This is Luke 21:36, “Watch therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the son of man”.
So it says, watch so that you can escape all these things that will happen so that you can stand before the son of man.
So to be able to stand before the son of man, you have to escape all these things that will happen. So what are all these things that will happen?
So before this verse 36, Jesus talked about the Great Tribulation. This is verse 23, “but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days for there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.”
So this great distress is the Great Tribulation. So he talked about the Great Tribulation and if you read furthermore it talks about the return of the Christ.
This is verse 27, “then they shall see the son of man coming in the cloud with power and great glory”
Jesus talked about the Great Tribulation and the return of Jesus before that verse in verse 36 but if you think about it, the return of Jesus is not something that we have to escape. Jesus’ return is something we have to embrace and wait for. So we have to be glad to see Jesus coming back, not escape Jesus’ return.
So what Jesus is telling us to escape is the Great Tribulation.
So he’s saying here, “watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things”; that means escape the Great Tribulation to stand before the son of man, so you have to escape the Great Tribulation to be able to stand before the son of man who is Jesus.
So why do we have to escape the Great Tribulation to be able to stand before Jesus?
It’s because in the Great Tribulation, many people will lose their salvation, because there will be tortures in the Great Tribulation. So people who serve the Antichrist to force everyone who rejects Antichrist to worship the Antichrist, they will torture whoever resists the Antichrist.
I mean, this whole earth will be like hell. In hell, all the minions of Satan, they have control over the bodies of those people who are in hell. So they can do whatever; there’s no limit to what they can do to the bodies of the people in hell.
So for 3 and a half years on this earth, those who serve the Antichrist, they will have total control in what they can do to the bodies of those who resist the Antichrist.
So little short of killing them, they will do whatever they can to torture so that they can be subdued to worship the Antichrist.
Many people just believe that we will just die; many people will be killed in the Great Tribulation. So the Great Tribulation will pass just like that. But it won’t be that easy.
So that’s why, Jesus said, this is Matthew 24:22, “and unless those days were shortened no flesh would be saved. But for the elect’s sake, those days will be shortened.
So tortures will be so terrible if the Great Tribulation was very long, then there will be no people who will be saved. So it’ll be that terrible.
But to save people, God will shorten the Great Tribulation.
So although there will be a lot of people who will be saved in the Great Tribulation, but also a lot of people will lose their salvation. Because they can’t endure the hellish torture.
And also this is Matthew 24:24, “for false christ and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect”
So even some of the people who are elected to be saved, they will be deceived by the Antichrist and likewise many people who are elected to be saved, they will lose their salvation because of the torture.
So because the Great Tribulation is so terrible and many people will lose their salvation in the Great Tribulation, we have to escape from the Great Tribulation. And we have to get out of the city systems.
So Jesus said, when you see the Great Tribulation starting, you have to get out of the cities to wilderness. And if you forgot something, don’t even go back to the city to retrieve it. Do not even look back. Get out of the city to flee to the wilderness.
So that’s why we have to escape the Great Tribulation so that we don’t lose our salvation and be raptured to stand before Jesus.
But some people say, the Great Tribulation will come upon the whole earth so there’s no point to flee to anywhere. And they ridicule and they mock the people who are saying you have to flee the Great Tribulation.
But the Bible is warning about people who will go against the Antichrist. There will be those saints who will go up against the Antichrist but be subdued.
So it says here, this is Daniel 7:25, “he shall speak pompous words against the most high, shall persecute the saints of the most high and shall intent to change the times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hands for a time and times, and half a time.”
So those who resist the Antichrist and go up against the Antichrist, they will be given into his hands.
So these days, especially those who are in the camp of apostolic movement, they say we have to dominate all the world and take all the cities. And also they say, in the Great Tribulation, we will do great things and with God’s help they will do great exploits in the Great Tribulation. But those who go up against the Antichrist, they will be subdued and given into his hands.
And also this is Daniel 12:7, “it shall be for a time, times, and half a time and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished”
So a time, times, and half a time is 3 and a half years and the power of the holy people will be completely shattered by the Antichrist.
So there are those people who will do the works of God in the Great Tribulation. So for a while, they will do great exploits but eventually they will be all captured and subdued by the Antichrist and they will have to endure the hellish torture to maintain their salvation.
So there are those people but Jesus is giving the warning to all the people right now to escape the Great Tribulation so that we can stand before the Lord when he comes on the cloud.
So I wish you are blessed to understand these things so that you can watch and stay in prayer and ask Jesus’ guidance so that you can escape the Great Tribulation to avoid all the tortures so that you don’t lose your salvation.
So you don’t get tortured be killed in the Great Tribulation but you stay alive during that time to be raptured alive and meet Jesus in the air and stand before him.
I wish you blessings from the Lord.
