May 28, 2023: 2 Timothy 1:8 - Do Not Be Ashamed of the Testimony of Our Lord
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God…” - 2 Timothy 1:8
As it was in Paul’s time, so it is in our time that we are persecuted for our faith in Jesus Chris, and many of us will suffer for it, with some suffering tremendously, even to the point of death, as it was with the apostle Paul. Here Paul was in prison, possibly in Rome, writing to Timothy, one whom Paul was mentoring in the faith, to encourage Timothy and remind him that he would be attacked for his faith but that he must endure until the end, for our reward is with Christ.
Let us consider what is “the testimony of our Lord” that Paul wrote about in today’s Scripture verse. In chapter 19 verses 7-10 of the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible of which its writer, the apostle John, said is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show the servants - things which must shortly [quickly or swiftly] take place” (Revelation 1:1), it states:
“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God.’ And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’” (Revelation 19:7-10)
The purpose of Bible prophecy is to point us to Jesus Christ, and there are prophecies of Him from the very beginning, in the book of Genesis, including in Genesis 3:15 when it was prophesied that the devil, also called Satan, would bruise Jesus’ heel but Jesus would bruise his head. This happened when Jesus was crucified on the cross, when a nail was driven though His heel, and Jesus gave up His life. The devil thought he had won, but Jesus didn’t stay dead; oh no, He rose again, resurrected, and is at the right hand of God today, until He will call up His church to Him in the rapture and will begin the 7-year tribulation period by taking the scroll from the right hand of God the Father and open the seven seals on the scroll. And, as prophesied in Revelation 20:10, Jesus will eventually defeat the devil and will cast him into the lake of fire and brimstone, where he will be tormented forever. It is no surprise that the devil doesn’t want us to read the book of Revelation for two reasons: first, we will read of his ultimate demise and second, it is the only book of the Bible that comes with a blessing to those who read it and hear what it has to say and keeps or remembers the things written in it (Revelation 1:3).
The prophecies about Jesus are all throughout the Bible, showing us that we are all sinners in need of a Savior and that there is nothing “good” that we could ever do that could save us from our sins once and for all. Remember what Jesus said before He gave up His life on the cross? He said: “It is finished!” (John 19:30). He did it once and for all so that by His precious, sinless blood, we can be saved from all our sins by believing He is the Christ, the One sent by God to offer salvation to all who would choose to believe, to trust, in Him for our salvation. We don’t need to follow the Mosaic Law that God gave the Jews in the Old Testament, we don’t need to sacrifice animals to atone for our sins; no, Jesus is the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world, once and for all, for all who choose to believe in Him as their Savior.
When we are saved by believing in Him as our Savior, we are sealed by His Holy Spirit:
“In Him [Jesus] you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)
What did Jesus testify of Himself when He was here on the earth the first time? Let us examine some Scriptures:
“Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, ‘You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.’” (John 7:28-29)
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)
“I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.” (John 8:18)
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘When you lift up [crucify] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.’” (John 8:28-29)
“I and My Father are one.” (John 10:30)
“Jesus answered, ‘If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, “I do not know Him,” I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’” (John 8:54-56)
“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My father will honor.” (John 12:25-26)
“Now this is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up [crucified] from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” (John 12:31-32)
It all comes down to this:
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up [crucified], that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:14-19)
There is one way to salvation from all sins and it’s not by our good works, it is not by believing in any false religion this world has to offer, it is not by pretending that sin isn’t sin and that there is no heaven and hell, that there is no one true God; the one way to salvation is through Jesus Christ, and it is a narrow way. Every single one of us will go one way - either the broad way or the narrow way:
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 7:13-14)
Notice in the Scripture above, Jesus said, “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Just as Jesus suffered on this earth when He taught the truth of God to those who didn’t want the truth and was hated and suffered at the hands of sinful men and women, so too will we suffer for our belief in Him. The truth of God is not meant to puff us up with pride and make us feel good about our sins. Oh no, that is what Satan does, and the majority of the world loves him for it, whether they realize it or not. Sadly, this extends to most churches that take great precautions not to offend anyone. I am here to tell you that like it or not, our sin is extremely offensive to God and because of our sin, we are not allowed to enter into His eternal kingdom if we have any sin in us. The only way we can be cleansed of all of our sins is by believing in His Son Jesus Christ, who washes us clean from all sins. But, to a lost and dying world that loves sin more than it loves God, the Bible is offensive and it is intended to be. Jesus even told us:
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father; a daughter against her mother; and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 10:34-36)
Jesus knew that the truth of God would divide people, and have we ever seen the world more divided than now? The spiritual war that is being waged for the human soul is rising to a level that I would venture to say has never been seen before. I think God is giving us these last moments in human history before the start of the tribulation period to rock us to our core to see that we are lost in our sins without Jesus and that He is our only hope so that we would turn to Him and be saved.
The writer of Hebrews describes the word of God - Jesus Christ - as the One who discerns our thoughts and the intents of our heart:
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)
The apostle John wrote of the Word:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:1-5)
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
We are born with sin in us, inherited from Adam and Eve. The Bible tells us the wages of sin is death, meaning if we remain in our sin when we die, we will take that sin with us not only into death but also into our eternal life. I think it is becoming clearer now, even to the unbelieving world, that there is a spiritual war being waged across the world and that war is intensifying as we draw oh so close to the rapture of the church, the revealing of the final antichrist, and the time when he will reign upon the earth for a period of seven years in a time known as the time of Jacob’s trouble, also known as the tribulation period. Sadly, many people who once professed to be Christians are turning away from their faith, they are ashamed of the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ. They love their sin more than they love God.
As Christ suffered for preaching the truth of God, so shall we, but our temporary sufferings on this earth are nothing compared to the glory that awaits us, when we are Home with our beloved Savior. We do this not in our own power but in the power and might of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 6:10). The apostle Paul suffered so very much for our Lord, but he never was ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, and he never gave up hope. Brothers and sisters in Christ as we await our Savior’s upward call, let us remember and heed the words of the apostle Paul, our dear brother in Christ:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’
“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39) ✝️