How can we be bold in our Christian witness? Here are three ideas that have to do with our awareness and our perception of the condition of the world around us. And since in the flesh it is very hard to have this perceptions, we bring these ideas to you in terms of prayer requests. Thus we pray…
1.To be aware of the harvest. In Matthew 9:37-38 Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” The harvest Jesus is talking about here is souls ready to he saved. The laborers are evangelists—those who will share the gospel with them and lead them to Christ. In this setting, Jesus is looking over a multitude and is moved with compassion for them. He knew that there were many…
There are three great purposes for the Tribulation: 1) to prepare Israel for her Messiah; 2) to bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations; and 3) to bring salvation to the repentant lost.
To Bring Salvation to The Repentant Lost
This has to be included as one of the Tribulation purposes, mainly because of the great many people who will be saved out of it, and also because God always desires that man be saved no matter how and where that happens. The prophet Joel declared, “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:32).
Now there seems to be evidence of two different Tribulation revivals: one, mostly toward the beginning of the Tribulation and another at the very end of the Tribulation.
The earlier revival is divided into two groups. The first group (Revelation 7:1-8) are no doubt all Jews, 144,000 of them, 72,000 from each of the twelve tribes. And the second group (Revelation 7:9-17) consists of “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.” This group, as recorded here, has been martyred and are now “standing before the throne and before the Lamb [in heaven].” They have come out of the great Tribulation and they have been given new glorified bodies. Verse fourteen states, “And they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” And then in verse 16 and 17 we read…
“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.”
We don’t know exactly how this revival will be set off, but I am guessing that it will be due to the miracle of the Rapture of the church and also to the realization of the horrors of the coming wrath of God.
Now it may be assumed that this countless group are all Gentiles, but I’m not sure of it. I think most of them will be Gentiles; however, I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that a few will be Jewish. The Scriptures do not give us any indication one way or another.
Though I think most will be saved toward the beginning of the Tribulation, I also think that the work of salvation will continue to happen all through the seven years, as they hear the consistent preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and also of the two Jewish witnesses and the angels. Most of these will be martyred, but some will survive and be blessed to go into the Millennial kingdom alive.
But I think the greatest number of people who survive the Tribulation and are saved will be Jewish. This will occur at the very end when Jesus appears in the sky. This is the later revival. As I stated earlier, two-thirds of them will die in the Tribulation, but one-third of them will be left alive and will be saved (about 10 million of them; I am taking the literal view that “all will be saved”).
Here in Zechariah 13:8-9, and 12:10-11, are the details of that conversion.
Zechariah 13:8-9
“And it will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.'”
Zechariah 12:10-12
“And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born. 11 “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Here also is the record from Matthew’s gospel.
Matthew 24:29-31
“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, 30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
“His elect” here consists of all glorified and unglorified people in world history who will be ushered into the millennial kingdom. And a big part of that elect group will be those unglorified, saved Jews who come out of the Tribulation. Many of those will be those who will serve Him in the new millennial temple (see Ezekiel 40-48).
This is our thirty-fifth study. Please click HERE for an introduction to this study.
John 8:12-19
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”
“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
Observations
The Pharisees had no idea who Jesus was. They were not listening to Him. They only wanted to trap Him. I’m sure that when Jesus spoke of His Father, they quickly dismissed it. And when they said, where is your father, they had no interest in what He would say to them.
Application
The Pharisees never believed that He was the light of the world. It is up to us to believe that, and that if we follow Him we will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.
The Bible tells us that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and to the knowledge of the truth (2 Pet. 3:9, 1 Tim. 2:4). For this reason, He wants us to pray for the lost—for all the lost. It is how God has designed for people to be saved (Rom. 10:1).
But we should also pray for ourselves—because we are the instruments that God has chosen to pray for them and to bring them to Christ. Of course, in our own ability we will fail, because we naturally lack the desire, the skill, and the courage to witness. But with prayer, God will work the power of His own Spirit in us, so that many may be delivered out of the power of darkness and into His marvelous light.
Now the most vital thing we need as witnesses is to be…
It seems that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was well-liked by most people—even Republicans. He is known for his weekly fireside radio chats, and he made a good show of it. Many I suppose couldn’t wait to hear him. But there were things that he never talked about—that he kept secret. And these secret things I think would qualify him as being one of the worst Presidents.
But why am I telling you this? Why should we dig up negative stuff now? Well because I think history is important for our overall understanding of the world—especially in Presidents. And I think, because he was so well liked, this President had a lot to do with setting the standard for Presidents, especially Presidents of the democratic party.
Overall, the basic criticism of FDR was that he was very controlling; he sought to control the government and the Democratic party; many thought he was headed toward a dictatorship by attempting to pack the Supreme court (And this is what we are doing now); and, he was the only president to run a third term—though the last term was shortened by his death.
Here are five more criticisms of FDR:
1. Many of his allies, after a time, rejected him.
His Vice President, John Garner, was not pleased with many of his policies, though we don’t know why.
Raymond Moley became a bitter opponent of his New Deal and caused him to turn conservative.
Ambassador Joseph Kennedy (John Kennedy’s dad) had an uneasy relationship with him.
Journalist Walter Lippmann thought he was unqualified to be President.
Publisher William Hearst was highly critical of his New Deal.
Al Smith, Gov. of N.Y. also opposed his New Deal.
2. Many were critical of his New Deal.
This New Deal was an extensive government intervention. In this New Deal FDR dramatically expanded the welfare state; he believed in an equal distribution of wealth.
3. Many said FDR was a communist and a fascist.
And many came out and blatantly said that he was anti-God.
4. He was racist for the following reasons:
He sent 120,000 Japanese and American citizens of Japanese ancestry to internment camps after WW2.
In the 1936 Olympics only white athletes were invited to meet Roosevelt. Even Jesse Owens who won four gold medals was not invited.
He did not support making lynching a federal crime.
FDR nominated Hugo Black to the Supreme Court, knowing that he had been an active member of the KKK in the 1920’s.
5. He was anti-Jewish.
He did not try to prevent the Holocaust.
In 1939, 936 Jewish refugees were denied asylum and not allowed into the U.S.
FDR knew that Jews were being killed but did nothing!
FDR failed to issue any public statements of the killing of Jews in any of his 998 press conferences. No wonder so many people in the U.S. knew nothing about the six million Jews that were killed. Why did FDR keep this a secret? And why did he not at least try to prevent the Holocaust?
There are three great purposes for the Tribulation: 1) to prepare Israel for her Messiah; 2) to bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations; and 3) to bring salvation to the repentant lost.
To Bring Judgment on All Unbelievers and Unbelieving Nations
This second purpose falls close behind in rank to the first; for all of the Tribulation is full of the judgments of God. We will look at a few key passages that describe God’s judgment, with a few comments (bold text for emphasis).
Deuteronomy 30:7
And the Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
Here we see a very early promise of judgment on unbelievers, but more specifically on Israel’s enemies.
Isaiah 13:9-12
Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises,
And the moon will not shed its light.
11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud,
And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
12 I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold,
And mankind than the gold of Ophir.
In this passage God shows us how he will judge the unbelieving and proud sinners. He will first terrify them with earthquakes and cosmic disturbances. Then he will exterminate most of them; he will make them scarcer than pure gold.
Isaiah 24:19-22
19 The earth is broken asunder,
The earth is split through,
The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard,
And it totters like a shack,
For its transgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.
21 So it will happen in that day,
That the Lord will punish the host of heaven, on high,
And the kings of the earth, on earth.
22 And they will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
Here we have revealed to us judgment on the earth, and also judgement on the evil angels and on humans. Verse twenty-two describes the judgment of angels and humans. I believe the gathering together “like prisoners in the dungeon” is what happens after death. They (evil angels and humans) will be held in a place of holding until the final judgment, called the Great White throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). This place of holding I believe is described for us in Luke 16:19-31, where we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus. So, it appears that the holding place is full of torments, and they will be tormented even before they come to the final and eternal judgment of hell.
Jeremiah 25:32-33
Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, evil is going forth
From nation to nation,
And a great storm is being stirred up
From the remotest parts of the earth.
33 “And those slain by the Lord on that day shall be from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they shall be like dung on the face of the ground.
Here is described for us the tremendous evil on the earth in that day; it will spread from nation to nation. And the Lord’s anger and judgment will come quickly in response, and there will not be any time to lament them, gather them or bury them. They will lie there to rot, and the rotting bodies will be as dung spread over the earth.
Zechariah 13:2
“And it will come about in that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
Here we have the prophecy that all idols, false prophets and unclean spirits will be removed from the earth. This will happen during the fires of the Tribulation; all evil will be removed and cleaned off the earth to make room for the coming kingdom of Messiah Jesus.
Matthew 25:31-46
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This passage describes the judgment of those who are alive immediately after He returns and before His millennial kingdom. It is often called the judgment of the nations. I would say that the judgment here is the sentence, where He says, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” But I don’t believe they go directly to the Lake of Fire. I think they will go to that holding place where the rich man is. Then after the millennial kingdom is over, they will appear at the Great White Throne judgment seat and be sentenced again and cast into the Lake of fire for eternity.
Revelation 3:10
‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.
The “hour of testing” is referring to the Tribulation, the 7-year period when God’s divine wrath is expressed as seals, trumpets, and bowls.
This is our thirty-fourth study. Please click HERE for an introduction to this study.
John 8:3-11
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Observations
The Pharisees knew that Jesus was merciful to such women, and so they tried to trap Him into doing something contrary to the law. But Jesus turned the tables on them. He appealed to their conscience, to their own sin. He got them to look at their own sin. Suddenly, they had no interest in condemning her.
Application
Jesus here by taking away her witnesses automatically frees her from the law (since the law says that in order to condemn someone there must be at least two witnesses). He forgives her and sets her on a new life without sin.
The following article is an excerpt from this book.
If you really want to share Christ with people and see them come to Christ you must have a plan. I suggest that you do these four things: first, prepare your heart with prayer; second, make a list of those you want to witness to; third, make for yourself the opportunity to witness; and fourth, pray regularly for those you have on your list.
KEEP YOURSELF PREPARED
I suppose the best strategy for evangelism is to keep yourself prepared. A good way to start is to regularly pray for yourself.
Ask God to make you aware of the harvest, to make you a willing worker, and to send you out into His harvest field.
Ask God to help you see the certainty of eternity and the horrors of hell.
1. To be aware of the harvest. In Matthew 9:37-38 Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” The harvest Jesus is talking about here is souls ready to he saved. The laborers are evangelists—those who will share the gospel with them and lead them to Christ. In this setting, Jesus is looking over a multitude and is moved with compassion for them. He knew that there were many…
Stephen Nielsen 