Be Thou Faithful Unto Death   

Roy Foutz, April 12, 2009

In Revelation 2:10, the Lord promised, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Although we are to be faithful until death, this passage emphasizes that we are to be faithful, even though it might cost us our physical life.

An outstanding example of being faithful unto death was in the life, and death, of Polycarp. According to reliable history, he was burned at the stake in 155 A.D. He had been asked to say, "Caesar is Lord," but he refused. When Polycarp was brought to the stadium, the proconsul urged him, "Swear, and I will set you at liberty; reproach Christ."

Polycarp answered, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury; how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?" When the proconsul again pressed him, the old man answered: "Since thou art vainly urgent that I should swear by the fortune of Caesar, and pretendest not to know who and what I am, hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian."

Then the proconsul said, "I have wild beasts at hand, to these will I cast thee, except thou repent." Again, "I will cause thee to be consumed by fire, seeing thou despiseth the wild beasts, if thou will not repent." Polycarp replied, "Thou threatenest me with fire which burneth for an hour, after a little is extinguished; but are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly."

Shortly thereafter, he was burned at the stake. In Matthew 10:28 the Lord said, "And fear not them will kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Thus we see that physical death is not to deter us from faithful service and devotion to Him.

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