DEATH'S DECEPTION

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

-Jeremiah 17:9a

We can convince ourselves of just about anything. Even the most incredible lies seem real after we've spun them long enough. The English writer and philosopher William Hazlitt once noted, “Life is the art of being well deceived: and in order that the deception may succeed it must be habitual and uninterrupted.”

Hazlitt’s quote is powerful - and deceptive.

Substitute the word “death” in lieu of “life” and we have a more accurate and biblical portrait.

Death is the art of being well deceived.

Life is the blessing of abiding in the presence of God, and the Presence of God abiding in us. No effort is required for us to continually abide in the habitual and uninterrupted deception of sinful rebellion.

Solomon was King David’s son. We typically recall Solomon as a great king because of his wisdom and wealth. Scripture tells a very different story. Solomon was an abysmal king (1 Kings 11). He exemplified the antithesis of God’s instruction (Deut 17).

The unified kingdom split following Solomon’s death. Israel’s idolatry and repudiation of God intensified exponentially until the northern kingdom (Israel) fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC. This left only the tiny southern kingdom (Judah), which didn't fare any better.

God called the prophet Jeremiah to proclaim systemic destruction throughout Judah because of their wickedness (Jer 11). God told Jeremiah, “I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them… Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.”

Because of his faithfulness, Jeremiah was persecuted, plotted against, buried alive, and imprisoned. Jeremiah served as God’s ambassador and spokesman. He faithfully proclaimed, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure…” (17:9).

Jeremiah, like Hazlitt, alluded to the disastrous state resulting from habitual and uninterrupted deception. Jeremiah did so from God’s point of view - not man’s. Hazlitt calls that deception life. God calls it death.

It seems odd and highly ironic that Solomon would write, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death,” (Pr 14:12) considering his legacy of grandiose folly.

Folly is our birthright. Sin is the only thing we can truly call our own. King David understood this when he said, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

We enter into this world with corrupted, hardened, and deceitful hearts beyond our ability to cure. Those hearts actually preserve our “habitual and uninterrupted” state of destruction and death. They solidify our separation from God.

We eschew truth and light under the guise of innocence, and, as Oswald Chambers notes, we trust in the deception of innocence “calling it purity.”

The nation of Israel utterly rejected God and His prophet Jeremiah. They treasured darkness, deception, autonomy, and idolatry. We reject Christ just the same.

John's gospel states, “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.” It was true then. It's true today. It will be true tomorrow. Hazlitt noted deception’s success hinges on being habitual and uninterrupted. God’s revelation pierces the darkness irrupting into our lives.

We cast off revelation as corrupted, controversial, and contradictory myth. We relegate Jesus to the status of friend and good teacher, yet we deny His inherently sovereign authority. We cast off restraint in pursuit of idols. We resist authentic faith in the pursuit of religion. We exchange divine revelation for theological studies.

Scripture tells us, “Where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint” (Pr 29:18). Look at the world today and consider the truth of that revelation.

The Law and the Prophets anticipated Christ's advent, life, death, ascension, and pending return. The book of Revelation does not paint a picture of a cheery game show host descending on a puffy cloud for a casual time of question & answer. It paints a picture of awesome and terrible battle imagery.

Upon His return, Christ will not revisit the teachings of humble earthly ministry. Instead, He will come “to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.”

Waiting looks like Matthew 7:21, “the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." It looks like loving people by adorning Christ as His ambassadors.

Is that your life's pursuit or has death’s deception made destruction your habitual and uninterrupted destiny?

Apart from Christ, God is unimpressed by the words we say and sing, things we think and believe, and all our deeds, which amount to filthy rags (Isa 64:6). To the superficial sycophants casting out demons, performing miracles, and teaching in His name, Jesus says, “away from me you evildoers. I never knew you.” He taught us apart from the gift of faith - and subsequent obedience to it - we are unfit and disqualified. Those are not words of malice, but of life-giving and sobering love.

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Romans 10:13

Our God, Creator, Savior, and King came not merely to interrupt habitual sin, but to forever shatter death's deception.

How will you respond?

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley

aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com