DO NOT LOSE HEART

I understand Scripture to teach that the church will be gathered after the great tribulation. According to Matthew 24:22, Christ's return will cut the days of great tribulation short for the sake of the elect otherwise no life will be saved. On a day and hour known only by the Father Jesus will return and gather the elect. Does Jesus give instruction as to how we, the elect, are to pray during that difficult time? I believe He does.

Beginning at Luke 17:22 and then on through chapter eighteen, verse eight, Jesus is discussing with His disciples things pertaining to His revealing and His coming. In Luke 17:22 Jesus tells His disciples that days are coming when “you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.” (Luke is writing to Theophilus who is not Jewish by the way.) In the next verse He says, “They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’” Jesus then warns to not run after them. Jesus next words are, “just as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day.” Comparing this passage to Matthew 24, we learn these are instructions warning believers what not to do during the great tribulation prior to Christ’s return. In Matthew’s account, we learn that during the great tribulation there will be false Christs and false prophets performing great signs and wonders. Because of these signs and wonders many will be deceived into thinking that Christ has returned and is on the earth. They will be saying, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is.’ Jesus says not to believe that person and go forth. We’ll know when the true Deliverer returns because the natural lights will go out just prior and just as the brilliance of lightning flashes across the sky, the Son of Man will appear and be seen coming in the clouds of the sky with brilliant radiance and great glory.(Mt. 24:23,26-30, Luke 17:24)

Luke then writes that Jesus said first He must suffer many things and be rejected. (Luke 17:25)

Next Jesus jumps ahead to what the days will be like prior to His revealing when He returns. It will be just like in the days of Noah. People, unbelievers, will be eating and drinking and marrying without any concern of impending judgment. (Remember, believers are to be aware of the false Christs and false prophets performing great signs and wonders and are to stay put!) It will also be like it was for those prior to the judgment that fell on Sodom in the days of Lot. People then were eating and drinking and buying and selling. Unbelievers prior to Christ’s return will also be eating and drinking and buying and selling – because they have the mark! (Luke 17:26-30) The alert, watchful, praying believer will be trying to survive. The ones who’ve heeded Christ’s warnings will be among those who will have the strength to escape the horrors of the tribulation. (Luke 21:36)

An additional thought, to make Mt. 24 and this passage in Luke Christ’s appearance at Armageddon makes no sense whatsoever to me. Why? Follow the logic. At Armageddon the trumpet judgments will have already occurred. A third of the earth will be burned up with the first trumpet. (Rev. 8:7) With the second trumpet a third of the sea will become blood. (Rev. 8:9) With the third trumpet a third of the fresh water will become bitter and many will die because of it. (Rev. 8:11) I don’t think there will be frivolity during this time. There will be no eating and drinking and buying and selling and marrying. Men will be longing for death from their scorpion like bites after the fifth trumpet sounds but will not be able to find it. (Rev. 9:1-6) No, if unbelievers, like in the days of Noah and Lot, are eating and drinking and buying and selling and marrying before Christ returns, and believers, the elect, are not destined for His wrath, His initial presence must occur sometime prior to Armageddon.

In Luke 17:33-36 we see the “twos”. Two will be in bed, two will be grinding, two will be in the field. In each instance one is taken and one is left.

Chapter seventeen closes with the vulture idiom which is also found in Mt. 24:28. This is imagery speaking of the judgment that will accompany Christ’s return. Because of the vulture idiom, my position on the “twos” is that the ones taken are received near to Christ at His coming and the ones left remain on the earth to face the day of the Lord judgments.

Then, chapter eighteen begins with Jesus telling the disciples a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart. It is the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge. The persistent widow kept coming to the judge asking for legal protection. Her persistence pays off and the judge ends up giving her legal protection.

Look what Jesus says to His disciples in 18:6-8:

“…Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

Though we are in a new chapter, remember the chapter breaks are man-derived, the context is still the return of Christ!

I have never heard this passage, Luke 18:1-8, taught as an end times passage, but looking at the context, it sure appears to be an end times passage. It starts (Luke 18:1) by saying that Jesus was teaching them to pray at all times and not to lose heart – believers are the ones who pray and He is encouraging believers not to lose heart – what would they lose heart over? The difficulty of the end times during the great tribulation. What are we instructed to do? Call out to our heavenly Father/Judge – cry out for justice for the ELECT! (There’s that word again!)

Isn’t it interesting…We learn in Rev. 6:10 that the fifth seal martyrs in heaven underneath the altar will cry out “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

The elect on earth are instructed to cry to Him day and night for justice! We are assured that justice will be brought about for the elect speedily.

How sad are Jesus words however at the end of verse eight, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

Beloved, He wants us to endure and to not lose heart…to the end.

Hebrews 12:3: “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.”