Hi there,
So just to share an insight based on what Jesus said: Men fear public speaking more than death, because they don't respect the words of the dead before them. As Jesus said, "if they persecute Me, they will persecute you. If they obeyed Me, they would obey you" (John 15:20), why? Because "the words I said will judge them in the last day" (John 12:48) and "he who sins is the slave of sin" (John 8:34) - in other words, they will be judged based on whether they were for or against Christ speaking to them.
The situation is subtle, but basically, someone who goes their whole natural life, over to wrath and judgment, comes to mistrust, misjudge and misalign the words of the those with them - in line with the words, the straight words, that Jesus spoke. Jesus' words expose them, as liars to the faithful way in which they keep the words of others. Do you see the point I am making? Because Jesus keeps His word, the words kept by the faithless, fall more and more into disparity, with the words spoken by those who go to death. Jesus being ready to face death, completes the journey through the after-life, with respect of "everyone's" words. There is a stark contrast between what the dead say about Jesus and what the dead expect men to say, in their memory.
The fact that they are the slave of sin, means they cannot escape the fact that they have not honoured the dead and the more they take the word of the Lord to heart, hoping it will enable them to sin more, the more they come to betray their own heart in the matter. They begin to wish they could speak the words of the dead and so lay to rest their own judgmental heart. It becomes a fear to them, that if they speak the words of Christ or the dead, the truth will be known and they will be outed by their own wrath - on terms that they cannot restore. Christ wants to forgive them - including what they speak - but it requires them to begin to believe. As John said "these things have been written that you may believe" (John 20:31).
And this is the condemnation, that men loved darkness more than the light, for their deeds were evil (John 1) - that is, they refused to honour the dead, or the words of the Christ and came to deny God a choice, a choice that God Himself reserved for the believers. But what we must now learn to grasp, is that the Holy Spirit has decided, to grant us time, in which to revise what we say about our fellow men and how they live (not die) - being bold to the end, that we do not even reserve special treatment for Death, but rather speak the words that give conquest over it, in a manner consistent with the desire to see men live by them (the words). This Jesus gave us freely by the Holy Spirit, but we did not understand it, because we also desired to repent, of speaking evil of our neighbour and trusting that they will speak well of us, before the time comes that speaking is at an end (or near enough).
I suppose, you need to trust God and that you will live in the end, to understand this, but for those that are persecuted - because men refuse to speak up, in favour of life over death - it will be a welcome comfort, that the Holy Spirit will not forget, that which judges a man: at some point giving Death authority over itself, to end the struggle with Hell created by Man's infidelity to the will of God - in whom is no enmity toward Man, whether Man desires to live or die as he is, for the sake of the glory of the joy of that which has been spoken already (all of which makes public speaking all the more difficult, if not pursued honesty and with a good conscience). I trust you are able to discern for yourself, what more if anything needs to be said about this - such that it edify as was intended!
So just to share an insight based on what Jesus said: Men fear public speaking more than death, because they don't respect the words of the dead before them. As Jesus said, "if they persecute Me, they will persecute you. If they obeyed Me, they would obey you" (John 15:20), why? Because "the words I said will judge them in the last day" (John 12:48) and "he who sins is the slave of sin" (John 8:34) - in other words, they will be judged based on whether they were for or against Christ speaking to them.
The situation is subtle, but basically, someone who goes their whole natural life, over to wrath and judgment, comes to mistrust, misjudge and misalign the words of the those with them - in line with the words, the straight words, that Jesus spoke. Jesus' words expose them, as liars to the faithful way in which they keep the words of others. Do you see the point I am making? Because Jesus keeps His word, the words kept by the faithless, fall more and more into disparity, with the words spoken by those who go to death. Jesus being ready to face death, completes the journey through the after-life, with respect of "everyone's" words. There is a stark contrast between what the dead say about Jesus and what the dead expect men to say, in their memory.
The fact that they are the slave of sin, means they cannot escape the fact that they have not honoured the dead and the more they take the word of the Lord to heart, hoping it will enable them to sin more, the more they come to betray their own heart in the matter. They begin to wish they could speak the words of the dead and so lay to rest their own judgmental heart. It becomes a fear to them, that if they speak the words of Christ or the dead, the truth will be known and they will be outed by their own wrath - on terms that they cannot restore. Christ wants to forgive them - including what they speak - but it requires them to begin to believe. As John said "these things have been written that you may believe" (John 20:31).
And this is the condemnation, that men loved darkness more than the light, for their deeds were evil (John 1) - that is, they refused to honour the dead, or the words of the Christ and came to deny God a choice, a choice that God Himself reserved for the believers. But what we must now learn to grasp, is that the Holy Spirit has decided, to grant us time, in which to revise what we say about our fellow men and how they live (not die) - being bold to the end, that we do not even reserve special treatment for Death, but rather speak the words that give conquest over it, in a manner consistent with the desire to see men live by them (the words). This Jesus gave us freely by the Holy Spirit, but we did not understand it, because we also desired to repent, of speaking evil of our neighbour and trusting that they will speak well of us, before the time comes that speaking is at an end (or near enough).
I suppose, you need to trust God and that you will live in the end, to understand this, but for those that are persecuted - because men refuse to speak up, in favour of life over death - it will be a welcome comfort, that the Holy Spirit will not forget, that which judges a man: at some point giving Death authority over itself, to end the struggle with Hell created by Man's infidelity to the will of God - in whom is no enmity toward Man, whether Man desires to live or die as he is, for the sake of the glory of the joy of that which has been spoken already (all of which makes public speaking all the more difficult, if not pursued honesty and with a good conscience). I trust you are able to discern for yourself, what more if anything needs to be said about this - such that it edify as was intended!
