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Answer
Usually, when people refer to the “great deception,” they are talking about 2 Thessalonians 2:11, which foretells that God will, during an end-times judgment, send “a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.” This significant deception is linked to the satanic actions of the Antichrist and his “displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie” (verse 9).
The same section in 2 Thessalonians also mentions a significant apostasy that will occur before the man of lawlessness is revealed. Similar apostasies are foretold elsewhere: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and teachings of demons” «Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; », (1 Timothy 4:1). Naturally, individuals play a role in the deception, as they reject the truth and prefer falsehoods: “For the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine. Instead, to satisfy their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Jesus mentioned a future time when the deception will be particularly intense, with false messiahs and prophets emerging. Even the people of God could be misled if not for God’s providential protection: “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24;see also Mark 13:5-6;Luke 21:8).
AlAll of these deceptions are instigated by the devil. However, 2 Thessalonians 2:11 also speaks of the deception as God’s punishment on people who refuse to believe the truth. The context seems to be similar to that of the gospel passages above and speaks of one to come who will be especially deceptive: “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12;ESV).
In this passage, after people have refused the truth for so long, God causes them to believe what is false—a “strong delusion.” This is not an instance where God actively deceives people; rather, God is simply giving those who reject the truth what they really want.
We see a similar pattern in Romans 1:18–25 where people reject God’s truth for so long that He simply abandons them to their own sinfulness. They have, as it were, crossed the point of no return:
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for imagesmade to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
“Therefore, God gave them over to the sinful desires of their hearts for sexual impurity, degrading their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, worshiping and serving created things instead of the Creator—praised forever. Amen.”
A similar situation occurred with Pharaoh after he refused to release the Israelites from Egypt, and God hardened his heart. It wasn’t that Pharaoh would have obeyed the Lord if God hadn’t hardened his heart. Pharaoh opposed the Lord, and God simply affirmed Pharaoh’s decision for all time (see Exodus 8:15,32;9:34;10:1).
The deception mentioned in the Gospels relates to false prophets or messiahs who may appear to be validated by miracles. Taking the futurist perspective, the significant deception in 2 Thessalonians 2 is seen as a forthcoming event linked to the arrival of the Antichrist after the church’s rapture. “Those who are perishing” willfully accept the imitation and follow the end-times beast, perishing “because they refused to love the truth and be saved” (verse 10).
The exact nature of the great deception is unknown, except that it will be a powerful delusion capable of influencing the world’s allegiance toward the Antichrist. The Bible indicates that during the Antichrist and false prophet era, there will be numerous signs to support their falsehoods. The false prophet “performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth” (Revelation 13:13-14). It is challenging to envision, but the deception during theTribulation will be more severe than all of Satan’s other deceptions. The Antichrist will have a fatal wound healed, his “image” will breathe, speak, and give orders, etc. «And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. », (Revelation 13:12,15) «And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. », (Revelation 13:12,15).
In a broader sense, anyone who rejects the truth of God is being deceived, and at some point, God may simply abandon them to the deception they have willingly embraced. There are numerous false teachers today who claim to teach God’s Word. Some claim to be Christians, and some claim to bring a word from God from outside of the Bible. It is crucial that every Christian compare every teaching with what the Bible says and spend the time necessary to evaluate what is being taught. This is the mission of Got Questions, and in line with that mission, we would encourage every reader to compare what we say with Scripture as well.
