A Call To The Remnant

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.(Rev 6:10-11)

This is the cry of the saints who dwell beneath the altar who have been martyred for their testimony, their witness, and for standing upon the Word of God. The God of all the earth shall not come and judge this world until their numbers, the martyrs, have been fulfilled. And so the measure of the Lord’s return is numbered by the saints who will be martyred, there is a number and it has to be fulfilled. We often hear that the Lord will return when the Gospel has been preached in all the world. Have you heard that? It is almost always quoted in an incomplete fashion, not unlike “And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the world of their testimony.” How many times have you heard that quoted, maybe you have quoted it yourself. And yet, for the most part, the most important part of this Scripture is left out and this is very telling, folks almost always leave out “and they loved not their lives unto death.”

And so, when it comes to Matt 24:14 we typically hear ” And the Gospel shall be preached in all the world and then the end shall come.” Of course the actual verse, which is predicated upon the previous verse which says that those who endure to the end shall be saved, reads “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.(Mat 24:14) And so here we see a tie between Rev 6:10-12 and Matt 24:14, they both speak to what ushers in the end, the return of the Lord. And so, since scripture never contradicts itself, both must be saying the same thing and they do. They key part of Matt 24:14 is that the Gospel must be preached in all the world as a witness, not simply just preached as is commonly taught , but must be preached as a witness. What does that word ” witness,” mean? The word witness in Matt 24 is the Greek word “marturion” which is a derivative of the word ” martus,” which is where we get our word “martyr,” from.

And so there is a number that only God knows and that number is the number of martyrs that must be fulfilled before the Lord will return and judge the earth. And so when we see the saints martyred in every nation as a witness to the power of the Gospel then the Word of God and these times shall end. Remember, it is by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony and by the fact that they loved not their lives unto death that is the witness. This testimony shall be witnessed for the whole world to see and then shall come the Lord in all of His glory. God is raising up that generation that shall usher His return. It is a generation of martyrs who will never bow down to the gods of this world and because of that, this world and the ruler of it will be so furious that he will attempt to kill them all. But be of good cheer saints, God knows the number and Scripture must be fulfilled and then the end shall come and those who endure to the end shall be saved.