Preparing the church for tribulation
A brief insight on how the early church leaders prepared the saints for persecution
If you do a little reading around church history, especially during the times of great persecution, from the time of the apostles down to the events surrounding 70 AD and even after, the time of Nero and Diocletian, etc., you will realize that through these harsh times, the believers were dogged in their faith.
How do you tell someone you will burn him alive and he walks into the stake headlong?
That tells me something: CONVICTION. These people were thoroughly convinced of whatever they had learned and were taught about the gospel.
Another thing that I can infer about these periods is that the people were PREPARED for these hard times. Jesus, in his days, spoke to them about what would befall the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish religion. The apostles also spoke about these events in the epistles.
Most of the use of phrases like “end times” or “the end of the world” as we see it in the New Testament was mostly referring to the “end” of the Jewish religion and the ushering in of faith in God through Christ.
Peter would say in 1 Peter 4:7,
“The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore be earnest and disciplined in your prayers...”
He would also speak about “judgement in the house of God” in verse 17.
Verse 17-18:
“For the time has come for judgement, and it must begin with God’s household. And if it begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s good news? And also, if the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?”
So, here the great apostle Peter was preparing the hearts of the believers and Jews that judgement is coming, and it will begin with God’s house, that is, the Jews; the Jewish religion will be judged.
And this “judgement” will shake their faith, but they have to be strong.
So, the people were not left without instructions and guidance. God’s people were duly informed of what was going to happen, and they were prepared; no wonder men could fall on swords, be crucified upside down, burned at the stake, beheaded, etc. We were told that the bodies of Jews were used for campfires under the reign of Emperor Nero. Just the way you gather sticks to make a campfire where you sit around and relax—that’s how it was, only that instead of sticks for fuel for the fire, actual human beings were used.
Yet, a good number of these believers held on to their faith to the end.
At this point, we can say that those who taught them to endure such a level of affliction did a good job.
The baton lies on us today.
I honor every man of God, preacher, apostle, pastor, and prophet who is not oblivious of the state of things and times and seasons but is actively involved in bringing direction and counsel not just generally but specifically towards the recent happenings both in the country and other happenings around the world.
It is careless to say God does not give prophecies or instructions about any current event.
Even in Scripture, he did for the state of Jerusalem and Israel; how much more today that we have God’s people all over the earth!
If there is any time we need accurate prophets to bring counsel, that time is now.
The people must not be left without guidance.