Matthew 24:10 “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 “Many
false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 “Because lawlessness (wickedness) is increased, most
people’s love will grow cold.
Luke 21:34 “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness
and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; 35 for it will come upon all
those who dwell on the face of all the earth. 36 “But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may
have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
I. JESUS IS STATING THREE THINGS WITH CLEAR URGENCY
A. A day of global trauma is coming upon the entire earth. It is a trap that will close on everyone, divinely set up to
bear down upon all those that live upon the whole earth.
Matthew 24:21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of
the world until now, nor ever will.
B. If you are “drunk”, the trap will close upon you unexpectedly. Drunkenness is defined here as prayerlessness and
being consumed and distracted by the worries of life (the setting of your mind and affections on the things of earth).
C. It is through prayer that we receive the strength to live through the coming global trauma with our faith in tact. Only
a lifestyle of prayer will give us the strength to still be standing when Jesus returns.
1. “Escape” in Luke 21:36 does not mean removal from but taken through. Why would we need to pray for strength if
we’re going to be removed from the trouble? It doesn’t require strength to be raptured before any trouble occurs. It does
require great strength if we go through the trouble and come out in tact. In that essence we’ve “escaped” the great trouble.
In other words, the great trouble did not destroy us (cause us to cast away our faith).
1 Corinthians 5:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Matthew 13:41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything
that causes sin and all who do evil.
Proverbs 10:25 When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.
Proverbs 10:30 The righteous will never be uprooted, but the wicked will not remain in the land.
II. WHAT WILL THE GLOBAL TRAUMA LOOK LIKE?
A. A flood of evil and sinister schemes
Ezekiel 38:8 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought
back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate;
they were brought out of the nations, (Israel 1948) and now all of them dwell safely. 9 You will ascend, coming
like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.” 10 “Thus says
the Lord GOD: ‘On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an
evil plan: 11 You will say, “I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who
dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’— 12 to take plunder and
to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people
gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.
Daniel 8:23 “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness,
a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes.
Daniel 11:39 “He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give
great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out
land for a price.
Daniel 11:44 “But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great
wrath to destroy and annihilate many.
1. When Domitian (81-96 AD) became emperor there was significant change in the demand for deification. Domitian
was obsessed with his own deity. One of the most brutal of all emperors he demanded worship as god throughout the
empire from all his subjects, Roman or otherwise. He established Ephesus neokorus for himself. Believing that he was the
only mediator between the gods and humans, he ordered that any, who would not worship the ancient gods, and the modem
gods like him, should be eliminated by whatever means possible. Blood flowed throughout Asia as the "atheist" Christians
(so called because they refused to worship the gods of the Roman world) were slaughtered in cold blood.
(Ephesians 1:19-23, 4:4-6)
2. When you entered the Business Market you had to acknowledge the authority of the emperor over the city. If you
walked through a city you had to stop at the emperor’s altars and acknowledge his "lordship." Christians could not travel,
for every town demanded their act of allegiance to the divine emperor. Before drawing water from the public fountain one
had to acknowledge the emperor as the provider of life itself.
3. Nero used burning Christians as lights for his own banquets, raped male and female Christians who had been arrested
and sent thousands to the arena to be torn to pieces in front of parents, children, and friends
4. Nazi Germany and Hitler – the Nazi’s used the Jews hair for blankets and skin for lampshades in their homes.
5. The Anti-Christ will lure the world into a “moderate, social” religious and political agenda and then break his treaties
and reveal his true nature
B. Widespread persecution and martyrdom of Christians
1. In Our globe and how to reach it (1990, Barrett & Johnson), the grim facts are presented. At a steady rate over the
last 20 centuries, and in all 238 countries, 70 million Christians have been martyred for Christ. 36 million have been
martyred in the last 100 years.
Revelation 13:7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority
over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
Revelation 17:6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses
of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly.
C. Widespread persecution, imprisonment, and attempted liquidation of the Jews
Zechariah 13:8 In the whole land, (of Israel)” declares the LORD, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
yet one-third will be left in it.
Zechariah 14:2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the
houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut
off from the city.
Daniel 8:24 “His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary
degree and prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.
D. The stage is being set now
1. Current Martyrdom
2. Iran’s Islamic eschatological declarations
3. Satanists attacking Christians in Brazil
4. European environment
III. GOD’S DESIGN IS NOT THAT WE JUST SURVIVE BUT THAT WE’D HAVE GREAT JOY THROUGHOUT THE
GREAT TROUBLE.
1Peter 1:5 … who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the
last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been
distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is
perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation
of Jesus Christ.
A. In the middle of persecution and martyrdom, these saints had great joy. What was the source of this joy?
1. The source of their joy was their understanding of the salvation that would be revealed at the last time. They
grasped the drama and the end of the story. They had a solid eschatology. This salvation is not referring to the
conversion of their souls, but to Jesus second coming when he will give the saints resurrected bodies, avenge the martyrs,
judge the wicked, and initiate his earthly reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is the salvation that is to be the
joy of the believer strong enough to carry him through suffering and death. Even angels long to gaze into this drama
(I Peter 1:12).
2. If we don’t have this solid eschatology in us with the corresponding divine joy that it produces, we will fall away
when the great pressure comes.
B. God’s power, which protects us, is activated by faith.
C. What is faith?
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
1. Faith is seeking God diligently for reward, or more accurately, seeking God diligently as our reward.
2. Faith, if it is true faith, will have corresponding works that go along with it.
James 2:22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect
(complete)?
3. What are the corresponding works that make true faith complete?
Luke 18:7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long
with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really
find faith on the earth?”
a. Jesus directly links night and day prayer with faith. Faith demonstrated is prayer. Prayer is seeking God diligently
as our reward and for our reward
b. Up until the moment the Son of Man comes, God is suffering long with the saints as they cry out night and day.
c. There is a season of crying out but no perceived response. The antichrist will overcome the saints, destroy the
Jews, and rule the nations without a clear answer from heaven. This is a set up for offense. This is why we must know
the story ahead of time and be rooted in prayer. If we’re not, we will fall away.
Revelation 6:9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had
been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and
they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and
avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Revelation 16:5 (4th Bowl) And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and
who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; 6 for they poured out the blood of saints and
prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” 7 And I heard the altar saying, “Yes,
O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”
D. Prayerlessness is a statement of our arrogance
Luke 5:16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.
Matthew 17:21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
1. Jesus the God-man established his kingdom on earth through prayer and fasting. 2000 years later the church in the
west tries to build the church without lives of prayer and fasting. This is a declaration in the face of God of our arrogance.
We think we know how to build the kingdom better than Jesus did.