To hold down (κατέχω) conveys the act of preventing, hindering, or holding onto something or someone.
In the parable of the land owner who planted a vineyard and leased it out so that he could go to a far away country, the vinedressers sought to hold down his son’s inheritance by killing him (Matthew 21:38). By slaying the heir, they perceived that they would be able to prevent the owner from taking what was rightfully his.
While talking about the Kingdom of the Heavens and how the message is impacting those hearing it, Jesus speaks the parable of the sower and the seeds. Unlike the message of salvation today, which holds an inherent ability to save a person (Romans 1:16), the good news of the Kingdom of the Heavens could be snatched out of the heart of those who heard it. However, those who heard the word with a proper and good heart, prevented the loss of the message in their heart, resulting in bearing fruit (Luke 8:15). Therefore, their lives were impacted by the message of the Messiah because they believed God.
A quality of the wrath of God is manifested today against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold down the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). The wicked do not succeed because they evade justice, but rather, because God gives them over to uncleanness and the strong desires of their hearts due to their rejection of the truth. As a result, their minds become depraved, calling good evil while being filled with all forms of unrighteousness, thus bringing upon themselves the fullness of judgment (Romans 1:32).
When we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members, bearing fruit to death (Romans 7:5). But now, having been delivered from the law and having died to what held us captive, we can serve in the newness of the spirit rather than the oldness of the letter (Romans 7:6). The law revealed the true nature of sin, showing how exceedingly sinful it was and resulting in bondage (Romans 7:13). Now that we are free from the law, we live out from faith, which enables us to manifest the righteousness we have in Christ through our conduct, serving God in our minds where there is freedom.
We are to test all things to determine what is the desires will of God and hold onto that which is proper (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Let us abstain from every appearance of malignant evil while praying without ceasing, giving thanks in everything, not quenching the desires from the Spirit, comforting the emotionally weak, never rendering wrong for wrong. Let us purse what is beneficial for all. For He who calls us is faithful, and He will fulfill His promises (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
We are not to be deceived by those claiming that the rapture has already happened and that we have been left behind. The man of lawlessness—also known as the beast of Revelation and Daniel, who comes with the authority of Satan—will not be revealed until the Holy Spirit ceases to restrain Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:7). For this to happen, the removal of the Church from the earth must occur first (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Those who seek to deceive the saints use current events to imply the fulfillment of prophecies meant for other times, causing fear and distress among the saints while trying to profit from them. Some claim that the mark of the beast has arrived, suggesting it is a form of new technology. However, we are not to be shaken in mind by those who say that the tribulation is upon us. Instead, let us rejoice, for we are not appointed to any quality of wrath but to obtain salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
