Worthy to Escape

"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." (Luke 21:34-36)

Who was Jesus talking to when He spoke the words above? It appears from what prefaces this passage in Luke that there might be many people around, not only his twelve disciples. But in reviewing corresponding passages in Matthew chapters 24 to the beginning of chapter 26, we find that in fact the twelve had come to Him privately to ask Him questions about what was to come (Matthew 24:3).

The disciples had already been told by Jesus (just before these words were spoken) that the day would come when the temple would be destroyed and not one stone would be left standing upon another. Can you imagine their shock at being told this? This great and beautiful temple was going to be destroyed? By whom and how and when and why? How they must have pondered that in their hearts for a bit before coming back to him, privately, and asking for more information.

As for me, just reading this scripture above causes me to seek the Lord also, to say what does this mean? Will I "be accounted worthy to escape", Lord? And what do you mean exactly by escape? How? By what means? And then I get deeper into the word and find other passages that speak of the same thing and I study them all and the definition of the words themselves. And here is what I have found.

"Accounted worthy": this phrase (or "counted worthy") is used five other times in scripture and in two of them it is preceded by acts of suffering or persecution, indicating that it is because of the suffering or persecution that one was "accounted worthy". Here are the five other scripture passages:

Luke 20:35: "But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage." [Jesus answering the Sadducees about the woman who was married to seven brothers sequentially after the death of each preceding husband. Their question was whose wife she would be in the resurrection.]

Acts 5:40-41: "….. and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."

2 Thessalonians 1:4-5: "So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer."

1 Timothy 5:17: "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine."

Hebrews 3:1-3: "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house."

Two of these scriptures speak of be "counted worthy" of either double honour (for the elders) or double glory (for Jesus) but the remaining three speak of either obtaining the kingdom or, in the case of the passage in Acts, working for the kingdom.

Now let's look at the word "escape".

Strong's concordance: escape: ekpheugo in the Greek. Means "to flee out of a place", as prisoners escape out of a prison. In other words, we will be in the midst of yet able to escape. Vine's dictionary says that in the authentic manuscripts the word "prevail" is used. So, perhaps, we will be in the midst of, but by prevailing we escape whatever will cause others to not be
"able to stand before the Son of man."

So now let's go back to the passage from Luke 21 that we began with that tells us to "watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." After looking at the three corresponding scriptures (excluding the one pertaining to the elders and the one pertaining to Jesus) in light of this passage in Luke, I don't think being "accounted worthy" is speaking about salvation which is our "justification" through Jesus Christ that allows us to approach God. It appears to me that being "accounted worthy" has more to do with our actions after we are saved.

In fact, it appears that being "accounted worthy" involves partaking in the sufferings of Christ through either physical suffering, or heavy persecution, or tribulations (those that are not brought on by our own disobedience.)

And if the word "prevail" is correct that Vines seems to indicate is more appropriate to be used in the passage in Luke, then we will be participating in those things that will come to pass (even as the disciples themselves did during the tribulations of their times).

The question is: will we be "accounted worthy" …will we be able to prevail….when those times come upon us?

We are a people of comforts. We become uncomfortable when our neighbors think we are "weird" for speaking about Jesus, so we try not to do it too often. We spend more time in the comfort of our homes and often in front of the television or computer than we do out in the world working for the kingdom. Even the poor among us manage to have a television that they can sit in front of for hours at a time. And while there are homeless people in our larger cities, they are but a tiny percentage of those of us who have a roof over our heads.

So, if being "accounted worthy" is not about being saved, but about our works after we are saved, what are we doing that causes us to be "accounted worthy? In what ways are we suffering for the kingdom of God? That is the question.

I recently read a book titled "Revolution in World Missions" by K. P. Yohannan. You can get this book for $1 on Amazon. Or you can go to www.gfa.org and get it for free. It is a good teacher of what it means to "suffer" for the kingdom. While you're on their website, look for videos about missionaries in places like Nepal and what they endure for Christ. And compare that to what you suffer for Christ, as I did myself.

Then you will have your answer.