Revelation 12-18

Persecution is going to come. It will be far more severe than our government telling us we can’t mention Jesus’ name or have prayer in public areas.  We will be told to worship a statue, or die. If we refuse to have the name of the beast on our heads or hands, we won’t be able to  buy or sell anything. If we aren’t outright murdered for our faith, then we may be starved to death.

This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.

Because of Revelation, we can endure patiently…the story has already been written!  We know what will happen to those people who worship the statue and accept the beast’s mark because it has been foretold.  Better for us to stand firm in our faith and obedience even to the point of death than be plagued with the painful sores, fouled waters, scorching sun, sudden darkness, dried up rivers, and ultimately destruction in the depths of hell.

I’ve never looked at Revelation in quite this way before.  Always there has been a reticence on my part to read it all the way through…a fear of knowing what is to come.  But I think perhaps that reticence is foolishness.  If I didn’t read it, how would I be sufficiently warned?  If I know about the deceptions to come (the death and then resurrection of the beast — power that will be granted to the beast at the end of days) then I protect myself from believing the deception as real.

Will I be alive when these things happen?  I don’t know…but I have a responsibility to teach my child about these things so she can in turn teach her children, and then they can teach their children.  In this way, I can impact my family far beyond my lifespan.

But if you haven’t read the Bible, how then can you teach its truths and thus protect your progeny?