Reasons why today Christians should be much in prayer for ensuing generations of believers!
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved,” Matthew 24:6-13.
These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as he answers the important questions of His disciples. “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world (Greek – ‘age’)?” Matthew 24:3.
This age will end amidst the greatest rebellion and defiance of God that mankind has ever engaged in since the fall of Adam, some six thousand years ago (Ussher’s Chronology). But for the restraining power of God, mankind would have engaged in such wicked mutiny against God’s authority and rule long go. The Lord has held back men and shackled them, oftentimes cutting them off before they could really get started on their insubordination.
I. THE LORD HAS A TIMETABLE AND MAN AND DEVILS ARE CONSTRAINED BY IT
That is what happened at the flood in Noah’s day. Man was intent in overthrowing God’s rule on earth. “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually . . . The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth,” Genesis 6:5, 11-12.
All upon the face of the earth with the exception of those in the Ark, perished under God’s judgment.
“And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days” Genesis 7:17-24.
Wicked persistence
The universal manifestation of God’s wrath and power was very great at that time but it did not deter mankind from rebellion. Within 100 years we have that generation which sprang from the sons of Noah, who were tasked with repopulating the earth, united in another attempt to defy God and His purpose amongst men.
“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth,” Genesis 11:1-4.
The Lord, Whose eye is ever upon the thoughts and actions of men, investigated this subversion and again thwarted man’s evil intentions. He did not destroy the rebels but acted so that their schemings could not be carried out.
“And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city,” Genesis 11:6-8.
Rebellion still continued
It happened again in a more localised event in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground,” Genesis 19:24-25.
We can, I believe, add the overthrow of such empires as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome to the list of examples of God’s interventions in the past to frustrate the wicked rebellion that all men would wish to take part in, seeking the overthrowing of God and His truth. Psalm 2 gives us a summary of man’s evil ambitions.
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” verses 1-3.
Recent events in the city of Leeds in Yorkshire are illustrative of the growing lawlessness in a land once blessed by the knowledge of the gospel of Christ. There is an ongoing abandoning of God’s truth throughout the United Kingdom. This will most assuredly be followed by the evil fruits of such defiance of God.
Leeds riots: Everything we know as police begin investigations over violence
These incidents are but the latest in a long list of outbreaks of lawlessness on the streets of our nation, chiefly, though not exclusively, by those who support foreign terrorism and anti-Israel organisations!
II. GOD’S INTERVENTIONS IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN CONTINUE TO THIS DAY
God has revealed the rise to power of the Antichrist and the uniting of men behind his rebellion, especially within the territory of the ten kingdoms that will support him, a territory which will lie within the borders of the ancient Roman Empire. Paul, under divine inspiration, informs us that the Lord will, at that future time, lift the restraint that He has imposed upon the nations since Adam’s day. He goes on to tell us that God has ever curbed this evil intent of men and will do so until that time when God has purposed that the final apostasy will take place.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10.
Note these words: “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed.”
The translation in our Authorised Version is a little difficult to grasp because of the change in the meaning of some of the English words used.
If we were to read it as: “And now ye know what withholdeth (restrains and holds back) that he (the Antichrist) might be revealed in his (appointed) time. For the mystery of iniquity (the secret working of the spirit of lawlessness) doth already work: only he who now letteth (holds back) will let, until he be taken out of the way (until the Lord lifts that restraint).”
Benjamin Wills Newton, (1807-1899) a graduate in the Classics from Exeter College, Oxford University, where he became a fellow, has the following translation of verses 6-8 in his book of : ‘Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms of the Roman Empire’.
“Ye know that at present, there is that which restraineth, in order that he may be revealed in his own season.
For the mystery of Lawlessness doth already work, (only there is at present one that restraineth) [and as a mystery it will continue to work] until it become developed out of the midst, and then shall the Lawlessness One be revealed.”
These verses make plain that Antichrist will only be brought forth by the devil on to the world’s stage in GOD’S TIME AND BY GOD’S LEAVE!
We all know the story of Job’s trials at the hands of the devil, but that narrative makes it very clear that the devil was curtailed by the Lord in just how far he could go in his attacks upon Job.
“And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. . . . And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life,” Job 1:12, 2:6.
This Old Testament incident is but illustrative of the restraint that the Lord placed upon Satan. The New Testament supplies us with further evidence of God’s power over the dark agents in the casting out of devil by the Saviour from poor afflicted sinners. Matthew 9:32, 12:22, 17:18 etc!
Sovereign power of God
A notable example of how the Lord can blind the minds and hearts of men bent on evil and frustrate their plans is seen 2 Kings 6:18-20.
“And when they (the Syrians soldiers sent to capture Elisha) sent to came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria. And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.”
Modern times
Within living memory, Adolf Hitler seemed by man’s reckoning to be on the path to European conquest. But in the end the Lord, not British or American generalship, ended his evil dream and that ignominiously at the dictator’s own hands!
Men who rebel against God “forsake their own mercy” and bring about their own destruction!
The Lord Jesus is able to give the disciples and us today, through the inspired record of His words written by the apostle Matthew, a detailed account of what is going to happen at the close of this age because HE IS IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS.
He has appointed a day in which He will return to this earth and end rebellion and establish His Millennial Kingdom. “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever,” Revelation 11:15.
But before that second advent takes place, the last days are to be days of the final apostasy with all the evil that man, loosed from God’s restraints, can bring about.
Times of rebellion have always been times of cruelty and suffering amongst mankind generally, but especially toward the people of God. We know that such times became dark seasons of trial for Christians and of a subsequent seeking unto the Lord by those so persecuted for grace to bear with the tribulation.
The Psalms give many examples of this.
“«Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.» O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver,” Psalm 7:1-2.
“My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake. Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!” Psalm 31:15-19.
“«A Psalm of David.» Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them,” Psalm 35:1-5.
Many, many more verses of similar import could be added here.
III. THE PART PRAYER WILL HAVE IN FUTURE EVENTS
Prayer will play a very important part in the survival of the saints of God in that future time of ‘great tribulation’. Note the words of the Saviour in Matthew 24:20-22. “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”
We should take heed to that verse and be in prayer now for those, our own offspring especially, who may be called upon to face that time of tribulation spoken of by Christ.
Few so praying
That there are few who pray in the light of this verse is the result of these words of Christ not being given the attention that they most certainly should. All around us there are the signs of that spoken of by Paul when he said in words I have so often quoted:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away,” 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
Why this warning is not repeatedly set before Christians by their ministers I will never understand. Such a failing is but heaping up trouble for those who are being failed by such silence!
The curbing and shortening of the attack upon the people of God by the devil’s agents in the days of ‘the great tribulation’, will be in response to the prayers of God’s elect in that future time. It, of course, has ever been so in the past.
“The LORD . . . preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked,” Psalm 97:10.
Even when divine providence permits the death of His saints at the hands of wicked men, the purpose of the wicked in such murders is not accomplished but rather the death of the saints promotes the cause of God. History supports the Bible’s record of this truth!
It was Tertullian, one of the early Church fathers of the second century, who really coined the phrase:
“The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
IV. WHY THE LORD DELAYS HIS RETURN
It may be asked ‘Why does the Lord not return before such tribulation is started?’ Peter tells us why.
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come . . . , ” 2 Peter 3:8-10.
This is a most misunderstood verse. It is taken by many to refer to God’s extended mercy to unconverted, defiant sinners. BUT Peter is not speaking of the unconverted here. No, he is speaking of God own people. The Lord “is longsuffering to US-WARD”. The Lord ‘delays’ His coming in order to gather in every one of His elect in this age!
Example
The one hundred and twenty years of Noah’s preaching is an example of that merciful delay for the sake of His elect. How many were saved during that time and had died and gone to heaven before the flood came. “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years,” Genesis 6:3.
I am sure that time of ‘striving’ by God’s Spirit bore fruit back then in Noah’s day. I know it did in my life for that is the verse through which I was converted to faith in Christ. It was also the verse through which brother Hugh Gallagher, an elder in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church, who is now in glory, was saved.
I am sure many others would make the same claim!
If we love our offspring, aye even those yet unborn, we should be praying in the light of what the Saviour tells us in Matthew 24.
May something of what I have poorly expressed here be a means of stirring some to do just that.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
22nd July 2024