Tag: theology

Be on your guard!  For they will repeatedly hand you over to the ruling councils, and you will be beaten in public gatherings.  And you will stand trial before kings and high-ranking governmental leaders as an opportunity to testify to them on my behalf.  But prior to the end of the age, the hope of the gospel must first be preached to all nations.  (Mark 13:9-10 TPT)

 

In verse 9, Jesus gives another warning, this one more personal.  “Be on your guard!”  He then tells His inner circle of the personal persecutions they will face in His name, and the purposes thereof.

But He is not warning them to be on guard against their persecutors.   He is warning them against looking for big-picture signs of The End.  This practice would take their focus from their individual missions.  They need to be ready to witness to the authorities before whom they will be brought.  They will need to remember the Great Commission that Jesus will give them to preach the Gospel to all nations.  Most of all, they need to prepare their spirits to receive wisdom and comfort from the Holy Spirit amid their persecution.  It is their faith that will see them through what is coming, not their ability to read the signs of the times.

This warning is for us as well.  Most of us Americans have not faced the danger of arrest or public beatings for professing our faith, but this does happen daily in many areas of the world.  I doubt that many of the people who are persecuted find themselves in that situation for interpreting the signs of the times.  They are jailed, tortured, and martyred for the Name of Jesus.

But since, as Americans we have not previously faced these troubles, we tend to get spiritually lazy.  We lose our sense of urgency about preaching the gospel and instead turn our attentions to the news, fake or otherwise, about the state of our nation.  We look at the spreading degeneracy of our culture, in our media, our schools, our government, etc., and say something religious-sounding like, “Come Lord Jesus.”  But what are we doing to prepare for that coming?

More importantly, what are we saying or doing to get the world ready?

Until the Whole World Hears

In verse 10, Jesus says that the Gospel must first be preached to all nations before The End comes.  I have often wondered if that’s why it has been 2000 years and we’re still waiting?   I can’t know this for certain, but it seems to make sense for this reason.  (I’m going to lose some of the Calvinists on this one.)

God offers salvation from Sin and Death as a free gift.  The way to receive this gift is to believe that Jesus is who the Bible says He is, did what the Bible says He did, and to trust and rely completely on that Truth, following Christ in obedience.  In other words, a person must exercise a conscious and deliberate act of the will.

But a choice can not be made where there is no awareness of the choice that needs to be made.  This is what the preaching is for:

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  How are they to call on one they have not believed in?  And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, “How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.” But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” Consequently, faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.  (Romans 10:13-17 NET)

For this reason, I do not believe that anyone who has never heard of Jesus could be condemned for not choosing Him.  Some theologians would disagree with me on that, but it’s the story I’m going with, because if God would send some lost African tribe to hell because they didn’t make a decision for Christ, then all those who die in infancy would go along with them.  Therefore, I call shenanigans on that theology.

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Every tribe, tongue and nation…

So, about those lost African tribes (or wherever they may be).  I believe that Jesus hasn’t come back yet because we haven’t reached everyone with the Gospel yet.  Whether it’s because the Church has been lazy about missions, or the world’s population is simply growing at a rate that the Church can’t keep up with, they haven’t all had a chance to make their choice yet.

Therefore, the point is to stop looking at the sky and to start looking for opportunities to share the Good News, both near and far, until the whole world hears.  Because until we reach the whole world with the Gospel, it doesn’t matter what ELSE is going on in the world.

(To be continued in Part 4—Stand Firm)