Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

Guest (Male): Persecution, suffering, and the end times. All of these things can spark unrest or curiosity when we hear of them. But Jesus, in the Gospels, brings us peace and understanding as to what will happen when the world comes to an end. Take your Bible and turn to the Gospel of Luke to hear the words of Christ on the end times.

Welcome to Every Last Word, a radio and internet program with Dr. Philip Ryken, teaching the whole Bible to change your whole life. Today, we're learning about four things that we should and should not be doing as we consider when the world might come to an end.

Phil, we hear many things about the end of the world, like how and when it will come and so forth. But what are we to think about the end times prophecies that are found in the Bible?

Dr. Philip Ryken: Well, Mark, you've been in the church long enough to know that talking about the end of the world tends to break out the crazy in some people. So you do hear a lot of ideas about what the future will bring. And that's why it's so important to have a thorough understanding of the Bible, every last word that the Bible teaches about the end of the world. And that's the approach that Jesus encourages us to take, listening to his words, not listening to what the world says about the end of the world.

Guest (Male): Many end times prophecies involve persecution. We can even see that in our own time right now. As Christians, can we avoid persecution?

Dr. Philip Ryken: No, Mark, we really can't, and we shouldn't. I'm not saying that we should seek persecution out. But if we listen to what Jesus says in the Gospel of Luke, it's very clear that his followers will face various kinds of opposition, hatred from the world, and suffering. The same kinds of things that he endured, his followers also will endure.

We see that in so many places around the world today, and increasingly in North America and even places where there hasn't been a lot of active persecution in a long time. Increasing opposition to the cause of Christ. We shouldn't seek to avoid it, but we should trust Christ through it. And hopefully today's message will help us to do that, Mark.

Guest (Male): Okay, thank you, Phil. Let's turn in our Bible to Luke chapter 21, verses 5 through 19, and listen together to Dr. Ryken.

Dr. Philip Ryken: Please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 21. This is the farewell discourse of the Lord Jesus Christ, in which he begins to speak about the end.

Now, by all accounts, the temple in Jerusalem was a magnificent building. With its lofty parapets and its grand colonnades, it was one of the most beautiful buildings really in the history of the world. According to Josephus, the whole of the outer works of the temple were in the highest degree worthy of admiration, for they were completely covered with gold plate, which when the sun was shining on them, glittered so dazzlingly that they blinded the eye. And on the other side, where there was no gold, the blocks of marble were of such pure white that to strangers who had never seen them before, they appeared from a distance to look like mountains of snow.

In those days, most Israelites lived in very modest homes of mud or brick or stone. And so when they went up to the temple to worship, they were almost overwhelmed with feelings of joy and awe. We hear their praises in the Psalms: "We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple." This is what they sang, for this was the house of their God. Each year, when the pilgrims went up to Jerusalem, they would look to see what had been added to the temple.

At the time of Christ, construction had been underway for almost 50 years. From time to time, wealthy patrons would donate decorative flourishes in gold or in precious gems. And so the conversation that Luke records for us in chapter 21, verse 5, must have been very common. For while Jesus was teaching, some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings.

Yet rather than joining in the general admiration, Jesus prophesied that soon the entire building would be torn down. "As for these things that you see," he said in verse 6, "the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." What an astonishing prophecy that was, an almost unbelievable prediction. Some of the temple's massive marble foundation stones were 40 feet long. They weighed more than 100 tons.

But Jesus said that they would all fall down. And Jesus was right. All of the words of this prophecy came true. For when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in AD 70, they tore the temple down stone by stone. Yet as amazing as that prophecy was, the people who heard it believed it. And what they wanted to know was not whether what Jesus said was really true, but when it would happen.

Notice the question they ask in verse 7: "Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?" Naturally, people were hoping to get some kind of warning before this great and terrible day when the temple would be destroyed. And I wonder if they may have actually been thinking not just about that, but also about the final judgment. For from their perspective, the destruction of the temple would be the end of the world.

And so they were thinking already about the end times. The question they had was, "When will these things be? When will the end of the world come?" Now, Jesus knew that kind of question often leads people into unwise speculation. And so he goes on to clarify what he is saying. And I think his answer addresses both the more immediate question of the destruction of the temple and the more ultimate question of the end of the world.

Jesus wanted to put these things in their proper perspective. And because he's talking about both of those issues, this passage is sometimes regarded as somewhat complex, maybe even confusing. But I think if we study what Jesus said carefully, his meaning will become clear. Really, it's a little bit like wearing bifocals. Or so I imagine; I'm not at that point yet, anyway.

The destruction of the temple is near at hand. It's something coming very soon. It's something you have to look at very closely. And many of the prophecies in this chapter deal with that kind of immediate event, the specific happenings before and during the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Yet all through the passage, the end of the world is in the background. That becomes clearer and clearer as we work our way through the chapter. We constantly need to keep that in our gaze as well.

This destruction of the temple is really a portent of the final judgment. It is the beginning of the end. And so Jesus extends his discussion of the destruction of the temple all the way to the end of the world. He's looking beyond his first coming to his second coming. And he's using the kind of language that the Old Testament prophets would use when they talked about the great and terrible day of the Lord. He's talking about the time, about the end, and later in the passage, about the coming of the Son of Man.

And you know, this is often the way that biblical prophecy works. There are near fulfillments, things that are closer at hand, and then there are farther fulfillments of the prophecy, even things that extend all the way to the end of the world. If you look only at the near fulfillments, you'll miss the bigger picture. But in order to understand those far fulfillments, you have to look carefully at what the prophet is saying to people in his own time and place.

And here there's an immediate historical context: the time leading up to and including the fall of Jerusalem. And so many of the commands that Jesus gives here apply most specifically to the disciples who lived through those terrible days. And yet the backdrop to that historical act of divine judgment is the judgment that is still to come. And so as we work our way through the passage, I'll be giving a number of exhortations that I think apply also to us right now and in the future as we face various trials and tribulations before the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Now we're looking at everything up to verse 19. And in these verses, I think we have at least four practical exhortations. I think you can list them as a series of don'ts: don't be led astray, don't be afraid, don't miss your opportunity for witness, and don't give up, but persevere to the very end. Well, the first exhortation is not to be led astray, not to be led astray by any wild ideas about the end of the world.

To be specific, don't let anyone fool you with a false Messiah or with rash predictions about when the end will come. You get this warning in verse 8. Jesus says, "See to it that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'the time is at hand.' Do not go after them." You see, Jesus knew that talking about the end of the world always seems to bring out the crazy in some people.

Sometimes they follow after a false Messiah. There have been many examples of that in the history of the world, even some from our own times. Think of men like Jim Jones and David Koresh, cult leaders that led their followers to their deaths with their messianic expectations. Sometimes the problem is people trying to forecast the future. They have all these theories about coming events that are supposedly based on biblical prophecy.

As they chart out the future, they go well beyond what the Scriptures actually teach. Sensational books like Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series may make for interesting reading, but they contain all kinds of eschatological speculations that leave people, frankly, with many wrong ideas about theology and about the end of the world. And there are all the strange ideas people come up with when they try to connect today's political events to specific prophecies in the Bible.

Usually all kinds of speculation about America's foreign policy towards Israel and the Middle East and supposedly coming from the Scriptures. Some people even predict when Jesus will come again. There always seems to be some fringe religious group setting up a date for the end of the world. And so far, they've all proved wrong. And yet often they come back and they come up with some kind of explanation for why they were wrong. They set yet another date as if they have not learned their lesson at all.

A radio preacher, Harold Camping, is doing that right now. He was wrong about 1994, now he's saying the end will come in 2011. Well, if you want to make your own best guess, just read the Rapture Index. The website that claims to be the Dow Jones Industrial Average for eschatology. The prophetic speedometer of end times activity. I'm just reading what I read on the website.

The index goes up or down depending on the price of oil and the climate in Africa and what's happening with the peace process in the Middle East, all kinds of other variables. Supposedly, it helps you know how fast the end is coming. Well, Jesus knew it would be like this. He knew that people always would be coming up with strange ideas about the end of the world that in many cases would lead people actually away from his gospel, including lots of ideas that misuse Scripture.

So rather than making his own prediction, Jesus gave us some good pastoral advice which people have always needed, and we need as much now as ever: don't be led astray. He also tells us here not to be afraid. And that's the second thing: don't be afraid. And that's important because often when we start thinking about the end times, we get frightened. How terrifying it is to think about what will really happen at the end of the world when Jesus comes again and we all appear before God for judgment.

The apostle Peter said that the day of the Lord would come like a thief. He said that the heavens would pass away with a mighty roar, that the heavenly bodies would be burned up and destroyed, and the earth and the works that are done in it will all be exposed. Well, when you hear prophecies like that, it's easy to start getting worried about the future. It's easy to pray upon people's fears. It's easy to whip them up into a frenzy of end times hysteria.

But Jesus gives us some very sane advice. You see it in verse 9: "When you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once." And then he went on in verses 10 and 11 to describe other signs of the coming judgment: "Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes, famines, pestilences. There will be terrors and great signs from heaven."

And you know, all of these things happened in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem. That's the immediate context for these words. Nation did rise against nation. In fact, there was an insurrection of Israelites against the Roman Empire in AD 66, and that's what led to the destruction of Jerusalem in four years later. There were great earthquakes across Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. Famines in various places under the Emperor Claudius and then again under Nero.

And as for terror, just think of what happened to the city of Pompeii in AD 63, buried under the volcanic ash of Mount Vesuvius. And there were even signs in the heavens, comets recorded in the historians, all signs of coming judgments. Jerusalem was not destroyed until all of those things had taken place. And yet let me say again that as specific as these prophecies were for the people in those days, we ourselves are in a very similar situation.

These are some of the portents of the end of the world: nation rising against nation, earthquakes, other disasters, famine, terror of all kinds. It has to happen. That's what Jesus says. These things will occur. They will all occur before the end of the world. It's not the end of the world yet, but as we see these things happening, it reminds us of the end of the world, and therefore it can be very frightening.

I wonder what fears do you have about the future? Do you ever worry about the next natural disaster or the next terrorist attack? Recently, the cover of World Magazine had a story about the threat of a nuclear explosion here in the United States. Some experts putting it at 50/50 in the next several decades. Or maybe you're more concerned about the scarcity of global resources, oil, the warfare that may well come as people fight over water rights.

These are the kinds of disasters that Jesus prophesied. They've happened many times in the history of the world. They will happen again. And every time they happen, they're signs of the coming judgment. They warn us to get ready for the end of the world. And as we think about these things, we ourselves at times may be disconcerted or disheartened, even fearful of the future. But Jesus says to us, "Do not be afraid."

I think that's a practical exhortation as much for us as it was for the original disciples. Jesus was telling them, "Look, these things have to happen. It's part of my purpose for the world. It's not yet the end of the world." That's not the end of the world for us either. But we have even more reason not to be afraid, for we now serve a living Savior who has demonstrated his power over sin and death by rising from the grave.

We serve a mighty Savior who has ascended to heaven and is ruling the whole universe for his glory. And this great Savior has sent us the Holy Spirit, who will be with us in every dark place, in every hour of trouble. And so whatever disaster may come, God is with us and Jesus says to us, "Do not be afraid." He goes on in these verses to give us a very important reason not to be afraid. Or not so much a reason not to be afraid, but a reason why it's important for us not to be afraid.

And that's because these trials and tribulations that we face in this world give us an extraordinary opportunity for evangelism. It is only if we are fearless in the face of danger that we will be ready to do what we are told to do in verse 13 and seize the opportunity to tell people about Jesus. Now let me just say a few words about the context for this exhortation, which you could really put like this: don't miss the opportunity to bear witness.

As we look around and see what is happening in our culture, it's easy to be very pessimistic about the future. I mean, really, America gives nearly every indication of being a nation in spiritual decline. Are we not living in a decadent, arrogant, hyper-individualized, over-sexed, ultra-materialistic culture? And whether we will suffer a sudden collapse for these and all our other sins or whether we'll go through a long, slow, dispiriting decline, that remains to be seen.

But it seems inevitable that God's judgment will come and with the coming judgment, growing opposition to the church. Jesus prophesied similar things for the people of his generation. See what he says. He's already said that Jerusalem would be destroyed, and now he says in verse 12, "But before all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake."

And he goes on in verses 16 and 17 to say, "You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake." Now these prophecies referred specifically to the persecution the first Christians faced in Israel first of all, and then across the Mediterranean world in those decades between the resurrection of Jesus and the fall of Jerusalem.

In verses 8 and 9, Jesus indicated that this, the destruction of the temple, would come before the end of the world. And now he makes it clear that something else is going to happen even before the temple is destroyed, and that is the persecution of the church. What terrible hardships he describes in these verses: prison, betrayal, hatred, even death. And of course, all of these prophecies came true.

If you were to go on to the book of Acts and read what really is the second volume of Luke's writings, you would see that all of these things are documented. The apostles preached in Jerusalem, they were arrested and put in prison. Stephen suffered a much worse fate than that; he was put to death. Later the same thing happened to James. Then you have all the persecutions of Paul. I mean, the persecutions he perpetrated before he became a Christian, and then all of the ones that he suffered afterwards for the cause of Christ.

Eventually Paul, like all of the other apostles except for John, died a violent death. And of course, it wasn't just the apostles either. Many so-called ordinary Christians also were persecuted for their faith. Just think of all of the cruelties that Nero inflicted on the believers in Rome: the burnings, the crucifixions. These things were suffered for the sake of their Savior, who himself was crucified by the Romans.

You see, Jesus wants to prepare his people for these persecutions. That's why he's giving his disciples such a clear prophecy about these things. He wanted them to know in advance what they would suffer for his sake. And he wanted them to know for this reason. Look at what he says in verse 13 so that they will be ready to bear witness for him: "This will be your opportunity to bear witness."

Specifically to bear witness to the cross and the empty tomb, to declare the truth of the gospel that through Jesus Christ who was crucified on the cross, we can have forgiveness of sins, and through his resurrection from the dead, we can have eternal life. This is the opportunity that people had when they were persecuted. Jesus went on to give these words of reassurance for them: "Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict."

And of course, these words came true as well. As you read through the book of Acts, you'll find that the apostles were never at a loss for words. Bring them up on trial before the religious authorities or before the secular state and they will always be making a bold declaration of their faith in Jesus Christ. They were told to stop preaching, and yet Luke tells us in the book of Acts that they did not stop teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Stephen preached right up to his very last breath. And by the time you get to the end of the book of Acts, you find Paul still preaching with great boldness and without hindrance, proclaiming the kingdom of God. That's how the book ends. And all through those times of suffering when they had an opportunity for witness, the Spirit helped the apostles and helped them to know exactly what to say. And of course, the result of that was that the gospel spread all over the ancient world.

This is what almost always happens when Christians are persecuted. By the grace of God, we bear witness to the cross and the empty tomb. We tell people about Jesus, about his crucifixion and his resurrection. We offer them the forgiveness of sins in his name. Now we should not pray for persecutions. No, they are evil in themselves. They are a great sin against God. But neither should we despair when Christians are under attack, because usually that is when the church has its brightest and boldest witness.

Do not be afraid of the enemies of the gospel, even in all of the dark places in the world. Because the more hatred any society has for Christ, the clearer it becomes what difference it makes to be a Christian. This is true under the oppression of communism or against the evil of Islam. It's true even in our own increasingly godless society. God is always giving us opportunities for witness.

Think of what happened to this man from Afghanistan on trial for converting from Islam to Christianity. As you may know, under the pressure of world opinion, he was released from prison, but only on the grounds that he was mentally insane. Apparently, some people think that you'd have to be at least a little bit crazy to stand up for Jesus in a Muslim society. Maybe that's true, I don't know. I don't think the man's crazy though, I think he's just a Christian.

This is his opportunity to bear witness for Christ. And whether he lives or dies, God will use his testimony to bring other Muslims to faith in Jesus Christ. And he has the promise of the Holy Spirit to count on in that kind of trial. Now let me say that here Jesus makes promises about knowing what to say that were specific for the apostles. I mean, these men were directly inspired by the Holy Spirit. Their words are recorded in Scripture.

So when Jesus told them that they didn't need to plan their answers in advance, he wasn't saying, for example, that preachers should never prepare their sermons. Or that Christians shouldn't write out their testimony and memorize a basic outline of the gospel so that they can share their faith. No, even Peter himself said that we always need to be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us. We need to be prepared to do that.

And yet I do think that what Jesus said here in Luke 21 does apply in a general way to every believer, including this promise of the help of the Spirit. We are in essentially the same situation that the first Christians were in. They were waiting for the destruction of the temple, and we too are waiting, waiting for judgment. Already we see the signs of the coming destruction: war, earthquake, terror.

And yet this is still the time that people have to repent of their sin and come to faith in Christ. Therefore, we have many perfect opportunities to witness for Jesus and we don't want to miss them, and we have the help of the Spirit in carrying out that witness. The more opposition we suffer, the better our opportunities really will be to make it clear what difference it makes to follow Jesus, and the Spirit will help us take advantage of those opportunities.

Even if we don't know exactly what to say. We're not the apostles, they always seemed to know exactly the right thing to say. But the Spirit can still take what we use and use it for the glory of God. Often the fact that we are willing to say anything at all for Jesus is more important than what it is that we say. Too many Christians fail to take advantage of the opportunities they have for witness because they're afraid of making some kind of mistake.

That's partly a failure of nerve, I suppose. I think it's also a failure to trust in the work of the Holy Spirit, who will help us bear witness for Christ. Don't worry about what to say, just give God something that he can use and he will use it for his glory. Every difficult circumstance, every time we face any kind of opposition is an opportunity to tell people about Jesus. It occurred to me that verse 13 might be a very good verse for us to memorize and then remember in times of trial.

When we are hospitalized with a serious illness, for example. When we suffer the grief that comes with a painful loss. When we are criticized for thinking and acting like a Christian at work or in the neighborhood or wherever we go. The Holy Spirit can bring these words of Jesus to mind and remind us: "This will be your opportunity for witness." What a wonderful perspective to take on life as you go through life thinking, "This is my opportunity for witness."

Now we are called to keep on witnessing like that to the very end. And Jesus ends our passage, really the first part of his longer discourse, with a final word of encouragement and exhortation. He's told us not to be led astray, not to be afraid, not to miss our opportunity for witness, and at the end here, he tells us not to give up, but to endure. "Not a hair of your head will perish," he says in verse 18. "By your endurance you will gain your lives."

Now, what is said there in verse 18 raises at least for me an immediate and obvious question. If you look at verse 16, you see that Jesus told his followers that they would be killed. He's very explicit about that promise. Some of them will be put to death. And yet here in verses 18 and 19, it sounds like they will not perish after all. "Not a hair on their heads will perish, they will gain their lives." Doesn't this seem to be some kind of contradiction?

Well, I think the answer is that in verse 16, Jesus is talking about death in the physical sense. He's talking in the literal sense, the persecutions they would literally suffer in their very bodies. But then in verses 18 and 19, he is talking about life after death. He's talking about spiritual life. He's talking about eternal life. The word "lives" at the end of verse 19 could also be translated "souls."

When Jesus talks about the hairs of their heads, he's using an almost poetic expression. I think it refers to eternal life. Norval Geldenhuys explained it like this: although they are to suffer physical pain and death, they can never be plucked from the protecting hand of God. Nothing will happen to them outside his will, and he will make all things work together for their highest welfare and their eternal salvation.

And at his second coming, they will arise with glorified bodies in which there will be no defect or injury or maybe we could even say a full head of hair given the promise in verse 18. Remember, this is the Savior who told us that if we lose our lives for him, we will actually save our lives, we will gain them in the end. And now he has gone ahead of us into glory. Our place in heaven is secure.

What courage and confidence this ought to give us as we seek to live for Christ in evil days. Truly, we have nothing to fear because for those who trust in Jesus, even death will be destroyed. And if by faith we persevere to the very end, we will be saved forever. What a word of encouragement and confidence comes at the end of these verses, even for all of the terrible things that Jesus prophesied, this word of encouragement and confidence in the face of danger.

What a dramatic difference these words can make in times of difficulty. A powerful example of this comes from the preaching ministry of Donald Grey Barnhouse, who was senior minister of this church until 1960. It's a story some of you have heard before, and I'm sure you'll remember, but it's worth hearing again. And some of you haven't heard it at all, and you really should. It comes from the summer of 1939.

Dr. Barnhouse had been preaching in Scotland. His family was vacationing during that time on the coast of France, and Barnhouse was scheduled to go on to Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was supposed to reach there by Saturday night so that he could preach there on Sunday morning. And yet at the beginning of the week, he decided to make a quick trip over to France so that he could be with his family.

On his way out of Britain, he was warned by the government official that he might not make it back in time to preach on Sunday. You see, Europe was in turmoil. There were rumors of war. Hitler was threatening to march on Poland. Barnhouse decided to take his chances. And as he was leaving the country, the official who stamped his passport said, "Don't forget that I warned you."

And it proved to be a very wise warning because Hitler did invade Poland that week. And Barnhouse was out on the coast of France; flights to England had been canceled, and so he had to work his way very laboriously back to Belfast. He started out on Thursday. He first had to take a train to Paris, and then he had to take a train from Paris back out to the coast of France where he could meet a steamer that would take him across the Channel.

And all across the way, he saw the signs of war. Soldiers were mobilizing. There were alarm bells; the bells in all of the churches across the countryside were ringing the alarm for war. From time to time, civilians would have to get off the trains so soldiers could get on and continue on their journey. Barnhouse even then realized as he was driving by that so many of the men that he was seeing would never return to their own countries.

They were saying farewell to their wives for the rest of their natural lives. So many of those towns and villages he passed would be destroyed in the coming war. Barnhouse finally made his way to the coast, he took a steamer by night across the Channel. He was up with the captain as he made the passage, and they heard over the radio that Hitler did indeed invade Poland.

The ultimatum subsequently came from the Prime Minister that if Hitler did not withdraw, then England would go to war. Barnhouse took the train to London, and there he saw even more signs of chaos: soldiers mobilizing for war, children being evacuated to the countryside, long lines of people on all of the railway platforms, many of them crying and in distress.

Barnhouse made it across England, and then he had to make it across over to Ireland by another night passage by boat. He finally arrived in Belfast at 4:00 AM on Sunday morning. To his surprise, there was a small welcoming party that took him to the hotel. He had a few hours of rest and then went to the church that morning. The pastor was very glad to see him; he kept saying over and over again, "Thank God that you're here. I wouldn't know what to preach this morning. I'm glad that you're here."

He made the comment that some of the men who would hear that sermon this morning would never hear another sermon again, that they would lose their lives in the war, they would never come back to their own home church. What word would Barnhouse be able to give them? Well, just before he stepped up to preach, he was handed a note that was passed to the minister and then on to Barnhouse, and it read as follows: "No reply from Hitler. The Prime Minister has declared war."

Barnhouse began by saying that he had the perfect text for that morning. He said, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed." You see, Barnhouse was thinking of these very words of Jesus Christ, what he said to people as they fearfully thought of the coming of the destruction of Jerusalem and the tearing down of the temple and even about the end of the world.

Then Barnhouse began to recount all of his experiences on the way to Belfast. And he would describe each of the terrors that he had seen and then he would stop and repeat his text and he would say, "Do not be alarmed. The sirens will sound. The soldiers will mobilize. Do not be alarmed. Millions of homes will be broken up all across Europe and maybe across the world. Do not be alarmed. Children will be torn from their mothers. Their cries will represent the wails that are going up over all the world. But Jesus said, 'Do not be alarmed.'"

As Barnhouse went through this litany of lamentation, piling monstrous grief on agonizing horror, the tension in the church was mounting, and finally Barnhouse stopped and he said, "These words are either the words of a madman, or they are the words of God." Then he shook his fist toward heaven, and he cried out, "Oh God, unless Jesus is God, these words are the most horrible that could be spoken to men who have hearts that can weep, that can be gripped by human suffering."

He said, "Oh God, men are dying. Do not be alarmed? Children are crying in their misery with no beloved face in sight, and you tell us not to be alarmed? How can Jesus Christ say such a thing?" And then Barnhouse gave the gospel answer: Jesus Christ is God. He is the Lord of history. He is the God of detailed circumstance. Nothing has ever happened without God knowing it first.

Although the sin of man may reduce the world to passion and fury and men may tear at one another's throats, yet in the midst of this history Jesus is Lord. And everyone who believes in him will know the power of his resurrection and will learn that no event, however terrible, can ever separate us from the love of God.

My friends, this is our hope in all of the difficulty and trial and tribulation and torment of the world. As we face all of our own fears about the future, Jesus says to us, "Don't be led astray. Don't be afraid. But trust me to the very end." When you have that kind of confidence, that spiritual confidence in the God of the Bible, you will be bolder in your witness. Maybe not as bold as Dr. Barnhouse, I suppose most people weren't as bold as he was.

But could you be bold enough through faith in Christ to do something that God can use to bear witness for Jesus in the world? Father, it is our prayer that we would be able to offer that kind of witness. Father, we pray that you would comfort us in all of our own fears about the future. Lord, that we would have a deep trust in the goodness of your care, in the triumph that is certainly yours through Jesus, and that one day will be ours at the end of the world.

As we wait for that great day, we pray that you would give us more boldness to tell other people about Jesus so that they too may not be afraid, but come under his saving care. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): You are listening to Every Last Word with Bible teacher Dr. Philip Ryken, a listener-supported ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. The Alliance exists to promote a biblical understanding and worldview. Drawing upon the insight and wisdom of reformed theologians from decades and even centuries gone by, we seek to provide Christian teaching that will equip believers to understand and meet the challenges and opportunities of our time and place.

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