“”Then they will hand you over to be persecuted, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:9-14 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/mat.24.13.CSB
How will those sent to proclaim that all people should love one another be hated in all nations for their message? It is because this message is the sign of what precedes it, that God has come to earth and requires all people to repent for their disobedience to God and believe Jesus is the Savior of the world demonstrated by loving Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Because of the hate of the world, Christians will cower and so begin to disobey God, causing an increase of hate in the world and a cooling of love for humanity. Those who fear men will miss the kingdom to come for the cowardly are rejected by God (Rev. 21.8). It is the faithful who will enter the kingdom, those who continue to obey God by making Him known in the world so that all those God has assigned to Himself are awakened to eternal life through the proclamation of the gospel which is the power of salvation for all who believe. To ensure our place with Christ, we should identify publicly with Christ. I have purchased a simple bracelet with a cross for this purpose. My children wear the WWJD bracelets. Identifying with Jesus encourages the saved, draws toward us the seeking, and elicits persecution from the haters, resulting in our greater reward for suffering for His Name’s sake. Upon identifying, we must seek to multiply by inviting fellow believers to identify and engage the seekers with the gospel to bring them into newness of life. This way, we will prove ourselves unashamed of Christ and save our lives.
