Today’s readings:
Revelation 15:1-4
Psalm 98:1-9
Luke 21:12-19
We today are living in the midst of intense spiritual war. In both non-Christian nations, especially where there are radical fundamentalist Muslims or Hindus, but also in so-called Christian nations of the West that have been taken over by liberal and modernist ideologies, Christians are persecuted, brought to court, imprisoned and killed. “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.” (Lk 21:12).
But we face not only external enemies, but will be opposed even by those closest to us. “You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.” (Lk 21:16). In the Western world today, they may not kill us, but they will cancel us. Such cancel culture treats us as nobodies, as those who are dead to them.
All this because of our love for Jesus and our defense of faith, family and life. “You will be hated by all because of my name.” (Lk 21:17).
Today the whole world is under the dominion of the evil one, and the zeitgeist dominates. Our powerful enemy Satan has enlisted many powerful world powers—state governments, political parties that promote the culture of DEATH, mainstream fake news media, liberal tech giants, billionaire depopulationists, globalist institutions such as the UN and the EU, and many more. And there is even the enemy within our Church. So we face the deep State and the deep Church.
How can we cope? Well, simply put, we have our God, who is already victorious over the forces of evil. “His right hand and holy arm have won the victory. The Lord has made his victory known; has revealed his triumph in the sight of the nations.” (Ps 98:1b-2).
But all the more, the enemy in his desperation intensifies his assaults, which we will bear the brunt of. There will be suffering and pain, which always happen in war. But we look to the glorious end. We fight, we endure, we persevere, we plod on. “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” (Lk 21:19).
As we look to the glorious end, what do we see?
* We will see God putting an end to the enemy. “Then I saw in heaven another sign, great and awe-inspiring: seven angels with the seven last plagues, for through them God’s fury is accomplished.” (Rev 15:1).
* We will see the place of our God. “Then I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire.” (Rev 15:2a). Fire purifies, and the glass is clear and pure. We have been tried and tested, and have been made worthy to be in the presence of God.
* We will see the victorious people of God. “On the sea of glass were standing those who had won the victory over the beast” (Rev 15:2b). The saints will come marching in.
We will see the martyrs, and we will join with them. And we will sing “the song of Moses” (Rev 15:3a), the song that Moses and the Israelites sang after their escape from the oppression of Egypt and its miraculous destruction at the hands of God. In the end, we too will escape the oppression of the evil one and witness his utter destruction.
“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth; with trumpets and the sound of the horn shout with joy to the King, the Lord.” (Ps 98:4a,6). HO-WA!
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