Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Most Dangerous Sin

Revelation 20:1-10

I know that most of us do not do a lot of studying from the book of Revelation, but this passage holds a particular piece on interest for me. Pride. It is truly the downfall of man, the root of all sin, and extremely dangerous. It is pride that makes us think we do not need a Savior. It is pride that makes us think we have gone too far and that God cannot forgive us as well. Anytime we think we have found a better way or know more than God, it is pride.

Many times we put everything off on Satan. "The devil made me do it" we have all claimed. Many times that is very, very true. Satan is the father of all lies and if he's talking he is lying (John 8:44). But, this passage digs deep into human nature and shows us that Satan is not always the cause of our failures. Let's look deep into this passage.

In verse 3 we see that after the tribulation, Satan will be thrown into the Abyss for 1000 years to "keep him from deceiving the nations anymore". So Satan is banished for 1000 years and Christ is ruling on Earth. Chist, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is literally ruling on the Earth and everyone knows He is God. According to theologians this will be a time of peace, but it is not heaven. Babies will be born, people will go to work, etc. However, after the 1000 years are up Satan is unleashed and goes out to deceive the nations once more to have one final assault against God. We would think that after mankind had reigned with Christ for 1000 years that Satan's army would be a one man show. But the scripture says that the number that come to fight against God "are like the sand on the seashore" (Rev. 20:8).


Amazing. They have seen the Living God with their own eyes, Satan has been bound, and yet their pride says, "why serve God when you can be your own god". Their own flesh deceives them. How is our flesh deceiving us today? Is there an area of pride that is telling us that we have it all figured out? My prayer is that we will ask God daily to strip us of all pride that we might be of use to His kingdom. Let's not allow Satan or our own flesh and blood to deceive us. Our only hope is in the Lord.

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