The Lie Throughout Time: Ye Shall Be as Gods
Satan seduced Eve with the bait of becoming "like the most High" (Isaiah 14:14) in "knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (3:5). What Satan failed to tell Eve, was that she already knew all that she needed to know about evil, i.e., evil is eating of the fruit that God had forbidden.
Did not the Creator say, "But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17)? This seduction extends to the present, where the people of God are coaxed to investigate sin and Satan in a way that is detrimental to the soul. "For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil" (Romans 16:19). If we cannot investigate evil through the protective covering of the Word of God, then we ought to avoid it, as we would a venomous serpent. "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
"Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world" (1Peter 5:9). "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). But, did not the Psalmist record, "Ye are gods" (Psalms 82:6)? True. And, did not the LORD Jesus Christ affirm the truth of this passage, i.e., "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your Law, I said, Ye are gods?" (John 10:34)? Also, true; but, He was pointing out His accusers' inconsistency in faulting Him for claiming to be the Son of God, when the Law that they accepted called mortal men, "gods". And, how could Jesus call the mere men to "whom the Word of God came" (10:35), "gods"?
In Old Testament Israel, the God-like power of life and death was given to secular judges [Hebrew, elohim]; and thus, the appellation of "gods" (Psalm 82:6) was understood to be theirs-- without any sense of blasphemy. Asaph's authorship of the 82nd Psalm, was a protest against wickedness in the judges of the government of ancient Israel. "1 God [Hebrew, elohim] standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods [Hebrew, elohim]. 2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?" (Psalm 82:1-2). The close of the 82nd Psalm placed the godhood of Israel's secular judges into perspective, with a statement of the pre-eminence of the Almighty. "Arise, O God, judge the Earth: for Thou shalt inherit all nations" (Ps 82:8).
C. H. Spurgeon's "The Treasury of David" explains the usage of the term "gods" for secular judges: "[Psalm 82:6- 'I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.'] Verse 6. -- 'Ye are gods,' etc. It is of course, to civil governors, especially those entrusted with the administration of justice, that the prophet addresses this stern admonition. He calls them 'the gods' [v. 1], and 'the sons of the Most High' [v. 6].
To the people of Israel this kind of appellation would not seem over bold: for it was applied to judges in well-known texts of the Law of Moses. Thus, in the code of civil statutes delivered at Sinai, it is said, 'Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people' (Exodus 22:28). Nor is that the only instance of the kind. In two other passages of the same code (Exodus 21:6 ["Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever"] and Exodus 22:8, 9 ["8 If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour's goods.
9 For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour"]), the word which our translators have rendered 'the judges' is in the Hebrew, 'the gods,' or 'God'" (remarks by William Binnie on "Psalm the Eighty-Second" from C. H. Spurgeon's "The Treasury of David").
Antichrist must affirm the lie that "ye shall be as gods" (Genesis 3:5), if he ever expects himself as a man to be worshipped as the Almighty in the Temple. "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2Thessalonians 2:4). Antichrist must pervert the essential doctrines concerning the LORD Jesus Christ to hoax the world into worshipping him as the Living God. i.e., "Who changed the Truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen" (Romans 1:25). In particular, Antichrist must convince the world, Israel, and the Laodicean Church that he is the incarnation of God in human flesh, just as the Scriptures teach that the LORD Jesus Christ is alone that Genuine Incarnation. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father,) full of Grace and Truth" (John 1:14). [See our editorial, "Laodicea, What Happened?"-- http://Whatsaiththescripture.com/Fellowship/Edit_Laodicea.What.Happene.html -- , for an analysis of why the Professed Church is where it is.]
Antichrist must persuade the world that he has the power to rise from the dead-- as only Jesus can and did, i.e., "14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: Whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not" (1Corinthians 15:14-15). But, the world will be deceived into believing that "his deadly [head] wound" (Revelation 13:3) and his amazing comeback are evidence of Antichrist's conquering of death, when he never actually dies, nor does he actually resurrect from the dead-- as astounding as his recovery seems. "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (2Thessalonians 2:11).
Ultimately, Antichrist must prevail upon the world to render to him the homage and worship that only belongs to God, i.e., "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in Truth" (John 4:24). "8 And all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship him [Antichrist], whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
15 And he [the False Prophet] had power to give life unto the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed" (Revelation 13:8,15). This abominable act of worshipping Antichrist as God-- and thereby, worshipping Satan-- is the fulfillment of Lucifer's ambition to "be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:14). "15 When ye therefore shall see the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)... 21 For then shall be Great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the Elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Matthew 24:15, 21-22).
This filling up the "iniquity of" (Genesis 15:16) the Antichrist is necessary in order to demonstrate to the world that Antichrist is not God, not the "Fountain of Living Waters" (Jeremiah 2:13), but only "broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (2:13). All the Judgments and events of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21)-- the Second Half of the Tribulation Week-- will graphically illustrate to all, that Satan, the "god of this world" (2Corinthians 4:4), is not the Almighty, but a beaten foe. When the Abomination of Desolation takes place on the 1260th day of the Tribulation Week-- "in the midst of the Week" (Daniel 9:27)-- conflict in the heavenlies will culminate in Satan being forever barred from coming into the presence of God to accuse the Brethren.
"7 And there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon; and the Dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven. 9 And the Great Dragon was cast out, that Old Serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the Earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, Now is come Salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the Power of His Christ: for The Accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night" (Revelation 12:7-10). [See our "Tribulation Timeline" section-- http://Whatsaiththescripture.com/WStS.Timeline.html -- and our Tribulation Chart-- http://Whatsaiththescripture.com/Timeline/Big.Chart.Intro.html -- to get a better idea of the chronology of the Tribulation Week.]