God Vindicates His Fearless Witnesses

Freedom and peace is and always will be the highest aspiration of the American people. Today we remember and honor the men and women and their families, who have sacrificed to provide us with liberty, justice, individuality, and peace to pursue happiness and the freedoms this great country affords us.

I ask that we all stand and observe a moment of silence for these fearless defenders of our freedoms.

Pray. You may be seated.

We live in a time of pseudo-peace and fake freedoms. We live in a world that trades truth for tolerance. We live in an atmosphere of animosity toward the gospel of Christ and His cross. John F. Kennedy, quoting from past generations of great men, said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

The war for the freedoms to serve and worship God in peace has existed since satan tempted Adam and Eve with the ill-conceived idea that freedom or peace can be won outside God’s plans for his creation.

True freedom was won on the cross of Calvary, and lasting peace was established by His resurrection.

1 Peter 3:18 NASB95

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

1 Peter 1:3–5 NASB95

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Tomorrow we will honor our heroes and remember their sacrifices. Today we must honor Jesus and remember His sacrifice for our sins and the peace we have with God.

Revelation 11:1–14 gives us a recipe for honoring Christ and not neglecting the freedoms our military men and women, first responders, and law enforcement officers gave their lives to protect.

Main Idea: God’s battle plan marches on, He enlists witnesses to carry out His mission and He promises to protect and enable us to complete it; therefore, we should not fear, when the enemy rejoices over our ill-conceived defeat, because God will honor our service and vindicate His faithful and fearless witnesses.

Purpose: We should fearlessly trust God to protect and vindicate us, as we proclaim His truth and display His power in the face of His enemies.

God’s battle plan marches on, against any and all opposition.

Many fine and respected scholars find interpreting the temple, in this passage, to be challenging. The temple could represent the Christian community—the church, or the temple could be rebuilt during the tribulation. Our interpretation is influence by our eschatological understanding of the end of history.

What is important to remember is no matter your doctrine of eschatology, we can share fundamental principles for understanding bible prophecy.

George Eldon Ladd reminds us:

Here’s a fundamental clue to the understanding of biblical prophecy: eschatological events are foreshadowed in historical events.

We must remember that God’s will is our highest good (Duvall, The Heart of Revelation, 108).

The world is divided into two groups “God’s People” and “Not God’s People.” The world is divided into two groups “Believers” and “Unbelievers.” God protects those who fearlessly trust Him and God judges those who faithlessly thread underfoot His truth.

We must live in remembrance of God’s Promised Protection to complete all HIs plans to forever free us from the power and presence of sin and establish an everlasting peace with us, through the sacrificial substitutional death that Jesus’ shed blood sealed for us.

God’s battle plan still enlists soldiers of the cross. God’s has always had a witness and used witnesses to proclaim his glory and display his power and victory over evil.

God enlists witnesses to carry out His mission, and He promises to protect and enable us to complete it.

God enlists us to proclaim the truth of His word and to display the power of His glory. We witness by word and deed. we are witnesses by what we say with mouth and the actions of our lives. Jesus said:

Acts 1:8 NASB95

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Matthew 28:18–20 NASB95

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Revelation 2–3 tells us what the church should say and do as a witness to God’s truth and power. Jesus tells John to write letters to seven churches. throughout our lives we will find ourselves in the situation of these churches. Scott Duvall points out that the summary of these letters tells us how we should trust God to carry out his will and please Jesus. We are witnesses by:

. . . working hard, persevering, refusing to tolerate false teaching, enduring hardships for Christ’s sake, suffering persecution, being faithful unto death, refusing to deny Christ under pressure, living faithfully in difficult spiritual environment, loving, serving, growing spiritually, and keeping Jesus’ word (Duvall, The Heart of Revelation, 109).

Application: When we attempt to live and speak for Jesus we must pray for wisdom and discernment to become the witnesses God calls us to be. we must also pray for the courage to trust God to protect us until we have accomplished the mission He has called to complete.

James 1:2–5 NASB95

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Fearless trust in God’s protection and provision is how we complete the mission he has for each of us.

The enemy will use propaganda to produce fear of failure upon God’s mission.

We should not fear, when the enemy rejoices over our ill-conceived defeat.

The word witness is translated from the μαρτυρια. Μαρτθρια is also where we get the word martyr. Μαρτυρια means testimony; to give testimony as being a witness to something. In the first-century, it referred to giving a verbal testimony to your faith in Christ Jesus. By the second-century the word μαρτυρια had transitioned to mean your verbal testimony, concerning your faith in Christ Jesus, was sealed in your death (Swindoll, 161). A martyr was a fearless witness unto death to the glory and power of Christ’s grace provided by his finished work on the cross of calvary.

National Dead witness day. God’s enemies will be sending cards and gifts, they will be celebrating and having cookouts, God’s enemies will declare victory over his veterans. The enemy will rejoice in order to instill fear in God’s people.

We may suffer the humiliation of martyrdom, and even death, but God rewards those who fearless witness and display His power. We may not suffer death, but it is highly possible we will suffer sander, unjust accusations, and be rejected and ridiculed for our testimony for Jesus.

We should not fear, when the enemy rejoices overs our ill-conceived defeat, because:

God will honor our service and vindicate His faithful and fearless witnesses.

God will resurrect us and judge those who persecuted us. God will prove that the truth we proclaim in His name and the live we sacrifice in service to Him will stand in the test of time. In the end God’s always bring home those who have faithfully and fearlessly been on mission with Him.