The Holy Spirit and the Tribulation

Question: Juanita asks, “I heard that it says somewhere in the Bible that the Holy Spirit will not be on earth during the Tribulation. Is that so?”

Answer: As God, the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is omnipresent. There is no place where He is not. Thus the references to Him being “sent” and “coming” at Pentecost are merely verbal tools to describe a change in ministry, not so m1|uch a change in location. The Holy Spirit was very much at work in Old Testament times, before He “came” at Pentecost. He was involved in creation (Gen. 1:2; Job 33:4), and of course He inspired the Old Testament Scriptures (II Pet. 1:21). He also came upon and “filled” individuals to equip them for a particular work (Exod. 31:3; Jud. 3:10).

Prior to Pentecost, sinners still needed to be born again through faith, and receive eternal life. That is a work of the Holy Spirit–which is why Christ (pre-Pentecost) could speak to Nicodemus of his need to be born again of the Spirit of God (Jn. 3:5-8). There are, however, some differences with regard to the ministry of the Spirit of God in the present age. His permanent indwelling of believers is new (Jn. 14:16-17), as is His baptizing work of joining Christians to Christ and to one another in His body (I Cor. 12:12-13; Gal. 3:26-28). The church is unique to the present age.

That brings us to what happens after the rapture of the church. Second Thessalonians 2:6-8 says, “Now you know what is restraining, that he [the Antichrist] may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He [meaning, I believe, the Holy Spirit] who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed…” One of the ministries of the Spirit now is to restrain the forces of evil. (Imagine what they will be like when unrestrained!) And one of the chief agencies the Spirit uses to accomplish this is the church, and concerned Christians who speak out against wrong. When the church is taken up, this restraint will come to an end.

However, that does not mean the omnipresent Spirit will no longer be here and at work. One writer says the “taking out of the way” of the Restrainer “refers not to spatial removal…but rather [to] a stepping aside.” I sometimes picture it as the opening of flood gates causing a tide of evil to sweep across the world. Millions will be saved during the Tribulation (those who have not heard the gospel and decisively rejected Christ before the rapture–Rev. 7:13-14; cf. II Thess. 2:9-12). They will be convicted by the Spirit of God, and born of the Spirit. But in many respects, judging from the limited Scripture we have on the subject, His operations seem to revert to what they were in the Old Testament.