The Patience & Faith of the Saints

       A casual reading of Rev. 13 apart from the pointers given when we started this study of Revelation  can lead to a lot of fear and confusion. Yet we know from 1 Cor. 14:33 that this is not of God. We must admit that our confusion comes from our inaccurate man-made ideas.
         As believers, we need to rightly divide His Word of Truth by using the Scriptures to interpret the Scriptures. This is why the Holy Spirit inspired the men charged with recording God’s truths to use the similar wording and images that we’ve been following.
          Paul said as much about rightly dividing the truth from the false notions of the world in 1 Thess. 5. Those who understand the biblical times and the seasons know the timing of the last Day, the Day of the Lord. We need not fear the wrath of that Day nor the exaggerated hyperbole that is used to describe it because we are not appointed to go through that wrath (1 Thess. 5:9).
          Instead, we have the assurance of Rev. 13:9-10, of those who have ears that hear. Verse 10 assures us that God’s plan shall come to pass at the appointed time, and only at that time, no matter how things seem to looks to us.
          End-Time Lesson: The wrath of that Day is the snare that awaits those who follow the world’s deception that there is no God and there is no future judgment. They have been taken captive by Satan’s lies. We know from John 10:10 that Satan only comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
       As saints under the New Covenant, we need not fear God’s vengeance against evil for we shall be gathered to Christ and seated with our Lord as the heavenly court, executing that vengeance!  It is what Scripture calls the hope of our calling.