The most dangerous thing to you is not the devil or illness or a stranger or the new world order; no, the most dangerous thing to you in your life right now is your own disobedience to God and His Word. Yet oftentimes, we are unconcerned with the very real threat to our lives of our own disobedience and we fear things least likely to happen to us. Now, I’m not saying the world isn’t a dangerous place. It is. And it is filled with many and varied dangers. Further, bad things can and do happen to people, even believers. Yet, that doesn’t take away from the most obvious danger we face every day — our own disobedience to God and His Word. That’s what I’d like to talk about in this blog post.
Disobedience. That’s the number one issue mankind has faced since the fall. Believer and unbeliever alike walk in disobedience to God, His Word, His Will, and His ways. In fact, the Apostle Paul speaks of the spirit of disobedience, the devil’s spirit, that is working in the “children of disobedience” — those who don’t believe in and haven’t accepted the lordship of Jesus Christ over their lives. That is the spirit working in the world right now leading people astray. As believers in Christ, we are living in a world filled with disobedient men, women, and children operating under that spirit of disobedience. And that spirit stills seeks to work in the hearts and minds of believers.
The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the danger of disobedience, said, “If you are willing and obedient, You will eat the best of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 1:19, 20, NASB. Yes, that scripture still applies to us today. God still expects and desires us to be obedient (for our own good). Yet oftentimes, people, even believers, are deceived into believing the lie of Satan: That God is withholding good things from us. And Satan can and does use that lie to turn mankind’s heart from God.
Why does Satan seek to turn mankind towards disobedience? Because he knows the dangers of disobedience to mankind and he envies mankind. Yes, that’s right. The devil’s heart is filled with envy over the special creation of God — the creation that’s above him — mankind. In Genesis 1:27, NIV, we learn, “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” God created mankind, male and female in His image. He didn’t create angels in His image. Satan will never be in God’s image, and that frustrates him. He knows he’s a lesser being. And to exalt himself, he must put others beneath him. He’s an oppressor.
The spirit of disobedience has and is working in this world to turn mankind from the image of God to the image of Satan. That’s the mark of the beast — Satan’s image — which he is seeking to enshrine in the earth. That’s why we have so many gods and goddesses. Every demon, like Satan, is seeking to exalt themselves over God. But the closest they can get is mankind. As a result, they want men, women, and children to worship them. They want to be what they will never be — God. Yet mankind was and is created in the image of God. That’s why the spirit of disobedience is at work in our world — to turn men, women, and children from God.
That is the battle we, the Church, are facing — a conglomeration of evil — working to turn mankind’s heart from God to Satan. The Church, on the other hand, has its divine mandate and commission: “to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Acts 26:18, NIV. That’s our job! That’s the conflict!
The battle lines have been drawn. Each side is seeking to supplant the other. Satan is seeking to take as many people with him as he can. Not that he cares for any that he seeks to supplant. No, he hates them. His kingdom is filled with and predicated on hate. God’s kingdom is built on His nature — love. That’s mankind’s nature too. Why? Mankind was and is created in God’s image. The kingdom of God is founded on love. Love is the greatest expression of God in our midst; it’s the culmination of God’s nature and the heights of His kingdom. “God is love.” 1 John 4:8. That’s what Jesus taught: “If you love me, obey my commandments.” John 14:15, NLT. “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.” John 15:12, New Heart English Bible. Love, real love, is God’s purest and truest image.
That brings us to the danger of disobedience. Every act of disobedience leads us away from God’s love towards Satan’s image. That’s why mankind has fallen so far from who we were created to be. Satan has worked at every turn to subvert God’s image in mankind. His spirit of disobedience is working in the midst of mankind, debasing mankind, causing men, women, even children, created in God’s image to abuse, mistreat, manipulate, cheat, defraud, kill, murder, and a host of other evils (the list of which is too great to put here) against others who are created in God’s image.
Jesus confronted that spirit of disobedience when He was asked by the Pharisees and Herodians: “Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?” Their evil purpose was to set Jesus against the state, Rome, to use that against Him. Jesus knew why they were doing what they were doing; He saw through their schemes. Answering them, He was answering the spirit of disobedience working through them, and He said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.” Matthew 22:21. Right here, Jesus responds to the spirit of disobedience telling it (and mankind), that mankind was made in God’s image. Still, most people, even ministers, when they hear this scripture, think it’s about paying taxes. It’s not. It’s about being restored to God’s image.
Jesus came to set mankind free from the influence of the spirit of disobedience; He came to set those who are captive to that spirit free. Why? Because He knows and shows us its danger. Everything the spirit of disobedience does is premised on harming those created in God’s image. Whenever we treat others who are created in God’s image in an evil way, we’re submitting to the spirit of disobedience working in this world. And we’re creating a more dangerous world. This world is dangerous because of the spirit of disobedience working in it, seeking to subvert us, mankind, from God’s image to Satan’s image. That’s the mark of the beast. And that’s the greatest conflict we, the Church, face today.
Prepare for battle!
Let us pray!
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