Matthew 24:21-27 “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. (22) And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. (23) "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. (24) For false Christ’s and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. (25) See, I have told you beforehand. (26) "Therefore, if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. (27) For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
In the light of what we have seen in this section so far, I need to comment on the event that our Lord Jesus called “the great tribulation”, as quoted in the above passage of scripture. There is a false theory taught in some parts of the church today which is commonly referred to as the “pre-tribulation rapture”. Essentially, what that theory teaches is that the church will not experience the great tribulation that our Lord Jesus spoke about when He taught His church on end time events. In His teaching on the end times, the event that our Lord called “the great tribulation” is the period of time when the Anti-Christ will reign on the earth, which is a period of three-and-a-half years. And so what this theory teaches, is that the church will be caught away from the earth at the outset of the reign of the Anti-Christ, and then return to the earth at the end of his reign, thus avoiding the great tribulation that our Lord spoke about. This theory is very popular among believers that are averse to any form of persecution for their faith in Christ, which is why it is so dangerous; for you will recall that we saw earlier what our Lord Jesus taught us regarding believers who are unprepared for tribulation and persecution. He said that they very quickly become offended and they end up falling away from following Him. We have already seen that scripture plainly teaches the church that she is appointed to tribulation, and in the last days our Lord Jesus has told us that His elect, which is His church, will experience great tribulation.
Acts 26:14-15 “And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' (15) So, I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
In the previous sections we have seen clear evidence that the church is appointed to suffering. In this section we will discuss just what type of suffering believers are meant to partake of in this life. Nevertheless, even though we will see scriptural evidence to prove just what type of suffering Christians should incur, it is always up to the individual believer as to whether they will allow themselves to be subjected to such suffering. For in this life the freewill of all believers reigns supreme, and our Lord Jesus will never override our freewill. And so if we choose not to submit ourselves to these types of suffering then our Lord Jesus will not force it upon His saints. Nevertheless as we will see later in this teaching, just as there is an eternal reward for the saints that do endure suffering, so there is an eternal consequence for those that choose not to suffer for the kingdom. So why do I say that believers are called to suffer in the areas discussed in this section? As we will see, the reason is because in these areas, the suffering of our Lord Jesus has not yet ended, and it is in these areas that He continues to suffer with His saints. Another principle which we will see in this section, is that all of the suffering that our Lord Jesus incurred during His walk on the earth, is the same type of suffering that His church is called to incur in this life. In the above-quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus revealed to us just how He continues to suffer in the earth today. The context of the passage is that Saul had been persecuting the Lord’s saints through imprisonments, beatings and even death. But notice that our Lord does not question Saul as to why he was persecuting His saints, but rather He asks why Saul is persecuting Him. Clearly when the body of Christ is persecuted in the earth today, then the Head of the body suffers along with His body.
Colossians 1:24 “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.”
The Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul makes a seemingly strange statement in the above-quoted passage of scripture; for He says that there is a lack in the afflictions of Christ. In other words Christ’s sufferings are not yet complete, for if they were, then Paul could not have made the statement that he did. And so clearly Christ’s sufferings are not yet complete, which is why the apostle Paul was filling up in his flesh what was lacking in the afflictions of Christ. However, Paul was not the only saint called by God to fill up in his flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, we all are; for the scripture says that it is granted to us not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake (Philippians 1:29). And so in all the areas of suffering that we will examine in this section we will see that at no time did Jesus suffer “in our place” in these areas. But rather, He left us an example to follow as to how we are to suffer “for Him” in these areas.
Michael E.B. Maher
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