Paul the
apostle told the Thessalonian church member “the day of Christ”
would not come until the “man of sin” or “son of
perdition” be revealed. This “antichrist's” “coming
will be after the working of Satan”, and he will deceive people
“with all power and lying wonders”. Because people did not
receive “the love of the truth” of Jesus Christ, “that
they might be saved”, these people will “perish”,
and in chapter two and verse eleven of this second letter to
the Thessalonians, Paul shares how “God shall send them strong
delusion” so they will “believe a lie” where we
read:
And for
this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie:
The
verse begins, “And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion,...” Paul
continued his though about those who do not receive “the
love of the truth” with
the words, “and for this cause”
which means “for this reason, on account of and therefore” “God”
who is “the Godhead bodily and trinity comprised of God the Father,
Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit” “shall
send” or
“bid a thing to be carried to on, thrust or insert a thing into
another” “them” which
refers to those who reject “the love
of the truth”
“strong”
which is the Greek word “energeia”
and
means “working, efficiency and superhuman power”
“delusion”
which means “wandering, straying such as mental straying, error,
wrong opinion relative to morals or religion, wrong acting and that
which leads into error, deceit or fraud”. When people reject “the
love of the truth”,
God will “send them”
a powerful deception that leads them into error and wrong opinions
related to morals and religion.
The
verse goes on to say, “...that they should believe a lie:”
Paul went on to explain why “God shall send them strong
delusion” as he wrote, “that they” which refers to
those who reject “the love of the truth” “should believe”
or “think to be true, be persuaded of, credit and place confidence
in” “a lie” which means “a conscious and intentional
falsehood which is perverse, impious and filled with deceitful
precepts”. The result of God sending this “strong delusion”
will be that people will “be persuaded of” and convinced that
this “lie” is the truth.
When
we stop to think about Paul's words, we begin to understand the
result of rejecting God's truth. People who reject God's plan of
salvation through Jesus Christ, will be offered an alternative
“strong delusion”,
and they will follow after it with all their being. They will swear
they have the real truth, and they will be following “a
lie”. Anyone who rejects Jesus
Christ as Savior and Lord is being offered “a strong
delusion” even today. There is
no other way to salvation. Jesus said, “I am the way, the
truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me”.
The apostle Peter also said in Acts chapter four and verse twelve,
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved.”. If people reject the name of Jesus, they will receive
“a lie”, and be prone to follow after it. May all who read
these words beware, and turn to “God's truth” before the “strong
delusion” comes and is believed in their lives.
Next
time Paul tells the Thessalonians about those who will “be
damned who believe not the truth”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
No comments:
Post a Comment