THE *WORD OF MY PATIENCE* PART II

Let us look more closely at this word of patience, which is where the Church must abide. We have seen how the virtue of patience is compromised when we willingly disobey the teachings of our Lord. The time of the end is a time of revelation. It is a time when the true nature of the sons will be put on display of what sort it is. It is a time when the church of the Lord Jesus Christ will be unmistakably identified. The race is not given to the swift, or the strong, but the prize is given to the one who endures to the end. The passage below tells us of the environment we will live in during the days of Anti-Christ.

Revelation 13:4

And they worshipped the dragon,... (The dragon is satan )

Revelation 20:2

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,…

Revelation 13:4

…which gave power unto the beast: (The beast is the anti-Christ, a man who is empowered by satan).

Revelation 13:18

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Revelation 13:4-7

4. . . and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

This is a 3 1/2 year period wherein satan, through the anti-Christ, will be given a great mouthpiece. But more than that he will be allowed to overcome the saints in persecution, tortures and deaths.

Revelation 13:8-9

8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.

Take note here that those who worship the beast, their names were never written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. This is a direct contrast to the elect of God. Paul establishes this point.

Ephesians 1:4

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Luke likewise reminds us that our names were already written in heaven before we ever had the salvation experience.

Luke 10:20

Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

We must understand the severity of this teaching from the Holy Scriptures. It must not be treated as if it does not pertain to us. I dare to say to you that it does very much implicate us. We are already experiencing the great falling away. It is not outside of the power of God to accelerate events in the Middle East. The day of the anti-Christ could be upon us momentarily. The greatest economic system of the world is declining. The American way of life is already changing. Do not be deceived. It is not going to take many more years for the world systems to finally collapse and make way for a world savior, a man who will have all the answers to bring about peace and prosperity. Money is the god of this world and when someone comes along with a plan to prosper this generation, they will follow him.

Revelation 17:8

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

I want you to understand something here. We established that the beast is a man empowered by satan. Right here I need you to note that there is a satanic trinity. Satan, Anti-Christ, and the False Prophet. Satan will incarnate himself into this man of sin, and the False Prophet will compel the world to worship this anti- christ; thus, they worship Satan. Just as we are compelled to worship Jesus and in doing so, we worship God. The beast was: Satan walks to and fro seeking whom he can devour. And is not: He shall be bound 1000 years in the bottomless pit. Will ascend out of the pit: At the end of the 1000 years satan will be loosed for a season. And go into perdition: He shall be cast into the lake of fire. Below are the scriptures to confirm these truths.

Revelation 20:1-3

1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Revelation 20:7-9

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Revelation 20:10

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Again, we see that those who worship the beast names were never written in the book of life. Why? The answer is simple and Paul makes it clear in his letter to Timothy.

2 Timothy 2:19

Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Now we come to the heart of the matter.

Revelation 13:10

He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

What does this mean? What is the patience and faith of the saints? Well saints, John is just rehearsing what Jesus tells us.

Mark 13:12

Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.

Matthew 24:7-15

7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9 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.

10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

This is real. The Church will be on the earth during the reign of anti-Christ and the mark of the beast. It is not just the Jews who will be hated by the anti-christ, but it will be the christians as well. While I was writing this, the Lord spoke to me very plainly. He said, “Have you considered the disposition of the Church in relation to Israel?” You know, in our study of the scriptures, the Lord does not have to say a whole lot to get us thinking as He thinks. The anti-Christ will be allowed to continue 42 months as we read in Revelation 13:5

That 3 ½ years is only half of a 7 year covenant he will make with Israel. Therefore, Israel will not oppose the anti-Christ the first 3 ½ years of their covenant. He will be their deliverer in that he will allow them to rebuild the temple and institute their old form of worship in the offering of sacrifices. However, in the middle of the 7 year covenant, he will betray Israel, go into their temple, sit on the mercy seat and declare himself as God demanding their worship. Their refusal will provoke him to attack the city and utterly destroy it. The following scriptures bear record of these events.

Daniel 9:27

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, (the point at which something is finished, complete or finalized) and that determined shall be poured shall be poured upon the desolate.

Isaiah 28:14-22

14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

But what about the Christians during this first 3½ years? This is the time of the Great Tribulation. It is the time of great persecution of the Church. Remember, he is the anti-christ. He is the man of sin. The Jews are not preaching against sin during these times. They are not the advocates of Christ.

Daniel 11:30-33

30 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.

These are the believing Jews, represented here by the phrase those “among the people.” The Jews are considered the people of God. They will know that the nation is dealing with the anti-Christ.

Daniel 11:34-35

34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.

35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

Revelation 13:16-18

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

The mark of the beast is either his name or his number (666) written in the forehead or in the right hand. The mark cannot be placed on you by force; you must take it voluntarily. It is a sign that one belongs to Satan.

Revelation 7:13-14

13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The Church is the only blood washed body of people. The Church is caught up out of tribulation. Israel is told to flea to the mountains during this time. They have had a pact with the devil. They are not washing their robes in the blood of the Lamb, nor are they developing a testimony of Christ as a nation. However, there are and will be some Jewish Christians. These are the people among the Jews with understanding of the events of these times. They will try to persuade many, but they too shall be overcome by the beast; along with many non-Jewish Christians. The early church was established in blood and the Church that stands in the fullness of the statue of the man Jesus will be established in blood.

Matthew 24:12-16

12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

Luke 21:20-22

20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.

21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

Luke 21:28

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

According to the two passages above, the Church will be here to see Jerusalem surrounded by the armies of anti-christ. However, he does not tell the Church to flea to the mountains. He specifically gives that instruction to the Jews. The Church will not be hiding in the mountains at the return of the Lord. The church will be watching and waiting for the Master to crack the sky. We know He is coming. We long for Him to come. We also know that these events mark the closeness of our deliverance from the tribulation. There will be great persecution and death, but the Lord is trying and purging the Church.

Revelation 6:11

And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Revelation 13:10

He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Those who have led others into captivity must themselves go into captivity, and those who have killed with the sword must be killed by the sword. The anti-christ is a chastening rod for the nation of Israel and a purifying furnace for the sons of God. This is the word of His patience. The Lord is long-suffering the persecution of His people. The Bride must be pure with unspotted garments. Beloved sons of God, in order to get to the Millennium, the Church must be purged and made white. All things that offend the Lord must be gone from it. Righteousness must prevail to reset the joints and mend the bones so that the Body of Christ can stand again. Those of us who are here during these times will suffer much trouble and hardships. Some of us may lose our lives. But the Lord has already told us these things. If we were not able to bear these things, the Lord would not suffer them to be so. Therefore, let us not become fearful of these times, for with every temptation the Lord has made a way of escape. The temptation mentioned here is any thing the enemy can use to distract you from your divine purpose, which is to do the will of the Lord. But if we cling to the truth and reject the lies of philosophers and prophets and our very own thoughts that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God; we will keep His commandments and walk within the boundaries of the faith. Be encouraged, the Lord is working with us.