We've just seen how the wicked people will be during the difficult times of the Last Days, and Paul wants to encourage Timothy in how to weather the storms.
(10) Now you followed
Timothy has been faithful to follow Paul.
my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,
Paul's character traits and lifestyle.
(11) persecutions, and sufferings, such has happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!
And what happened to him because of his testimony, that he endured, and he gives credit to the Lord for rescuing him out of all of them.
(12) Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
Paul tells him and us that everyone who is seeking to live their lives according to God's ways in the Holy Spirit power of Christ Jesus, will have to face opposition and persecution in the world.
(13) But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
And these evil people will keep going on their by-way toward perdition, increasingly displaying the character traits of the devil, who they are following.
(14) You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
So Paul encourages Timothy (and us) to continue to do the good and righteous and kind things he learned from Paul and the Scriptures.
(15) and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Paul reminds Timothy that his mother and grandmother had accurately taught him the Old Testament while they raised him, which is a tremendous advantage. Then he had Paul to connect the dots for him with the sacrifices in the Law and Jesus being our Lamb of God who fulfilled them.
(16) All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
(17) so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Paul now pronounces the all-encompassing purpose that God gave us His Scripture, both the Old and the New Testaments.
Every word, every part of a letter of a word is all "God-breathed," theopneustos, a compound of theos, "God," and the verb pneo, "breathe," breathed out by God into His prophets. That makes it dependable so that we can rely on it.
And in understanding it we can benefit, ophelimos, "profitable, useful," by learning all the lessons the stories teach, didaskalia, a general word for "teaching," of the consequences of past decisions made, both good and bad. We can learn from both the mistakes and good choices of those who have gone before.
Where we've gone wrong in making the wrong decision, Scripture will give reproof, elegmos, "conviction," showing us where we are wrong.
Then it will correct us, epanorthosin, "restoration to an upright position or a right state." It will show us how to get right again. How to stand up when we've fallen.
Training is paideia, "the rearing of a child." It came to mean "training, learning, instruction, schooling." Scripture will show us how to live our lives in righteousness, both in our thought processes and in our actions and relationships.
The whole purpose of all this is so that God's man and God's woman will be thoroughly equipped to do everything God wants done by us. We are His hands and feet, we are charged with doing His work, to promote and grow His Kingdom by thinking His thoughts, having His attitudes, seeing with His eyes, and going in the strength of His Holy Spirit.
That is God's plan for each of us. He made us, and He loves a diversity! So He made our Human Race multicolored, with differing abilities and various interests and personalities. He's put each of our feet on the specific path He wants us to walk, and my path is not identical to yours. But they are both the "narrow way" for each of us, so that everything will be done, in every area of expertise in all the world through all the years we are here.
There is no time to waste! We all need to get on the stick and do what God has uniquely fitted each of us to accomplish!
Jesus is coming soon, and everyone needs to hear the Gospel in such a way that they will understand how God loves them and wants them in His family. This is our job. Every one of us needs to get with our Father to receive our orders. Whatever it is that you can do, where you have ability and skill, and enjoy doing; do it for the glory of God and to show His shining character in yourself.
We are children of the King, His royal family. We are strangers and nomads here on this Earth, our citizenship is in God's Heaven, as His sons and daughters. Here we are His ambassadors, His representatives in the world. To introduce the World to our Father.
Many in the world do not want to hear our message of reconciliation with God. They have believed the lie of the devil, and have determined that they "know better" and refuse to hear the Truth. So, they will war against us, and mistreat us, and persecute us. This is because their god hates us because we belong to God.
The devil cannot hurt God, so he goes after His children. We should expect this, and not be surprised or shocked when his minions attack us. They are his slaves, who have believed that they're doing what they want, but it's what he wants.
And God uses everything, both good and bad, to further His great Plan of the Ages. He has told us what will happen, to prepare us for what we all will face. And He has given us His strength and protection of His Holy Spirit and our Armor of God (Ephesians 6: 10-18).
O my Father, You are so good to all of us! You have stretched out Your hands continually through all these decades and centuries and millennia. You have patiently waited for all who would turn to You. Soon you will withdraw the carrot and begin to use the stick, to show Your power and authority over Mankind and this Earth we live on.
And all those who have succumbed to the devil's schemes will experience Your wrath poured out on them. Even though thousands will fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, it will not touch us, we will just stand and see their destruction (Psalm 91: 7). The wrath we deserve has already been poured out on Jesus on His Cross on our behalf. We need not be afraid when we see all this transpiring.
And, Father, thank You for Your strength and Your care and compassion when we face the persecution and martyrdom that is coming for all of Your people. We do not need to be afraid of those who can only kill the body, for they cannot touch our soul or our eternal rewards (Matthew 10: 28, Luke 12: 4).
My Father, help us to respect the authority Your Word has over us, to teach us and rebuke us and to train us as Your children in this school of the world. Help us to learn to understand everything from Your point of view, to have a true and accurate response to everything You've told us You are doing.
Send us out, Father, into all the nations of the world, so that every living being will be able to hear and understand how much You love us all, and have extended Your gracious and generous gift of Salvation to each of us. Father, lead us especially to all of Your embryonic children, to draw them to the birth into Your royal family.
And give us strength, perseverance, and wisdom to stand against those who will oppose us. And we know You will deliver us from their hateful recriminations against us by either going through it or from it.
And You will receive all the glory, Father, for You planned it all out and carried out Your plan just as You wanted to.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
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