Acts 11:27-30 “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. (28) Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. (29) Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. (30) This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.”
So what about the Lord’s saints that reside in the nations which He judges? The answer to that question is that when God begins to judge nations for their wickedness, He always makes provision for His saints to be taken care of during the outpouring of His judgements on those nations. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that God had pronounced a judgement of famine on the Roman Empire at that time. God warned His saints of the impending famine before the time however, so that they could prepare for it thus not incurring the full impact of the famine that the wicked would experience. This passage also implies that God forewarned the saints that the region of Judea would be especially hard hit, which is why the saints sent extra relief aid to the brethren in that region. Another example of God taking care of His saints when judgement falls on a nation, would be the warning that our Lord Jesus gave the disciples when Judea and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Roman armies in seventy AD. The Lord had warned the disciples to flee Jerusalem and Judea when they saw the sign of armies surrounding the city of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20-21). The sign Jesus spoke about manifested in the year sixty six AD, when Judea rebelled against Rome. In response, Rome sent her armies into Judea to put down the rebellion and in that year the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem and tried to take the city but failed, resulting in the Roman armies withdrawing from the city back to the coast. Nevertheless the disciples recognised the sign and they fled the city and Judea in obedience to our Lord’s warning. Four years later in seventy AD the Roman armies returned, and this time they destroyed the city and the Jewish nation. Nevertheless the disciples were spared because the Lord had taken care of them by warning them before the time.
Michael E.B. Maher
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