Foreword

David Platt

The completion of the Great Commission will include great suffering, but eternity will prove it is worth the price. This statement assumes three significant truths in Scripture.

First—the Great Commission will one day be complete. One day, disciples will have been made and churches will have been multiplied in every nation and among every people group on the planet. Thousands of these people groups remain unreached today, but one day (hopefully soon), they will be reached. In the words of Jesus, “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (Matt. 24:14). According to the apostle John, one day “a great multitude that no one [can] number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” will stand “before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands . . . crying out in a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Rev. 7:9–10). These words from Jesus and John in Scripture are guarantees. By the power of His Spirit through the testimony of His church, Christ will be proclaimed as Savior among all the peoples of the world.

Second—this task of proclaiming Christ to all peoples will include great suffering. Jesus assured us of this, as well. Right before his promise in Matthew 24 of the gospel proclaimed to all nations, Jesus told his disciples, “They will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death,” (Matt. 24:9). “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you,” he told them in John 15:20. It is no surprise, then, to see the suffering of God’s people on every page of the story of the church in Acts and the history of the church since Acts. Suffering is one of God’s ordained means for the growth of his church. He brought salvation to the world through Christ, our suffering Savior, and he now spreads salvation in the world through Christians as suffering saints. In the words of Paul, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Clearly, there is a sense in which the danger of our lives increases in proportion to the depth of our relationship with Christ.

Third—eternity will prove that such suffering was worth the price. The book of Revelation envisions the day when sin and Satan will ultimately be finally defeated, and followers of Christ who endured suffering in this world will reign with God for all eternity. How will this defeat have come about? Through Christians who “have conquered [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Rev. 12:11). Men and women who wisely love the gospel and glory of God more than their own lives will enter into and experience eternal life, where God himself will wipe away every tear from their eyes and dwell with them forever.

The book that you are holding in your hands is dripping with these biblical, global realities. The Ripkens know from time in God’s Word and time around the world that this earth is full of sin, sorrow, and suffering. They know that following Jesus, in so many ways, actually increases suffering instead of lessening it. But they also know that Jesus is better than all the pleasures, possessions, and pursuits of this world put together. I hope and pray that as you read the pages ahead, you will find yourself more cognizant of the needs of the world, more confident in the Word of God, and more committed to making his Word known throughout this world, no matter what it costs you . . . because you realize that God’s reward is far greater than anything this world could ever offer you.