This past Sunday I preached at Elim Evangelical Free Church in Puyallup, WA. They are working their way through a series in Revelation and asked me to graft into their series. The next passage to cover was Revelation 7:9-17, a glorious vision of worship by an innumerable multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, gathered before the throne of God singing praises to Him. What an experience! Angels join in the worship, and an elder states to John truths about God’s care for these tribulation saints. The main point of the message and passage: Faithful believers from every people group will join heaven’s chorus in praising the God who cares for them.

For the focus of this blog, I want to share some disturbing truths that I didn’t have time to cover in the message. Because of the white robes of these trib saints (Rev. 7:9, 13-14), tied with Rev. 6:11, it is possible that they were martyrs during the tribulation of Revelation 6. That got me thinking about martyrs, both biblical and modern day, as well as end times martyrs.

There have been many saints throughout biblical times and into our current time who stood strong and remained faithful to the Lord, even through death. Rev. 2:10 reminds us, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Abel, Zechariah, perhaps Isaiah, John the Baptist, Stephen, each of 12 apostles with exception of John, and many others. Hebrews 11:35b-38 states, “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. ³⁶ Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”

In 197 A.D., Tertullian made the famous quote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Not their death but Christ’s is what won the victory. God’s work through the church will not be stopped, and the death of believers for their faith only fuels His work. The more intense our suffering on earth, the more intense our experience of joy in heaven will be.

You remember in 2015, 21 Coptic Egyptian Christians were beheaded on a beach in Libya by ISIS militants as they whispered the name of Jesus with their final breaths.

Since I will be ministering to a network of pastors in Nigeria in a few weeks, I have that nation in my mind. Voice of the Martyrs claims that on average 35 Christians are killed every day in Nigeria for their faith in Christ making it the deadliest place on earth to be a Christian.

In 2020 a Nigerian church leader, Lawan Andimi, was executed by Boko Haram extremists after refusing to renounce his Christian faith.

Even more recently in Nigeria was the Bindi Ta-hoss massacre in Plateau State. On August 20, 2026, armed Islamist Fulani militants raided the Christian community. They trapped and burned alive 27 Christian worshippers inside their church building. Human rights groups and international observers reported that the victims, including women and children, were targeted explicitly as part of an ongoing, localized campaign of ethno-religious cleansing.

This is a particularly sobering reality since I will be there training pastors in a few weeks. Despite the devastating tragedy of these events, we know God’s purposes will not be thwarted. He will build His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. (Matt. 16:18) We read about end times martyrs in Revelation 12:11: “And they have conquered him (Satan)by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Although most of us will not be asked to show our love for Christ in the way these martyrs have done, may we each be ready to “love not our lives even unto death.” May we pray fervently for the persecuted church globally. May we work to advance the Gospel in our own communities while we have the freedom to do so. And may God be glorified and worshiped now and forevermore, for as Christ said on the eve before His crucifixion, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) May you have peace and hope even through suffering, brothers and sisters, knowing Jesus has overcome the worst the world can throw at us, and in Christ you too will overcome. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No,in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:35,37)