Last Man Standing is the name of an older and fairly violent action movie starring Bruce Willis as an amoral gunfighter in the days of Prohibition. More recently, it was the name of an American television sitcom starring Tim Allen. But the expression “last man standing” or “last person standing” usually refers to the sole survivor of a battle or other destructive event when everybody else has fallen.
The Bible has many stories of such last men standing – individuals who survived dire events and alone accomplished great things in God’s service. Noah, of course, is the first person who comes to mind as the “last man standing” in the story of the great flood (Genesis 6), but as we continue through the Old Testament we read of Joshua and Caleb as being the last men left of the spies who entered the promised land – and even of that whole generation (Numbers 26:65). And we read of the believer Rahab with her house and family – all that literally remained standing after the fall of Jericho (Joshua 6:17).
Later, we read the prophet Elijah was the only man left standing for the true God against the prophets of Baal who had taken control of ancient Israel’s religion. With God’s help Elijah scored a great victory in the climactic showdown with those false prophets (1 Kings 18), but then Elijah was forced to flee to save himself by hiding in a remote cave.
At this point, Elijah was very conscious of being the last man standing. The prophet complained to God: “The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (I Kings 19:10). God’s answer to Elijah probably surprised the prophet: “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal” (1 Kings 19:18).
Elijah was obviously depressed as he looked at his circumstance, but God spoke to the prophet to assure him that although he might feel like, and appear to be, the last man standing he really was not. There were many not worshiping Baal, and some would continue Elijah’s work (1 Kings 19:16). The same was true of Noah – whose son Shem became the ancestor of Abraham (Genesis 11:10–31), and of Joshua and Caleb who were followed by other strong warriors (Judges 2:16; etc.), and of every Old Testament servant of God who seemed to be the last person standing when circumstances were difficult or dire.
The same was true in the New Testament. At the crucifixion of Jesus, the young apostle John was the only disciple standing at the cross when all the other disciples had fled or were standing far away, at a safe distance (Mark 14:50; John 19:26). John must certainly have felt like the last man standing, but he was not really alone, and soon the other disciples returned and eventually found the courage to do the work they had been given to do.
The truth is, every follower of God feels like the last person standing at times. Perhaps we are the only person in our family, our class, or our workplace, who has come to the truth. Many who are converted to Christianity in cultures where other religions are predominant and antagonistic to the Christian faith feel like the last person or the only person they personally know who is a follower of Christ.
But in all these cases, we are not really the last or the only Christians remaining, of course – and God urges two things of us. First, as with Elijah, God encourages his followers to be aware of his people around the world and to interact with them as much as we can (Hebrews 10:24-25). Beyond this, when we feel like the last ones standing, God simply encourages us to continue to stand. The apostle Paul had much to say about this. “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” he wrote to the Christians at Philippi, “Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm”(Philippians 1:27). To those in Corinth he wrote “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith” (1 Corinthians 16:13), and to those in Ephesus: “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13).
Being the last person standing is not just a trait of biblical heroes – it is a goal that, with God’s help, we can all achieve. Jesus himself encouraged us in this when he said “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). We do not have to be the last person standing – we just need to keep standing.
* For more on the topic of encouragement, download our free e-book Some Days We Soar here.
The Centurions: Lessons from Ten New Testament Men of Valor
By R. Herbert
Tactical Belief Books, 2024
ISBN 979-8-89372-529-2
The New Testament records the interaction of ten Roman military men with Christ and the early Christians. These ten men are shown as men of honor and valor who all played some role in establishing and furthering the Christian faith. The Centurions looks at positive lessons we can learn from each of them because each soldier shows us something regarding character traits that are as important now as they were then – as vital and valuable to the Christian warrior today as they were to the centurions of ancient Rome. You can download a copy of our new e-book directly – without registration or email address – here.
In the iconic Verizon TV Commercial that aired in the US for nine years between 2002–2011, the actor playing the Verizon cellular phone service technician repeatedly asks “Can you hear me now?” It was an effective commercial that made its point through the continued repetition of its tagline.
The repetition of “Can you hear me now?” in this commercial always reminded me of Psalm 136 – a unique psalm of twenty-six verses, each of which ends with the same statement: “His love endures forever!” That’s a lot of repetition. The only other psalm that comes close to it is Psalm 118 which repeats the same expression four times; but with twenty-six repetitions, Psalm 136 is truly the “Can you hear God now?” psalm!
But psalm 136 is more than just the simple repetition of a phrase. Its repeated “tagline” ties into an important lesson that the psalm teaches. The psalm carefully catalogs the many different areas in which God’s love may be seen – some of which we may not often think about. The composition begins with a statement about God’s goodness (vs. 1) and continues through its first section with expressions of God’s powerful nature and creative deeds (vss. 2–9). These are things we may usually think of as being the reason for praise, but not aspects of God’s love. The Psalmist clearly saw the connections, however, and we can also if we think about them. For example, can we see that God’s refusal to misuse his great power is based entirely on his love? That is only a single instance of how God’s love continually determines every other aspect of his nature.
Even more obviously connected with his love, the psalm then continues through a second section which catalogs many of God’s saving actions in rescuing and helping his people, guiding them and giving them freedom and a land of their own (vss. 10–24). The psalm ends with the statement that God gives food to every creature (vs. 25), reminding us that God’s love is not only shown to his people, but to all of his creation.
Each of the themes covered in the psalm is broken down into specific areas – specific examples of things God has done which show his love. Many of the examples it gives are taken from the early history of Israel, and the psalm actually quotes Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy a number of times. For example, in verse 15 the psalm uses an unusual expression saying that God “shook off” the Egyptians in the middle of the sea – the exact Hebrew expression used in Exodus 14:27 of the drowning of pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. But if many of the examples in the psalm are firmly rooted in the history of ancient Israel, they could just as easily be examples of ways in which we today have been given freedom and every blessing both nationally and individually.
But why does Psalm 136 repeatedly make the connection between the things it catalogs and the love of God? The answer is that it is all too easy to see God’s love in the obvious and tangible gifts he gives us, but without a broader awareness and understanding we may not see God’s love – or we may even question it – in areas of our lives where God allows us to experience bad things rather than good. That is why we are told to give thanks for such things four times in the psalm and implicitly, throughout it. The psalm reminds us that every one of the Old Testament stories to which it alludes, or which it quotes, involved fears, frustrations, and problems for the Israelites before the final positive outcome. In seeing God’s love in end results, we must also come to see his love in the steps along the way to those outcomes. It is only when we begin to look more deeply at life and the word of God that we begin to see that the love of God is actually at work in a myriad of aspects of creation and events of history – and in every aspect of our lives. If we think about the ongoing repetition of “His love endures forever!” at each point throughout the “Can you hear God now?” psalm; like the Psalmist, we too can come to the point where we do hear God – everywhere.
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