Patient Endurance-Lent 19, 2022

Our adversary, Satan, appears as a dragon and he’s got a couple of sidekicks, the first of which is the “beast coming out of the sea. “It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name… The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.”  (Revelation 13:1-2)

Right now might be a good time to say that as much as we don’t want to fill our brains with studying evil, if Scripture itself leads us there, God has a purpose of preparation in letting us know what to look out for.

Revelation 13:3 “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.”

Our adversary cannot do creative endeavors, only mimic. 
Here he’s mimicking the “stigmata”–the wounds of Christ.

Revelation 13:3b “The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

People will blindly follow
worldly powers proclaimed by echo chambers of cheerleaders. 
For the Christian, it calls for discernment.

Revelation 13:5 “The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.”

As Lord Acton famously said,
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

World powers and political leaders too often
have no place for a higher power than themselves. 
No place for God.

Revelation 13:7 “It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.”

It was given power—straight from the pit of hell—power to wage war against God’s people (and everything/everyone seeking good). It’s a spiritual battle.  A holy war with good guys (who follow Christ as His witnesses) and some very bad guys who persecute and kill them. 

It will not be a beautiful middle ground world where everyone is the same
…a world in which tolerance is a virtue. 
No. Tolerance is a weapon of deceit
used to level the playing field between good and evil. 
It’s a world of power and submission,
right vs. wrong, good and evil,
and victory and defeat.

Thoughts for today:

Are we ever asked to “tolerate” anything clearly good or holy?  What types of things are we pressured to tolerate?

If it was good, would there be any need to tolerate it or be commanded to?  Wouldn’t people embrace it naturally?

Revelation 13:8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast– all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.  9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

What group do you think are the “inhabitants of the earth”?

Regarding God’s people, read Revelation 13:10 “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.” 

When everything hits the fan, there will be a great divide some being inhabitants of the earth who worship the beast and God’s people on the other side.  Knowing this is how Scripture describes the end, are you preparing your heart for this patient endurance and faithfulness in case it happens in your lifetime?

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.