested, as was the case before He came to dwell, and will thus continue to carry out all divine good as God’s direct power, and in the unity of the godhead.
Scripture does not state that the Holy Spirit is the One who “letteth,” in 2 Thess. 2:99Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, (2 Thessalonians 2:9). The wisdom of God has left the restrainer unnamed. Of old the saints believed it to be the then Roman Empire, and were probably right. Now, it doubtless is the power of God working by His Spirit in the Church on earth — as we can gather from general intelligence of the Word. When the Church is taken away there may be a long or short interval before the manifestation of the “man of sin.” God will then use whatever He pleases as the restrainer. It may be the Holy Spirit’s action in the godly Jew or whatever He wills. Hence it is left vague in the passage. Any instrument may be at the moment this restrainer in God’s hand.
The Holy Spirit will be “poured out upon all flesh” in the millennial day — a remarkable manifestation of His power and action. As to “dwelling” it is peculiar to the period of Christ’s rejection and absence. He is the Spirit of communion, leading the children of God into the consciousness of the possession of their own things.
When He ceases thus to dwell, the Lord gives a testimony to the world, through His earthly people Israel — the Jew. This is termed the “spirit of prophecy,” because it is the desire produced in the hearts of the godly for what they have not yet possessed, but are looking for; and this expresses itself as “the testimony of Jesus,” that is, the testimony He gives at that day.
In Enoch you find illustrated the spirit of communion; in Noah the spirit of prophecy. The one walks with God; has the testimony that he is pleasing to Him, and is translated out of the scene before the judgments of which he testified were poured out on the world. In this he is a figure of the Church. The other must pass through the waters of tribulation and build an ark, prophesies about blessings he had not yet enjoyed, preaches righteousness to an ungodly world, and becomes heir of the renewed earth. He typifies the Jewish remnant in whom the Spirit of God works during the interval before the millennium is set up.
The Paraclete or Comforter is the name given to Him in His actions and sojourn on earth with and in the Church, as the Messiah was the Comforter or Consolation of Israel (Luke 2:2525And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. (Luke 2:25)). “I will send you another Paraclete,” or “Comforter,” points to Christ Himself, as amongst those godly ones as their Comforter then; this, too, while Christ is away.