Beeson podcast, Episode 416
Paul R. House
October 30, 2018

Announcer:          Welcome to The Beeson Podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Now your host, Timothy George.

Timothy George:     Welcome to today's Beeson Podcast. Well, today we get to hear a lecture given by our colleague Dr. Paul House. Wonderful Old Testament scholar. He's also served as the associate dean of Beeson Divinity School. He's served as the president of the Evangelical Theological Society, a world renowned leader in the Lord's church. And he's going to be speaking to us on a topic, this was delivered in Hodges Chapel, on how martyrs overcome. 

Timothy George:     Dr. Smith, can you tell us about this?

Robert Smith Jr:    This is a picture of intertestamental interpenetration. He is using Psalm 2, Daniel 7:13-14, Romans 8:35-37, Isiah 65, and others, and interpenetrating the fabric of the text that he's drawing from, Revelation 12:1-17.

Robert Smith Jr:    He is teaching us. It's didactic. He wants us to learn. This is his statement. Here's what we need to learn if we learn nothing else. Those who are accused by Satan overcome by, one, the blood of the lamb, two, the word of their testimony, and three, having not loved their lives even under death. In other words, loving Jesus more than their life. That is his structure. His demonic approach, the tried and true explanation, illustration, application. That's what he does to let those three cords that are tied together and are not easily broken set for us the approach he's taken. He intersperses application throughout the sermon, especially in the end, because in the end he's gonna bring up the martyr May Hayman, and let her life be an expose of what it means to overcome as a Christian. Suspension in terms of at the end, bringing in her life, but also celebrating a life by saying that Christ will give us victory, and in the end his victory will be complete.

Robert Smith Jr:    We oughta look at the doctrines that he brings up. Cristus Victor, Christ is victorious, ascension, Satan, the lamb of God, revelation, resurrection, the messiah, Israel. It's ingenious, particularly when he says this, Dean George, and I respect this. We oughta have respect for Satan's power. He's not to be toyed with. But we oughta have reverence for Christ's lordship, which is a huge truth. It is a message about triumph, God's son triumphs, God's angels triumph, and then God's people triumph. And he closes the message with Amazing Grace, when we've been there 10,000 years, to show eschatologically that the triumph of Christ will be complete upon his return.

Timothy George:     It's a very moving sermon, and listen to the end where he really brings in May Hayman. She is one of six martyrs memorialized in statuary in Hodges Chapel, a nurse, an Anglican, who was put to death by the Japanese during World War II. Faithful unto death in her witness for Jesus Christ. It's a great sermon by our colleague, Dr. Paul House, how martyrs overcome. Let's listen.

Paul House:         Well, if you will, keep your Bibles open to Revelation 12. If you didn't bring a copy of God's word with you, there's a pew Bible there and I believe it's on page 1,034 that you can find our text. I hope you will join us there.

Paul House:         It's always a privilege to bring God's Word, and to do it before friends and colleagues is a special honor. And to all of you I say, who are staff and students, friends and community members of Beeson Divinity School and of the university, I love you, and I'm grateful for you, and it is always a special time when we come together.

Paul House:         You have a sermon outline beginning on page six of your handout. A few of you took a class with Dr. Webster and I last fall, and you know that I always give handouts at the beginning of class. He gives them at the end of class. I don't know that there's anything special about this handout other than I hope you will follow along, and that together we will understand more about the word of God as the life of May Hayman illustrates it.

Paul House:         So we gather today, as we always do, to hear God's Word read and preached, to praise God, and to ask God for what we need. And today we use the life of our Australian sister, martyr May Hayman as a touchstone for this learning, praying, and asking. I'm particularly happy to be asked to be part of this service, because one of the great blessings of the last several years of my life has been becoming acquainted with evangelical Australians and their writings. That began a bright day in 1999 when a smiling fellow came into my office in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. He had a very pleasant Sydney accent, and he told me that a Baptist brother that I knew, Reverend Mark [Dever 00:05:55], had said he should talk to me if he went to Ambridge, that we would discuss Old Testament and Biblical theology, and we had a lovely talk.

Paul House:         I asked him, because he was at that time the principal of Moore Theological College, when did evangelical theology come to Australia. That basically exhausted my knowledge of all things Australian when I asked the question. He said, and I might say with more vehemence than Peter Jensen is used to speaking, he said, "The first chaplain, on the first fleet of the first prisoners who came in 1788 was an evangelical clergyman." And that clergyman, Richard Johnson, saw himself as a missionary to convicts and to aboriginal peoples. He was an evangelical recommended by John Wesley, John Newton, and William Wilberforce.

Paul House:         So really, biblical theology, Bible believing evangelicalism with a social conscience was planted in the place from the beginning, regardless of whether or not they should have been there, that's who went there. And by the way, there were no Houses on the first fleet going to Australia, however my wife's maiden name is Oldfield, there were are least three of those. All of them sent, I'm sure, on trumped up charges. But there it was. And by the way, they were impressed by that in Australia for her to have ancestors who were on the first fleet.

Paul House:         So I've become acquainted, or become more aware of Australian writers, and I list several there for you, so that you will learn them, read them. And I've become especially appreciative of the great devotional expositor Marcus Loane, of New Testament scholars like Leon Morris, Old Testament people like JA Thompson, Bill Dumbrell, theologians like Peter Jensen, Donald Robertson, DB Knox. And I've come to pray for sister seminaries across Australia, and I list some of those there, more in Sydney, Queensland and Brisbane, Ridley and Melbourne, Trinity and Perth. We have brothers and sisters in what is so far away from where we are that as my wife said when we visited there, we were watching the weather report. She said she knew we were a long way from home when they said, "Today's weather will be affected by tides from Antarctica."

Paul House:         So they feel a bit isolated there. And perhaps they get a little stir crazy and wanna leave their continent. So lately I've been reading about some of those Australian missionaries. Frederick Barker who came from England to be a missionary bishop. Alf Stanway who went to Africa and participated in central Africa, and Tanzania and the great revivals there. And of course today, May Hayman, the martyr whose likeness graces the pedestal right on the other side there. So many of you cannot see her likeness. Her life and death link Australia to the great cloud of witnesses giving their lives for Jesus.

Paul House:         My sermon text is from the book of Revelation. Marcus Loane comments, "This might be called the book of the overcomer because of its emphasis on believers conquering, overcoming, and of Jesus overcoming." And he adds that this great theme is most evident in chapter 12. So this passage comes at the central part, the central point in the Book of Revelation. Leon Morris writes, "This group of visions is connected with the troubles of the church. It is of course true that the whole of Revelation is written to a church which faced persecution, and that whatever else it maybe meant to do, every section of the book is designed to help harass believers."

Paul House:         But especially is this so with the section to which we now come. It stresses the important truth that God has decisively defeated the devil. Satan opposed Christ from the beginning and tried to destroy him but without available. The evil one has been cast out of heaven. His power on earth is, to be sure, terrifyingly real to believers. But this is not because he is triumphant. It is because he knows he is beaten and has but a short time. Let the church then take heart. She will have her martyrs. But ultimate triumph is sure.

Paul House:         So we have a central text of a book about overcoming and how martyrs overcame. So I hope as we look at this text, the sermon will deal with some vital life questions. We stand under the text that God has given us with a posture of obedience, of giving ourselves to it. And while I doubt there ll be any books written in the future on the martyr's secret to a happy life, might not hurt us to ask some vital questions as we look at this. What's going on in the world? What does this text tell us about what's happening? How did the martyrs do what they did? How did they achieve this? What's going to happen next?

Paul House:         Well this passage tells us that the answer to these questions begins and ends with God's triumph. God's triumph. For it's God who makes certain in this text, the first six verses, that his son triumphs, in the next few verses that his angels triumph, and finally that his people triumph. These triumphs occur despite Satan's vicious, determined efforts. You can say many things about Satan. That he is a quitter is not one that you can say accurately.

Paul House:         As the basketball announcers often say about a team, you have to beat that team, they won't quit. And why it's odd for me to find something to admire in the devil, it's all misplaced admiration and activity of course, but we better know that any glib sayings about the devil and how easily he is defeated and that sort of thing is just plain silly. I don't think the devil's particularly afraid of me. I think however he's quite aware of my God.

Paul House:         So these triumphs occur despite his vicious, determined efforts. And I think all three of these triumphs are vital for perseverance today. And in the sermon I'm going to go more quickly over the first 10 verses to spend the bulk of the time on the last. But we see in the first six verses the son's birth and ascension. God's son victorious. Because in the first three verses we have this woman who I think represents the people of God, the believing people of God through the ages, who God considered Israel and his brides, say in Jeremiah 2 and in Hosea 1 and 2. That faithful bride who went with him into the wilderness.

Paul House:         Lady Zion and her children in the book if Isaiah. And the woman is about to give birth to this son. She's cried out in birth pains. The time has come. And yet there is danger. For in verse three, you have a great red dragon, seven heads and 10 horns. She has the sun and the moon and a crown of 12 stars, such as Joseph envisioned bowing down to him in Genesis 37. She has a complete package, power. This dragon does not. Seven heads, 10 horns, not complete but quite powerful. And in verse four it says, "His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven." Does this mean that he was taking that many angels with him, that many believers with him, or is he just so powerful that as he sits and his tail wags he whacks out a third of the stars?

Paul House:         Regardless, he is not anything to be trifled with, laughed at. This is a powerful enemy. There is this woman and the dragon. And then in verse four and five, the birth of the messiah. His tail has swept down a third of the stars, he stands before the woman so that he might devour the child, she gives birth to a male child, and in an allusion to Psalm 2, where the nations are imagining that they can rattle the swords and somehow not serve the one God as chosen, and God laughs and says, "You'd better kiss the son, you'd better know, because I have given him the power to rule the nations with a rod of iron." This is the savior. This is the son of God. And he's waiting to devour. And in a great statement of telescoping as you'll ever read, the child was caught up to God, birth, teaching, death, resurrection, ascension all in one statement. And there he is. Ascended as acts 1:1-8 describes it. Sitting at the right hand of the father the way Steven saw him when he was martyred.

Paul House:         He is the one that Daniel 7:13 and 14 describes as "the one to whom the ancient of days gives the kingdoms of the world. The son is at the hand of the father, and the mother retreats for protection," and we will pick up her story in a few verses. But the wilderness is the place God took Israel to teach them, to protect them, to love them. And he takes her to the place of protection, despite the dragons watching, the son is on the throne, God's son is victorious. And verses seven to 10, a war in its result, God's angels victorious. The armies of God are going to do battle with the army of the dragon and his angels, verse seven. And because of the power of the angels, the victory of the son, the dragon is defeated. There's no more place for him.

Paul House:         The son holds the place apparently that he wants and cannot have. The kingdoms of the lord will not be given to the great dragon. They will be given to the one like the son of man, the one that has ascended to the right hand of God. And the angels win a complete victory over the one described in verse nine as the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, and then we're told in verse 10 he's also the accuser. Now that's quite a task he has, isn't it? It's a little bit like making your local meth dealer the DA of the county. I will deceive you, I will draw you into sin, and then I will prosecute you. I will accuse you. Satan is tough. He's determined, he doesn't quit, and he cheats. And we always when we sin, underestimate what he's up to.

Paul House:         But the text says he is defeated, there's no place, his angels, there's no place for them, and verse 10 is one of the great declarations of the Bible. "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day or night before our God." Who is it who can separate us from the love of God? We read no one can. The accuser is defeated. And the kingdom of God, where God dwells with his people in the absence of sin forever, has been secured.

Paul House:         Later in Revelation 21 it will say everyone who loves Christ is called there, and there's a new heaven, and there's a new earth, and there's no more tears, no more sorrow, no more death. For all these things have passed away. In a quotation and an elaboration of Isaiah 65. The war has been fought, the angels are victorious. But then an ominous statement in verse 12. We're gonna go back to verse 11, but, "Lest we get to excited, therefore rejoice oh heavens and you who dwell in them, but woe to you oh earth and sea, for the battle is still raging here on earth." I would spend the rest of my time on the third point. There isn't a salt in God's protection. God's people are victorious.

Paul House:         Now Loane said, he central passage of the book about overcoming is chapter 12, and the central verse of the central chapter is verse 11. Here is what we need to learn if we learn nothing else. Here on earth, those who are accused by Satan have overcome him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, for they love not their lives even unto death. This is the martyr's secret of a happy life. This is how they overcome. This is how they conquer. This is how we too may conquer and overcome. There will be vicious opposition, but by the blood of the lamb.

Paul House:         I don't know John's age when he wrote Revelation or when he wrote his epistles or when he wrote the Gospel of John. But if you keep your place in Revelation, turn back to John 1, you'll see this issue of a lamb dying for the people has been on his mind for a very long time. It goes clear back to when he first found out about the things of Christ. So if you go to John chapter one in verse 19 ... I'm sorry, verse 29. You go clear back to the testimony of John the Baptist, and by the way that word testimony as we'll see is the word, this is the witness. This is the martyr. This is the statement. This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? Verse 29. "The next day he saw John coming toward him and said, 'Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.'" It happens again in verse 36. "And he looked a Jesus as he walked by and said, 'Behold, the lamb of God,' and the two disciples who had been following John heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Paul House:         Back to Revelation. Go to chapter five in verse nine and 10. The lamb has appeared earlier in this book, hasn't he? "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God, from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and a priest who are God, and they shall reign on earth. This is the work of the lamb." In chapter seven, verse 14, asking, "Who are this great numbers of believers? I said to him, 'Sir, you know,' and he said to me, 'These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb."

Paul House:         Christ has died for sinners. And there has been through the years, and there will continue to be I think until Jesus comes, discussion of what this mean. What does atonement mean? Is it substitutionary? I would answer it is. Is there a penalty to be paid? I would argue there is. There is a penalty for sin. And sin is personal. And going clear back to the Old Testament. When you read that on the day of atonement or any other day that believers have to come, they bring this animal, they lay their hand on the head, confess their sins, and the animal is killed, in fact it's not killed, they have to participate in the killing of it and the giving of the sacrifice. It's personal.

Paul House:         And in case you don't know, in a rural economy, in an agricultural economy, this was expensive. I remember raising calves. And I've said before, why would God accept a sacrifice of a calf? Only because he would say so. There's no moral goodness in a calf. No particular intelligence. They are smarter than chickens, they are smarter than turkeys. But when you look deep into the eyes of your average calf, there is no one home. Yet God required it as a penalty, as a fine if you will, that cost, and was in our place. You say wow. Those Old Testament people had to be humble. You mean you're gonna fork over a bird or a calf and say, "Yes, that's in my place. That's about my brainpower, I can tell you."

Paul House:         I can only say he took it in their place, and now how much more so should we be in awe that God's only son is the lamb of God, he has died for us to take away the penalty, take away the power, take us from the presence of sin, that he has died for us to remove this by the blood of the lamb, for something done for us, by something done outside of us. We overcome, and the martyrs overcome.

Paul House:         That's why the first reading today from May Hayman's life was about her testimony of coming to Christ. Before she did anything else, before she became a missionary or a martyr, she was redeemed by the blood of the lamb. She had already overcome. She had already conquered sin and death and hell because it had been done for her. What about you? It would be very important for a seminarian to know Jesus. We actually ask you that when you apply here, don't we? And lest you think, isn't that pro forma? Well, I hope it will become that. But the founding pastor of Briarwood Church, who's had a great ministry, he gave testimony the other day in church, he was converted as a seminarian. So I would ask you, have you given your life to Jesus Christ, realizing in humility that he took your place, died for your sins?

Paul House:         We also welcome lots of community members here. If you've come as a guest of our place, or you're an undergraduate, is this true of you? Have you given your life? And come to a place where you realize you cannot save yourself, and humiliation of all humiliations, God's son had to do it for you. We overcome by the blood of the lamb. By something done for us. But then he says, "By the word of their testimony, the word of their witness." And I will just remind you that John the Baptist was a witness and gave testimony, but then stay in Revelation, chapter one we turn. The word of their testimony.

Paul House:         The martyrs, the ones suffering, the ones jailed, the ones who die, chapter one, verse two. John identifies himself as God's servant. Verse two, "Who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw, and for his pains of course he has been imprisoned." Chapter two, verse 13. Common theme in the letters to the churches in chapters two and three. To the church at Pergamum, Jesus says, "I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is, yet you hold fast my name and you do not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was killed among you where Satan dwelled."

Paul House:         What is the word of their testimony? Holding fast to the name and character of Jesus, not denying his faith, his teaching. Being a faithful witness. Confessing that Jesus is lord even to the loss of life. The word of the testimony of the saint to the book of Revelation is that Jesus Christ is lord. Chapter six in verse nine. "When he opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for he word of God and for the witness they had born." And of course at the end of chapter 12, who is Satan chasing but those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus?

Paul House:         If you would, turn back in your handout to page four. When May Hayman was established as a missionary and World War II began, they expected and received an invasion of the Japanese army into New Guinea. Bishop Phillip Strong put forth this instruction to his clergy and missionaries. "As far as I know you're all at your posts and I'm very glad thankful about this. I have from the first felt that we must endeavor to carry on our work in all circumstances, no matter what the cost may ultimately be to any of us individually.

Paul House:         "God expects this of us. The church at home, which sent us out, expects this of us. The universal church expects it. The tradition and history of missions requires it of us. Missionaries who have been faithful to the uttermost, that are now at rest, are surely expecting it of us. The people whom we serve expect it of us our own consciences expect it of us. We could never hold up our faces again if for our own safety we all forsook him and fled when the shadows of the passion begin to gather round him in his spiritual and mystical body, the church and Papa. Our life in the future would be burdened with shame, and we could not come back here and face our people again, and we would be conscious always of rejected opportunities."

Paul House:         Third paragraph. "No my brothers and sisters, fellow workers in Christ, whatever others may do we cannot leave, we shall not leave. We shall stay by our trust, we shall stand by our vocation. We know not what it may mean to us. Many think us fools and mad already. What does that matter? If we're fools, we're fools for Christ's sake. I cannot tell the future. I cannot guarantee that all will be well, that we shall all come through unscathed. One thing only I can guarantee is that if we do not forsake Christ here in Papa, in his body the church, he will not forsake us. He will uphold us, he will sustain us, he will strengthen us, and he will guide and keep us through the days that lie ahead. Let us trust and not be afraid."

Paul House:         Reminded me a bit of reading once about General Eisenhower giving a pep talk to paratroopers prior to D Day, saying, "Total victory is what's required," knowing that very few of them would come back. And these missionaries stayed. The word of their testimony was that they were completely committed to the Christians that has come to faith in Papa New Guinea, and eventually, when May Hayman died, she was betrayed by someone who was angry that the church was there. Well then. The word of the testimony, Jesus is lord. This is the worldview that we must have. By the word of our witness, by the word of our testimony. The text says they overcame. They conquered the evil one, and so do we. And also by not loving their lives more than their witness for Christ. They overcome, but internal motivation, see it comes from outside of you, the blood of the lamb. It comes from out of your mouth, the testimony of your word. But you also have this internal motivation that says what do you love most? What is it that you love so much that if you always have that, no matter what else is lost, you are alive, you're well?

Paul House:         Do you love the lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Do you believe that Jesus raises the dead? If Jesus is lord over death, why pry his life and its wonderful bounties, family, home, ease, books, basketball, bread. I won't go on with the B's, but I could.

Paul House:         Brothers and sisters, what do we love most? Do we love Jesus most? By not loving their lives more than their witness for Christ, they overcome the evil one, because what can he do to them? What can he do? It's like the old Monty Python movie a little bit. You remember this one, where guys ... Eventually he's menacing someone, and they fight, and he cuts off one arm, and he still fights, he cuts his arm, eventually he's just lying there armless and legless, still saying, "I'm ready to fight." And the guy asks, "What are you gonna do, bleed on me?" I always wondered in these spy movies, why people go along so docilely just because someone points a gun. I finally saw the movie that I'd been wanting to see all this time. Said point a gun, the guy told him shut up, and he slapped him for telling him to shut up. He said, "You know, I can kill you." He said, "Yeah, but you can only kill me once. Go ahead if you're going to. But I won't be insulted." And he finally said, this is the punchline," You need to find out sonny you can only kill a guy once."

Paul House:         Well, to go back from the frivolous to the serious, they loved their own lives less than they loved Jesus. Where is it with us? Turn back to page five in your handout. I want to bring the story to illustrate this text. After his instruction of the missionaries in January 1942, Bishop Phillips suggested to the two women at the mission, May Hayman, a nursing sister, and Mavis Parkinson, a young teacher, that in view of the invasion of the territory of New Guinea, farther northwest they should move to an inland station. Stay but don't stay where you are. But with tears in their eyes they pleaded, "Don't make us move from here, let us stay here." When he said they did not know what might happen, they replied, "We don't mind what happens."

Paul House:         The bishop replied that terrible things could happen, worse even than death. They replied, "We are in God's hands. If he calls us to suffer, we're ready to suffer. We must do his work." May Hayman asked, "What will the sick people do in the hospital if I go?" Mavis Parkinson asked, "What will the children do if their teacher leaves?"

Paul House:         July 21st, 1942, Japanese troops begin bombarding [Gorneau 00:34:18]. Their people leaving, May, Mavis, and Reverend James Benson fled Gorneau, hoping to reach another mission outpost. Letters written by May and later recovered revealed they were cared for by Papan Christians until about August 11, when they were once again forced to flee.

Paul House:         And by the way, these letters are so ... They're beautiful in how unextraordinary they are. No big statements about how we're gonna die for Jesus. No grand gestures. What was it then? Simple daily faithfulness. Morning prayer, evening prayer. Having meals, washing up from meals. Taking care of one another. Constant daily faithfulness. That's what the letters show. 

Paul House:         The details are sketchy but the women were captured. They were held overnight and then taken away the next day. According to a man claiming to be a witness, soldiers took the two women to a nearby plantation, where there was a freshly dug grave. One of the soldiers tried to embrace Mavis. When she fought him off, he plunged the bayonet into her side. May screamed and covered her eyes with a cloth. Another soldier thrust his bayonet into her throat, and the bodies were dropped into the grave. The women's bodies were later recovered and reburied at the mission station.

Paul House:         That's a stark thing to read to people. It's a stark thing to read to people, it's a stark thing to have happen, and it happens every day of our world somewhere.

Paul House:         So, we'll come back to the rest of that. But from verses 11 to 18 I draw, not only did they overcome by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by not loving their own lives unto death, but we survive today by God's protection of mother and siblings. Satan' out after those who trust in the testimony of Jesus and keep God's commandments. I hope that's everyone in this room. I pray that it is. And the text is clear. Satan's trying to do away with them. This bit about him trying to flood the area, I think it's an old battle ploy. But it doesn't work. Because God has protected them. He has carried them away as he did in the Exodus to protect them.

Paul House:         You might ask, "Well, if God's protecting us, what would happen if he didn't?" Because people die. People suffer. And yet I wanna say to you, God protects what matters most, and that is our testimony of salvation through Jesus Christ. Satan cannot take away our soul, he cannot take away our resurrection, and he knows he is lost. Everywhere where he sees a regimental detachment like this, he knows he's lost. Everywhere I think that he hears someone under the power of the holy spirit speak in tongues, he knows there's a foreign army afoot, and he is lost. Every time a demon is cast out, every time a soul is saved, he knows he is lost, and he will fight very hard. But we triumph because God raises the dead.

Paul House:         How is it with us? I want to say that I've not known martyrs. But I've known some others who confessed to faith. There are people on our faculty and staff who have suffered greatly, and yet confess the faith. People who have lost children. People who've had spouses walk away. People who've endured a great deal of financial depravation. People who have sacrificed much. And yet they still confess Jesus. And such are some of you. I know in our student body these same things happen, and such are some of you. And the day I pray will not come. But it may come for many of you in the ministry where you hear, "We want you gone," where you hear from a spouse, "I won't stay." Or when you hear those awful words that a loved one is gone, I believe that you will confess, by the word of your testimony, that Satan may do his worst, but you still believe.

Paul House:         You will conquer by the blood of the lamb, the word of your testimony, and by the protection, because God will protect you to the end. No one can pluck you out of God's hand. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ.

Paul House:         So what do we take away? Back to page five. The last paragraph. "They love not their own lives unto death. Vivian [Redlick 00:39:27], May's fiance, was killed by Japanese soldiers August 6th, 1942, just days before May's death." I like to think that if indeed she did cover her face to not see the one who killed her, when she uncovered her eyes, she saw the Lord Jesus.

Paul House:         And much to her surprise, she saw her fiance there. She did not know he was already gone the last days of her life. When news of his martyrdom became known, David Hand, a young priest working near Vivian's old home in England was inspired to take his place. What shall we do? We shall take the place of the ones retiring. We shall take the place of the ones dying. We shall take the place of the ones martyred. We shall step forward. Right? We will not do so thinking that one can easily be a martyr. We don't think that one can easily be a pastor. We don't think one can easily be a father, a husband. We don't think one can easily be a professor, though I would rather be a professor than a student.

Paul House:         We will take their places. And if we do, the day will come where at least some, maybe unspoken, maybe unheard, maybe never declared, maybe totally unknown, will feel about us the way we feel about those who have gone before. And so when I think of overcoming, I don't see it solely in the past, though I do see it there. I see through an operation like this, and through all of our local churches and our para church organization and everything else. I see Satan losing for a very long time right here until the day comes, when the glorious victory of our lord and savior will be complete.

Paul House:         How about us? We're gonna close our service by singing of God's amazing grace, and of his leading us through 10,000 years.

Announcer:          You've been listening to the Beeson Podcast with host Timothy George. You can subscribe to the Beeson Podcast at our website, beesondivinity.com. Beeson Divinity School is an interdenominational evangelical divinity school training men and women in the service of Jesus Christ. We pray that this podcast will aid and encourage your work, and we hope you will listen to each upcoming edition of the Beeson Podcast.

Announcer:          (silence)