If someone you knew, someone who had grown up in your town and whose parents and family you knew well, if that someone were to one day get up to read the scripture lesson in your church and say, in essence, that He was God--what would be your reaction?
Most of us, I am sure, would react as did those present the day Jesus got up to read in the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" (Luke 4:22)
Although Jesus didn't openly admit He was God, He said He was the anointed One whom the prophet Isaiah had said would be called "Immanuel, God with us" (Matt.1:21-23). Jesus deliberately kept his identity a secret for a time because He knew his claim to be God would lead to his death.
Satan attacks the Christian church by raising up those who deny that Christ is truly the anointed One, the Christ, the Son of God. These groups are therefore `against the Christ.'
Jesus prophesied that His church would always stand. He said "THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT" (Matt.16.18). Satan has been trying to destroy the Christian church for 2,000 years, but has been unable to do so. It continues on, and when weakened and battered God never fails to bring renewal.
Every Old Testament prophecy pertaining to Jesus' life have been fulfilled to the letter, but it is not over yet. He is to return in the same way He left (Acts 1:11). That is a promise we can trust, and all the gates of hell can do is keep us so busy we won't have time to read about it!
The reason Christ's true church has always been under hell's attack is because His church destroys the works of the devil. That is because its founder was God himself who came to live among us!
© 1999, Doreen Palmer