Hebrews 11:36-40
36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
Some have suffered by being ridiculed, some by beatings, some thrown in prison, some stoned to death; while others were cut in half, stabbed with swords, ... or even tempted (to deny Christ or give in to sin to avoid suffering). These were homeless, poor, living in adversity and torment to the body and mind. These were in the days before Christ and have been even since then, not just in the Old Testament days or when Rome ruled. This world truly is not worthy of God’s witnesses (martyrs) who suffer as Christ did for His sake and for theirs that they may hear and see the gospel lived out for the deliverance of their souls from eternal torment in God’s wrath on their sin. Though we may find ourselves wandering without shelter or even in austere conditions, we can hold fast to our confession of this faith given us to gain a good testimony while we await the consummate promise of eternity before our Maker and Savior. He promises so much more than what we suffer here, just as the saints of old waited for the promise that we may find the final perfection of sanctification together on streets of gold in the light of the Lamb of God slain for us! We suffer and testify towards eternity.
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