Jesus said, "Weep Not For Me;
But Weep For Yourselves"
by Terry Smith
It still amazes me when I hear of Christians who believe it is God the Father's will that they should go through the Tribulation. They usually think it will be somehow glorious. I have even heard preachers say they would love to tell him off. Talk about thinking more of yourself than you ought! Their faith, they believe, will get them through. But to have that as their hope, faith in themselves, seems to me a far weaker hope than having faith for the Rapture and being, as Jesus promised to His Church in Philadelphia, kept "from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."
I have heard itinerate preachers and local pastors literally say they think it is cowardly to leave struggling sinners behind to face the cruelty of an unchecked Antichrist world. When he comes they will gladly tell the Antichrist a thing or two in their behalf. How does this conform with Christ's overwhelming plea for us to pray to be taken away from this horror of horrors? Why would He, on a number of occasions, invoke faith for the precious promise of being delivered from this great hour of despair if it were not His fondest hope that those He loves should be spared the temptation to deny His name? At the moment of truth in the garden of death, did not the flesh overwhelm the disciples? Jesus noted the reality of this power of the flesh over even the stoutest of believers when He conceded to it with these words about them: "Sleep on. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." Anyone who thinks it is a great aspiration that they should go through the Tribulation, should again examine the Word of God, and consider Jesus' warnings and advice concerning His coming. Remember it is He who said; "Pray that you be accounted worthy to escape all these things and stand before the Son of Man,"
Who among us - just taking one example - having children, parents, or loved ones ill or in our care, can know for certain that we could resist taking the "mark of the beast" rather than to stand 'idly' by while watching our children and grandchildren go without the necessities of life and eventually starve to death - or, if they were lucky, have their heads lopped off beneath an Antichrist’s guillotine. This is the fate awaiting those who do not worship the Beast and refuse to deny the name of Christ to save their own skin.
We are kidding ourselves if we think the days of the Tribulation are glory days – today is the glory days, while it is yet light out - because the days of the Tribulation are days of darkness, war, pestilence, famine, death, and Hell. Those days are a rapid descent into Hell and the Lake of Fire. The only ascent is through the door of martyrdom. You can be certain that the Scriptures prove this will be the only victory gained over the Antichrist and that kingdom. We are told in Revelation that those who use the sword will perish by the sword, those who take captives must be taken captive. In this patience the saved will possess the salvation of their soul. In other words, there will be no successful rebellion of man. The Antichrist, along with the entire world, is finally defeated when Christ comes back at the end of the Tribulation. No army of man, no worldly power, no righteous nation will win victory in behalf of Christ. The King of kings and Lord of lords will fight for us and will win the victory for the faithful. The Antichrist, despite all of his charisma, charm, intelligence and spiritual power, will conduct a reign of terror that will make Hitler's Third Reich look like an era of good will.
Jesus declared openly; "If these days were not shortened all flesh would perish."
While Jesus was heading up the road to Golgotha, where He was to be nailed to the cross and brutally crucified, a group of women followed Him weeping and mourning Him. Luke 23:28 Suddenly, just moments and only a few short steps away from His death, Jesus turned to the weeping women and said to them; "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps that never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, fall on me; and to the hills, cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"
Imagine it. Jesus was on the way to His crucifixion and He said to those mourning Him that they should weep for themselves and their loved ones because of the terrible things that were yet to come, He had already been betrayed by Judas' kiss, sweated drops of blood in the garden, been mocked by soldiers, rejected by His people, and condemned to death, and after all that He was gravely telling the people who cried about it to cry not for Him, but instead to cry for the days of Great Tribulation.
The phrase of verse 30 "Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, fall on us; and to the hills cover us.", is the same scene detailed in Revelation 6:I6-17 which says: "And (men) said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand"?
Jesus'
point was that if the world did those things to Him without pressure
being brought to bear on them, what will things be like in those days when all mankind is under unimaginable duress? What will the world do to His people
when all good is totally dried up. If you have been taught that going
through the Tribulation is glorious, it is time to reconsider the Bible's true word and Jesus' sentiments on it.
Why did Jesus say; "Pray that you be accounted worthy to escape
all these things"? Why did He promise the Philadelphians to
keep them from that hour of temptation, if not to spare us from
the hideous man and the evil that looms during the days of Antichrist power and dominion in the days called the Tribulation.
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