Joel 3
ON YOUR BEHALF
Recently I have read a couple of very insightful books. One of them was Fox’s book of Martyrs, and the other was The Protesters, by Alan Eyre. Both of these books document the lives and deaths of persecuted followers of Christ, particularly through the dark ages of history when the Catholic Church had the power of life and death over anyone who dared disagree with them, and those who had the courage to search out truth directly from the scriptures. Jews and Bible believing Christians were chased from place to place all over the world. They were tortured, threatened, insulted, hunted down and killed for believing in the one true God and living their lives in order to please him.
It seems unfair that God would allow such amazing people to be persecuted in such a way. But there is more to the story than persecution. One day God will judge the world. He says, “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgement with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land.” (Joel 3 v 2 ESV).
Paul tells us that if we are in Christ, then we are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. So this promise is for us too. No matter what we go through because of our faith, it will not be in vain. God will judge Israel’s persecutors, and our persecutors. God will give us a future and a hope.
May our lives be lived faithfully for our God this week.
With love in our Lord,
Robert
Robert Prins
ThinkyThings 