June 2001

[Part 182]

“Sleeping Beauty” [P]

“The Purpose of Dreams” (9)

               There is a present evil besieging and beleaguering the earth! It is a bloodthirsty beast with a lust for wealth and power that knows no boundaries, and an appetite for autocracy that is insatiable. This creature that has a dark heart of unbelief and a lethal, carnal mind is the spirit of Antichrist! The world has only seen a foretaste of his heinous potential; but even that much stuns the senses!! As the antithesis of Christ, this monster’s resource of EVIL- depicted in Re 9:1 as a bottomless pit, is as inexhaustible as Christ’s assets of GOODNESS! With this in mind, consider the following definitions of the prefix “ANTI” (Gk 473).

“INSTEAD OF, OPPOSITE OF, IN CONTRAST TO,
SUBSTITUTION, IN ADDITION TO, BECAUSE OF!”

               These redefine Antichrist to mean anything that is: opposite of Christ, instead of Christ, substitution for Christ, in contrast to Christ, in addition to Christ or because of Christ! These pose a serious question to believers. We need to ask ourselves what things are INSTEAD OF CHRIST in our lives? Which of our interests reflect the OPPOSITE OF CHRIST? What activity serves as a SUBSTITUTE FOR CHRIST? What passion is sought IN ADDITION TO CHRIST? As for the final term, “because of”, this tells us that the open manifestation of the spirit of antichrist in the earth is only because there is an open manifestation of the SPIRIT OF CHRIST in the earth! This is substantiated by the fact that neither of these names- Christ or Antichrist- appear in Scripture till the New Testament! And this brings us to another issue in need of clarification here and now. There is much speculation in Christendom about who or what the antichrist is; and where or when he’ll show his ugly face! We have just seen that ANYTHING that distracts or detracts from Christ in our lives is antichrist! Furthermore, God has this to say about the attention paid to this evil one:

THE NAME “CHRIST” APPEARS 534 TIMES IN THE N.T.; while “antichrist” appears 5 times! So which of these rival spirits is more deserving of our full concentration? I earnestly question the motive behind anything that turns our attentions from Christ and onto the dead things of this world! Every Kingdom Son should vigorously challenge all soulish attractions to the things of this world of flesh that seduce our time and energies away from our Christed purpose on earth! This is not to say our Father forbids us times of relaxation or diversity for which we have sought His Will and Blessing. This might sound legalistic but then let us ask ourselves, “What activity would we want to participate in that we knew our Father did not sanction?” Perhaps we do not want to ask because we know what His answer will be and we don’t wish to hear it! Don’t natural children act out the same way with their parents? And are they not chastised for such folly? You might rightly ask if I have reached perfection in this area, and the answer is “not completely” however I am sadly aware of this fading fault, and I pray to overcome once and for all!

               Understand this, beloveds, if Christ is not the Determining Factor in all areas of our lives, we open ourselves to antichrist influence! Remember, WHATEVER IS INSTEAD OF CHRIST IS AGAINST CHRIST! Jesus says, “Whoever is not WITH ME is AGAINST ME!” (Lu 11:23) What is meant by “with Me”? Ask a woman who’s loved a man and she will say to be “with him” doesn’t mean being in his physical presence at all times, but that her CLOSENESS TO HIM never leaves her! She sees his face in other faces around her; she hears his voice in other voices; she feels the warmth of his touch in her body. His opinions color her decisions; his good humor lifts her out of difficult situations; and remembering his gentleness softens her response to others’ hostilities. In all this, and more, she is “with him” at all times! Yet she waits excitedly to truly be “with him” face to face! And this is how we should feel about our Lover Christ! He should fill our thoughts wherever we are so we feel Him “with us” at all times! Being creatures of flesh, we are subject to its failings- so at times our thoughts will veer off into fleshly things and cease being “with Him”; but then suddenly His Wise Judgments will return to our thoughts to influence our decisions! Or the sound of His dear Voice will return to our ear to soothe our weary hearts! And while we can’t interrupt a business transaction to richly fellowship “with Him”, we excitedly anticipate that quiet time when things come to a halt and we are really “with Him” heart to heart! For only as our eyes are fully on CHRIST, are we fully clad in the protective “Whole Armor of God”! (Eph 6:11) You see, Christ IS every piece of that Armor! When we take a well-armored stand against the evil one, we need be more concerned with him no more! Now let us be edified by these words in Jb 20:5-9,

“THE TRIUMPHING OF THE WICKED ONE IS SHORT AND THE REJOICING OF THE GODLESS HYPOCRITE IS ONLY FOR A MOMENT! ALTHOUGH HIS SELF-EXALTATION ASCENDS TO THE HEAVENS TILL HIS HEAD TOUCHES THE CLOUDS, HE WILL PERISH FOREVER AS HIS DUNG! ALL WHO HAVE SEEN HIM WILL ASK, “WHERE IS HE?” HE WILL FLY AWAY AS A DREAM AND NOT BE FOUND! HE WILL BE CHASED AWAY AS A NIGHT VISION! THE EYE THAT SAW HIM SHALL SEE HIM NO MORE; NEITHER SHALL THE PLACE HE ONCE HELD BEHOLD HIM AGAIN!” In other words antichrist is just an unholy specter in a nightmare; but CHRIST IS REALITY FOREVERMORE!! Let us continually lift up His Name with loud thanksgiving!

[TO BE CONTINUED]