The Phrase Every Christian Needs to Stop Saying

part one

“Don’t worry folks. Before it gets real bad, the Lord will take us out of here.”

You’ve probably heard this phrase, or a derivative of it, more than once since Covid-19 sent the world into a seemingly endless tailspin. During our three-month lockdown in Africa, our family enjoyed spending our Sundays watching church services from across Canada and America. Watching pastors and church leaders improvise and adapt to the rapid changes due to pandemic mandates was encouraging. 

However, we began to notice a trend as the political climate intensified. Many preachers, pointing to the promise of Christ’s return, would say something to the effect that before we face real bad persecution in America, the Lord will rapture the church. The main problem with this thinking is that it’s not based on biblical thinking. I get the sentiment. I know that the church will be raptured before it gets really, really bad. But that is not the point of the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savoir Jesus Christ.

What did Jesus say about His return?

Some have estimated that 1 out of every 13 verses in the New Testament allude to or reference the return of the Lord. Jesus told the disciples that it was not for them to know the times or seasons that the Father has put under his own power. In other words, while we long for the Lord to return, we are to be preoccupied with being witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Jesus told the Jewish disciples that the church would not restore the kingdom to Israel. It will happen. Messiah will return and establish the everlasting kingdom through Israel. The timing of His return is in the hands of God.

Jesus commanded the church to go into all the world and preach the gospel among every nation and people. He did not say, “Go, unless you encounter resistance and persecution.” He said, “Go.” Going to a world that hates Christ will provoke persecution. Almost 2000 years have passed, and we still long for Messiah’s return. We are still going and fulfilling the Great Commission. Fortunately, in North America, we have enjoyed two centuries of religious freedom.

Sadly, I believe in our freedom and prosperity, we have forgotten our roots. We forget the fact that one of the primary prayers of saints in heaven is given to us in Revelation 6:10, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Jesus never promised prosperity. He does promise persecution (John 16:33).

The reality of present-day persecution

We are all aware that persecution takes place against Christians around the world. The testimonies we read out of communist countries where brave disciples gather to worship at risk of imprisonment are moving. We weep over the men and women slaughtered in Northern Africa for their faith in Christ. Yet, somehow, there is a disconnect between the reality of the possibility of that type of persecution ever happening and our experience of prosperity and freedom. We don’t want persecution. We haven’t really experienced this type of persecution. Therefore, in the deep recesses of our minds, we try to tell ourselves that God would never allow this to happen in our country.

One preacher told me that God loves His church too much to allow it to go through intense persecution and tribulation. I shared with him the story of the five men in Nigeria who were recently beheaded for simply attempting to evangelize villages. “Yeah, but that’s Nigeria.” It almost seemed as if he were unable to process the reality of persecution “over there” and the possibility of persecution increasing “over here.”

Do I believe they will start beheading believers in North America shortly? No. Do I believe God will allow the church to face an intensification of opposition in North America? Yes, absolutely.

The point of the study of eschatology is not meant to occupy our time trying to figure out when we get out of here. The promise of the Lord’s return and our gathering together unto him is meant to encourage us to endure tribulation and persecution and to fulfill the mission Christ gave the church to accomplish. Jesus will return, both to reward the faithful and punish the ungodly.

A Preeminent Doctrine of the Church

The teaching of the return of Christ is one of the preeminent doctrines stressed in the New Testament. The purpose of this doctrine is not to fill our heads with knowledge of facts and events. The purpose of biblical doctrine is to bring us closer to God. Like the disciples in Acts chapter 1, we long for the return of the Lord. Our hearts yearn for the day in which Jesus comes to claim His bride and reign over the nations.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration…and is profitable.” The hope of Christ’s return is profitable because it is a purifying doctrine! The Apostle John tells us, “every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself (1 John 3:3).

We must not ignore what the Bible says about the end times and Christ’s return. We must also be careful not to simplify the purpose of eschatology. We must always be looking for and hastening unto the day of Christ. There is a special reward for those who “love his appearing” and live accordingly (2 Timothy 4:8). The two great marks of a transformed life are that we turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and we wait for His Son from heaven (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

It’s gonna get worse before it gets better

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the infamous “15 days to curve the spread,” it seems that the situation is worsening. It sometimes feels as if we are strangers in our own home countries. While there have been great advances in the spread of the gospel, many are preoccupied with the chaos which seems to be erupting across the globe. The most honest take for 2020 is that Covid-19 is real, and no one knows what exactly to do about it. As governments use the pandemic as political leverage to consolidate power, Christians are sparking interest in eschatological discussions. So it should be. Paul tells us to comfort one another with the promise of our gathering together to ever be with the Lord at the rapture!

Teaching about the Lord’s return was the norm in the church during the first century. The blessed hope is blessed for a reason; namely, the average disciple of Christ was enduring intense opposition and persecution from family, friends, society, and even the government in the first century. Tribulation was the norm. Looking for the return of the Lord was comforting, not because it was thought to be an escape from tribulation, but primarily because it meant reward for enduring afflictions and vengeance on those who willfully oppose Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1:4-9 states:

We ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.

God allows us to suffer tribulation and persecution, that we might be counted worthy of the kingdom of God. The Apostle Peter tells us that like as Christ suffered in the flesh, we must “arm ourselves likewise.” Flippantly stating that we will be raptured out of here before it gets really bad does a disservice to the power and comfort of the promise of Christ’s return. We must be spiritually and mentally prepared to endure persecution by looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of Christ. We must understand the purpose of suffering in the personal life of a believer.

The Bible teaches that there are three primary functions of suffering in the life of the believer. 

God uses Suffering To Purify the Believer

The disciple of Christ must be mentally prepared to face intense persecution. Opposition to Christ and His Gospel is expected. Jesus stated, “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” Again, Jesus told his followers, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”

The Apostle Peter encourages us to be mentally prepared for persecution and suffering. Being prepared means, we seek to fulfill God’s will in our affliction, not to escape it. 1 Peter 4:1 says,

Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.

Paul taught, based on revelation and personal experience, that God proves His strength in our weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10:

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Sometimes God uses the fellowship of His suffering to purify us and allow us to experience the power of His resurrection.

When Christ returns, He will establish His righteous Kingdom. All who follow the Lord in this life will reign with Him in His administration. Revelation 20: 6 states: Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

As the return of the Lord nears, God is using suffering and affliction in this life to prepare us for the Kingdom.

Suffering Prepares the Believer for Christ’s Return 

Suffering reminds us of the temporary nature of this life. God graciously allowed thorns to grow as a reminder to Adam that he was under the curse of sin and needed the Messiah promised in Genesis 3:15. This world and all that is in it is temporary. Christ is making all things new. Since this world will be dissolved, the Christian is exhorted to live for eternity. Peter says as much in 2 Peter 3:11-12:

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

I’d rather be on the “wrong side of history” than on the wrong side of eternity. Eternal truth is unchanging. There can never be unity in a post-modern, post-truth society unless that unity comes at the compromise of righteousness. We must stand on the truth of the gospel, speaking the truth in love.

Paul told us that the “mystery of iniquity” is already at work. That is, the Antichrist system of lawlessness that seeks to subvert the authority of God and make man the source and arbitrator of truth has been at work ever since Lucifer sought to redefine God’s word to advance his own anti-God agenda (see Genesis 3). But never fear, the promised Son of Genesis 3 has already come and conquered sin and death. His second coming to defeat the kings of the earth who have set themselves against the LORD will be swift and without resistance. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him! (Psalm 2:11-12)

Could this be the one-world government? Maybe. I don’t know. Either way, God is in charge of the timing of the end day’s events. We have a mission to fulfill. The anti-Christ system and spirit have always been at work in this world. 1 John 4:3b confirms this: this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Paul also confirms that the system of lawlessness and rebellion against God is at work: For the mystery of iniquity doth already work (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

What we see today is nothing new. The world and its system have always opposed Christ. The nations have always raged, and people have always sought to exalt themselves above the authority of God. I believe that what we are seeing is an intensification of opposition to God’s truth globally.

Believers of all ages have withstood the test of affliction and persecution. Christianity thrives under the most intense opposition. If there is going to be a revival in these last days, it may be the will of God to bring it about through suffering, that He alone might be glorified in the salvation of people in every kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9)

In part two, we will discuss the third way God uses suffering in the believer’s life: to propel the advance of the gospel.