When our Lord and God Jesus Christ first came in a body and as a baby, the times were tough. The Roman Empire has ruthlessly put the world under its iron fist, making Palestine into a footstool, salting fields, and crucifying dissenters by nailing them to wooden stakes. The world Jesus came into was dark with paganism, and every ungodliness. Our Savior came at the worst of empires, one that fed on the blood of its conquered people and to quote Ben-Hur, “they will take everything you have, they will make you suffer and make you forget what you have lost by watching others suffer.” (Ben-Hur 2016)
The Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ will be equally brutal, actual it will surpass all known ages of tribulation, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.” (Matthew 24:21). The world will be crushed again, not by Rome, but The Beast who will subject all to his wrath, “And the beast was allowed to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation.” (Revelation 13:7). In addition to a regime there will be calamities and catastrophes that will devour the earth (Revelation 6, 7, 8, and 9, chapters). Christ our Savior tells us if He does not hasten His return no one will be left alIve, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened,” (Matthew 24:22) and few Christians will survive, “I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8). The Scriptures defy the Lehaye lie of a rapture and no suffering (Matthew 24:1-53). The times of Christ’s Second Coming will be as His first: oppression, suffering, war, pestilence, and tribulation.
Our Lord came into a world of Roman tyranny, He will return to a world of Antichrist tyranny (Revelation 13). The end times in which we live are not going to get better or more tranquil. Ahead is great persecution (Revelation 14:12) and suffering that will only slightly surpass that if the apostles. The deception that we are headed for an age of prosperity and acceptance of our Christian faith is being peddled by false prophets (Matthew 24:24). We are headed for Nero’s courts, to persecution that will surpass our skin being torn off for clothing, candles made of our bodies and lions eating our corpses; yes ahead the Man of Lawlessness (Antichrist, The Beast of the Sea) will contrive suffering that will come from the devil’s imagination. In that coming hour we will have to stand firm (Matthew 24:13). In that moment we must be as Paul, “to live is Christ, to die is gain.” (Phillippians 1:21).
The first and chief question many will ask is why? Why must we undergo this torment? To this I say, ask the early Christians who were fed to lions and skinned alive. It is not a test of our faith, but a sign of the times. Our God doe not wish it upon us, but it must happen before He returns on the clouds of heaven. The truth is in the moment of great tribulation there will be grace to endure and we will have the hope before us of Jesus’ return. We must hold fast to that hope, and in meantime develop a deep well of a relations with Christ were we can count all things lost but know him (Philippians 3:8). The world must grow pale to us in comparison to the Prince of Peace. When you really know our Lord and Savior, the persecutions and horrors awaiting us at the hands of the Antichrist will hold no terror for us and instead we will have learned suffering draws us closer to Christ (2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Peter 4:12-19) and the Antichrist will be-doing us a favor and blessing us with sharing in Christ’s sufferings (Romans 8:17, 1 Peter 4:13).
Before us is not utopia, nor Eden, but Calvary. Ahead lies Golgotha, not Goldman Sacks. On our arms is a cross not golden dross. The end before us and upon us is turbulent and full of tribulation. But take heart, Christ has overcome, “have spoken these things to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33).
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