Using the Lord’s discourse in Matthew 24 concerning the signs of the end of the age, we have examined a few of the conditions that we may expect to unfold. Again, we are not just studying the signs to know them, we want to also be prepared for them. If we understand them, we will understand all that the Lord is allowing in our lives.
To date we have been viewing the increasing racism and instability, which is indicated from the Scriptures to increase. To help prepare for these, we can expect the Lord to allow us to be confronted with tests in these same areas, with increasing diversity and with continued and dramatic changes. Our spiritual antennas should be sensitive to situations in which the Lord is allowing us to be placed, which will require us to better know those who are different from us. We should seize these opportunities to grow, and be the flexible wineskins which can hold new wine. We should also be sensitive to the situations that bring about changes in our lives, and determine to likewise take advantage of these opportunities to grow.
We must also keep in mind that the Lord could have taken His authority and set up His kingdom immediately after His resurrection. The reason He did not do this was to call forth a people who would rule and reign with Him, becoming joint heirs and members of the household of God. This whole church age has been “training for reigning.” For this reason we should not expect our trials to be easy. The principle of Scripture is the less difficult the preparation, the less significant the purpose. Because we are coming to the most significant times since the Lord Himself walked the earth, and He has us here for a reason, we should expect our training to be hard.
The more difficult the training, the better the preparation. We must understand that we are not here to have easy, comfortable lives. We are here to be prepared, and to help prepare the earth for the coming kingdom. Of course the Lord gives us times of rest, and a day in the most difficult circumstances with the Lord is better than any day without Him. Even so, we must have in our basic constitution that we, like good soldiers, are always prepared to endure hardship and trials, and make the very most out of them. We are going to go through them anyway, so why not make the most of them?
Of course, I am saying all of this to prepare for our next subject, which is from the next verse of the Lord’s discourse concerning the end of the age, Matthew 24:9:
In America if you were “a good Christian” fifty years ago, it brought respect, trust, and honor. Now it makes one a target for scorn and persecution. To even have a Bible laying on your desk, or to display the Ten Commandments, can result in a lawsuit. Those given to immorality and homosexuality now have more esteem and respect than Christians. Immorality and homosexuality is studied and promoted in schools, while even the mention of God in a book may now cause it to be banned. Students can freely curse, using even the most base and offensive words, but even mentioning God can have them suspended or expelled. America has quickly and profoundly turned from its Judea-Christian roots, as well as its basis for morality and integrity, to flaunt and embrace almost any form of immorality, and beliefs that deny God and man’s responsibility to Him.
I am not trying to justify terrorism in any form, but one of the main reasons why America and the West are so hated by Muslims is the moral filth and perversion that we are now exporting all over the world through our movies and lifestyles. They do not want such on their soil, and in many ways this is understandable.
The foundations have been laid for a great spiritual awakening in America and Europe. Even so, we can expect the persecution of Christians to not only continue, but increase. The Lord is allowing it for our good! Consider these Scriptures:
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection (Romans 6:4-5).
The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:17).
For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him;
If we endure, we shall also reign with Him... (II Timothy 2:11-12).
That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death
in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:10-11).
For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake (Philippians 1:29)
therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.
This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering (II Thessalonians 1:3-5).
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh (II Corinthians 4:8-11).
These are just a few of the Scriptures, which make it clear that if we are to partake of His life, we must also partake of his death. In the first century some of the people thought that if they would circumcise their flesh they would be right with God. But as the apostles taught, this was merely a ritual meant to symbolize that He requires the circumcision of our hearts. Some today point to the day of their immersion as the day they died with Jesus and were resurrected. Water baptism is important, but it too is but a ritual intended to symbolize the commitment to lay down our lives for Him.
Every ritual of our faith is just that—a ritual that is meant to symbolize a commitment of which the spiritual reality speaks. Water baptism was a ritual meant to symbolize a true commitment to lay down our lives for Him in order that we may also be raised with him. In Christ we must die in order to live. The Lord Jesus Himself testified:
For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it (Matthew 16:24-25).
True Christianity is a life of daily sacrifice. True Christians die daily to their own desires in order to give themselves to the Lord’s purposes. True Christians are also ready to lay down their lives for the sake of the gospel whenever that may be required. Any other teaching is a false gospel and an enemy of the cross. Death separates the things that are natural from the things that are spiritual. To have a resurrection there must first be a death. If we want to walk in the resurrection life of Jesus, we must be willing to lay down our lives for Him, and we must seize every opportunity to do it.