2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 (NIV®)
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”
Have you ever thought about how so many things in life point to the fact that there is a God? Think about it. All of creation… trees, birds, clouds, rain, animals, bugs, microorganisms, the weather… you name it, the amazing creativity of God is everywhere. Even the devil must have been impressed at some point because he decided that he wanted to be just like Him.
The consistency of scripture about God being God and the devil being the enemy of God runs through both the Old and New Testaments and culminates with the destruction of Satan and all who follow him. Everywhere he looks, Satan sees the truth that we can see… there is a God. All of creation shouts truth against all of the devil’s lies and he hates it. Even more, He knows God created everything and that God created mankind “in His image”. I imagine that is why he hates mankind so much… because God created US in His image and not him. Lowly man has been given the favor of almighty God to bear His image and the devil was not.
Satan hates God, everything God created, everything He does, and everything that has anything to do with Him. That is why we are seeing an assault on everything we know to be true. Truths like the existence of God (Genesis 1:1), only two sexes (Genesis 1:27), marriage (Genesis 2:24 / Mark 19:5), consequences for disobedience (Genesis 3), family (Genesis 4:1-2), parental authority (Deuteronomy 5:16), truth and lies (Romans 1:25 / John 14:6 / 1 John 1:6), the need to protect children (Matthew 18:6), sexuality and so much more (Romans 1 / Galatians 5:19-21). These truths are actually derived from the Bible… they are established by God. So it only makes sense that Satan would want to confuse things in all these areas, to insert questions and lies to point us down a path in direct opposition to God and His truth.
Don’t be deceived. God is God and He is the way, truth and life (John 14:6). What is true will always be true; truth does not change. God is God and the devil hates Him and hates you. God is God and no one or no thing can change that…. not even Satan. His intent is to destroy us and everything God created because he wants to be like God. Be assured, that will never happen. He’s just a “wanna be”.