Two chapters later, Paul says “But understand this, that in the last days there will come perilous times” (2 Timothy 3:1). In the last days, there will be perilous times coming on the face of the earth.
What does discipleship look like in times of turmoil and oppression? When Paul wrote to this young man in 2 Timothy, he was in prison and he was warning that perilous times were about to be unleashed not only around the world but in Ephesus.
Paul’s prediction came true for Timothy; it wasn’t long after that that Emperor Domitian set up his capital in Ephesus, and he required that all who came to Ephesus burn incense to him. They had to put a little bit of ash on their arm and forehead afterward to say, “I just burned incense to King Domitian.” Then they would go into the marketplace where they bought food, clothes to keep warm, and coal for cooking meals for their children and families. Unless these people had sacrificed to Domitian and put the mark on their foreheads or hands, they couldn’t enter the market where all of these vital supplies for everyday living were sold. Is this a forecast of the mark of the Beast?
In the last days, there are going to be difficult, perilous times, and you have to hold fast: 2 Timothy 1:13: Hold fast the form of sound words, which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in the Messiah Jesus.
You have to strive to be holy, but it’s going to cost you. We must live our lives as dead to self and totally committed to obeying all the words that Yehovah gave to His anointed one Jesus to give to us!
Paul was asking Timothy to have a fearless spirit in the midst of a perilous time. He was telling him, “You are to be a different type of disciple.”
“As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it…. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:14, 16-17).
Yehovah - God has promised to equip us to know how to go forward through His word. As we grow in exercising the indwelling power that God has put in us we can move forward with a spirit of power and righteousness [the righteousness of the Messiah Jesus in us], we will be ready to face the days of evil and oppression.
Notice: It is by the enabling indwelling power of Yehovah that we can walk through this sin-sick world on the path He wants us to walk on as we move towards entering into His Kingship and Kingdom!
Psalm 7:10: My defense is of Yehovah, who saves the upright in heart.
Psalm 31:2: Bow down your ear to me; deliver me speedily: be you my strong rock, for a house of defense to save me.
Psalm 59:9: Because of His strength will I wait upon you: for Yehovah is my defense.
Psalm 59:16: But I will sing of your power; yea, I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning: for you have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.
Psalm 59:17: Unto you, O my strength, will I sing: for Yehovah is my defense, and the God of my mercy.
Psalm 62:1-2: Truly my soul waits upon Yehovah: from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.
Psalm 62:6: He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defense; I shall not be moved.
Psalm 89:18: For Yehovah is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
Psalm 94:22: ... Yehovah is my defense, and my God is the rock of my refuge.
No comments:
Post a Comment