There are two things that I want us to get out of here at this time. One is that the lawlessness was already working in Paul's day, and that it had the force of the supernatural power of Satan. We are dealing with something that is significant here. The "he who restrains" therefore has to also be of supernatural power in order to restrain. Therefore He who restrains, must be God. When the restraint is lifted, the man of sin will come to much fuller power. In this is the vague implication that since the mystery of iniquity was already working, a man of sin was also on the scene. Not the man of sin, but a man of sin. Can he be associated with the end time false prophet?
