I suspect for some people the answer to this question is simply yes, and for others the answer is absolutely and unequivocally no. Recently I came across a couple of verses that strongly influenced my position on this.
Rev 7:9-11 says the souls of all martyrs are under God’s altar in heaven. The martyrs are begging the Lord, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge the people who belong to this world for what they have done to us? When will you avenge our blood against these people?”
The response to them is very interesting: “Rest a little longer until the full number of your brothers and sisters, your fellow servants of Jesus, have been martyred.”
It doesn’t just say that more will unfortunately die, but it says “the full number”. This means God has a predetermined number of martyrs that will die, and furthermore, that he will allow these deaths to occur as part of his plan for the fulfillment of his revelation to the world.
Rev 13:7 says the Beast of the Sea was “allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to overcome them.” Verse 10 says “The people who are destined for prison will be arrested and taken away. Those who are destined for death will be killed.” Allowed to wage war? Destined for prison? Destined for death? Wow, this is intense. It’s both good news and bad news. The good news is God is in complete control, even the bad stuff is “allowed”, nothing is out of God’s control. The bad news is, some of us are destined for the bad stuff…
Romans 8:36 says “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” (see Psalm 44 for more pick me up verses). Paul wanted us to know, that just like the Israelites of the Old Testament, we will be faced with persecution including death, but not even this can separate us from the love of Christ. And furthermore, our death is for His sake! Paul was trying to be encouraging, but why did he feel the need to be encouraging? Because he knew what would be coming, particularly for Roman Christians.
So what does this mean? How should this affect the way we live our lives? What attitude of the heart should we have when we face persecution? For me there are two major conclusions.
First, living in this contention of being chosen but possibly being destined for persecution, highlights the need to see things from a spiritual and eternal perspective. When you look at the short term and personal aspect of persecution, sure, things look pretty grim. But when you look at eternity, and the realities of the spiritual realm, the persecution of the immediate is diminished. I know, I know, easier said than done, but what else can I do? The only way I can prepare myself for persecution so that I can live out what I just preached is to pray that God would continue to reveal to me the realities of the spiritual realm. Eph 6:12 says “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” I’m talking about the Spiritual Gift of discerning spirits. If I can see past the flesh of the persecutor and recognize the evil spirits behind the persecution, then I am better able to speak authority into the situation in the name of Jesus. Or if I am to be martyred, I can have some peace, knowing that it is the greatest form of witness for Jesus’ sake.
Second, I must answer the question, “what am I willing to die for?” Or even worse, “what am I willing to let my family die for?” Dying as a martyr is one thing, but dying at the hands of some punk is quite another. Recently I’ve taken an interest in self defense and survival skills. As time and money allow I’m making the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and goods a priority for the preservation of my family. This might sound like I’m contradicting my previous paragraph, but I don’t think I am. If someone says “renounce Jesus or I’ll kill your daughter”, I won’t renounce Jesus, but does that mean I have to let my daughter die? Certainly I can try to talk the attacker down and tell them about the love of Jesus, but if that doesn’t disarm the situation, why not use force? In Luke 22:36, Jesus tells his disciples: “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one!” Clearly Jesus didn’t have a problem with the disciples taking precaution to defend themselves against the persecution they would face after Jesus was arrested.
Granted, it’s unlikely that a hoodlum is going to ask you to renounce Jesus, so that leads me to my next point. We live in a fallen world, where due to the influence of free will and sin, random acts of evil greatly outnumber random acts of love. Hopefully with the gift of spiritual discernment, I’ll be able to know when a dangerous encounter has spiritual significance, and when it is simply the result of living in a fallen world. If it’s the latter, I have absolutely no hesitation defending my family.
Tough questions, hard decisions. We serve a God who has decided that some of his children must die to fulfill his plan for this world. Are you ready to die for your Lord? Are you prepared to love God even in the face of death?
-Nate
Kirsten L. Alagood: Wow, Becca. THanks for the interesting post! Hope y’all are doing well. Next time you’re in Dallas, look us up! We have a VERY pink room in the back of the house you’d be welcome to!
August 22 at 2:57am
Rebecca Diltz Nate Moehring: Thanks Kirsten! We’d love to get together sometime, unfortunately Dallas is a really long way from Center Point/Bandera. Hope your family is doing good! -Nate
August 22 at 8:50am
Rebecca Diltz Nate Moehring: Interesting responses from my mom and brother:
In answer to your opening question I would have to say, no. God in no way willed anyone to die for him. However, because of our sinful nature there have and always will be martyrs for him. As… to a specific number I think not. Revelation is apocolyptic and numbers are symbols. There will continue to be marytrs until Jesus comes and the end of time is fulfilled. I think God truly mourns over every soul who has had to die for him because that was not his original plan at all.
Your self-defense topic is another thing altogether. Just my take.
Mom
I would agree that God Morns much of what has happened since Eve ate the apple! I also think we hold the importance of this life too highly. God’s ultimate goal is to get as many of us losers to heaven as possible. I’m comfortable with the idea that on occasion that means it is in his plan for a believer to die as a martyr. As Nate mentioned to me, God allowed this to happen to Jesus.
On a different topic, I do think it is valuable as a dude, to think through situations before they happen. Would I die before I denounced Christ, may be a heavy example. But, things as simple as the response to a person asking why you stopped to change their flat tire, are valuable to plan in advance, so you don’t miss an opportunity to be salt and light. I would generally say martyrdom is a minor topic in our Christianity, but I see the value in exploring it.
Cheers
Shawn
August 24 at 7:01am
Rebecca Diltz Nate Moehring: I’m agreeing with both Shawn and your Mom. God doesn’t “will” (or predestine) us to die for him, but he allows the sin nature of the world to do its thing (otherwise we wouldn’t have free will). And he uses the martyr’s death as part of his… redemption plan for other people. Just because he knows how many martyrs there will be by the time he returns, doesn’t mean he planned it to have to happen that way. God doesn’t “need” any more martyrs, Jesus was the only one who had to die for our salvation. We all have to die a physical death for our sins – unless we make it to the end – martyrs just die a little sooner.
It all comes back to “Does God’s knowledge of something mean he caused it directly by predestining it or indirectly by not preventing it? or Does it just mean we have free will and we are sinful and God allows it because preventing it would mean we really don’t have free will?”
Becca
August 24 at 1:57pm
Rebecca Diltz Nate Moehring: Joseph is another good example of purposeful suffering. It was through rejection, betrayal, slavery, and imprisonment that God led Joseph into the position of favor with the Pharaoh, ushering in the Isrealite nation in a land where they co…uld survive and thrive even through a time of famine, until God’s appointed time He rose up a new Pharaoh and a new leader (Moses) to lead his people into the promise lead so that God’s power and blessing might be revealed to the world for all time.
Was Joseph’s experience allowed by God or caused by God? Did God make the best of the situation, or did he make the situation? I think sometimes its the latter, even though we don’t like to think of God willing hardship into our lives. Our lives are not above his purpose.
September 28 at 8:19pm