Thursday, August 22, 2013
Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.— Ecclesiastes 9:3
A lot of times people claim that if we could just change our environment, then we would change the person. They say the reason people are the way they are is because of their upbringing and their surroundings.But I don’t think that is true.
The Bible says that at the end of the millennial reign of Christ, there will be a rebellion: “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:7–8).
Who is Satan deceiving? He will be deceiving the descendants of the survivors of the Tribulation. They still will have sinful natures, and they will be drawn into this final rebellion against God. This reminds us of how dark the human heart really is.
We couldn’t have a better period of time on earth than this one. It literally will be the closest that we can get to heaven on earth. Christ Himself will be running the show. Righteousness will fill the planet. Yet still, there will be a rebellion. Why? Because the human heart is wicked.
Sometimes people will justify their actions by saying, “God knows my heart.” But that is the problem. God does know our hearts. And according to Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
As King Solomon wrote, “Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead” (Ecclesiastes 9:3).
We need to know that about ourselves—that we have this evil desire.
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Used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie, PO Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.
