Matthew 24:21-22, “For then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
The world’s a big place, and when Jesus says there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, nor ever shall be, we can intuit He has transitioned from the discussion of the sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple to the last days of the world and the precursors to His imminent return. How do we know this? Because there have been tribulations far worse than those that took place during the siege of Jerusalem, such as the holocaust, which claimed six million lives, a five hundred percent increase from the number of those who perished when the Romans overran Jerusalem.
Take into account the millions of believers who lost their lives for the cause of Christ during the Communist reign in nations such as Russia, China, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Albania, and the like, and we can readily surmise that the tribulation Jesus was speaking of is not something that occurred when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD.
What will be will eclipse what has been, and it will be a worldwide affair. The target will be the elect, and Jesus says that for their sake, those days will be shortened. I understand full well that if you’re currently living in America, Canada, or any other Westernized country, the idea of an all-out war against the saints seems far-fetched and improbable. I’m sure the same could have been said about Christ’s warning about fleeing to the mountains when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies.
Although we’ve discussed prophecy and the prophetic in the past, it bears repeating that when a word is given, when a messenger is sent, or when a servant is tasked with delivering a message, it seems farfetched to those who hear it.
Unprecedented, however, does not mean impossible. When Isaiah prophesied the virgin birth seven hundred years before Jesus was born of a virgin in a manger in Bethlehem, I’m sure the notion seemed impossible to many. Yet there were those who held to the words of the prophecy and remembered them, and when it took place, they called back to it, though seven hundred years had passed.
When Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple within a generation’s time before it was even completed, that too seemed improbable, yet it occurred just as He said it would. Those who took His words to heart fled before the siege turned into a slaughter.
If the elect were not the target of this, the greatest of tribulations, or they were wholly unaffected by them, why would the days be shortened for their sake?
Those who conflate the wrath of God with the tribulation Jesus speaks of are guilty of sloppy exegesis on an egregious level. I think it’s a way to deflect from the reality that the household of faith is called upon to endure and forewarned that they would be hated by all nations and killed for Christ’s name sake because it would melt the biscuit wheels right off their gravy trains.
You can’t preach prosperity and tribulation in the same breath. You can’t tell people that the wealth of the wicked is waiting to be claimed by them and, at the same time, tell them that they will be hated, betrayed, and martyred. There is a disconnect, an unbridgeable gap between the two schools of thought, and men must choose which they will believe. As for me, I believe Jesus even though it may be uncomfortable for my flesh to ponder such things.
Even as they see the words of Jesus coming to pass in real time, some men still can’t bring themselves to reiterate them. They’ve taught these things for so long and have grown so rich off the retelling of these fables that it’s too late to change course now or admit that they were lying all this time. Benny Hinn tried, kind of, but I think the backlash from those who’d been sowing seed so they could reap a harvest was so monumental that he reverted to the old parlor tricks that entertained the carnally minded in the span of a few months.
We like to lay the blame at the feet of those who disseminate teaching and doctrine antithetical to scripture, but there is enough blame to go around, and the blame isn’t solely on them. If there were no demand, there would be no supply. If people didn’t enjoy having their ears tickled, the ear ticklers would be out of business. It’s not as though they’re doing it for the great high calling of spreading the Gospel; what they’re spreading isn’t the Gospel at all, and they know it, so if there were no monetary incentive to continue droning on about seeds and harvests, they would stop.
Even though it’s a parasitic relationship fashioned to look symbiotic, most of those being harmed by their ingrained beliefs that Jesus came to make them rich rather than whole, give them stuff rather than bring them from death to life, will defend the parasite leeching off the sweat of their brow to the death, because they’d rather send a check than surrender their heart.
These are individuals who, having read what they must do to be saved, decided to seek a second opinion, and wouldn’t you know it, they found one. The problem is that any other way but Christ is an illusion, a fable, an immaterial and substanceless hope based on the words of other men who spoke those words with a purpose in mind other than the salvation of the individual.
Because men have rejected the gospel of the kingdom while embracing the opinions and machinations of men, they are spiritually unprepared for the things Jesus said we would bear witness to and experience. Endurance presupposes hardship. Endurance presupposes strain, adversity, and suffering. You don’t endure a day at the beach with your toes in the sand or a walk through a wooded glen replete with wildflowers and the melodic sounds of songbirds.
Not only does Jesus say that he who endures to the end will be saved, but He specifies what we will have to endure. Those who will get blindsided and caught unaware will have no one to blame but themselves for having ignored His warnings and discounted His words.
2 comments:
Good one Mike. But more than 6 million people died in the Holocaust. 6 million Jews and 12 million other people for various reasons such as mental health and physical handicap. Thank you for the study.
May our Father continue to Bless you Michael and all your family. Thank you for serving.
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