The Number 120 and a Biblical Theology of the Restrainer

There are plenty of excellent studies out there that defend the importance of the Pre-Trib Rapture in 2 Thessalonians 2, especially the use of apostasia in 2 Thess. 2:3 as referring to the "departure" of the Spirit-indwelled Body of Christ. Therefore, this article will focus on tracing the theological roots of "the Restrainer" from the same chapter (2 Thess. 2:6-7).

Throughout this study we will seek to answer the following questions: Where does the apostle Paul derive his understanding of the Restrainer? How does the Church factor into God's restraining influence on the earth? And does the biblical evidence support Paul's theology in 2 Thessalonians 2 regarding the Church's departure and removal from the earth prior to the start of the Day of the Lord and unleashing of the Antichrist?

Before we dive into the details, note the centrality and parallelism of Paul's inclusion of the Rapture to comfort and reassure the Body of Christ:

And we ask you, brothers, in regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our gathering together to Him, that you are not quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither through spirit, neither through word, neither through letters as through us, as that the Day of the LORD has arrived; do not let anyone deceive you in any way, because if the departure may not come first, the man of lawlessness may [not] be revealed—the son of destruction, who is opposing and is raising himself up above all called god or worshiped, so as for him to have sat down in the temple of God, proclaiming that he is God. Do you not remember that, yet being with you, I said these things to you? And now, you have known what is restraining, for his being revealed in his own time, for the secret of lawlessness already works, only the [One] now restraining [will do so] until He may come out of [the] midst, and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the LORD will consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and will nullify at the appearance of His coming, whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and in all deceitfulness of the unrighteousness in those perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth for their being saved, and because of this God will send to them a working of delusion, for their believing the lie, that they may be judged—all who did not believe the truth, but were well pleased in the unrighteousness (2 Thess. 2:1-12, LSV).

Verses 1, 3, 6, and 7 all highlight and reinforce the significance of the Rapture of the Church prior to the Day of the Lord in various ways:

2:1 - "...in regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ...our gathering together to Him..."

2:3 - "...the departure...come first..."

2:6 - "...you have known what is restraining..."

2:7 - "...the One now restraining [will do so] until He may come out of [the] midst..."

Paul's original letter (1 Thessalonians) provides the basis for the comforting revelation of the Pre-Trib Rapture (1 Thess. 1:10; 4:13-18; 5:1-11), and a cursory reading of his second letter to the Thessalonians solidifies and reinforces the same doctrine of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church. In short, the apostle does not introduce a brand new concept in his second letter, he merely uses different words and phrases to affirm his prior teaching on the Rapture. Those who isolate and twist Paul's words to suit their own eschatological whims should heed the wisdom from 2 Peter 3:14-16 (note the surrounding context is about a correct understanding of the Day of the Lord).

In this study we will first survey the number "120" and its connection to the Restrainer in the Old Testament, then we will look at a significant New Testament passage that solidifies the Church's connection to the Restrainer, and, lastly, we will revisit 2 Thessalonians 2 in light of a biblical theology of the Restrainer and God's story written in the stars.

One-Twenty A-Plenty

Where does the apostle Paul derive his theology of the Restrainer?

For those who are well-versed in Scripture, the first passage that comes to mind is Genesis 6:3. This is where readers of the Bible are first introduced to the concept of God's Spirit as a Restrainer in conjunction with the number 120. In this brief survey of the occurrences of "120" in the Old Testament, there are plenty of instructive examples which reveal a consistent pattern that the apostle Paul would have likely discerned and applied to his understanding of the Church as the world's present Restrainer until the Rapture.

(Spirit) Gen. 6:3 - The first mention of "120" in the Old Testament sets the tone and establishes the template for the New Testament fulfillment: 

And YHWH says, 'My Spirit does not strive in man for all time, for indeed, he [is] flesh, but his days have been one hundred and twenty years (LSV). 

When seen in its context, this primary example informs us that God's Spirit operates in man as a form of restraint during a time of rampant evil and corruption of the flesh. Also, God's Spirit does not restrain indefinitely; there is a predetermined limit to His restraining influence as indicated by the number 120. We can infer based on the context that once God's Spirit no longer restrains, sudden judgment commences as indicated by the Flood (chapters 6–9).

The Masoretic Text of Gen. 6:3 reflects a slight textual corruption; specifically, the final Hebrew letter of the word often translated as "strive." Instead of yadown ("to strive, contend, judge," Strong's 1777), the original text reads yadur ("to dwell, live, encircle," Strong's 1752). The verb yadur is derived from the noun form, dor ("period, generation, dwelling," Strong's 1755), which occurs in nearby texts such as Gen. 6:9; 7:1; 9:12. Many English versions reflect the variant reading of God's Spirit "abiding" or "dwelling" in man as the means of restraint prior to the global cataclysm of the Flood (see ESV, HCSB, NASB, NET, NRSV). This reading also coheres with the New Testament revelation of the Holy Spirit "abiding" in the believer during the Church Age prior to the fiery judgments of the Tribulation (see Jn. 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13; Rom. 8:9; 1 Jn. 2:27; 3:24).

Furthermore, both the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q252) and Greek translation of the Hebrew text support the above emendation to the corrupted Masoretic reading. For example, the Septuagint (LXX) of Gen. 6:3 reads:

And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall certainly not remain (katameno) among these men for ever, because they are flesh, but their days shall be an hundred and twenty years (Brenton's Septuagint Translation).

And get this: after God's Spirit no longer "abides" or "remains" on the earth as a restraining influence prior to the Flood, the Spirit of God returns again to restrain after the judgment ends:

And God remembers Noah, and every living thing, and all the livestock which [are] with him in the Ark, and God causes a wind (ruach) to pass over the earth, and the waters subside, and the fountains of the deep and the network of the heavens are closed, and the shower is restrained from the heavens (Gen. 8:1-2, LSV). 

The phrase translated above as "God causes a wind to pass over the earth" can also be translated as "God's Spirit passes over the earth." In fact, this is exactly how the International Standard Version renders Genesis 8:1 (and see also Gen. 1:2). In the Hebrew text, the word translated above as "restrained" is kala (Strong's 3607), and in the Greek it is sunecho (Strong's 4912). The word sunecho is a compound of sun (together, with) + echo (hold) and is synonymous with Paul's term for the Restrainer in 2 Thess. 2:6-7: katecho (Strong's 2722), a compound of kata (down, against, by) + echo (hold).

In summary, the inclusio or bracketing of Gen. 6:3 and Gen. 8:1-2 forms the theological foundation for Paul's understanding of the identity and role of the New Testament "Restrainer." Based on the Genesis template, the Restraining Ruach is removed for a period of time (6:3); then the global Flood of judgment begins (7:11-12), and finally the Restraining Ruach returns to restrain again after God's judgment has run its course (8:1-2).

(Body) Deut. 31:2; 34:7 - The next significant example of "120" in Scripture is also found in the Torah (i.e. the first five books of the Bible authored by Moses). Like the Genesis 6 example above, these instances of "120" at the conclusion of Deuteronomy come at the end of an era, a time of judgment and transition:

And Moses goes and speaks these words to all Israel, and he says to them, 'I [am] a son of one hundred and twenty years today; I am not able to go out and to come in anymore, and YHWH has said to me, You do not pass over this Jordan. Your God YHWH—He is passing over before you; He destroys these nations from before you, and you have possessed them; Joshua—he is passing over before you, as YHWH has spoken (Deut. 31:1-3, LSV).

Thus, Moses' age at the time of his death (120) echoes Gen. 6:3 and the predetermined generational limit on God's gracious activity of restraint among the nations. Israel's "restrainer" and mediator under the Law reaches his own personal 120-limit and is not permitted to "pass over" the Jordan into the Promised Land. Therefore, YHWH himself will pass over; and the baton of judgment passes to Joshua (Yeshua/Jesus) who will cross the Jordan and wipe out the wicked nations. Note: after Moses dies at the age of 120, his body goes "missing" according to biblical and extra-biblical sources (for an in-depth discussion on the "missing body" typology in the OT, see the previous Unsealed article and video entitled, "The Fig Tree, Imminence, and the Sureness of the Pre-Trib Rapture Part II").

(Temple) Num. 7:86; 1 Kgs. 9:14; 10:10; 2 Chron. 3:4; 5:12; 9:9 - Throughout the Old Testament, the number "120" is frequently associated with God's sanctuary. Moreover, God's dwelling place where He "abides," "remains," and restrains on the earth is closely connected to the biblical number of the Restrainer:

This [is] the dedication of the altar, in the day of its being anointed by the princes of Israel: twelve silver dishes, twelve silver bowls, twelve golden spoons; each silver dish [is] one hundred and thirty [shekels], and each bowl seventy; all the silver of the vessels [is] two thousand and four hundred [shekels], by the shekel of the holy place; twelve golden spoons full of incense, ten [shekels] each spoon, by the shekel of the holy place; all the gold of the spoons [is] one hundred and twenty [shekels] (Num. 7:84-86, LSV).

Two notable Gentiles give the same amount of gold to another agent of restraint, Solomon, and toward the construction of God's temple in Jerusalem:

And Hiram sends one hundred and twenty talents of gold to the king. And this [is] the matter of the tribute that King Solomon has lifted up, to build the house of YHWH, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer (1 Kgs. 9:14-15, LSV).

Your God YHWH is blessed, who delighted in you, to put you on the throne of Israel; in YHWH’s loving Israel for all time He sets you for king, to do judgment and righteousness.' And she gives to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and very many spices, and precious stone; there never again came in abundance like that spice that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon (1 Kgs. 10:9-10, LSV).

 

Lastly, the book of 2 Chronicles (the last book in the TaNaK, or Hebrew canon of Scripture) includes "120" in association with the specific height of the temple and the number of priests who serve in the temple:

And [in] these Solomon has been instructed to build the house of God: the length [in] cubits by the former measure [is] sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. As for the porch that [is] on the front, the length [is] by the front of the breadth of the house—twenty cubits, and the height one hundred and twenty [[or twenty]], and he overlays it within with pure gold (2 Chron. 3:3-4, LSV).

And the Levites, the singers, to all of them, to Asaph, to Heman, to Jeduthun, and to their sons, and to their brothers, clothed in white linen, with cymbals, and with psalteries, and harps, are standing on the east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing with trumpets—indeed, it comes to pass, trumpeters and singers [are] as one, to sound [with] one voice—to praise and to give thanks to YHWH, and at the lifting up of the sound with trumpets, and with cymbals, and with instruments of song, and at giving praise to YHWH, [saying], 'For [He is] good, for His kindness [is] for all time,' that the house is filled with a cloud—the house of YHWH, and the priests have not been able to stand to minister from the presence of the cloud, for the glory of YHWH has filled the house of God (2 Chron. 5:12-14, LSV).

This climactic scene depicting the completion of Solomon's temple is a type and shadow of the completion of the temple of the Holy Spirit (the Church) and subsequent celebration in heaven after the Pre-Tribulation Rapture and removal of God's present Restrainer on the earth (see Revelation 4–5).

 

(Gentiles) Dan. 6:1 - The final example of "120" in the Old Testament occurs immediately after the fall of Babylon, when God divides up "the head of gold" (Dan. 2:38) and gives it to the Medes and the Persians:

It has been good before Darius, and he has established over the kingdom satraps—one hundred and twenty—that they may be throughout the whole kingdom, and three presidents higher than they, of whom Daniel [is] first, that these satraps may give to them an account, and the king have no loss. Then this Daniel has been overseer over the presidents and satraps, because that an excellent spirit [is] in him, and the king has thought to establish him over the whole kingdom (Dan. 6:1-3, LSV).

The word translated above as "satraps" (Hebrew/Aramaic: achashdarpan, Strong's 324) stems from a Persian loanword, khshathapavan, which literally means "protector of the province" (see etymology). Thus, the number 120 is once again associated with a governing body that restrains evil and rules on the earth for a set period of time. In this particular instance, the number "120" incorporates the Gentiles along with Daniel, a preeminent Israelite and prefiguring of Christ, as the chief overseer of these 120 restrainers.

From One Upper Room to Another

How does the Church factor into God's restraining influence on the earth?

(Church) Acts 1:15 - The final occurrence of the number 120 in the Bible is also the only mention of "120" in all of the New Testament writings:

And when they came in, they went up into the upper room, where were abiding both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James, of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, of James; these were all continuing with one accord in prayer and supplication, with women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. And in these days, Peter having risen up in the midst of the disciples, said (also the multitude of the names at the same place was, as it were, one hundred and twenty) (Acts 1:13-15, LSV).

This last instance of "120" cements the association between all of the Old Testament "Restrainers" and God's new governing "Body," the Holy Spirit-indwelled Temple, consisting of Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus, the Messiah. Therefore, Acts 1:15 also solidifies the identity of God's restraining influence during this present dispensation often referred to as the "Church Age." Acts 2 seals the deal with the arrival of the same Restraining Ruach as seen from the early chapters of Genesis:

And in the day of the Pentecost being fulfilled, they were all with one accord at the same place, and there came suddenly out of the sky a sound as of a violent rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting (Acts 2:1-2, LSV).

Recall the Greek translation of Genesis 6:3 cited above, especially the word katameno ("to remain, abide"). This term that describes the restraining presence of God's Spirit from Genesis 6:3 occurs only one time in the New Testament:

And when they came in, they went up into the upper room, where were abiding (katameno) both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James, of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, of James (Acts 1:13, LSV).

This deliberate use of the Greek verb, katameno ("to remain, abide, dwell," Strong's 2650), in conjunction with the only mention of the number 120 in the entire New Testament (Acts 1:15) STRONGLY affirms the divine inspiration of Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit, directing our attention back to the theology of the Restrainer revealed in Old Testament (starting with Gen. 6:3).

Note: in the same context of the only occurrence of "120" in the New Testament, the number of the apostles goes from 11 to 12 with the appointment of Matthias (Acts 1:26). Twelve is a multiple of 120 (10 x 12); and taken together, the numbers 10 and 12 represent a complete ruling authority. In the very next verse, the present age of God's restraint commences with the conception of the Church on the day of Pentecost.

The time of God's current restraining influence on the earth began in an UPPER ROOM in Jerusalem and will conclude at the Rapture, when the Restrainer will be "taken out of the way" (2 Thess. 2:7, KJV) and placed in another UPPER ROOM in the Jerusalem above!

Just as Jesus says in the UPPER ROOM Discourse:

Do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me; in the house of My Father are many rooms; and if not, I would have told you; I go on to prepare a place for you; and if I go on and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you to Myself, that where I am you also may be (Jn. 14:1-3, LSV).

The End from the Beginning

Does the biblical evidence support Paul's theology in 2 Thessalonians 2 regarding the Church's departure and removal from the earth prior to the start of the Day of the Lord and unleashing of the Antichrist?

Discern for yourself. If you have taken the time to carefully consider the evidence presented above, then try rereading 2 Thessalonians 2 in light of the number 120 and a biblical theology of the Restrainer. If you are catching on to what the Spirit is saying, then try to "un-see" the Church as the Restrainer of 2 Thess. 2:6-7.

Notice how Paul's entire argument in 2 Thess. 2 hinges upon the gathering, departure, and removal of the Church. Moreover, since the original audience was concerned about missing the Rapture and finding themselves in the Day of the Lord, Paul wrote to remind them that the Rapture must occur first in order for the Day of the Lord to begin and the Antichrist to be released:

Do you not remember that, yet being with you, I said these things to you? And now, you have known what is restraining, for his being revealed in his own time, for the secret of lawlessness already works, only the [One] now restraining [will do so] until He may come out of [the] midst, and then the lawless one will be revealed... (2 Thess. 2:5-8, LSV).

The order of events is critical: Rapture first, then "the lawless one" is revealed. Note also the tight-knit, thematic connection between the gathering of the Body of Christ and the subsequent releasing of the Antichrist. The gathering/releasing and binding/loosing motif pervades Paul's thought process throughout the entire chapter. Therefore, the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church is not a mere footnote or afterthought in the plan of God; rather, it is absolutely integral to the entire storyline of the Bible!

In other words: The end cannot begin unless the Church has been gathered in!

This whole last days' narrative of gathering and releasing, binding and loosing isn't isolated to one chapter in 2 Thessalonians. Paul picks up on what the Spirit teaches in the Old Testament. In fact, the gathering of the Church and releasing of the Antichrist is as old as Job. And going back even further, the typology and prefiguring of binding the Church and loosing the Antichrist is as old as the stars in sky!

Take a look at one of the oldest texts in the Bible:

Who is commanding to the sun, and it does not rise, || And the stars He seals up. Stretching out the heavens by Himself, || And treading on the heights of the sea, Making the Great Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, || And the inner chambers of the south. Doing great things until there is no searching, || And wonderful, until there is no numbering. Behold, He goes over by me, and I do not see, || And He passes on, and I do not attend to it. Behold, He snatches away, who brings it back? Who says to Him, What [are] You doing? (Job 9:7-12, LSV).

Do you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Or do you open the cords of Orion? Do you bring out the twelve signs in [their] season? And do you comfort the Great Bear over her sons? Have you known the statutes of the heavens? Or do you appoint || Its dominion in the earth? (Job 38:31-33, LSV).

 

The constellations of the Pleiades and Orion are mentioned together a total of three times in Scripture. Although they are paired together, they are set in contrast to one another as indicated by the prophet Amos:

You who are turning judgment to wormwood, || And have put down righteousness to the earth!' The Maker of the Pleiades and Orion, || And He who is turning death-shade to the morning—And He has made day [as] dark [as] night—Who is calling to the waters of the sea, || And pours them on the face of the earth, || YHWH [is] His Name (Amos 5:7-8, LSV).

We know that the Pleiades and Orion are opposites based on the following parallel contrasts in the same verse: (1) "death-shade" vs. "morning" (2) "day" vs. "night" and (3) "sea" vs. "earth." Thus, the Maker of both the Pleiades and Orion has an inter-related yet contrasting purpose for each one.

According to the ancient world, the Pleiades ("seven sisters") are depicted as being pursued or hunted down by their perennial antagonist, Orion (the giant or hunter). The similar legends about the Pleiades and Orion passed down through civilizations such as Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome did not occur in a vacuum; rather, these oral traditions are rooted in God's original revelation (as cited above in Job. 9:9; 38:31; and Amos 5:8).

Note especially from Job. 38:31 that the Pleiades are being bound together whereas Orion is being released from his "cords" or bonds. Believe it or not, this text in Job ties back to our primary Restrainer passage of Genesis 6. Here is an excerpt from Michael Heiser:

The cluster of stars known as the Pleiades (Hebrew term: kima) is mentioned three times in the Old Testament...always paired with Orion (Hebrew: kesil), since its position in the sky is close to the Orion constellation. Not surprisingly, Orion was considered a giant in the ancient world...Job 38:31 is significant in light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In one Targum of Job (i.e., an Aramaic translation of Job) discovered at Qumran, Job 38:31 reads, 'Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades (kima) or loose the cords of Orion (naphila)? This last term, the Aramaic word for Orion, is the Aramaic noun from which Nephilim derives" (Reversing Hermon, 69).

Further bolstering the Orion/Nephilim connection, the Aramaic translation of Isaiah 13:10 from the Dead Sea Scrolls labels Orion as a naphila (giant) who comes under judgment in the Day of the Lord along with other gigantes (giants); see the LXX translation of Isa. 13:3, 10 (for example, Brenton's Septuagint Translation). 

Is there a connection between Orion, the Nephilim, and the Antichrist of 2 Thessalonians 2? Yes, there is! The apostle Paul's distinct label for the Antichrist as "the lawless one" in 2 Thess. 2:9 likely comes from the same descriptor of the Nephilim (giants) in the book of 1 Enoch:

...when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones (1 Enoch 7:3-6).

Thus, the coming AC is "the lawless one," the hunter and giant par excellence. He is "Orion" whose belt has become...unfastened! However, before the lawless one can be unbound to wreak havoc on the earth, the Church that is bound for heaven must disappear from the face of the earth according to the typology and storyline from Scripture. The Jewish sages agree that the disappearance of the Pleiades signals the start of judgment and the opening of the abyss:

Rebbi Abbamari, the brother of Rebbi Yose, said: everybody agrees that the Seventeenth (of the second month) is the time for the pleiads to disappear, since on it the Deluge came over the world. What is the reason? On this day all sources of the deep abyss were opened (Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 1:3:2, parenthesis added for clarification).

Based on God's message in the heavens about the "seven sisters" being bound together in conjunction with the release of the giant hunter, where else in Scripture can we find a cluster of "seven" being held together by its Maker and gathered together to Him? Ah, where else but the beginning of the end:

Write the things that you have seen, and the things that are, and the things that are about to come after these things; the secret of the seven stars that you have seen on My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are messengers of the seven assemblies, and the seven lampstands that you have seen are seven assemblies (Rev. 1:19-20, LSV). 

And after the elect of the seven churches have been gathered together, removed from the earth, and taken to their Maker in heaven (Rev. 3:10; 4:1, 4; 5:8-14), can we also find a subsequent "releasing" or "loosing" of the bonds of Orion, the giant and the hunter who represents the coming Antichrist?

Well, wouldn't you know...

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as it were a voice of thunder, 'Come and behold!' And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he who is sitting on it is having a bow, and there was given to him a garland, and he went forth overcoming, and that he may overcome (Rev. 6:1-2, LSV).

 

Brothers and sisters, do not be deceived. At the present time, God restrains the coming Antichrist (and, therefore, the 7-year Tribulation period) by His abiding presence in the Body of Christ. Only when the Church is gone will "the lawless one" be unbound and unleashed to conquer the world.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear! According to Old and New Testament revelation, the Restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 is God's Spirit abiding in the Body of Christ. The Pre-Tribulation Rapture and Removal of the Restrainer is integral to the biblical story. If you don't understand the order of events at the end, then you've not only lost the blessedness of the "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13), you've lost the plot entirely!

Maranatha!

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