drink offering as it was thousands of years ago, so it is today 538 - 4 - 3

2 Timothy 4:6-7, “For I am now ready to be offered (G4689), and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”

Strong’s G4689; the Greek verb σπένδω, is translated as offered, to pour out as a libation, to devote one’s life or blood, as a sacrifice, to be ready to be offered.

In his The Complete Koine-English Reference Bible: New Testament, Septuagint and Strong's Concordance Joshua Dickey adds “Used of one whose blood is poured out in a violent death for the cause of God.”

Wuest Word Study adds “In verses one to five, Paul is urging Timothy to take the initiative because he himself is being called from the field of action, and Timothy must carry on. He says, "I am now ready to be offered."

The word "offered" is used in pagan worship to refer to the libation or drink-offering poured out to a god. In Philippians 2:17 Paul uses the word offered; he is the libation poured out upon the sacrifice, namely, in service to Jesus. Paul is humble enough to realize that his sacrifice is the lesser in comparison to the price Jesus paid to justified us before our righteous God.

During the bloodiest years of the blood-soaked Roman Catholic Church Bible believing Christians were hunted down and murdered. Today being offered up as a sacrifice for Jesus is becoming a common occurrence throughout the planet. Isis is beheading believers who will not give up their Christian faith and convert to the pagan God of Islam.

Even in the United States Christians are being targeted. Just yesterday there was a mass shooting at a college in the United States. The murderer lined students up and asked them if they were Christians. If they acknowledge their belief in Jesus they were shot in the head otherwise in the leg and allowed to live.

Not only are life's being offered up as a sacrifice for belief, some are being called upon to offer up their businesses. Same sex marriage is being promoted to the point where the owners of a bakery were sued for refusing to provide a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage. Much the same has happened to photographers.

A friend and Bible study leader thinks we may already be in the Tribulation. I disagree, not the Tribulation but certainly tribulation with more drink offerings expected.