Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 146

May 26;       Revelation 13:10;       146/260(II);       ‘Faith to Live & Die’

Revelation 13:10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.      NIV

The Bible teaches that the just shall live by faith.  The importance of faith in the Lord cannot be overstated.  By faith we receive all of the blessings on the Lord and by faith we will even have the strength to die, if we have to.  Here, the last three and one half years of the tribulation are upon us.  It is called the Great Tribulation.  The anti-Christ, his demonic ‘team’ and all of those who have already taken the mark of the beast (666) and will be forever separated from the Lord Jesus, are determinedly persecuting the Christians and those who have not taken the mark of the beast.  At the end of the Great Tribulation, all of those who have the mark of the beast, the anti-Christ and his leaders will be removed and cast into hell.  Those who are left on the earth will be the Christians who have survived this incredibly difficult time.  Their faith in the Lord protected them by standing on His Word for protection, provision and listening for the leading of the Holy Spirit to know where to go to escape those who would kill them.  Throughout history there have been a great many Christians who have been martyred.  All of the Lord Jesus’ disciples were martyred except for John and they tried to kill him by boiling him in oil.  In Acts 7 when Stephen was martyred, the Bible says that he saw Jesus in heaven, asked the Lord to forgive his murderers and went to sleep.  History records that multitudes of martyrs died worshiping the Lord.  If we ever must be martyred, God’s grace and our faith will see us through.