Birth Pains, Persecution & Prayer

In Matthew chapter 24, as Jesus and His disciples walked from the temple, He made the prediction that one day the it would be totally destroyed.

"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down." 

Matthew 24:2

The disciples assumed that Jesus was referring to the end of the age and asked Him the "when" question.

'As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" '

Matthew 24:3

Of course, we know looking backward that these two events are not the same at all. The temple was destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans, and it has never been rebuilt. Today there are more Jews living in other places around the world (8 million) than in Israel (7 million), and they have long ago left behind their practice of temple sacrifices in favour of communities gathered together in synagogues to read their sacred scriptures.

It seems that in the following verses Jesus is talking about both events which will be preceded by, false messiahs, times of intense suffering including wars, international conflict, famines, earthquakes; and that is just the beginning. The end will come later. After that, there will be persecution, a falling away of some, deceptive teachings and the increase of wickedness. The love of many will grow cold but during this time of hardship the gospel will be preached in all nations.

Jesus uses the picture of birth pains:

"All these are the beginning of birth pains."

Matthew 24:8

One of the things about birth pains is that they tend to stop and start and stop and start and then stop and start, and it can be sometime before the baby is actually born, to the huge relief of the mother! Between the contractions, Jesus understood that life would continue as usual with people doing all the things that people normally do; eating, drinking and marrying. 

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left."

Matthew 24:37-41

But, it seems that as the end of the age approaches the pain will intensify. There will be persecution, and some will be martyred. The Bible does not teach that things will get better and better until Jesus returns, as many people believe. Quite the opposite is the case.

However, Jesus made it clear that, as a man, even He did not know the precise date of the end:

"But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Matthew 24:36

Although He was absolutely certain that it would!

"Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."

Matthew 24:30-31

In some respects, then, what happened with the events of AD70 was a prefiguring and an illustration of what will happen at the end; it was the beginning of birth pains, leading to the birth ? the return of Jesus, the Son of Man. But more birth pains there will be.

We are certainly living in a season of appalling international conflict now, and of course some of it is happening in the land of Israel. More birth pains?

How should we arm our minds? What should we do?

1. We can take some encouragement that birth pains culminate in a birth! The end will come.

2. We can continue with the work of spreading the gospel, because Jesus has said that when it has been fully preached in all the world, then the end will come; as in Matthew 24:14.

3. We can pray because the witness of faithful believers will be a testimony to those who do not believe and indeed, it is this testimony which enables the church to triumph. 

'They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.'

Revelation 12:11

In this cosmic conflict, it is powerful prayer linked to costly witness that advances the Kingdom of God.

4. We can look forward, with patience and perseverance, to the future glory that is promised. This is a conscious decision and takes effort.

'I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth, right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope, we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.'

Romans 8:18-25

It is well worth taking the time to read the rest of this chapter ( Romans 8). It will strengthen your heart and mind to stand firm in difficult times. Having done so, you will not be among those that '...mourn when the Son of Man appears' (Matthew 24:30), but among those who rejoice and welcome the victorious bridegroom.

Chris Moffett