In every generation, every century in which Christ’s people walk upon this earth, the dealings are different, and the circumstances are different. They go through different experiences, and yet when you apply the Scripture to them, you never fail to apply it to the present generation just the same as you could apply it to an earlier generation. Many of the first-century Christians died martyrs’ deaths. They were thrown to lions; tar was put upon them, and they were tied to stakes and ignited in order to light up Nero’s gardens. They were slaughtered in ways that were unbelievable. They were sewn into skins and turned loose in the arena so the dogs would chew them to death.
Today we do not face the same kind of persecutions. We are facing another age which is not like the church age. It is the age of the kingdom; it is the age in which the spirit realm and the authority and power in that spirit realm will prevail over everything. Consequently, Satan, in trying to hit at that level, is not as concerned about the physical sufferings of God’s people as inducing mental and psychic harassment to them and bringing them attack from the spirit world. Therefore, there has been a revival of witchcraft. Every realm has seen Satan enter in to bring a certain type of persecution. Our problems today are different, but don’t say we have it soft and easy and there is no persecution. Where God’s people are walking with God, there is persecution and harassment.
You may be in this walk and not understand things that happen to you. You say, “I don’t know why it is I’m being hindered so. Why am I harassed all the time?” It is just a little different now; no one is throwing rocks at you nor dragging you out to throw you to dogs or lions. But Satan is exposing you to this great refinement of God’s people in the end time. That is why you are going through it.
We read in I Peter 4:1, 2: Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh (the Greek word means “suffered death”) arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh (that is “suffered death in the flesh”) has ceased from sin (“That means when I die I won’t sin anymore?” No, it is not talking about that), so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts Of men, but for the will of God. It does not mean that you have died; you still have more of an existence upon this earth, but you have gone into a spiritual death. There is one thing this walk has accomplished in the people of the Lord—it has put them through experiences which have made them conformable to the work of the cross in their lives. They have literally gone through it.
I wish we could say that every project God gives, confirmed by prophecy, is blessed and that from the beginning it is making money; it is succeeding; it is building churches. It just does not happen that way. Everything that God has ever said to do has been contested and battled, and in the will of the Lord this has been allowed to happen so that you will go through a process. God is more concerned about what He is doing; He is more concerned about building a prophet than He is a good business, and that is one thing you must realize. He will put you in a place where He can shake you. If your faith can be shaken, it will be shaken. He will put you in a place where you will go through one thing after another. But when the sum total of these experiences has happened to you, they have caused you to die in the flesh so that the rest of your time you do not live to sin, but you are free. The Lord is liberating His people.
You must go through this valley of the shadow of death, in a spiritual sense, before you can ever come into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. As many as suffer with Him, they shall reign with Him, (II Timothy 2:12). And if you do not go through the humiliation and testing with Him, you will not be glorified with Him either. This is the hour the sons of God have to come into that glorification. They are coming into that resurrection life. In the meantime, the battle grows vicious, and the dealings of God go deep into your heart. But I witness the fact that everyone who stays with this walk changes so deeply. Oh, how you change! What God works in you is almost unbelievable.
Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. I Peter 4:1, 2. What do you want to live for? Is the cry of your heart to do the will of God? That desire burning in your heart is to do the will of God, and you do not want to do it out of a selfish motive. You know how God is. He has refined that motivation. It is no longer just to have a place or a ministry. It is really something deep in your heart. And you cry, “Oh God, to do your will with all my heart!” For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. Verse 3. “Lawless idolatries” would be a good translation. The thought is: “All right, now, you have spent enough time doing that sort of thing. You have been in that scene long enough. Now you move into something else.” And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you (that viciousness that comes to tear you down, to lie about you); but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead (there it is—“He is ready to judge the living and the dead”). For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. Verse 4–6. Don’t you wish you understood all about that—when the dead were preached to, etc? The idea behind this is not that man will not be judged, or that he could have lived in sin all his life through certain periods of human history, and then God sends an angel of the Lord Jesus Christ to preach to him, and he believes, and that is it; he is already saved. Notice: though they are judged in the flesh as men—they still go through a period we don’t understand—it says they had the word preached to them, and they live after the spirit, according to the will of God. God is working things out, and I am glad that He is fair and righteous and exceedingly merciful.
The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Verse 7. Every reference that points to the end time shows that same persistence and diligence in prayer. It just cannot cease; it cannot stop. Even in moments when it seems absolutely absurd for you to keep on praying as much as you do, just remember that the end of all things is at hand. Almost everything you see has an illusion to it. Almost every circumstance in your life has an illusion of being immutable. When you look at the world and see all the beautiful buildings or you drive on the freeway, it seems as if none of this will ever change. The only change is that they are building more buildings. It has an unchangeable quality as do the finances in the control of the ungodly. Everything is such that you feel you cannot buck the system. You do not know how fast God can bring it down! You think sometimes that your circumstances are never going to change, that you are caught in a situation that will never end, that it is there to stay. But it will change. There is an end of things.
How can I try to describe what God is doing? It is as if God is taking one age and tying it to another age as though they were ropes. As you come to the end of one rope you find all the little ends tied in with the beginning of the next rope. This is a day of ends and beginnings. It is a day that many things are going to come to an end. Don’t look to the past. In fact, the world already thinks that way. There never has been a time as now in which the world has had so little respect for the traditions of the past. Even in the old religions, like the Roman Catholics who are steeped in tradition, people want changes. Priests want to get married. Nuns want to dress like everyone else. They are actually crying for an end: “Oh, let it come to an end.”
I cannot say that I fail to understand the young people. They want to see things ended. The older folks say, “Yes, but look at all the civilization and culture we built up. If you tear that down, what do you have to put in its place?” The young do not care. “Just get rid of this anyway. This scene has to end. Let’s finish this up.” The older folks protest, “Well, there won’t be anything in the future.” “Fine, we’ll do something else.” That is their thinking: “Let’s see it end.” They have a strange thing going for them. One day they scowl, thinking everything is bad. The next day they feel that everything has just started; the world is going to be made anew; God is going to give it a bath, clean it up and start all things over again. That is the world we are in—two ages tied together, and here are all these loose ends, and there are all these beginnings. We are in the midst of all of it. The end of all things is at hand, so let us start praying, as Peter said.
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Verse 8. This is important for you to grasp. You will come through the tests if you keep a love for one another. Sooner or later in this walk, you are tested on your love for your brother or sister—tested so severely that you will stand or fall right on this one thing: do you love them? “Well, I thought this walk was wonderful, and I had some money, so I put it into this business a brother was starting and look what happened to it.” You may make money; you may lose it; you don’t know how it will work, but you know God told you to do it. In this transition period, it would not matter if we see a hundred businesses plowed under if one of them would come along and be wholly of the kingdom and would prevail as one of the real bulwarks for the people of God in these coming days of judgment. It takes a lot of faith. Just keep on loving, helping, and ministering to people. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. Verse 9. Don’t grumble about it; just keep giving.
The thought of our trials is continued in verse 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. This is a problem you have. You walk just so long and you go into one of these tests, and you think, “What did I do to deserve this? What’s happened to me. I was minding my own business. I was worshiping the Lord. Look what’s happened to me! This is strange. Who is to blame for this? I have to blame someone. Things like this don’t happen unless someone’s to blame. Must be an Achan in the camp. Somebody sinned. Somebody’s done something wrong. Who is it?” So you start examining everyone, from the preacher right on down to the last deacon. “Who’s to blame?” You can’t reason that way. It is as if some strange thing has happened to you: a fiery ordeal among you which has come for your testing. This is the day about which Malachi prophesied, the day when the Lord sits as a refiner of silver and refines all the sons of Levi (Malachi 3:3). It is surprising how many impurities are in others, and you would be surprised how many things get in your spirit. You go along all sweetness and light, but God has to take the basic hypocrisy out of you, that thing which makes you smile and present one face, but when you are put under pressure, out come those claws, and something vicious comes out of your spirit. God will not have that. He is going to have a purity in your spirit. He is getting you ready for many things.
But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing. Verse 13. The degree to which God lets you share these sufferings indicates your spiritual maturity. If you don’t seem to have these sufferings, you are an immature babe in Christ, as well as carnal. When you say, “I don’t know what has happened to me; I’ve been going through it—oh, it has been unrelenting!” Good. That means that you have matured. Notice that it is to the extent—to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. Not everyone gets the same degree.
Some people say, “My, you talk about your tests. I don’t know anything about that. I just open the Word, read the Word and trust God, and whatever I go into, it prospers and is blessed. I never have a bad time. Why are you always talking about the devil and the fights that you have and the spiritual warfare? Nothing like that ever happens to me.” No, probably with many immature Christians it never does. But we deal with the devil every day because we are throwing spiritual bombs using the name of Jesus; we are going after it praising the Lord. We are not devil happy; it is just that we know that if we become really spiritual, this is a thing appointed to us. The more we suffer for the Lord the more we will rejoice in the day of revelation. Maybe you didn’t count on that, but there are a lot of things you’ve never counted on.
If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Verse 14. If we are being reviled, then the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us. Do you believe the glory is going to return to people? I looked at a painting of old Jeremiah with his hand thrust upward. I could see every muscle on his arm. As I meditated on it, something came over my heart that was overwhelming, and I wondered, how could I paint that? I thought I would like to put white and silver on those arms and make them glow, until everything about his skin was alive with a brilliance. Why would I want to paint Jeremiah like that? It would not be a good painting. No one would want it with the skin shining; someone would say, “Jeremiah was not like that.” But I do believe the Spirit of glory and of God is resting upon some of us who are being reviled and persecuted, and I think it will become visible before long. That occasionally happened at the very beginning of this walk, and there were many reports of people who had a glow for several days. But I am looking for something that will be permanent.
If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Verse 14. For it is time for Judgment to begin with the household of God (it does not say “the house of God,” but “with the household of God”); and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Verse 17.
One of the first things which happens when you come into this walk is that the Lord does something to your family. Mothers find they can hardly stand their children; the children are suddenly rebellious; everything in them suddenly starts coming out. Home is just the grounds where everything comes out. You are not even allowed to know one another after the flesh, so that sweet, intimate family circle is shaken.
Have there been times in this walk when you almost despaired of life or any reason for living? The Lord takes all the fear of death out of you. The book of Hebrews says God delivers those who all their lifetime were subject to bondage through fear of death (Hebrews 2:1 5). After a while, you have suffered about everything you can except death, and you can just spit in the devil’s eye and say, “Go ahead, do your worst. It doesn’t bother me. Whatever happens, I’m in the hands of the Lord.” God takes away from you almost every one of those instinctive reasons for living. He must. When He takes self-preservation out of you, you are willing to take up your cross and die for the Lord.
There are times when you think, “I’m ready. I’m ready, Lord, I’m ready. What are you waiting for, Lord? You’re taking too long. I’m ready now.” But around the corner you find you are not ready. I think God has done a very deep thing, and I do not say that I am ready, but I hope I am.
The judgments of the ages have already begun in this hour. I want to be faithful to the Lord. Don’t you?