Why Do You Insist God’s Elect Will Not Be Killed During the Tribulation?
Steve, you keep insisting that the elect won’t be killed by Satan during the tribulation. But what about this verse:
Revelation 20:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Strong’s Concordance tells us that the word “death” in that verse is translated from the Greek word thanatos (see G-2288 and G-2348), which unmistakably means “death.”
So why do you believe otherwise?
Thanks,
Vicki
Steve’s Answer:
I’ve answered that question in-depth, in the recent past, at this link:
But I’ll try to summarize:
Phrases like “be thou faithful unto death” and “delivered up to death” do not necessarily mean anyone will actually die. But they do mean you’ll be delivered up under penalty of death. And you have to remain faithful, even with the death penalty hanging over your head.
This is my own opinion, but I believe that after the two witnesses are killed in the streets of Jerusalem, the elect will be delivered up to Satan, and charged with the death penalty crimes of heresy, blasphemy and apostasy for refusing to bow the knee to him.
After all, at that time, Satan will have seated himself in the temple of God, “shewing himself that he is God” (II Thessalonians 2:4). Right?
In other words, I believe those Sanhedrin trials of Mark 13 that the elect will be delivered up to will be death penalty trials, based on Old Testament Biblical laws against heresy, blasphemy and apostasy.
Satan is a Scripture lawyer, after all. When he has the elect delivered up, he’ll do everything as Biblically legal as possible, so he can justify to the rest of the world what he’s doing. He’ll cross every “t” and dot every “i,” and will work to make it look like he’s being as Biblically fair as he possibly can. But here’s the key:
He doesn’t really want to kill the elect. Not their flesh bodies, anyway.
That’s not what those trials are designed for. After all, that would just make the elect into martyrs of the Lord. And as Hebrews 11:35 states, martyrdom would give them a “better resurrection,” meaning a higher place in the political and social hierarchy of God’s children once the kingdom comes in.
Satan certainly isn’t looking to give God’s elect a “better resurrection.” Quite the contrary, he wants to rob the elect of their resurrection in Christ. So, to my mind, it’s highly unlikely he’s going to be killing them, which would assure that their status is even higher in heaven than it would have been had they not been martyred.
Look, Satan’s hatred of God’s elect is so great, what he really wants is not to martyr the elect, but instead, to frighten the elect into refusing to speak when God puts the Holy Spirit on them to testify at those trials.
As you know from your studies, refusing to speak out at those trials, when the unction of the Holy Spirit is upon you, is the unforgivable sin.
In other words, it’s a death penalty sin against the soul. If one of the elect commits that sin, they can lose their opportunity for eternal life. As it’s written:
Luk 12:10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.
Luk 12:11 And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
Luk 12:12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
Again, for one of the elect to refuse to speak after he or she has been delivered up to those trials, and the Holy Spirit urges that person to speak, and even puts the words directly into that person’s mouth, can result in one’s loss of eternal life. As it’s further written:
Mar 3:28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
Mar 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
So Satan would love nothing more than to deceive the elect into committing that very sin. And I believe, based on the Scriptures, that he’ll try to do so by scaring the living daylights out of them, first, with the deaths of the two witnesses, and then, afterwards, by having them delivered up to his Sanhedrin courts under similar death penalty charges (i.e., “delivered up to death”).
As the book of Job demonstrates, in Job 2:4-5, Satan believes with all of his heart that if you threaten the flesh enough, the flesh man will cave in and “curse God,” which is to say, turn against God, or refuse to do things God’s way. As it’s written:
Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Job 2:5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
So, with the deaths of the two witnesses fresh on their minds, the elect will be delivered up to those trials on death penalty charges.
Nevertheless, as Rev. 12:11 tells us, the elect will “love not their lives unto the death,” meaning they won’t let the fear of being found guilty of death penalty charges stop them from testifying. Nor will they let the deaths of the two witnesses scare them into being too afraid to testify when the Holy Spirit calls on them.
Indeed, they’ll go ahead and testify when Father moves to speak through them with His Holy Spirit. In other words, Satan will utterly fail in his attempt to scare the elect into denying the unction of the Holy Spirit at those trials.
That’s why the rest of Rev. 12:11 reads, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, AND BY THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY.”
The “they” in this verse is the elect. The elect don’t die. They testify.
And that testimony fries Satan’s bacon, because it’s the Holy Spirit doing the talking through them. It brings Satan’s little beast system crashing down upon his head, by opening the eyes of the world to who he really is.
As Luke 21:15 puts it, “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.”
Do you see what I mean?
It’s the testimony of the elect that Satan fears most at that point. Satan would love nothing more than to instill fear of dying into the minds and emotions of those who are delivered up to his great Sanhedrin show trials, in hopes they won’t allow the Holy Spirit to testify through their mouths.
But the elect will not let Father down. They’ll allow the Holy Spirit to testify through them, in spite of Satan’s scare tactic of having them delivered up on death penalty charges directly after the two witnesses are killed.
And then, after their testimony, they’ll be RESCUED by the Lord, not martyred by Satan. As it’s written:
Mar 13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
Mar 13:25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
Mar 13:26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
Mar 13:27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Again, there’s not a single word in the Bible about the Christ’s elect being killed before, during or after those trials.
There are only three people you can actually document through Scripture who will be killed by Satan and his minions during the tribulation, and they’re the two witnesses (Revelation 11) plus God’s faithful martyr Antipas (Revelation 2:13).
Anything else is conjecture.
Regards in Christ,
Steve Barwick
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