Endurance

We are studying the book of Revelation during our Wednesday evening service. It's fascinating, even exciting, to talk about the end of the age, the great tribulation, and the Lord's return.  Over the years my thoughts about one particular aspect of end time teaching has changed. There are several views, or interpretations, regarding the rapture. The rapture has been classified into the following categories: pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib and pre-wrath.  The following scriptures are why I believe the way I do now ....  

First, a reading from Matthew, chapter 24:3-22, 29-31.

While He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached Him privately and said, "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what is the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?"  Then Jesus replied to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Messiah.' and they will deceive many.

You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet.

For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All of these events are the beginning of birth pains.

Then they will hand you over for persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of My name.

Then many will take offense, betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end will be delivered.

This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.

So when you see the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place" (let the reader understand), "then those in Judea must flee to the mountains!  A man on the housetop must not come down to get things out of his house. And a man in the field must not go back to get his clothes. Woe to the pregnant woman and nursing mothers in those days! Pray that your escape may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For at that time there will be great tribulation, the kind that hasn't taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again!

Unless those days were limited, no one would survive. But those days will be limited because of the elect.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days: The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the celestial powers will be shaken.

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

In the book of Revelation, chapter six, when the fifth seal is opened, John sees, "under the altar the souls of those slaughtered because of God's word and the testimony they had. They cried out with a loud voice: "O Lord, holy and true, how long until You judge and avenge our blood from those who live on the earth?"

They are given a white robe and told to "rest a little while longer until the number of their fellow slaves and their brothers, who were going to be killed just as they had been, would be completed."

In the very next chapter, John sees an angel go out to seal 144,000 "slaves of God" on their forehead. These are from the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel.  Then he sees a "vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb."  When he is asked, "Who are these people robed in white, and where did they come from?"  He replies, "Sir, you know."

Then he is told, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation."

After the seventh seal, and the seven trumpets we are told about the beast who "deceives" and "requires everyone - small and great, rich and poor, free and slave - to be given a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast's name or the number of his name."

After all of these things, in chapter 14, we see an angel "flying in mid-heaven, having the eternal gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth - to every nation, tribe, language, and people."  Then another angel who warns against anyone taking the mark or worshiping the beast.

In verse 12 the angel says, "Here is the endurance of the saints, who keep the commandments of God and the faith in Jesus."

Then John hears a loud voice from heaven saying, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on."  "Yes," says the Spirit, "let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!"

Here is where I pause, and ponder, and hope.  "Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and the One like the Son of Man was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand."  An angel comes out of the sanctuary and says to the One seated on the cloud, "Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe."  So the One seated on the cloud harvested the earth.

After this we read about the bowl judgments, which are the "seven last plagues" in which God's wrath will be completed.  And thus, Babylon falls and heaven exults.

Revelation, chapter 19, invites us to share in the marriage feast of the Lamb.  His wife "has prepared herself" and "was permitted to wear fine linen, bright and pure."  Verse 8, "For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints."

The rider, who is called "Faithful and True" appears, on a white horse. On his robe and on His thigh is written, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords."

Then we read about the beast and the false prophet being thrown alive into the lake of fire, satan is bound and the saints reign with the Messiah.

Who are these saints? these are the ones "who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of God's word, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands."

Second Timothy 2:11-13, "This saying is trustworthy: For if we have died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself."

James 5:10-11, "Brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord's name as an example of suffering and patience. See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job's endurance and have seen the outcome from the Lord: the Lord is very compassionate and merciful."

Everything I've read has warned me to be prepared for suffering, persecution, tribulation, even death.  I also know that God's wrath will not be poured out upon His children. It will be poured out on the unbelieving, degenerate worshipers of the beast.  So, in my studies of end times I have come to share the "pre-wrath" view.  I take great comfort in knowing that I will not be alone during any trial. Just as my God was with Noah, the Israelites in the wilderness, Daniel, Esther, Peter, Paul, Timothy, John and all the saints before us ... He WILL be with me.

Mark 13:13, "And you will be hated by everyone because of My Name. But the one who endures to the end will be delivered."