Redemption & Persecution: God vs Satan

The Garden Prophesy Unfolds

After the passion and crucifixion of Jesus, his disciples scattered in fear and confusion. Then Jesus arose from the dead and appeared over forty days to them and 500 brethren before his ascension (I Corinthians 15:3-8). He told them to wait in Jerusalem and he would send a Helper. As the disciples waited expectantly in Jerusalem, they wondered what they should do, how they would evade the Jewish leaders and Roman rulers, and where they should go. God had a plan. Fifty days after the resurrection, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples empowering them for fulfillment of Jesus’ Great Commission: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15 Though they faced persecution for centuries, throughout the Roman Empire people flocked to Christianity. The power of the gospel of Jesus was in the message of salvation, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the transformation of lives. While the first Christians were Jewish, God’s redemption was for all people. God miraculously called Saul, persecutor of Messianic Jews, to evangelize the Gentiles (Acts 9). Saul became the apostle Paul who established churches throughout the empire and wrote thirteen New Testament epistles. Christianity spread throughout the world.

Passover Redemption

Jesus promised persecution before his death: “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” John 15:20 Equally hated are the Jewish people through whom the Messiah was born. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old testament Messianic promises from Genesis through Malaki. In fact, woven into the Jewish Passover story is God’s Messianic plan to redeem humanity after the fall in the Garden of Eden. Exodus tells the story of how God called Moses to free his people from Egyptian bondage. To persuade Pharoh to let the Israelites go God brought ten plagues upon the Egyptians, symbolically revealing God’s power over the false Egyptian gods. In the final plague all first born males died in one night. To protect the Hebrew people, Moses instructed them to obey God by sacrificing a lamb, placing its blood over the door posts and lentil of their homes, and eating their Passover meal with their sandals on, ready to depart at morning light. As the angel of death struck every Egyptian home, mourning consumed the Egyptians and Pharoh relented. He released the Hebrew slaves and gave them provisions to enable their journey out of Egypt. Yet with a hardened heart of rebellion against God Pharoh sent his army in pursuit trapping the Hebrews by the Red Sea. Obeying God, Moses raised his arms over the Red Sea and God parted the waters for the Hebrew multitude to cross on dry land. The enraged Egyptian army with all their horses and chariots followed them only to be drown in the returning waters. This miraculous escape of the Jewish people from bondage was a foreshadowing of the Messiah’s sacrificial redemption of humankind.

Messianic Prophecies

Jesus’ Last Supper with the disciples commemorated the Passover. Jesus shared the breaking of bread and drinking the cup of redemption with his disciples instituting the Lord’s Super, a remembrance of Jesus’ death and his resurrection. The torn curtain of the Holy of Holies in the Temple during the crucifixion was confirmation that Jesus’ sacrifice reconciled man to God. No longer was the temple and priest needed to come before God. No longer were animal sacrifices required to cover sin. Jesus was the final Passover Lamb, the promised Messiah, who took upon himself the sins of all people for all time (Isaiah 53).

Throughout over 2000 years since the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, people of all nations, tribes and kindreds have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, the Messiah, the Passover Lamb, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords (Revelation 17:14). The Jewish apostles completed the Word of God with the New Testament which confirmed all prophecy in the Old Testament related to Messiah’s first coming. Jesus himself prophesied that He would come again, in like manner to his ascension, returning in the clouds. Prophecies in the Old and New Testaments reveal what to expect in Messiah’s
second coming, just as scripture foretold his first coming. The authenticity and accuracy of the Bible with 66 books and 27 authors inspired by the Holy Spirit is unparalleled by any other religious book. Jesus shall return!

The Spiritual War Continues

Satan, however, is unrelenting in his opposition to God and to his people, both Jews and Christians. Persecution continues as it has through the centuries. The Middle East is ablaze as Israel’s surrounding enemies attack her from every direction. International persecution against the Jewish state and people in the form of antisemitism favors the Arabs and Palestinians, who also are Arab. This ancient battle began with Abraham’s sons Ishmael and Issac. God promised Ishmael a great progeny realized in the Arab people and nations. Through Issac’s progeny, the Jewish people, God promised the Messiah fulfilled in Jesus.

Jonathan Cahn in The Dragon’s Prophecy: Israel, the Dark Resurrection, and the End of Days, shares fascinating insights about the prophesy of the Satanic dragon in Revelation and the unfolding of geopolitical events today. Antisemitism at its root is Satanic and from the time of Isaac and Ishmael through the life of Jesus, the diaspora of the Jewish people by the Romans, to the pogroms of Russia, Hitlers’ Holocaust, the Palestinian standoff since 1964, and Hamas’ October 7th invasion, Satan’s war against God’s redemptive plan is starkly visible. Cahn reveals the mystery of Satan’s strategy mimicking the resurrection of the state of Israel in 1948 with the rise of the Palestinians and PLO. Even the Palestinian chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” mocks God’s promise of Israel’s boundaries in Exodus 23:31. While they are Arabs, their culture of hate and terrorism against Israel mimics that of the ancient and extinct Philistines of Gaza! Yet the Bible is clear that the one true God, the Lord of Lords, shall overcome (Revelation 17:14).

One New Man & Persecution

Christians, both Jew and Gentile, who believe in Jesus as Messiah are the One New Man, spoken of my Paul: “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” Ephesians 2:14-16 Just as God’s people suffered persecution throughout history, so Jews and Christians do today. The Voice of the Martyrs chronicles persecution around the world. While Western civilization has been less impacted than countries in which communism and other religions predominate, that is changing with secularization and the immigration of Muslins into Europe, UK, and the US. Governments and cultures have become more aggressive against Judeo Christian values, resulting in the suppression of speech andpassage of laws that undermine Judeo Christian institutions. Now Christians must count the cost of their faith around the world! Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16 Christians who take that bold stand shall be prepared for persecution from society, institutions,
and governments.

End Time Persecution

Recently, the short movie The 21 was released commemorating the tenth anniversary of the slaying of 21 Coptic Christians by terrorist Muslims on the shores of Libya (CBN interviews the Producers). Using animation, it is a powerful depiction of the gruesome beheadings that garnered global outrage from Christians and Muslims alike. The movie is poignantly tragic but also an encouragement to all Christians to be faithful and declare, “I am not ashamed to stand for truth and for the Word of God.” Jesus promised to be with us throughout trials and tribulations. All the apostles were martyrs and their first century sacrifices demonstrated the truth on which they staked their lives. They were eyewitnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ. By contrast, radical Muslim martyrs die for the promise of 21 virgins in the afterlife. Their faith in Allah and the Koran is based on hate and jihad against the God of the Bible and his people.

Jesus prophesied that in the end times there will be increasing evil, lawlessness and persecution against Jews and Christians as Satan knows his time is short (Matthew 24). It will be as in the days of Noah when God brought the great flood judgment on the entire world. Rick Renner in World Before the Flood, chronicles the events that took place during Noah’s life, including the building of the ark, the flood, and the repopulation of the earth. Having meticulously researched the location of the ark in the mountains of Ariat, in his book Renner shares amazing photographs of the site. Renner provides remarkable insight into end times prophecy as a warning to all Christians to prepare for increasingly violent persecution before Jesus’ return.

Hope in the Resurrection

As end time prophesies unfold, our hope is firm in the passion and resurrection of Jesus, and the promise of his return. If you have not received the saving grace of the gospel of Christ, do not let this Easter/Passover pass without acceptance of Jesus’ gift of personal salvation! The soul searching song, More than a Hollow Hallelujah, reminds us that Jesus reversed the curse of the fall and overcame the “sting of death” by His love and grace. (I Corinthians 15: 54-55) Let this be your song on Resurrection Day and walk into the deep waters of his sacrificial love in this life and for eternity.

By Sheryl Dawson
Easter/Passover 2025
www.CelebratingChrist.com
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