The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
Revelation 22:21 (the last verse in the Bible)
While the above verse can be found in Revelation, I’d like to spend our last day of the End Times section of the devotional reading a passage of Scripture together. No doubt that these impassioned words from Paul have been an inspiration to persecuted and martyred Christians throughout the ages, and will be likewise an encouragement all the way to the End of the Age as well. It is Romans 8:31-39:
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written [in Psalm 44:22]: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Should you and I live to be on the receiving end of persecution and/or the End of the Age, I hope we will revisit these verses often, these unshakable truths from God’s Word. They remind us of God’s love, His ultimate position of power, and His predestined victory. May we be able to clearly convey the vastness and depth of God’s love to a sick and dying world. And as we wait for our heaven-going, be it of “natural” causes, martyrdom, or at the End of the Age, may we be found faithful and full of His grace. We are more than conquerors!