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.
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.
It might seem strange to talk of putting a price on forgiveness, yet that is exactly what Jesus did in his parable* of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:21-35). In that parable Jesus painted a detailed word picture of a king’s servant who owed the ruler ten thousand “talents” (vs. 24).
A talent was not a unit of currency, but a unit of weight. The NIV translates this verse “ten thousand bags of gold,” but it is far more likely that silver would have been the precious metal involved in the transaction, as even ten thousand talents of silver would represent an almost unimaginably large amount. In fact, ten thousand talents of silver would be too large to have normally been a personal debt. The word “servant” Matthew uses could refer to a king’s high-ranking servant who had control of massive amounts of money as part of his work.
By contrast, the second servant in the parable who owed the king’s servant money was doubtless a far less powerful individual who had borrowed “one hundred denarii” (KJV “a hundred pennies,” NIV “a hundred silver coins”). We read in the parable that the servant who owed a huge amount that was forgiven was himself unwilling to forgive the individual who owed him a much smaller debt.
To get a true sense of the relative amounts Jesus spoke of, notice that in another parable – that of the men working in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) – Matthew specifically tells us that an acceptable rate of pay for a laboring man was one denarius per day (vs. 1, etc.). So, the debt of the minor servant who owed the king’s servant 100 denarii was the equivalent of a hundred days pay – some four months of wages calculated on a regular workweek – and certainly not a small amount.
But to get a sense of the debt for which the king’s servant was responsible, we must realize that a “talent” was equal to approximately 6,000 denarii in value, so that debt equaled ten thousand times about six thousand days pay for an average laborer – some 60 million days or 200 thousand years pay at 300 workdays per year – based on talents of silver, not gold.
So the price of the forgiveness given by the king to his servant in Christ’s parable was an astronomically high one – far beyond the realm of any possibility of being repaid. But it is easy to think that this parable was simply teaching that our neighbor’s spiritual debts to us are far less than what we “owe” God as a debt of forgiveness, but while that is true, the parable has greater depth than that.
Clearly, the king in the parable represents God, and the king’s servant represents us as debtors to God through our sin, while the minor servant represents those who are “indebted” to us through sins against us. But we should remember that the amount owed by the minor servant – a hundred days’ pay – was not a trivial amount. It is important to realize that Christ was not downplaying the “debts” or sins of others against us – rather his parable admits that those who sin against us may indeed sin to a substantial degree, leaving us significantly hurt.
But the parable also puts that hurt in perspective by showing that the astronomically high debt we have incurred through our own cumulative sins far outweighs whatever sin may have been committed against us – no matter how bad it was. As it is given in Christ’s example, the story shows a ratio of one million to one – the sins of others against us represent one millionth of our own sins against God. That is why Jesus ended his parable by saying that the unmerciful servant was severely punished by the king, and by saying “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (vs. 35).
Ultimately, however, Jesus’ parable is not about numbers or balance sheets. Its primary message, of course, is that we ought to forgive as our King has forgiven us. And we should not forget the context in which the parable was given. Matthew makes it clear that Jesus told this story in response to Peter asking how many times we should forgive those who sin against us: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king… (Matthew 18:21-23, emphasis added).
According to Jesus’ answer to Peter’s question, the forgiveness given to us is extravagant both in amount and in repetition, and finally it is extravagant in terms of the attitude with which the forgiveness is given. True forgiveness, Jesus tells us, is so extravagant that it cannot be repaid; it is so extensive that it does not run out in our lifetime; and it is so truly meant from the heart that no price can really be placed on it.
*Download our free e-book on the Parables of Jesus here.
A BRIGHTER LIGHT: SEVEN SIMPLE STEPS TO HELP YOUR CHRISTIAN LIGHT SHINE
By R. Herbert
Letting our “lights” shine is a basic Christian responsibility, and this short book examines seven simple ways in which we can avoid short-circuiting the light God desires to show through us, and more effectively let that light shine. These principles can help us better reflect God’s nature, better do his work, and better fulfill his desire in our lives. Download a free copy of this new e-book here.
Sadly, there are almost as many definitions of what it is to be a Christian as there are denominations in Christianity. At one end of the spectrum, many believe that simply because they have “given their hearts to the Lord” they are true, saved Christians. At the other end of the spectrum, many sincere believers see the faults and failures in their own lives – perhaps even after many years of trying to walk in the Way – and wonder “Am I really living as a true disciple of Jesus Christ?” Thankfully, the New Testament gives us three clear tests by which we can tell if we really are a Christian and walking in God’s way of life. Those tests are found in the first epistle of the apostle John.
The first test John gives us has to do with our beliefs: “I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ” (1 John 2: 21). Notice that John stresses that true Christians – those to whom he is writing – walk in the truth (something John mentions in all his epistles – 2 John 1:1–4; 3 John 1:3–4; etc.). But notice also that John is not talking about having perfect doctrinal understanding. That may be a goal God helps us grow toward, but it is not the present reality that we must already have. Truly essential belief, John tells us, is simply that Jesus is the Christ – in other words, belief that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the Messiah the Bible promised, and the One who has saved us from our sins. This first test is actually a very simple one that requires no theological training or years of biblical study. If we believe that Jesus is indeed the Christ, we have passed the first test!
The second test John gives us relates to our actions: “But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:5–6). In case we have any doubt, John clarifies what this means: “The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them” (1 John 3:24, emphasis added here and below). While our actions include all we say and do, John does not imply that we must have constant perfection in our behavior. He makes it clear that spiritually we all fall down occasionally (1 John 1:8), but that as Christians we do not ignore God’s commands, but repent and are forgiven when we do fall down (1 John 1:9), and are constantly trying to obey God with his help (1 John 2:1). This may seem like a harder test to pass than the first one, but in reality, it simply means we are sincerely and truly doing our best to obey and walk with God.
The third and final test John gives us is one of attitude: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 John 3:14). This is a separate test from that regarding our actions because it is perfectly possible to do actions (for example, giving to charity) that seem loving, but which are not based on real love in one’s heart and mind. We may do good deeds simply to win the approval of others, but truly loving others is very different. In some ways, this may seem like an easy test to pass – and usually it is – but we should always be ready to analyze our own motives, if necessary, that our deeds are based in truly loving attitudes.
Passing all of these tests is necessary to be a true disciple of Jesus. We must have right belief, actions, and attitudes. John not only mentions the three tests individually, but also often groups two of them together, as when he writes “Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister” (1 John 3:10), or “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments” (1 John 5:2).
John also summarizes all three of the tests in several powerful verses. For example: “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him” (1 John 3:18-19 ESV). Likewise, John tells us “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands … And his commands are not burdensome … Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:1–5).
In these verses, and others, John stresses that the truth of our belief, our continued effort to do what is right, and our attitude of love are all necessary – but he also stresses the good news that doing these things is not really burdensome or difficult, that these conditions can be present in our lives, and that through them we can we reassured of the genuineness of our life in God (1 John 3:19).
Naturally, as Christians, we understand that these “tests” are not a means to salvation – we do not do these things in order to earn God’s forgiveness or gift of eternal life – they are rather the evidence that we are saved by him. John’s letters to true Christians do not say “if you do these things,” but “we know that we have passed from death to life because” we do them. The good news is that through God’s love, those who truly seek to walk with him are not repeatedly failing, but continually passing the tests John gives.
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