FEAR & THE FINISH LINE
THEN THEY WILL DELIVER YOU UP TO TRIBULATION AND PUT you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.[1]
Tribulation. Death. Hatred. Betrayal. Lawlessness. Coldness. Apostasy. This is the context of the Church in the generation that will see the Lord’s return. The intense persecution of Christians will not stay confined to the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. These things will be experienced by believers everywhere. The security presently enjoyed by many Western Christians will cease to exist. We will be hated by all nations.
The chaos and destruction that will occur in the final days bring up an important question: will believers be present on earth during all of these terrible events? Thankfully, the Lord has supplied the answer to that question along with a very specific timing indicator.
The Book of Revelation provides a more detailed order of events leading up to the return of the Lord. John describes Jesus being handed a scroll sealed with seven seals.[2] As He breaks each seal, a corresponding judgment comes upon creation. When the final seal is broken—after a long silence in heaven—seven angels begin to blow seven trumpets. With each trumpet blast is a corresponding judgment released upon the Earth. When the final trumpet sounds, great bowls full of the wrath of God are poured out on the inhabitants of Earth[3] while angels attest to the goodness of God saying, “Just are You, O Holy One, who is and who was, for You brought these judgments.”[4]
Now for the timing indicator:
And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.[5]
Jesus informs us that His elect saints will be gathered at the sound of a loud trumpet call. Paul confirms this timing and elaborates:
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.[6]
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.[7]
Jesus and Paul teach that believers will be present on the earth until the sound of the final trumpet when all will be gathered to meet the Lord mid-air. Remarkable! This means that Christians will be present for much tribulation and witness terrible judgments coming against the earth and against God’s enemies.
We are provided another instance that confirms Christians will be present during much of the devastation in those days. In Revelation, John describes a beast that is allowed to exercise authority for 42 months and utter arrogant and blasphemous things against God. The beast is also allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer us.[8] And here is John’s admonition for those who will be alive in that day:
If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.[9]
This is something we need to be prepared for. But we don’t need to fear.
The Church will be sifted in those days, to be sure. But the judgments of God are not coming against His Bride. His wrath will be poured out on His enemies as an answer to righteous cries for justice. So, we don’t need to fear the wrath of God in those days. Jesus has already swallowed that cup on our behalf.
Think about it as when God delivered Israel out of Egypt. There were plagues and disasters happening throughout Egypt but they were not aimed at God’s people. Surely the devastation against Egypt affected the Israelites but God was not targeting the apple of His eye, He was targeting Israel’s oppressors.
Though we will not be the object of God’s wrath, we shouldn’t try to minimize how the chaos will affect us. Jesus says that men’s hearts will fail them from fear. We will be tested. But will we endure?
How do we cultivate faith and endurance that can withstand the days ahead? By heeding the pastoral urging of Jesus to know Him now and to know Him deeply. We need to get oil before the Bridegroom comes again. I don’t think we’ll be able to endure the days ahead by gritting our teeth and tightening our boots alone. We should definitely grit our teeth and tighten our boots, but I believe we will endure primarily by love for our Bridegroom and Friend, who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And by love for one another.
Satan’s most effective tactic at the end of the age will be to make our love grow cold. If we can resist that, we can endure to the end. And we will endure. The gates of Hell will not prevail against Jesus’ bride.[10]
We will endure through prayer and fellowship.[11]
We will endure by singing.[12]
We will endure by meditating on what is pure and lovely and excellent and worthy of praise.[13]
We will meet together and encourage each other as we see the Day of the Lord drawing near.[14]
We will endure by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony and we will love not our lives even unto death![15]
Jordan Scott lives in the Muslim world with his wife and children. He is the host of THE WAY podcast and author of A Call to Compel: The Simplicity, Urgency, and Joy of Making Disciples, available now from FAI Publishing. Jordan can be reached by email at jordan@faimission.org.
[1] MATTHEW 24:9-13
[2] SEE REVELATION 5:1-8:5
[3] SEE REVELATION 6-19
[4] REVELATION 16:5
[5] MATTHEW 24:31
[6] 1 CORINTHIANS 15:52
[7] 1 THESSALONIANS 4:16-17 23
[8] REVELATION 13:5-8
[9] REVELATION 13:10
[10] MATTHEW 16:18
[11] ACTS 2:42
[12] EPHESIANS 5:19; COLOSSIANS 3:16
[13] PHILIPPIANS 4:8
[14] HEBREWS 10:24-25
[15] REVELATION 2:10; 12:11
