Persecution of the Church

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

(Matthew 24:3-14)

Persecution of the church constitutes the third condition, which has not yet been fulfilled. In the above passage, the Lord Jesus spoke of the falling away event, stating that a time would come when “many will be offended.” When Jesus used this phrase, He was referring to those who would fall away from following Him, for in the parable of the sower He employed the same expression to describe those who abandoned the faith (Matthew 13:21).

It is important to note that Jesus emphasized the word many, implying that a significant portion of the church will fall away during this time. The question then arises: what will cause so many believers to become offended? The Lord Himself provides the answer—because believers “will be hated by all nations” for His name’s sake, being delivered up to tribulation and even death. It is therefore evident that widespread persecution will cause many to turn away from Christ.

Then He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, 'Look here!' or 'Look there!' Do not go after them or follow them. For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.

(Luke 17:22-24)

This will be a desperate time for the church—very different from today, when believers enjoy freedom to practice their faith, especially in the Western world. The passage above reveals that during this time, the saints will long for the days when religious freedom was still the norm. Out of desperation, many will seek the promised Saviour, and rumours will spread of Christ appearing in secret places.

Believers who have not been grounded in sound doctrine, but have instead been nourished on a superficial gospel, will quickly become offended when persecution comes upon them. The satanic doctrines mentioned earlier will play a major role in this disillusionment, for all such teachings promote the idea of a triumphant, worldly church—either dominating the nations or being raptured away before suffering arrives. Thus, when the opposite occurs and persecution intensifies, these believers will stumble, having been unprepared for such a reality.

The next question then arises: what will trigger this persecution? The Lord provides the answer: “Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”

When Jesus made this statement, He was not referring to the love of unbelievers, but rather to that of believers—for the word translated “love” here is agape, the divine love that God has poured into the hearts of His saints. In other words, Jesus was warning that as lawlessness increases, many believers’ love for God would grow cold.

Many assume that “lawlessness” refers to increasing crime, but Scripture defines lawlessness as sin, for “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Thus, Jesus was saying that as sin abounds in the last days, many believers’ love for God will diminish.

Why would increasing sin in the world affect believers’ love for God? Because sin is disobedience to God’s law, and as the world grows more “liberal,” it becomes more defiant toward His commands. As society drifts further from God’s moral standards, believers will face a difficult choice: Will they obey God and be rejected by society, or compromise truth in order to be accepted?

Those who choose obedience will become increasingly offensive to the world. Speaking against sin will be viewed as hate speech, and Christians who uphold God’s truth will be marginalized. Many will not endure such stigma and will retreat from their convictions. To avoid rejection, numerous believers and even prominent church leaders will align with the world, endorsing its sinful practices and abandoning biblical truth.

In doing so, their love for God will grow cold as their affection for the world increases. They will justify their compromise by claiming they are acting in love to avoid offending others. However, this reasoning reflects a distorted view of God’s love, for the Lord never overlooks sin to avoid causing offence.

The Holy Spirit’s ministry on earth is to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). He does so not to condemn, but to bring people to repentance and salvation.

Believers who allow their love for God to grow cold will ultimately fall away from following Him. In contrast, those who remain steadfast and obey the Lord’s commandments will increasingly face hatred and persecution from society in the last days. This is why Jesus said, “He who endures to the end shall be saved.”

Thus, persecution against the church will not erupt from a single catastrophic event but will emerge gradually as society moves from tolerating Christian values to openly opposing them—and the saints who uphold them. The tragic result of this societal shift will be that millions of believers will fall away from Christ.

As an important note, this period of persecution should not be confused with the Great Tribulation that will occur during the reign of the Antichrist (Matthew 24:21). That period will primarily concern Jewish believers, for Scripture calls it “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7).

It is profoundly ironic that, in their eagerness to avoid the great tribulation—which most were never destined to experience anyway—many saints have embraced false doctrines that will, in the end, play a direct role in facilitating their downfall.

Michael E.B. Maher

Resurrection of the Dead

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