This demands the perseverance of the saints – Revelation 14:12
Previously: And a third angel followed them – Revelation 14:9-11
The scripture
Rev. 14:12 – This demands the perseverance of the saints, who keep God’s commands and their faith in Jesus. (HCSB)
This demands the perseverance of the saints
Verse 12 reads, “This demands the perseverance of the saints, who keep God’s commands and their faith in Jesus.” This is similar to the message of Rev. 13:10: “This demands the perseverance and faith of the saints.” In both passages, the Lord reminds the persecuted saints – and perhaps even their persecutors – that He will judge the wicked. Yes, the beast will wield great power, ascend to a worldly throne, and command people of every nationality to bend the knee to him. Yes, he will harangue, imprison, torment and slaughter those who refuse to worship him. At times it will seem that faithfulness to Jesus is unbearable and unrewarded. But those who “keep God’s commands and their faith in Jesus” one day will be vindicated. Those who take Christians captive will be imprisoned themselves. Those who harass God’s people will find there is no rest for them in this life or the life to come. Those who take the sword and extinguish the lives of the faithful will long for death themselves but find it illusive as they suffer God’s wrath.
“In the fiery ordeal of persecution which awaits all who will not worship the beast, the faith and patience of the followers of God and Jesus shall be put to the test, and proved” (R. Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, D. Brown, A Commentary, Critical an Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments, Rev. 14:12).
The saints who persevere will be rewarded for their godly works at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). Jesus urges His followers to lay up treasure in heaven, where it is kept safe and will endure (Matt. 6:20). The apostle Paul informs us that our works of faithfulness, like gold, silver and precious stones, will be refined in the fires of judgment and emerge purified (1 Cor. 3:11-15). And in Revelation Jesus reminds us that our faithfulness will be rewarded (Rev. 2:23; 22:12).
Five crowns
In fact, the New Testament mentions at least five “crowns” or rewards believers can send ahead of them to heaven:
- The crown of righteousness, for those who love the appearing of Jesus and live as if He could return at any moment (2 Tim. 4:7-8).
- The incorruptible crown, for those who persevere in their Christian walk (1 Cor. 9:24-27).
- The crown of life, or the martyr’s crown (Rev. 2:10).
- The crown of rejoicing, or the soul-winner’s crown (1 Thess. 2:19-20).
- And the crown of glory, for those who shepherd the flock faithfully (1 Peter 5:1-4).
Those who reject Christ also will have their rewards when they stand before the great white throne and are judged out of the books (Rev. 20:12). Without exception, they will be cast into hell – not because of their evil works, but because their names are not found written in the Lamb’s book of life. Their “rewards” also follow them, an everlasting reminder that no matter how evil they were, there was forgiveness available but rejected, and no matter how good they were, their righteousness was not sufficient to pay their sin debt.
Of believers in glory, Matthew Henry writes, “These graces shall be rewarded with salvation and glory. When the treachery and rebellion of others shall be punished with everlasting destruction, then it will be said, to the honour of the faithful: Here is the patience of the saints; you have before seen their patience exercised, now you see it rewarded” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume, Rev. 14:6-12).
Next: The dead who die in the Lord – Revelation 14:13
OnceDelivered.net 
THE WILTED PETAL (PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS)
The fifth petal of John Calvin’s TULIP is P-Perseverance of the Saints. Calvin believed that once a person becomes a Christian they can never lose their salvation regardless of how sinful a lifestyle they live. The following are twenty two reasons why the P of John Calvin’s TULIP can end up in a wilted state. One wilted petal causes the whole flower to wilt.
1. Hebrews 6:4-8…….4…have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit….6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance….
No eternal security found here.
2. Matthew 24 :9-13…..10 At that time many will fall away….13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
No once in grace always in grace found here.
3. Galatians 6:7-9 ….8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life…….
Does reap corruption mean Christians can never be lost? I do not think so.
4. 1 Corinthians 9:27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
The apostle Paul stated that it was possible that he could be lost. He did not believe in perseverance of the saints.
5. Hebrews 3:6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
There are conditions to remaining in Christ.
6. John 15:1-6…..6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
Dried and burned is not exactly a ringing endorsement for John Calvin’s perseverance of the saints.
7. 2 Timothy 2:16-18 …..18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.
Hymenaeus and Philetus knew the truth; but went astray. They obviously did not get the “once in grace always in grace” memo.
8. Galatians 4:1-4……You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
You cannot be severed from Christ if you were never a Christian.
9. Romans 12-13 So then, brethren, we are under obligation , not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—13 for if you live according to to flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Why would the apostle Paul warn the Christians in Rome that they would die if they lived according to the flesh if it was impossible for them to be lost?
10. Galatians 5:19-21 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarned you , that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Why would the apostle Paul warn the Christians at Galatia that they had the possibility of not inheriting the kingdom of God if “once in grace always in grace” was a Scriptural concept? The deeds of the flesh that have not been, repented of, can keep Christians from inheriting the kingdom of God.
11. 1 Corinthians 10:8-13 …….Therefore let him who thinks he stand take heed that he does not fall……..
God provides men a way to escape temptation, however, He does not force men to take advantage of that way.
12. Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
Christians can cease to believe and fall away.
13. 2 Peter 1:5-11 …..10 ….for as long as you practice these things you will never stumble; 11 For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
It is possible to stumble.
14. 2 Peter 3:14-17…..17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried way by error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,
Christians can fall from grace.
15. Revelation 2:5 Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you first did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
People can fall and they need to repent.
16. Hebrews 4:1-11……11 Therefore let us be diligent to inter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
Christians can fall because of disobedience. God does not force obedience.
17. Revelation 3:1-5 …..5 He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life….
The names of some Christians will be erased.
18. 2 Peter 3:20-22 For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first……..
How could the last state be worse for them if they have eternal security?
19. Mark 4:16:17 ….17 and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately fall away.
You cannot fall from a position you were never in. They were saved and then fell.
20. Hebrews 10:26-27 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgement and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
Can Christians continue in an unrepentant lifestyle of sin and still be saved?
21. Matthew 10:22 You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.
Those who not not endure to the end will not be saved. No such thing as once saved always saved.
22. 1 Timothy 4:1-5 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith……
The Holy Spirit says some will fall from the faith. John Calvin says once men are saved they can never be lost. WHO DO YOU TRUST?
It takes a skilled professional and a willing student to believe in John Calvin’s “PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS.”
(All Scripture from: NEW AMERICAN STAND BIBLE)