Yesterday we were examining among other things in Revelation chapter thirteen, the deception that will mark the last times. It is one thing to read and learn of how the world will be deceived by the Antichrist, but it is another thing entirely to learn of how so many professed believers will also be deceived.
This deception does not come on quickly but is rather a growing monstrosity that has been among us ever since gospel work began. And in the last times this deception like a cancer takes over nearly the entirety of the professed Christian faith. It is a sobering reality that we have been warned of. Notice these words of the apostle Paul:
1 Thessalonians 5:4-6
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
The apostle John also warns of this:
2 John 7-8
For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
John warns us of a great personal cost in being deceived. And that cost is a loss of rewards. One of the key words in this subject is “watch”. It is our duty to recognize, avoid and even to expose this apostasy and deception. It is a duty laid upon us.
