The Deification of Man
Sermon Notes of Pastor Mark Downey
June 4, 2017
Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
'The deification of man' is not about one man any more than “the man of lawlessness” is about one man. Anyone who plays God is a “son of destruction” and history is replete with examples. I’m not sure where to start this message, so let’s go to the beginning of Genesis where the thought is whispered to Eve, “Thou shalt be as gods” (Gen. 3:5). Such a deal! Regardless of what you think the tree of knowledge of good and evil was literally, don’t you think Adam and Eve (even if it was for a fleeting moment) thought of themselves as gods? Until, that is, they heard the voice of God say, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). God, likewise, might be asking us the same thing, like “where are your thoughts; where's your head at?” And if we are honest, most of us would say, “O Lord, my mind is not where it should be.” God must have anticipated this problem from the very beginning (being that He knows the beginning from the end) that man would try to deify himself. So much so, that the priority of His Law has always been first and foremost, “Thou shalt not have any other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3) and “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Mt. 22:37). That is virtually impossible to do if you have the mindset to presume that you deserve some kind of deification for yourself, to be worshiped. You may not call it that, but should any one of us take it upon ourselves to judge what is right or wrong, that does not correspond to the Word of God, then that is the embryo of becoming a god.