Peace and grace in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 13:9-10
13:9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
13:10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Verse 1-10 is about the Antichrist and the persecution he does.
The solution for facing the persecution and massacre when the Antichrist reigns over the world for three and a half years is the patience and the faith of the saints.
The example is the faith of Abraham as the Father of Faith.
There are three levels of the faith of Abraham as follows:
God blesses you.
Revelation 13:9-10
13:9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
13:10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Verse 1-10 is about the Antichrist and the persecution he does.
The solution for facing the persecution and massacre when the Antichrist reigns over the world for three and a half years is the patience and the faith of the saints.
The example is the faith of Abraham as the Father of Faith.
There are three levels of the faith of Abraham as follows:
- Stage 1: Faith and Obedience.
Hebrews 11:8-10
11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
11:9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
11:10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Genesis 12:1-4
12:1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you.
12:2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
12:3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
12:4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Abraham believed and obeyed the true teaching Word. He heard and obeyed the Word. If we believe and obey the Word, we will get the sanctification or evacuation to a foreign country.
1 Peter 1:22
1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
The faith and obedience to the true teaching Word result in the sanctification and the alienation of our own life from the old one.- Getting out of countrymeans that we are sanctified from the worldliness or the influences of the world.
1 John 2:16
2:16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.
The contents of the influence of the world are the fleshly lusts such as the fornication with all of its kinds, wrong marriage, mix marriage, marrying-being given in marriage, and so on, the lusts of the eyes such as the sins concerning eating-drinking, smoking, getting drunk, drugs abuse, and so on, and the pride of life, namely relying or loving something in the world more than God. We are sanctified though the faith and obedience to the Word. - Getting out from familymeans that we are sanctified from the fleshly things or the influences of the flesh, especially the characteristics which become the tradition since the first men in Garden Eden, namely the disobedience.
- Getting out from the father's housemeans that we are set free from the old father, namely Satan or the father of murderers and liars. We must be sanctified from the sin of hatred and lie.
As a result, we get the blessings of Abraham. We are blessed and become blessings. The sinful men should have been cursed after being driven out of Eden, but through the sacrifice of Christ or Jesus who has willingly become the curse on the cross or through the faith and obedience, we can receive the blessings.
Galathians 3:13-14
3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),
3:14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
We get the abundant physical blessings for our daily life as well as the spiritual blessing, namely Holy Spirit. We become the dwelling place of God. The Gentiles, who formerly were the dog and swine or the dwelling place of the wicked and unclean spirit, can get the sanctification, love one another, and receive the blessings of God through hearing the Word, believing, and obeying it.
Moreover, the Word and Holy Spirit continually sanctify us until we get the two wings of a great eagle [Revelation 12:14] that will make us fly to the wilderness, far away from the presenceof the serpent or the Antichrist. Through the faith and obedience, the Antichrist can neither see nor touch us. - Getting out of countrymeans that we are sanctified from the worldliness or the influences of the world.
- Stage 2: Faith and Faithfulness.
Hebrews 11:11-12
11:11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
11:12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude--innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
We need the faith and faithfulness for waiting for the time of God like Abraham who waited for twenty five years for the fulfillment of His promise.
The meanings of the faith and faithfulness are as follows:- We become like the stars in heaven or the faithful and true servants of God who glorify Him or become His witness anytime, anywhere, and in any circumstances. We testify for bringing the sinful people from the darkness to the salvation through the Good News (the Gospel of Salvation). We also testify about Jesus, repentance, water baptism, and righteous life. Afterwards, we testify to the saved people about the Bride Tidings, so all of us can be brought to the perfection.
If a servant of God is not faithful, he will be like the fallen star and become the descendants of Abraham who are like the sand on the seashore that will be trampled or persecuted by the Antichrist for three and a half years. - We do not want to be separated from God, but always long for His accompanying us. For example, Moses prayed for God's accompanying in the journey of Israel to Canaan.
Exodus 33:1-4
33:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your descendants I will give it.'
33:2 "And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
33:3 "Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people."
33:4 And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.
Although God had promised the victory and blessing or Canaan, such thing would have become a terrible threat if He had not accompanied.
The most important thing in the life of a servant of God is His accompanying. On the contrary, the most terrible threat in the life of a servant of God is when He does not accompany or he is separated from Him, not when there is no money. If God is with us, all things are provided for us; even we have the heavenly kingdom.
If God is not with us or there is distance between God and us, we will get the unfinished problems, heavy burden, weariness, tears, and death or perdition. The distance between us and the death is only a step. The heavenly kingdom or Canaan without God has no meaning. Moreover, the riches or success in the world has no meaning too.
What do we have to do so that God is always with us?
Exodus 33:5-6
33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the children of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.' "
33:6 So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
We must take off the physical ornaments or pride on which the servants of God always rely such as the wisdom, power, and riches.
Jeremiah 9:23
9:23 Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
God indeed gives the intelligence, power, and richess, but He wants to make us depend on Him, not our own live. If the servants of God depend on themselves, they will ignore God and the other servants who are used by Him for sure. For example, the Israelites ignored Moses and worshiped the gold calf. Those things caused the hardness of heart and God's punishment.
On the contrary, there are the servants of God who have not had the intelligence, power, and riches yet, so they tend to be pessimistic, hopeless, and disappointed until they leave God or get separated from Him. We must be careful.
There must be neither pride nor disappointment in the church because such thing will make God not accompany; even there will be the suffering and perdition.
Actually, we get the power, riches, and intelligence only from the grace or lovingkindness of God who has willingly died on the cross. Therefore, we must always give thanks and glorify God.
2 Corinthians 8:9,1-2
8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
8:1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia:
8:2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.
We receive all things from God. Jesus willingly becomes poor for making us rich as follows:- In the liberality. It means being generous or the heart which is always encouraged for helping others. We like giving to other people who are in need by the encouragement of God through the true teaching Word.
- In the faith, hope, and love although we must face the temptations. We minister to God with love; even we can love our enemy. We must be just when we serve to other people.
1 Corinthians 1:18,24
1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Jesus, who is wise, willingly dies on the cross. He is willingly made foolish on the cross so that we, who are foolish, can have the heavenly wisdom.
The Word which we obey and the cross of the Lord will make the wisdom come for saving us, Therefore, let us come to hear the Word and repent from sins when we are facing the problems! We must appreciate the sacrifice of Christ.
Men become the most foolish when they choose the perdition rather than the salvation or trade the salvation with the perishable things in the world such as the marriage partner, money, good marks at school, and so on. We cannot rely on the diploma and riches which we have in the time when the Antichrist reigns over the world.
Revelation 13:18
13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
Committing the Bible Study Service is important so that we get the wisdom of Gof for helping and protecting us from the Antichrist. - In the liberality. It means being generous or the heart which is always encouraged for helping others. We like giving to other people who are in need by the encouragement of God through the true teaching Word.
- We become like the stars in heaven or the faithful and true servants of God who glorify Him or become His witness anytime, anywhere, and in any circumstances. We testify for bringing the sinful people from the darkness to the salvation through the Good News (the Gospel of Salvation). We also testify about Jesus, repentance, water baptism, and righteous life. Afterwards, we testify to the saved people about the Bride Tidings, so all of us can be brought to the perfection.
- Stage 3: Faith and Endurance.
Hebrews 11:17-19
11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
11:18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called,"
11:19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
Genesis 22:2-3, 9-14
22:2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
22:3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
22:9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
22:10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
22:11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am."
22:12 And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
22:13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
22:14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided."
Abraham willingly offered Isaac, his only son, although God had promised that his descendants would come from Isaac. He did not reject whatever God asked him. He willingly sacrificed all things for the ministry of the edification of the body of Christ. Why? It is because Abraham believed and hoped God as well as loved Him more than anything, so he passed the test of faith and endurance.
Indeed someday we will be tested. Do not be afraid! The important thing is having faith and endurance. Jesus was tested for giving His soul. Abraham was also tested for giving his only son. Now, let us give to Jesus when He asks us for giving our sins, time, energy, and money. Do not grumble! Do not get angry! We must praise the Lord.
We must believe, hope, and love God more than ourselves. Let us sacrifice all things which He asks according to the encouragement of the true teaching Word for the edification of the perfect body of Christ. In verse 19, Abraham got Isaac back. All things we sacrifice for God according to the true teaching Word will not be in vain. All things are in the hands of God and we will get them back.
God will return them; even we can meet "Jehovah Jireh" that means the Lord that provides. The results are as follows:- The greatest spiritual miracle, namely the power of creation for changing us from the fleshly men to the new ones who have the fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord means that we hate sins and we do not want to commit sins regardless of any risk that we have to take and anything that we have to sacrifice like Jesus, who must sacrifice His soul. We must be strong and of good courage and keep on hoping God. As long as God is with us, we can face all things.
1 Chronicles 28:20
28:20 And David said to his son Solomon, "Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God--my God--will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord with being strong and of good courage means that God is with us for facing all things and finishing all impossible problems. - The physical miracle, namely God can create something which does not exist and make few things become many. He is able to preserve our life. A hand of flour and a little oil can be used for passing through the time when the Antichrist reigns over the world for three and a half years as long as we are with Jehovah Jireh.
- The last miracle, namely we are ready for being the bride of God. We are changed to be as perfect as He is.
Revelation 19:6-7
19:6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!
19:7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."
We are evacuated to the wilderness for three and a half years, far away from the Antichrist. Afterwards, we are lifted up on the glorious clouds for welcoming Jesus' second coming with shouting for joy, saying "Alleluia" until we enter the everlasting New Jerusalem forever.
- The greatest spiritual miracle, namely the power of creation for changing us from the fleshly men to the new ones who have the fear of the Lord.
God blesses you.