Why Does the World Hate Christians?

All humans love life. God put that in us. We were created to live with God forever, and that is why death is such a horrible interruption. We were not meant to die. It is such a profound shock when it comes close to us. Why? Because you were not created to die. Yet we do die, because of sin. The Bible says that is the reason why we die, is because the world was sold under this terrible curse of sin. Every single one of us will die. At that time of your death, so much of what you live for will not matter. When that moment comes, you will lean back and grab onto something firm, what you grab onto will be the God or gods that carry you into eternity. If that foundation is anything other than Jesus, you will fall down with them, hanging on to them, into a Christ-less eternity. Everyone of us has a foundation and in the end, it will be tested. Is it Jesus or is it the pleasure, or the sex, is it the violence, is it the pride, what is it that you lived for? No matter what we see in our lives today, it will one day come to an end. Is Jesus Christ the very existence of the foundation of your life, both now and forever?

Hebrews 12:2-3 ~ "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Jesus Christ, the Bible says, went to the cross, and as we look into Revelation, chapter 6, we are still looking at the worthiness of Christ, He is the One, and the Only One worthy to open us that scroll that was sealed with seven seals. We have already studied in detail what that seven sealed scroll was all about. We have been looking at the peeling off of those seals. We see again, that Jesus was the only one who could meet the demands and qualifications of this seven sealed scroll. Christ went to the cross. It wasn't enough for Jesus to come to the earth, the Bible says that Christ existed even before time began. He was existing in heaven with His Father. The Bible says that Jesus is the Creator of angels, and the Creator of the universe and the worlds that exist. He came to earth with a specific purpose.

The Bible says that He would come to earth, to live a life in human flesh, to meet all the requirements of the law of God that you read about in the Old Testament. He met all of those demands, living a perfect life, he met all the demands of the law, and not only that but in our place, the place of the sinner, Jesus took upon Himself all of our guilt, all of our shame and all of our wrong doing, the wrong doing of all humanity for all time and eternity, from Adam and Eve to the end, Jesus Christ, went to the cross and paid a price that you and I could never pay. Jesus Christ paid that price freely, and in going to the cross, he cancelled the debt of all those who would put their trust in Him and His work upon the cross. God, in the flesh, in Revelation 1, died for our sins, and rose again from the dead. That is the glorious and awesome good news of the gospel.

Revelation 6:9-11 ~ "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed."

You might just want to read Matthew 24 and Mark 13 and Luke 21, the Tribulation period, that 7-year period of time, that God has decreed in the Bible, that will take place after the rapture of the church, at the advent of what is called the Antichrist, and what you have now been profound enough to learn up to this point. It will begin according to the book of Daniel, that will come a certain specific day when the world is going about their normal day to day things, watching CNN, satellite news channels, no one will miss it. This man will rise up this political ruler out of Europe, and he will sign a contract of peace, a peace treaty with the nation of Israel and its surrounding enemies for seven years on a day, and that day will commence the seven year tribulation period. That contract of peace will be for seven years. It is also known in the Old Testament as the time of Jacob's trouble. It is when Israel's troubles begin like at no time in all of history. Who are these who have died for their faith? Who are these who will die for their faith in Christ?

It is no secret that believers in the Almighty God of the Bible have suffered at the hands of persecution throughout history The persecutions of the Egyptians Pharoahs and Babylonian kings, and of the Persian and Assyrian empires down through the ages. The open attacks against the believers by the Roman empire and by the communist Chinese and those atrocities by old soviet union and lets remember that Adolph Hitler not only murdered six million Jews but also over 100,000 Christians who pledge an allegiance to Jesus Christ.

John 15:18-19 ~ "If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

What in our lives is really worth living for? What is so valuable to us that we would die for what we believe? Do you have something so precious that will last for all time and eternity? You can experience that through faith in Jesus Christ. It will always be something that the world can not offer.

Hebrews 11:32-38 ~ "And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who become powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back from their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goat skins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground."

Psalm 116:15 ~ "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of the saints."

A life worth dying for is a life that is greater than what this world can offer, recognizing the worthiness of Jesus Christ. This is important because the life Christ offers is worth any life, that this world can offer. We can get so caught up in what this world has to offer, but if you have been around long enough or going through something like a serious illness or a divorce, you begin to see that nothing really matters much any more, except the things that really matter! Like health, love, being together, things that you can't buy. The true things that really matter are the things you can't buy!

Revelation 6:9 ~ "Now - when he opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of those that have been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held."

The fact that only Jesus Christ was the only one worthy to perform the full act of man's redemption and meet all of its demands. Only Jesus was able to release His Spirit. He had absolute control. He rose from the dead to guarantee that all these eternal promises found in the Bible for those who place their faith in Him.

Revelation 5:1-5 ~ "Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

Jesus' worthiness was qualified by the fact of (1) "who" Jesus was, (2) "why" Jesus came, and (3) "what" Jesus did.

1 John 2:1 ~ "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the world."

John 10:9 ~ "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture."

Acts 2:21 ~ "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Do you have to be baptized to be saved? No, its a public statement of your relationship of Christ. If you die before that happens and your faith is in Jesus, you still go to heaven. When you are saved, you should strive to become baptized as your statement to the world of your faith in Christ. 

Romans 5:8-9 ~ "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!"

A life worth dying for is a life that is greater than what this world can offer recognizing the integrity of the Bible. Jesus offers grace, unearned favor. The world knows nothing of this. It reminds you of your unworthiness. Church is not for religious reasons, it benefits no one to have legalistic requirements. Jesus' gospel is a free will offering of all those who would respond, that Jesus Christ came as an example of God's love to the world. Find that in the world. You can not. Don't you want the assurance of knowing when you die, you will be in heaven and have eternal life?

The Enemy Comes With A False Alternative to the Truth!

Before we head into Chapter 6 of the Book of Revelation, a transition has taken place. Let us recap in case you are just joining us today. We have learned up to this point about the revelation of Jesus Christ and His love for us, we have learned about His instruction for the church and what heaven is going to be like regarding worship that is beautiful, challenging, exciting, and personal. From Chapter 6 on out to Chapter 19, the vantage point is solely from heaven looking down on the earth, it is bloody. It is the wrath of God. It is the punishment of the earth for their sins. It is man gone crazy. It is evil unchecked. Chapter 6 through Chapter 19 is the Great Tribulation period. It is horrific and it all begins with the first rider in the famous four horsemen of the apocalypse. We now meet the first rider. This is a time yet coming for all of us. But the question is, will you be here on earth or will you be with us, looking down from heaven?

For some of you that have been following, we are getting into the Great Tribulation and you really want to hear more about this stuff. The dynamic about the Christian faith is that we do not worship some dead God or some token religion. But the fact of the matter is our Lord is risen, He is alive and His book, His love letters given to us in the Bible. In Revelation 5, we saw the glories of heaven and the worship that was taking place there. We saw those whom Christ has purchased through His blood and redeemed by every kindred tribe, tongue, nation and people. They have been raptured up into heaven. Now we come to Chapter 6, where the Tribulation Period begins. It covers all 7 years of it all the way to Chapter 19 around verse 11. The bulk of it, is the last 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation period. By the time we get to the end of the Book of Revelation, you should be an expert on the End Time Events!

We are going to set the plow today to begin to dig in deep into the Scriptures so you might want to gather together your Bible and something to write down what you have learned alongside your Scriptures for easy reference.

Revelation 6:1-2 ~ "I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest."

This is the first of the four riders of the apocalypse and we will be spending some time really studying what they mean, what they are carrying and what it means for the inhabitants of the world. The first rider comes with the loosening of the first seal. Now remember that Jesus Christ was the only one found in heaven, on earth and under the earth, in all the created world both spiritual and physical,  to be worthy to take the scroll and open the seven seals. The word "worthy" meant that Jesus had met all the requirements necessary to take the scroll from God the Father, the Lamb of God, the Root of David. He was the only One to be found worthy to open the seven seals. Once He opens one, He will continue until they are all opened. This all takes place in a very short period of time. Once it begins, it will run its successive course. Once the seven year Tribulation period begins, yet one day in the future, and it will be so clear that those living then, will be able to mark their calendars and count the days as 7 years begins to the day. It will go 7 full years without stopping or pausing, without hesitation, without a comma, until Christ returns in the Second Coming.

We may all remember in high school or college, being on a time table. We enter high school on one day and will graduate on another. It may be two years or four years but there is a predetermined time table that must be followed to go from the beginning all the way to the end. We will have met all the requirements and all that needed to happen to graduate and be free from those institutions. As we approach graduation, there is an increase in the tests, exams and effort. There are finals we have to go through, and we have had to go through all those years to get to the point where we can finally graduate. We have met all the requirements.

The seven year Tribulation Period  must happen, it will happen, because all the requirements in both the Old and New Testament describe, must take place. When it comes to the prophetic Word of God, let alone all the other portions of the Bible, when we fail to take these Scriptures literally, unless otherwise specified by the Bible, we often wind up being in error. Most of the mistakes we often make is when we don't take the Bible literal enough. For example when Jesus says, "All those who come to Me, I will no wise cast out." What does that mean? It means that all those who turn to Him, He will not turn away! When He says, "You must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven," what do you think He meant? If you keep reading John 3, He tells you exactly what He means. God is not mysterious in that He withholds all the information that we need. He gives us all what we need to know. He's a great God!

So in regards to the time table in your life, you are coming to a predetermined graduation so to speak, and so is this world, by the way, everything, politics, economy, ecological issues, are all marching forward in a predetermined moment of time in the mind of God. That is kind of eerie in one point but awesome in another. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow! We often feel that God is not on time. "Where is that predetermined moment in my life?" God is never early and He is never late. He is always on time and God's prophetic Word is one of those truths, about that.

In Chapter 6, this view is from heaven because the church is no longer mentioned from Revelation 4:1 on earth, until it comes back to earth from heaven with Jesus Christ in Revelation 19. That is significant with all the efforts put forth in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, regarding the church on the earth, now there is no church on the earth, and we shall see some of the reasons why as we go further into our study. The events of the 7 Year Great Tribulation Period is those 7 literal years that will usher in the return of Jesus Christ to the earth, in what is called the Second Coming.

These seven years or the seven year time table, is a time reserved specifically by God for global judgments and God's revisitation upon the nation of Israel. Make note of that.You may think Israel is out of the picture, but Israel is in the picture! The Bible tells us that God will re-establish the nation of Israel in the last days, and He will come and visit His people. The nation of Israel must be established and on the earth before the Second Coming of Christ. The 7 year period of the Tribulation deals with God's judgment on the earth for a Christ rejecting world, and the re-establishment and the redemption of the nation of Israel! This is very important. Always keep your eye on Israel! Up until May 14, 1948, we didn't have an Israel to look at. According to the Scriptures of Isaiah 66 and the United Nations, on May 14, 1948, Israel was born as a nation a second time in one day.

The Bible speaks of these 7 years that are coming. They will be commencing on a very specific and certain day. It's a day the Bible tells us that a peace treaty will begin with Israel and its surrounding neighbors, which just so happens are their enemies. When the peace treaty commences, there will be a date when its signed, and does anyone know how long that peace treaty will last in a contract form? 7 years! But in the middle of that time, the man who forges that agreement, breaks that agreement in 3 1/2 years! It will take place with the nation of Israel, not any other nation. This is what the Bible said would happen thousands of years ago! That day will commence a very terrible moment in time! That Jesus said would be unlike any other time on the earth, and unless He shortens those days, no flesh would remain upon the earth. Jesus said, "it will be a time of such tribulation nor shall ever be in the world."

In other words, it will make the Holocaust look like a picnic. One man, the Bible says, will be the one who instigates this process that will lead to earth's last attempt to govern itself in human politics, and that man, the Bible refers to him as the son of Perdition, the beast, the worthless shepherd, and in Zechariah, the Bible refers to him as the Antichrist.

As we look around in the world today, where the Bible says this man will come into the world, seeing and riding on the back of another beast called a religious beast. He will use that pseudo false church system and will come out of the old ancient Roman Empire, and he will come and use religion as a tool. At some point, he will discard that false religious system, and the Bible says, he will stand in Jerusalem in the temple and declare himself to be God, and the world will marvel and worship him.

What I find very interesting about that is even now people have been working and have spent tens of millions of dollars reconstructing the tools and the devices, that they believe will be used in the coming temple of their Messiah. They have already completed the menorah they plan on using that stands four feet tall, made of solid precious metal. It's under lock and key and they are waiting, they have tracked and trace men in their lineage of Levites, to be priests and make offerings and sacrifices because they believe their Messiah is soon to come. The problem is that the Bible says, the Messiah that they are going to receive will come riding upon a white horse. You might say, well what is wrong with that? The Bible says that Jesus will come riding on a white horse? It is not Jesus Christ, but the Antichrist. It is the one that is a false representation of the Messiah!

Revelation 1:17-19 ~ "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place later."

We learned that when He (Jesus) told John to "write the thing you have seen", that is in reference to Chapter 1 of the Book of Revelation, "what is now," that is in reference to Chapters 2 and 3 and "what will take place later." is in reference from Chapter 4 until the end of the Book of Revelation.

The first rider of the apocalypse brings the advent of evil in human flesh. This man will be unlike Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Hussein, and unlike them he will have success in what he plans to take place on the world. There are powers that are sinister and dark that are moving toward the reception of this man. I believe this man is alive in the world today somewhere, biding his time. I believe he is coming. He may be in his 30's, 40's, or 50's, I don't know, but I believe this Antichrist figure is alive. When he comes, the Bible tells us in the book of Daniel and Revelation, how specifically he arises. He will be evil personified. He will be the son of Satan.

As we go from chapter 6 to 19, keep this in mind, that Satan will always attempt to mimic what God has already given. As we have read in the Bible, we read that God told Moses to thrown down his staff and it would become like a serpent. Remember that? What did Pharoah's magicians do? Same thing. They mimicked back and forth, these miracles of God until they reached a point where their gods were exposed. Satan is always mimicking. He can not create anything new. When Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun, that applies to Satan too! He creates nothing! He only steals and manipulates, that which exists. He steals. He rips off. He does that in people's lives. Jesus says "he is the father of lies." The only thing he has ever produced is false lies. Because whenever there is the truth, he comes with a false alternative. He always comes in our life, trying to offer a false alternative.

From Chapter 6 to Chapter 19, these are the chapters in the Book of Revelation that no one wants to read. This is the reason why most people say they won't read the Book of Revelation. It shouldn't be the case. Each of us has the opportunity to choose where we will be viewing this from. If you make the right choice, Jesus being THAT choice, none of this will be yours to inherit. If you just listen to the Word of God, this is heavy stuff, because you don't get these in churches very often. The church in America today is messed up because it has been playing church for far too long. We need to get right with God and get back to the Bible! The first step in doing that is found in John's gospel, where he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." Jesus Christ is your literal ticket to heaven. It's not your smile, your wealth, not your achievements or righteousness, that is all garbage to God. It's what Jesus has done! That is why at the base of the cross, everyone comes at equal footing. Rich man, poor man, beggar, thief. We all come to Him in need of His blood, which He shed upon the cross, Jesus died for us.

If you say to Him, wherever you are at right now, "Jesus save me! Jesus I love You today for what You have done for me. You died on the cross, You rose again from the dead, I declare You today and I receive You today, as my Lord and Savior!"