America & Armageddon: Persecuted for Our Faith

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Sign up at harvest.org. Today, Pastor Greg Laurie says sometimes we'll face hostility because of our faith, but we need to check ourselves and make sure it is because of our faith. Jesus said, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Let's be honest, sometimes Christians are persecuted for being mean, overly judgmental, condemning, harsh, and that's not for righteousness sake. Let it be because you're living a godly life. It can be agonizing when we're treated harshly, but even more so if we've done nothing wrong. But today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie brings a fresh perspective on the sufferings we face, especially when being persecuted for our faith. And he'll contrast our persecution with the devilish persecution faced by some during the great tribulation, those who accepted Christ after the rapture.

But we'll see the Bible records their suffering as a victory over the beast. I heard about an airplane that was having some severe engine trouble. So the pilot contacted the nearest control tower and gave this message, pilot to tower, pilot to tower, we're 400 miles from land and 800 feet above water. Please advise, please advise. A message came back from the control tower, tower to pilot, tower to pilot. Repeat the following, our father who art in heaven, follow would be your name, yeah.

Yeah, there comes a moment in life when that is actually what you should do. You should turn to God. And here in Revelation, we're coming effectively to the end, the grand finale, when the final blows are going to come against planet earth. It's literally time to say our father, but by and large, people will not say that. They'll pretty much die as they have lived hardened against God. And now judgment is coming on the earth described as bulls of judgment.

You've heard of the Super Bowl. These are like the Super Bowls of judgment coming upon mankind. Jeremiah 30 verse seven, this day is so great there is none like it. Understand, God has given warning after warning for people on the earth to turn to him. Don't forget, he raises up the 144,000 messianic believers, combing the planet, proclaiming the gospel. I've described them as kosher Billy Grahams, telling people to believe and many do, but not all do. God sends an angel flying through the heavens, preaching the everlasting gospel.

It's sort of like an angelic mop up operation in case someone missed it. Because people ask the question, what about the person who has never heard the gospel and how could a God of love send them to hell? Everyone will hear the gospel. The Bible says the whole world will hear the gospel.

Then will the end come. If this isn't enough, God raises up these two witnesses. Remember we looked at them in Revelation 11 and they speak to the people.

But no, there are so many that still do not believe. So now judgment is finally coming. Let's understand what we are here in Revelation 15. We are in heaven and we are viewing what is coming to the earth from a heavenly perspective.

And we get a better handle on the why of judgment. Let's read Revelation 15 starting in verse 1. John writes, And I saw another sign, great and marvelous, seven angels having seven last plagues. For in them the wrath of God is complete.

And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. And those who have the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, playing harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the saints, who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name. For you alone are holy and all nations shall come and worship before you. For your judgments have been manifested.

We'll stop there. So who are these people singing this song? These are believers who have come through the tribulation period. They've been martyred for their faith. And they're before a sea of glass mingled with fire. Now that either symbolizes the fiery trials they went through on the planet or the fact that they were martyred. Or this may be referencing the fact with this water and fire mingled together. That judgment is about to come on the earth.

Perhaps it's referring to both. Reminding us that God takes it personally when his followers are attacked. Remember Saul of Tarsus? This was a religious dude who thought he was doing the will of God by hunting down followers of Jesus. He presided over the death of the first martyr of the church.

The courageous young man named Stephen. But the reality is that Saul of Tarsus was under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The Lord was calling him and he was fighting with God. And one day as he was on the Damascus road on his way to arrest more Christians the Lord spoke to him. And his statement was, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Interesting, why are you persecuting me? The reality is Saul was persecuting God's followers. Christians, but Jesus took it personally.

Hey man, you're persecuting me. Then the Lord says it's hard for you to kick against the goads. What does that even mean? Well a goad was a sharpened stick.

So back in those days before they had extra horsepower if you wanted your horse to move you poked him with the stick and they would move faster. The idea God is saying is I'm trying to get your attention. You're kicking against it.

Why are you doing that? And of course Saul was converted that day and became the great apostle Paul. But God doesn't like it when his people are persecuted. So here we have this fiery lake. The sea of glass. God's people will stand in a sea of glass and non-believers will stand in a lake of fire. Now I know when you mention the fact that there's a lake of fire or a lake of fire or a place called hell or a final judgment that in the minds of some seems unfair.

But is it? I love this statement from J.I. Packer who writes and I quote, Scripture sees hell as self-chosen. Hell appears as God's gesture of respect for human choice. All receive what they actually choose. Either being with God forever, worshiping him or without God forever, worshiping themselves end quote.

C.S. Lewis made this statement along the same lines. Quote, there are only two kinds of people in the end. Those who say to God, thy will be done and those to whom God says, thy will be done. All who are in hell choose it without that self-choice. There could be no hell. So if you end up in this lake of fire, that's on you.

I'm sorry, it's on you. Because you've rejected God's offer of forgiveness. You've rejected his salvation and you've effectively sealed your own faith. As I've often said, God doesn't send people to hell.

They send themselves there. Don't be that person. Now as we come back to our account, we find that these believers have prevailed over the antichrist, verse two. How?

By not taking his mark and holding on to the very end. Listen, it is my firm conviction that Christians will not go through the great tribulation period. I don't think we'll go through any of it. I think we'll be removed before the tribulation begins.

Why? The Bible says God has not appointed us to wrath but to attain salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about it. When God sent judgment during the days of Noah, first he got Noah and his family safe in the ark and the door was shut. And as the water came down, the ark went up. But Noah and his family were delivered from the judgment that came upon the earth.

Take the story of Lot and his wife. God got Lot and his family safely out of Sodom before the judgment fell. The tribulation period is God's judgment coming on the earth.

God does not pour his judgment on his people, you see. And so we will not be here for this tribulation period. Having said that, Christians will go through tribulation. Not the seven year period, but we're going to go through hardship. We're going to go through trials. Jesus said, in this world you will have tribulation.

But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. And not only will we have tribulation, we'll be persecuted just like these folks were. Maybe not to the extreme they were persecuted, but we will face persecution.

2 Timothy 3, 12 of course reminds us that all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. And we too, like these believers, must press on and not be discouraged, but instead be encouraged. Hey, I hope you're enjoying this series that we're doing on the book of Revelation. And I'm very excited to tell you about a brand new book that we have just released, simply called Revelation, a Book of Promises.

I'm going to tell you how to get your own copy at the end of the program. But if you can't wait, just go to harvest.org to find out more about getting your copy of this brand new book, this commentary on the book of Revelation called Revelation, a Book of Promises. And now, back to our study. I love the statements of Jesus on what we call the Beatitudes. This was the beginning of his message that we know as the Sermon on the Mount. He starts with the word blessed. And the word blessed can also be translated happy. So he said, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Or to translate it differently, happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. Notice Jesus says that they say all kinds of evil against you falsely. Just make sure you're being persecuted for righteousness' sake.

Let's be honest. Sometimes Christians are persecuted for being jerks, for being mean, overly judgmental, condemning, harsh. That's not for righteousness' sake. No, let that persecution come because you're a representative of Jesus Christ. Let it be because you're living a godly life. In fact, if people wanna find something they don't like about you, let it be because you live a godly life.

They have to attack you for that. Remember the story of Daniel? He had people that hated him.

He was very influential in his role advising the king. And so they were looking for something to nail him on. And the problem was there were no skeletons in Daniel's closet. In fact, he prayed in his closet and opened the windows of his house and prayed. And they said the only way we're gonna nail this guy is if we find something regarding him and his god. And of course they got the king to unwittingly sign a decree that no one could pray to any god but him.

But you know that story. He ended up in the lion's den. He was delivered by the Lord and so forth. But he lived such a godly life that they had to make stuff up about him.

Yes, happy are those who are persecuted. Remember when Paul and Silas were arrested for preaching the gospel? They were put into a Roman dungeon. And at midnight we pray, Acts 16, verse 25. Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the other prisoners were listening.

Listen to this. When a believer can praise God during times of difficulty, a lost world pays attention. And what are we gonna be singing in heaven?

Revelation 15 three gives the answer. We have two hit songs in heaven. We'll sing again and again. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.

These are two songs. The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Saying, great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty.

Just and true are your ways, O king of the saints. The song of Moses is basically declaring how the Lord delivered Israel from the Pharaoh. The song of Moses, as you may remember, was sung at the Red Sea.

The song of the Lamb is sung at the Crystal Sea. The song of Moses is the song of triumph over the Pharaoh. The song of the Lamb is the song about triumph over Antichrist. The song of Moses is about how God brought his people out of Egypt. The song of the Lamb is about how God brought his people into heaven. The song of Moses is the first song in scripture.

The song of the Lamb is the last. These people have died for their faith, but they're rejoicing in heaven. You know, sometimes people say, when I get to heaven, I have a lot of questions for God.

Okay, go for it. I suggest to you when you get to heaven and you're standing there and you see God in his glory and you see Jesus at the right hand of the Father and you see your loved ones that have died before you that you're reunited with and you're in this place of complete paradise, that you're gonna say, praise you, Lord. I think you'll just join the chorus of worshipers. I don't think you're gonna barrage God with a bunch of questions because I think when you see him in his glory, everything's gonna make sense to you. And in the same way, sometimes in life, if we'll just get our eyes off of our problems and off of our circumstances and look at the Lord, everything can come into focus as we remind ourselves God is in control, God has not forgotten about me.

Even when hardship comes, we can still rejoice. You know, the Bible says, in everything, with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. If you ever notice that verse says, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. See, we think thanksgiving comes after the prayer is answered.

After God hopefully says yes, but no. Paul is saying, offer thanksgiving before you have the answer. Thanksgiving for the fact that God is on the throne and he's paying attention. Look at Job. Look at all the horrible things that happened to him. It all started when God was bragging on Job in heaven and the angels of the Lord were there and Lucifer, a fallen angel, was there as well. God said, have you considered my servant Job, a perfect and upright man, one that fears God and shuns evil.

Satan, and I'll loosely paraphrase that, don't give me a break. Job praises you because you bless him, because you've given him so much cool stuff. Let me have some time with Job and we'll see what he's really made of. Now, when I look at what happened to Job after that, it makes me say, Lord, if you're ever for a fleeting moment feeling a little proud of me, please don't brag on me, especially if Lucifer is around. Poor Job had never read the book of Job. He didn't know how the story ended. He didn't know about some cosmic conversation between God and Satan.

All he knew is one day things were going well and the next day everything fell apart. But through all of this we read, Job worshiped the Lord. He worshiped the Lord. And that's what these believers are doing in heaven.

They're worshiping God. And it's happening in heaven. Look at Revelation 16 one.

I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on earth. Listen, there's a temple in heaven. Heaven is a real place for real people.

And sometimes we forget that. See, there was a temple built in Jerusalem, but it was a copy of the genuine article. In fact, in Hebrews 8 five it says, they serve in a place of worship. That's only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. I bring this up because we have these weird views of heaven that's been reinforced by Hollywood and songs and even cartoons. People laying around on clouds, plucking harps, little baby fat angels hovering around.

I don't know where those even came from. And you think, wow, what a boring place heaven must be. That is not biblical heaven. That's imaginary heaven or a caricature, if you will, of heaven. Heaven is a real place for real people where we will do real things. And the best stuff earth offers is a pale imitation of heaven. It's a lesser version. It's a shadow of things to come.

C.S. Lewis made this statement and I love it. All the things that ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of heaven, tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. Lewis concludes, if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. Earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy but to arouse it to suggest the real thing, end quote.

He just nailed it with that. He's saying basically the best experiences of earth will be better in heaven. What do you love about earth? Well, maybe you love beautiful sunsets. Well, you're gonna see a lot of those in heaven. I don't know, sunsets, but you're gonna see God's glory on display.

Maybe a fine meal with your friends. Oh, you're gonna have the finest meals you ever had because the Bible promises the wedding feast and times that we will eat together with the great men and women of God. Oh, well, I like to be with my family.

Well, you will be reunited with your family who have believed in heaven. You see, the thing is is on earth things can fall apart. Families can have dysfunction and conflict and friends that you eat with can one day no longer be your friend. Sometimes even turn into your enemy and eating, well, that just produces weight gain. It seems like all the food I like is fattening. Why could I not like kale more?

Why could I not like these things that are healthier more? Oh, eat some vegetables. I don't wanna eat vegetables. I wanna eat pizza. I wanna eat Mexican food.

I wanna eat Italian food and pasta and meatballs and all that stuff. Well, that's not good for you. Well, in heaven, whatever we're eating, it's gonna be awesome. And I don't think we're gonna get fat eating it. And if we do, and that is the new glorified body, we'll all be fat together.

I don't think so. But anyway, the real thing is heaven. This temple is in heaven and this is where the judgment is emanating from. Pastor Greg Laurie, with some good insight on what's coming in our future. Good encouragement today, especially for our times of trial.

Glad you've joined us here on A New Beginning. Let me ask you, Pastor Greg, what are some things that might surprise people in a study of Revelation? One thing that occurred to me is, we think of eternity as being timeless, but part of God's plan is a timed event. The millennium is 1,000 years. So I guess we'll track time in some form.

Am I wrong? No, I think that's accurate because the word millennium actually means 1,000. It's the 1,000 year reign of Christ. But we are aware of the passing of time when we enter into eternity. In the book of Revelation, we read about those who are put to death for their faith and they know that was an unjust thing. And they say to God, how long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood and those that dwell on the earth. So they're aware of the passing of time. They're aware of the injustice of what happened to them on planet earth. And they're praying and asking God to intervene. They're aware of what has happened and will happen on planet earth as well. Yeah, there's a lot of surprises in the book of Revelation that shatter stereotypical ideas that have been passed on from generation to generation that quite honestly are simply not biblical.

But I think the more we learn about heaven, the better we will be enabled to live here on earth. You know, it was C.S. Lewis who said, loose paraphrase, those who think the most of the next world do the most in this one. And so Revelation is where the apostle John is found banished on the island of Patmos. He had faithfully preached the gospel. He was the last of the apostles and people probably never thought they would hear from John again. But as he's sitting on this island, Jesus Christ comes to him and takes him into what we might describe as a spiritual time machine, if you will.

I don't think it was a DeLorean. But John is suddenly hurtled into the future and he's seen what is going to come. He's given an overview of the history of the church. He's taken into the presence of God in heaven. He's taken over to the great white throne judgment.

He's taken back to earth during the millennial reign of Christ. He gives us a front row seat at the battle of Armageddon, the second coming of Christ, and much, much more. The word revelation means unveiling.

And so this is an unveiling, a revealing of things that are to come. God wants us to understand these things. You know, Paul, when he's talking about the rapture of the church of First Thessalonians, he says, brothers, I don't want you to be ignorant.

Why would he say that? Because there's a lot of ignorance about Bible prophecy. So Paul is saying you need to understand these things because it will affect you in the way that you live. So we're teaching on the book of Revelation here in The New Beginning, but I'm very excited to tell you that we have a brand new resource, a beautiful hardcover book, commentary on the book of Revelation that I just wrote, and it's simply called Revelation, subtitled A Book of Promises. I want to send you this book, Hot off the Press.

This will be a resource that you will use in the years to come that you can go to again and again as you study this great book and let it have its impact on your life. By the way, there's a special promise in Revelation for the person who reads and hears and keeps the words found in this book. So get a copy of this new book, Revelation, A Book of Promises that will help you understand this very important book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, and we will send this book to you for your gift of any size. Now some can only give a little. We'll send you a copy. Some can give a little bit more. Of course, we'll send you a copy.

Whatever you can do, don't hesitate. I really want you to have this book because I think it's going to be a blessing to you. The book of Revelation, A Book of Promises, available from Harvest Ministries right now. Yeah, that's right, and we should point out we're including a custom bookmark that shows the timeline of last day's events.

So you can see what comes first, what comes next, and so on. It's laid out very clearly. The bookmark is included when we send you this significant book, a hardcover of more than 400 pages called Revelation, A Book of Promises. So send your donation today to a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300.

We can take your call any time at 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here, encouraging you to join us this weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's worship, it's a message from the Word of God.

You can watch it with your family, in your front room, or you can watch it on the go, on your tablet, on your phone, or your computer. Take it with you, take the Word of God with you, and join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well next time, Pastor Greg addresses the question head on. Why don't we see America clearly portrayed in the prophecies of the end times?

Good insight coming next time. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding podcast was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a Harvest Partner, sign up for daily devotions, and find resources to help you grow in your faith at harvest.org.