The Great Persecution-Lent 6, 2022

Revelation 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.  2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea:  3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 

4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel …

13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes–
who are they, and where did they come from?”

14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 16 ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'” (Revelation 7:1-4, 13-17)

What is the Great Persecution…and how do the faithful ones survive it?

 It’s an unprecedented time, never to be repeated.

Matthew 24: 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 

It will be filled with liars and deceivers and false messiahs.

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.  5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.

It will be filled with war, pestilence, natural disasters, and famine.

 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

It will be marked by widescale killing of Christians, enough so that some will fall away and turn on those who hold the faith.

 9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,  11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,

While liars lie, deceivers deceive, and haters gonna hate, there is hope for the one who perseveres by faith as Daniel did in Babylonian captivity. Jesus agrees.

 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.  14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel– let the reader understand– 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Daniel’s life tells us not to look back.  Hold onto your faith! Persevere.  Pray.

 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house.  18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now– and never to be equaled again.

It’s going to get very bad, but those who persevere in faith will overcome, keeping their eyes fixed on Christ Jesus who told us this would happen.

 22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

You’ll know it when you’re in it.  You’ll recognize His coming. He told us so.

 26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Thoughts from Revelation for today:

God’s angels are holding back the four winds until the time of destruction.  The 144,000 are sealed to preserve them from harm.  The Gospel will be preached and then, “He will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” (Matthew 24:1-31) Be planning now to persevere if it happens in our lifetimes.  Not with food storage or ammo, but sealed with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God hidden in your heart so you can pray.