DEALING WITH PERSECUTION BY LOOKING BEYOND IT

We Christians are heading into hard times. Persecution has become a tsunami. Some of us are already struggling for our lives. How do we endure?

How did Jesus endure His ordeal?

·       Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

We too must, therefore, look towards the joy set before us. Of what does this joy consist? It consists of our eternal heavenly inheritance:

• But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21; Jude 24)

This signifies that we will be (and are) co-heirs with Him:

·       So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (ESV)

We will be reigning with Him forever:

·       No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:3-5)

The Lord will honor us by blessing us in the presence of our enemies:

·       You prepare a table before me in the presence of my [former] enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23:5-6)

I added the word “former,” because many prophecies demonstrate that those who are left at the end will come to the Lord in great shame and humility, and we will reign over them:

·       Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 49:23)

·       The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 60:14)

Who are these nations? Evidently, there will be a great salvation at the end among the survivors of the nations who battle against Israel. They will mourn over their sins:

·       Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. (Rev. 1:7)

·       "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30)

·       For if their [Israel’s] rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Romans 11:15)

They will worship God, and God will receive them:

·       "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. (Joel 2:28)

·       The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God, and they shall be in fear of you. (Micah 7:16-17)

·       "From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD. (Isaiah 66:23)

·       Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. (Zech. 14:16-18; 8:20-23; Isaiah 66:18-21; Joel 2:32; Amos 9:12; Acts 15:17)

·       "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, 'In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.' All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult.” (Isaiah 45:22-25)

And the nations that remain after the final war will be providing for us:

• "Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations -- their kings led in triumphal procession.” (Isaiah 60:10-11)

• The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. (Revelation 21:24-26)

We will be reigning over them (Rev. 22:5), rendering judgments:

·       Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? (1 Corinthians 6:2)

We will also minister the things of God as priests to the nations (1 Peter 2:9; Rev. 1:5; 5:10; 20:6). Perhaps more importantly, we will be enjoying an unimaginable love with our God:

·       And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. (Hosea 2:19-20; Eph. 3:17-19)

If people endure college by looking towards the final goal, how much more must we look towards the accomplishment of all things to endure our trials!