In a letter to the Church at Thessalonica, the apostle Paul examines the mystery of lawlessness, 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8. Inside this passage, Paul unveils the hidden principle of rebellion. From a historical perspective, the origin of rebellion began with one simple thought in Genesis 3:3, “did God really say?” When Eve allowed this New Age Philosophy to take root within her heart, this is what was going on beneath the surface prior to rebellion being conceived.
[Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God. 13 But instead warn (admonish, urge, and encourage) one another every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamor of his sin may play on him], Hebrews 3:12-13.
Rather than review original sin, the author of Hebrews goes back to what happened to Israel following the Exodus out of Egypt. God’s initial plan was to enter the Promised Land at Canaan in the same calendar that Israel fled Egypt. Yet, instead of trusting God to provide manna while living in the wilderness, the hidden principle of rebellion once again reared its ugly head. This came in the form of bickering, complaining, and grumbling to Moses as many Jews wish they had never left Egypt.
Then while it is [still] called Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion [in the desert, when the people provoked and irritated and embittered God against them]. 16 For who were they who heard and yet were rebellious and provoked [Him]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He irritated and provoked and grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose [d]dismembered bodies were strewn and left in the desert? – Hebrews 3:15-17
According to Moses, a hardened heart prevents individuals from hearing God’s voice. Perhaps, when Eve was entertaining a sly serpent in the Garden of Eden, the concept of questioning God gradually reached her heart. As this conversation continued, the first lie on earth was planted within Eve’s mind. Thinking that God was holding her back, Eve began to stare at this forbidden fruit. The more Eve look, enticement and lust was conceived, James 1:14-15. This is what goes on beneath the surface prior to any rebellion.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 