A Great Testing

Have you been through testing? Have you had to pass testing to be included into a specific group? Was the test you endured an especially difficult test? Do you feel like you are being tested every day? Do you know there will be a great testing that will come in the future?

We all face tests. Some are relatively simple as we progress through school. Others are more difficult, specifically professional tests required for certain jobs. Some of those professional tests can be very challenging, requiring a deep knowledge of the specialty we are pursuing.

The testing referenced in today’s passage refers to a trifold test—physical, mental, and spiritual. Many translations interpret the “great ordeal” as the “great tribulation.” Regardless of the translation, the original Greek refers to a significant test. This testing likely includes persecution and may include martyrdom. This testing is believed to come during the end-times. Jesus referenced this great testing in Matthew 24:21.

Though I have not experienced a trifold testing of physical, mental, and spiritual, I have experienced significant testing including physical and mental. Having went through Marine Corps bootcamp and later through Drill Instructor School, there are times during those training schools when you are tested physically and mentally. You can begin to feel as though the testing will never end and wonder if you will survive it.

In the case of the great ordeal or great tribulation, we are told it will last for seven years. Throughout those seven years, many will die, either from a natural death or martyrdom. Those are taken to heaven and given a white robe will be those who hold onto their faith regardless of the ordeal they must endure. It will require a deep faith rather than a superficial one. It will require enduring ridicule, physical pain, and mental torture. The only way to survive it will be to be spiritually strong in our belief that Jesus is the Son of God and believe in His promises.

I pray we all seek to increase our faith in Jesus. I pray we grow in both knowledge and belief that Jesus is the Son of God. I pray each one of us prepare ourselves for a great testing and hold onto Jesus’ promises. Increase your faith. Increase your knowledge. Believe in Jesus. Prepare yourself for testing. Hold onto Jesus’ promises.

Revelation 7:13-14 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”