I was reading this morning in 2 Thessalonians where Paul was writing to the Church in Thessalonica warning them that Jesus would not return at any moment as they thought he would. 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 worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.

It goes on…For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12.

I kept thinking about those verses and about how Satan works which is so very different from how God works. John 8:44 tells us that he (Satan) is a liar and the father of lies. No wonder in the above scriptures Paul said that Satan will display power through signs and wonders that serve the lie…the secret power of lawlessness.

When I look around and consider the many problems and woes of this world and how much people are suffering it isn’t difficult to see the reasons why. We embrace lies so easily. We think we have power and our will…what we want…is the only thing that matters. Multiply that attitude by the billions of people and you have chaos, selfishness, brutality, war, violence. The spirit of lawlessness by the giver and author of lies.

I take comfort in God’s word to us reminding us He is not like we are; can we be grateful He is not like us? Do you want God to lie?

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:19.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:6.

Truth is life. Lies are death. I keep thinking about what we think Jesus was like compared to the truth of what He Himself said. If you have a red-letter Bible, you can read for yourself the words Jesus spoke while He was on this earth. Just before Jesus was betrayed and taken, He prayed to the Father, “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. they are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. John 17:13-17.

God never lies to us. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:16-21.

There is such love in God’s truth. He loves us so much and longs for us to come to Him and seek His love….come out of the darkness of lies and lawlessness and turn to the One who saves us from that darkness. He is faithful and He is love and He loves you.