Arial
Active member
In this post I am going to use a worst case scenario to emphasize and illustrate the benefit of growing in our knowledge of God. To do so I will use a particular situation found in the book of Revelation. Even though this will involve the necessity of mentioning the rapture and the often presumed seven years, in some cases, three and a half years, of tribulation before Christ's second coming, it is not the focus of what I am presenting concerning the importance of growing in the knowledge of God. Those who believe in the rapture and a specific time period of tribulation will not find it applicable to them in the worst case scenario, but it is applicable in all our time spent on this earth as Christians as we face personal persecutions and trials and suffering, some that can put our faith to the test. My worst case scenario is assuming there is no rapture, and for those who do not agree with a rapture or question it, and that those Christians living at the time of Christ's return, will go through the worst persecution of the church ever seen.
The very worst that a Christian can face will be when the Beast requires a mark, whether literal or figuratively, in order for a person to buy or sell. This will happen, we know that as the Bible tells us so, but whether the mark is literal or figurative, the result is the same. In order to conduct commerce (earn money) or buy anything to provide for our families we must worship the beast. The penalty for not doing so is death, either from the lack of the necessities of life or murder.
What wiould we do? Would fear overcome us? Would we turn on God questioning the very faith and hope we have clung to since our redemption? Wiould we consent to worship the Beast, telling ourselves that we don't really mean it, but it is the right thing to pretend to do, in order to take care of ourselves and our families?
Or will we remember the God who brought judgment upon judgement on Pharaoh while making a distinction between His people and those who are not His people, keeping the plagues away from their houses? Will we remember that the God we worship is the same God who sent them through the sea on dry land, then drowning the enemies of God along the same path? Or that this same God is the One who fed them manna in the desert and brought water out of stone? Led them by cloud at night, fire by day and brought them into the land He gave them as an inheritance. The God who had ravens feed Elijah. The God who provided enough food in the sixth year of harvest to feed a nation for the seventh year of no harvest until the harvest of the eighth. The God known by Abraham as Jehovah-Jireh---the Lord will Provide.
Will we be prepared by our knowledge of God so as to be able to stand and say as Habakkuk (3: 1-19 after hearing much of what we see in Revelation and it made him tremble in fear and yet: "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls--yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills. Do we see this our Savior in Revelation, riding on a white horse with blood on His sword destroying all His enemies, and know that even if we die, we win in Christ. Our Savior has conquered death for us. It is but for a moment and joy cometh in the morning.
When we grow in our knowledge of God, He will teach us to trust Him even in our day to day life, no matter what we have to go through. I am aware that it is the nature of mankind to think he knows what he does not know. To say, we do know God. And we do, but growing in the knowledge of Him is endless, and only He can give us the knowledge of Him that we need to grow and be strengthened. It will take humility before Him to cry out from your very heart, "I want to know about You. Teach me about You." And if we are sincere, or even simply want to want to be sincere, He will begin, but in His way and in His timing, and we must wait upon the Lord. He always knows and does what is best.
The very worst that a Christian can face will be when the Beast requires a mark, whether literal or figuratively, in order for a person to buy or sell. This will happen, we know that as the Bible tells us so, but whether the mark is literal or figurative, the result is the same. In order to conduct commerce (earn money) or buy anything to provide for our families we must worship the beast. The penalty for not doing so is death, either from the lack of the necessities of life or murder.
What wiould we do? Would fear overcome us? Would we turn on God questioning the very faith and hope we have clung to since our redemption? Wiould we consent to worship the Beast, telling ourselves that we don't really mean it, but it is the right thing to pretend to do, in order to take care of ourselves and our families?
Or will we remember the God who brought judgment upon judgement on Pharaoh while making a distinction between His people and those who are not His people, keeping the plagues away from their houses? Will we remember that the God we worship is the same God who sent them through the sea on dry land, then drowning the enemies of God along the same path? Or that this same God is the One who fed them manna in the desert and brought water out of stone? Led them by cloud at night, fire by day and brought them into the land He gave them as an inheritance. The God who had ravens feed Elijah. The God who provided enough food in the sixth year of harvest to feed a nation for the seventh year of no harvest until the harvest of the eighth. The God known by Abraham as Jehovah-Jireh---the Lord will Provide.
Will we be prepared by our knowledge of God so as to be able to stand and say as Habakkuk (3: 1-19 after hearing much of what we see in Revelation and it made him tremble in fear and yet: "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls--yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills. Do we see this our Savior in Revelation, riding on a white horse with blood on His sword destroying all His enemies, and know that even if we die, we win in Christ. Our Savior has conquered death for us. It is but for a moment and joy cometh in the morning.
When we grow in our knowledge of God, He will teach us to trust Him even in our day to day life, no matter what we have to go through. I am aware that it is the nature of mankind to think he knows what he does not know. To say, we do know God. And we do, but growing in the knowledge of Him is endless, and only He can give us the knowledge of Him that we need to grow and be strengthened. It will take humility before Him to cry out from your very heart, "I want to know about You. Teach me about You." And if we are sincere, or even simply want to want to be sincere, He will begin, but in His way and in His timing, and we must wait upon the Lord. He always knows and does what is best.