Two Opposites

Two Opposites

Jesus and the Antichrist, or Satan, are two opposites. In Isaiah 14:12-15 we read of the pattern for the Antichrist: “‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.”

In Philippians 2:5-11 we read about Jesus: “Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant . . . .” As a man He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of the death of the cross. “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name . . . .”

These two went each their own way, and the resulting consequences were different to the extreme. We walk on one of these two ways, and the distance that we have gone on each one of these two ways varies. Our glory with Christ or our corruption together with Antichrist will be relative to how far we have gone on the way. One person will be sitting on Jesus’ right side. This will be a normal person who voluntarily has chosen to follow Jesus on the way of humiliation. It is also a normal person who will end up at the next lowest depth of the Pit, someone who has chosen the mind of Antichrist—namely, to exalt himself the most.

In Ezekiel 28:13-18 we read about Satan as an anointed cherub: “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.” He lost his hidden life before God to be seen by the great men of this earth. Many are they who go this same way. They desire all the things that people admire. Therefore they dress up and adorn themselves. They want others to look at them. If they erect a building, it has to be fashionable and modern. Not only the ungodly world acts like that, but also religious people. You can see that by looking at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome as well as almost all other religious meeting halls. The leaders have to sit on a platform. Everything has to be great and ostentatious so that those who enter can admire it. Thus they lose that inner life with God; unrighteousness seeps in, and the result is strife and division.

The Father led the Son on a totally different way. In Isaiah 53 we read, “He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” We read in 1 Peter 2:4, “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.” It is worthwhile for us to come to Him and share in His reproach. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him who was so ill-treated. Isa. 52:14-15. But God let fire go out from Satan that devoured him and turned him to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who saw him. Ezek. 28:16.

The fact that Peter could see the Messiah in Jesus, who was so despised, was proof that he had received revelation from God, and consequently he received a commission and responsibility. Matt. 16:16-20. You cannot combine these two things: sitting in God’s secret counsel and also being admired by people. If you do not receive revelation from God so you can see Jesus’ glory in His humiliation, you are being deceived by Satan, and your life will end up in ashes. 1 Cor. 3:12-15.