Rev 10:9-11, And I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, "Take it, and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And they said to me, "You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings." 
	We are in the midst of the revelation of the end times as unleashed by God upon the earth at the urging of the saint’s prayers. We have dealt rather extensively with the effective prayer of the Church being utterly in line with the will of God. Last week, we began to consider the reason that the Church can confidently face whatever is unleashed by God’s divine judgment and purpose on the earth and upon its inhabitants. We are not involved in the theological debate of the pre or post-tribulation rapture of the Church; because the fact is that we are currently facing the fiery trials that will only increase in ferocity and intensity. 
Whether the Church goes through the Armageddon account of this Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is not the focal point of this consideration. We are on this earth as long as God has appointed for us to be on this earth. We will face trial and tribulation throughout our time here because we are the servants of the One Whom this world despises with every fiber of animosity and hatred. As we serve God, we will undergo all the worst that this world power can muster in its vain and futile attempts to discredit and to dislodge Our Lord Jesus Christ from His throne of Victory and Glory. We continue this morning with the truth that we have nothing to fear from the power of this age. We will suffer, but it will not be a suffering that will undo our salvation. It will rather serve to strengthen and to increase our absolute intimate relationship with Our Risen Lord and Savior. We will face all the seemingly crushing waves of this world’s attacks, and still stand firmly rooted and immovable in the power of the triumphant splendor and majesty of Jesus Christ!
We must, first of all, comprehend the fact that we are not going through any dilemma, situation, circumstance, or trial alone. Many of us feel like we are abandoned in the midst of the fire and storms, but we are not. God has pledged Himself to us in a wonderful bond of oneness in Himself. We may feel that we are by ourselves, but we are never alone! We are constantly in the presence of our Help and Source of strength and wisdom. We just need to set aside our self-pity and feelings and grasp the reality of the One Who is our life. Isa 43:1-7 But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. "For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. "Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. "Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. "I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made." 
	When we consider the fact that the Holy Creator of everything, the One Who holds the universe together by His Omnipotence, the One Who is Omniscient and Omnipresent tells us that He will never leave us or forsake us, we should listen and let His presence comfort our souls no matter what we are undergoing. Nothing comes into our lives apart from His permission in Jesus Christ. We may not understand with our minds what is taking place, but we can fully trust Him and count on Him to see us through it all. That is a great relief and source of encouragement, no matter what is taking place. The very worst of all torments cannot overturn His Hand of Grace and Mercy and Protection.
	We are blessed by His overshadowing care. As Jesus tells us in the story of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, we are not to fear the cares and the concerns of this realm because we are precious in the heart of God. Matt 10:30+31 "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. "Therefore do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows. And in Luke 12:28-32, "But if God so arrays the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O men of little faith! "And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying. "For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. "But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. 
	Not only that, but we are constantly in the living presence of God in Jesus. He has promised that He will be with us always, no matter what and no matter where we are. Matt 28:18-20 …"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." There is no power of this realm that can stand against Him. He has utterly and absolutely defeated every assault that this age could muster in its futile attempt to keep Him in the grave. Having thus vanquished all the forces and influences of this realm, He promises to abide with us and in us for all the eternal ages to come. What can this world do to us when we stand firmly rooted in Jesus Christ, the Lord of all creation?     
	Not only that, but the greatest power that this realm can wield is death and, in Christ, that weapon can no longer be used against us. We are no longer subject to the curse of death. We do not fear it! Rev 1:18, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 
We now, rather, see death as a release from the anguish of this age. It has become, through the resurrection life of Jesus, our freedom into heaven. As He overcame death, we are now in Him and see only His victory and His life. Rom 6:8-10, Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 
	As a matter of reality, in Christ, we look forward to our life beyond the earthly grave. We have confidence in His promise of eternal life. We rejoice in the celebration of His calling us home to be with Him. 2 Cor 5:6-9, Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight —  
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 
Our focal point in this life is to please Him, whether we are on this earth or in Heaven. Therefore, we live without fear in the confident guarantee of His life at work in us. This is a great comfort as we face the things that are so unpleasant in this age. We do not succumb to the hopelessness and the hysteria of this realm’s death throes. We fully place our confident assurance in His abiding presence.
	In this line of our declaration of safe-keeping in Christ, we now come heart-to-heart with the fact that the Lord will uphold His anointed and beloved. His blanket of protection over us is utterly impenetrable by the forces of darkness. As we have mentioned, this does not mean that we will be without suffering in this world. We will suffer, but that suffering is not our undoing. It is always used by God to establish our more and more complete reliance upon Him. He promises His Divine Protection in our lives throughout His Word. Listen to the assertion of the Lord’s fortification around us.
	Ps 34:6-8, This poor man cried and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! 
	Ps 91:2-7, I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!" For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper, And from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not approach you. 
	Ps 125:1+2, Those who trust in the Lord Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever. 
	And in Zech 2:5, 'For I,' declares the Lord,' will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.'" 
	The key to this truth is that our protection is not in our hands. It is not based on our being able to accomplish this or that in the Lord’s name. The protection of the Lord is for those who are weak and powerless. This is what is utterly confounding to this age. This world believes that strength makes right, that only the strong survive. It promotes the lie that there is no place for frailty and the disadvantaged, because the weak and the powerless are only a drain on the limited resources of this world. But God holds forth His heart to the feeble, the incapable, and the destitute because they, because we, are the ones who have to entirely and totally rely on Him for everything. He protects those who wholly and completely trust on and in Him. That is why we suffer the loss of all things in this realm with rejoicing in His glory, because that is how we learn to trust Him in everything. 
As the Apostle Paul encourages us in Phil 3:7-11, But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 
	This is why we do not fear anything that we will suffer in this age. It is a confidence in the fact that we have nothing of value to lose in this world. Everything that is of importance and worth is set in Jesus Christ. The enticements that this world offers are merely entrapments and lies that only serve to detract and to distract from that which is eternally significant, the life of Christ. If we know and believe this, what is there to fear in the complete loss of any of this world’s riches and fame and power? It will all be swept away as dross in the fiery furnace of God’s judgment. It has absolutely no meaning or importance or significance when considered in the light of the glory of Jesus Christ.   
	Rather, as we continue to read and to consider what God has for us in this Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we need to maintain our heart’s concentration on our position in Christ. We are His Body, united together for His plan and His purpose. Our entire being, individually and corporately, needs to be settled in the truth that no matter how God deals with this earth in the end times, we are enfolded in His heart in His love for His Beloved Son. What we undergo will never be to our undoing, but will only result in a truer and more refined and more perfect expression of the life of Jesus Christ. 
	As we are told by Our Lord Jesus, Himself in Luke 21:10-19, … "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. "But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name's sake. "It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. "So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. "But you will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all on account of My name. "Yet not a hair of your head will perish. "By your endurance you will gain your lives. 
	Our confidence to overcome all is not set in our abilities to do anything. It is completely and fundamentally settled in Jesus Christ. His Holy Spirit will comfort and guide and direct our words and our paths. Even though He takes us through, what the Psalmist calls the valley of the shadow of death, we will not fear. We will know, livingly, the power of God which will be manifested for His glory in the lives of the members of His Church. Amen!

This morning’s benediction is Rev 11:15-17. And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign. Amen.