fight in the good fight of the faith, secure that life eternal to which you were called when you voiced the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
But then, I set no value on my own life as compared with the joy of finishing my course and fulfilling the commission I received from the Lord Jesus to attest the gospel of the grace of God.
Lo, I have set a door open before you which no one is able to shut; for though your strength is small, you have kept my word, you have not renounced my Name.
Because you have kept the word of my patient endurance, I will keep you safe through the hour of trial which is coming upon the whole world to test the dwellers on earth.
I transmit these instructions to you, Timotheus my son, in accordance with what the prophets said who first directed me to you; fight the good fight on these lines,
I have made thy Name known to the men whom thou hast given to me from the world (thine they were, and thou gavest them to me), and they have held to thy word.
And as John was closing his career he said, 'What do you take me for? I am not He; no, he is coming after me, and I am not fit to untie the sandals on his feet!'
(It was in consequence of a revelation that I went up at all.) I submitted the gospel I am in the habit of preaching to the Gentiles, submitting it privately to the authorities, to make sure that my course of action would be and had been sound.
But they were each given a white robe, and told to remain quiet for a little longer, until their number was completed by their fellow-servants and their brothers who were to be killed like themselves.