(as in the collective presence of The Holy Spirit in believers, raptured out from the populations)
This may well be the proper definition of the “restrainer”...but in the times before Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit and the church...what or who was the Restrainer then? What kept the antichrist from arising before the birth of Christ?
You see I think the “restrainer” might have been something or someone more singular, not just the collective presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. It may well be the Holy spirit, who like the wind, comes and goes as he wills acting singularly separate from us. Perhaps it is a special ark angel....like the one that contended with the Demon that controlled Persia who had to get help from Michael the ark angel so he could give Daniel a message.
Thus if the restrainer is not “the Holy Spirit filled church”, it starts to explain why so many believers are said to be killed and imprisoned in the book of Revelation, and why the beast system is said to be allowed to “wear them down”, as well as stating...Revelation 14:12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 13And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
If the Holy Spirit is the restrainer, it doesn’t necessarily follow that when he steps out the way that he will abandon Christians and the church should the rapture not immediately follow. The two witnesses are raised up as a living hindrance to the beast system and will blunt at least for 3.5 years all that the Antichrist system would do. Many miracles may occur, there may be places of Goshen as the plagues fall. The 144000 will be witnesses and a comfort to those living at the time for those trying to stay out of the Beast System’s grasp! And at some point, the dead in Christ will rise and then a lifting away of those who believe who are still alive...some think before the first of the full wrath of God starts to fall(the great tribulation), some think at the 1335th day...but a rapture will happen.
My point in all this is to suggest that we pray to the Lord that he come quickly, while at the same prepare our selves to be able persevere should our preconceived notions of the end times not go the way we thought they would. The antichrist will be in charge for a time but his control will be uneven at times especially when God calls forth his judgments! God will not abandon us if things go sideways. A pre-trib rapture would be great...and that is fine....but be prepared for the long haul if it doesn’t. Persevere in the Lord and be strong!
.
>> “A pre-trib rapture would be great” <<
.
Even though it would demolish Yehova’s stated plan?
Even though Paul told the Thessalonians that it was not possible because the Man of Sin must first come?
.