Day 89 - Revelation 13-16

The Great Deceiver.

In John 8:44 Jesus tells the Jews that the Devil is the father of all lies; that when he lies he is speaking his native language. Also to not believe Jesus is the Son of God is to be a child of the Devil. In John 10:10 Jesus says that our enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Our adversary, the Devil, is a cunning enemy. He is not some naive mindless rogue, but a crafty, deliberate, manipulative adversary. His aim is to be exalted above God. However, he has no power over God. God created Lucifer as a magnificent heavenly being who became the Devil.

In Revelation 13 we see the dragon, the Devil, giving power to the first beast, the Antichrist. He exalts the Antichrist to a position of unparalleled power in this world requiring all to take his mark upon them and show allegiance to him. I am uncertain as to whether Satan truly believes that he can still defeat God, but I do believe the father of all lies, the Great Deceiver, has deceived himself. I just think it is too insane for the Devil to believe he could dethrone God. He did try it once before, so I think it is not only possible but extremely likely Satan still thinks he can dethrone God. I think he believes he should be revered as greater than God. If he believes this, then he must also believe he can defeat God and dethrone Him. His nature has deceived him. His entire existence is consumed with following after a lie he created; he started.

In our sin nature we are very similar to Satan. Our own nature deceives us. It is our enemy, but sadly we trust it to take care of us and look out for us. We don't want to trust God and don't want to rely on Him. We want to rely on our own best thoughts. We convince ourselves that God is holding out and doesn't want us to be fulfilled. We believe he will leave us hungering for true fulfillment. We convince ourselves His plan for us can't possibly bring us fulfillment.

Don't trust your sin nature because we too will be deceived into believing a lie as Satan does. We will become his pawn just as the first beast, the Antichrist. We will think we are much and getting what we want, but in the end left empty grasping for the wind. For those who do not profess Jesus as Lord, they are already under this curse. For those of us who do profess Jesus as Lord we must not become ensnared by our own corrupt nature again. Live by the Spirit.