MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
February 21, 2024
Satan’s Deceptions
Part 9
Our series on the subject of deception concludes here. However, this by no means indicates we have already achieved an exhaustive study and understanding of the subject as we should, and as it demands.
Deception was the ultimate brainchild craft masterfully employed by its originator, Satan, “the father of lies and murderer from the beginning” “the enemy of God and man,” to frame the “father” of all temptations thereafter “by which all man are tempted with.”
The sad and fearful record of sacred Bible history informs, as it seeks to educate and enlighten and warn fallen, sinful mankind, particularly those who profess to know and worship God, from the very beginning of Eden time to the close of probation time, that:
a) the first temptation embodying the first lie was facilitated by the first deception of the “father of lies”
b). caused the Fall in Eden-when Eve, then Adam disobeyed God and yielded to the combined deception-temptation of the main Antichrist, Satan, who has own vicegerent on earth; apostle Paul identifies him as “the man of sin and the son of perdition.”
Deception, and all its branches, variations, shades of meaning, applications, manifestations, fruits, results, and consequences, plays a critical and prominent role in the great controversy between Christ and Satan and the latter with mankind, specifically in the realm of religion, worship, and law of God as the foundation of His everlasting kingdom and rule of government over all His creation.
I conclude this series with a vital passage in the Gospels preserving Christ’ words right after He and His first disciples departed from temple of Jerusalem for the last time. This is when and where He unfolded His now familiar “mini apocalypse,” (Matt. 23; Luke 21, etc.) placing the earlier prophesied Destruction of Jerusalem (by the Roman army led by Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, 40 years after, as the type prefiguring the antitypical destruction of the last days due to the final apostasy prophesied in Revelation 13 detailing the major deceptions of the main players revealed in prophetic symbols.
Now, read from your own Bible Matt. 23: 1-31 (KJV) focusing on verses 1-5. But read verse 1 first. Then:
“And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, WHEN shall these things be? And WHAT shall be the SIGN of the of THY COMING, and of the END OF THE WORLD? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that NO MAN DECEIVE YOU. For MANY shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall DECEIVE MANY.” vs 2-6.
Only after this does Jesus go down the list of His mini apocalypse in answer to His disciples’ two part question of time and circumstance, “when”‘ and “what,” unaware that they correctly connecting the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple as the “sign” preceding His second advent (specifically its antitype!).
Until next topic, God willing. Bless all, NMF.