PERSECUTION
FOREWORD
“I have told you these things, so that in Me
you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16: 33. N.I.V.)
"Some
trouble is specific to the Christian believer simply because of what he stands
for. But we all also share the common
lot of humanity in a world out of joint.
Trouble gives rise to fear - but Jesus said, ‘Fear not - for I have conquered the world’.
These are strange words for One to say Who was
on his way to dying on a cross. Yet
it is not simply a wishful dream to sing: ‘Jesus shall reign
where’er the sun shall its successive journeys run’.
‘Rumours
of war’ seem to be very much the controlling factor of the nation’s mood at the
moment. A short war in the
A
Christian believer should be - as far as it depends on him - a lover of peace,
a maker of peace and a preacher of peace.
The
‘front line’ has moved to every city in the world and the weapons have become
even more sinister, and the attacks ever more fanatical. The believers peace is not ‘smugness’ or
indifference to others, but confidence in the One Who bequeathed peace as His
dying legacy to His disciples.
When
His disciples cried out in fear in the storm on the
- Keith
Gilbert.
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It is wonderfully
suggestive, for us who probably stand within sight of the last
persecutions under Antichrist, that the Apostle Peter wrote his Epistles to
prepare his readers for the persecutions of the very Man himself - in his first
advent - Nero. Dean Allord
says:- “I should place the
writing of Peter’s first Epistle during the later years of Nero, but before the
persecution related by Tacitus broke out. The odium generis
humani which justified the victimizing of the
Christians, was gathering, and producing its anticipatory fruits here and
there, wherever circumstances were favourable.” Exactly so we watch the same gathering hate,
an identical ‘sadism’, with persecutions breaking out where possible;
therefore, with a doubled preciousness we can actually hear the counsel
of God on how to meet the identical persecution, given through an Apostle who
himself was crucified.
A
never-to-be-forgotten background Peter erects as the setting for all possible
experiences of the
[*That is, in this context, those who are actively
righteous - the doers of His will.]
The Apostle opens
with an utterance that covers all the centuries, and all the countries, in
which there has been no public persecution by the State. “And who is he that will
harm you, if ye be zealous of that which is good”, or - as the Greek
emphasis is, if goodness is always that at which you
aim. All that a righteous government
asks is honest citizenship; and Christian self-control, cleanness, uprightness
- wholly apart from the Church’s spiritual intercession with God - is a
tremendous civil asset, and meets all the requirements of good government.
But history is
studded with the fact that governments arise who do harm the harmless; and opposition, public or private, is so
general to the Christian Faith that Paul says: “All
that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution” (2 Tim. 3: 12). So therefore, at once confronted with
persecution, we at once meet its beatitude.
“But and if ye should suffer
for righteousness’ sake BLESSED ARE YE.” Here is a startling
development. Suffering here is assumed,
notwithstanding righteousness; nay, actually for righteousness - as Paul says, “I suffer hardship unto
bonds, as a malefactor” (2 Tim. 2: 9); and with no deliverance by God,
Peter himself had known a supernatural opening of prison doors by a liberating
angel; yet his Lord had also told him of his helpless tarrying to
crucifixion. And the Lord Jesus, giving
the same beatitude, reveals that He Himself is the source of the trouble. “Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and
say all manner of evil against you falsely, FOR MY SAKE: rejoice, and be
exceeding glad; for great is your reward
in heaven" (Matt.5: 11). As Commissioner Lamb, of the Salvation Army,
has said:- “I am inclined to
agree that, at the present time, there is some danger of prison becoming a
reward.” So the marvellous word
dawns:- “Our light affliction,
which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal
weight of glory” (2 Cor.
4: 17). Let us never forget that
it is the ages of persecution
that create the loftiest thrones and the most golden crowns.
Now our first
command from God appears when under persecution. “And fear not their fear,
neither be troubled.” Do not
yield to the terror they would inspire in you: do not be terrorized: fear only
paralyzes. Nothing is impossible to a God-fortified man. “If we are convinced
from the depth of our soul that the promised help of God is all-sufficient, we
shall be most effectually armed against all fear” (Calvin):- God’s
all-sufficient help to deliver; or equally effective help to endure. Chrysostom’s words
are worthy of remembrance. “Should the Empress banish
me, let her: the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. If she cast me into the sea, let her: I
remember Jonah. If she cast me into the
fire, the three Hebrews were there. If she throw me to
the wild beasts, Daniel was among the lions.
If she stone me, I shall stand with Stephen. If she behead me, I
am the Baptist. If she takes all I have
- naked came I into the world, and naked leave it.”
But now comes the great central command, controlling and inspiring
all persecution. “But sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord.” The two first commands link up; as Isaiah (8: 12)
puts it:- “Neither fear ye
their fear: the Lord of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and let him be
your fear, and let him be your dread.” It is most remarkable that Moses and Aaron
lost the Promised Land - exactly our peril - just here: “because ye sanctified me not in the
midst of the children of
An exceedingly important
injunction follows, and one we are likely to find exceedingly difficult. “Being ready always
to give answer” - a word often used for the ‘apology’ given when on
trial in the law courts – “to every man that asketh you
a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness
and fear”; the fear lest by word or conduct we misrepresent Christ. “Having a good
conscience”: a good conscience turns a man into steel; what we know
to be right is worth living for, and worth dying for: but more than that -
one of the glorious possibilities of persecution is the conversion of the
persecutors. “Everybody,”
says a Russian Christian woman, “was against me except Jesus.
He carried me through; and now others who once persecuted me are
following Him.” Exactly so, the
Roman Centurion, when he heard our Lord’s words under actual crucifixion, and
especially when he saw how He died, was converted on the
spot:- “When the centurion saw that he so gave up the
ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God”
(Mark 15: 39).
So, therefore, the
best of all ‘apologies’ the Apostle now emphasizes. “That, wherein ye are
spoken against, they may be put to shame” - that is, proved to be liars
– “who revile your good manner of life in Christ: for
it is better, if the will of God should so will” - for it is God who
decides whether there shall be persecution or not – “that
ye suffer for well-doing than for evil doing”. Suffering can fall on us for one of two
reasons:- as chastisement for our own sins, which is
our reproach; or actually because of our goodness, which is our glory. Calumny
is refuted by our innocence. “All may not be able to
wield the sharp sword of argument, but all can wear the silver shield of
innocent lives.” The two peoples
of God at this moment bring the truth into sharp relief:-
the agony of the Jew, who said – “His blood be upon us,
and upon our children”; and the agony of persecuted Churches, which are
being stamped out for Christ. What a
difference in suffering! God says to
Peter gives our
final safeguard in persecution, and the crowning reason why Christian suffering
is blessed. “Because Christ also suffered.”* It must be blessed to suffer for
well-doing, for our blessed Lord so suffered, and they who so suffer are made
most like Him. The loftier our life, and
therefore the closer our resemblance to our Lord, the more we may expect to be treated
as He was. The Sinless One was the
deepest sufferer: spotless in character, upright in conduct, perfect in
ministry; yet the greatest sufferer of all eternity. What an honour to share
His suffering: to “fill up on my part that which is
lacking of the afflictions of Christ” (Col.
1: 24). Though we can in no way
share the Atonement of Christ, we can share His martyrdom; and we can say, as
Latimer said to Ridley:- “By God’s grace, we shall
light a candle to-day in England” - the burning of their own bodies – “which shall never be put out.”
[* Let it never be forgotten, that our Lord suffered - for
speaking the truth - at the hands of His own
brethren: "He came unto his own,
and his own received him not” (John 1: 11).]
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FOOTNOTES
Only in the
Almighty can there be true safety. In the early days of the Reformation a
Cardinal said to Martin Luther:- “What! Do you think
the Pope cares for the opinion of a German boor? The Pope’s little finger is stronger than all
SINKING TO RISE
Gentile monarchs “lord it over on them”.
Alexander, weeping that there
were no more worlds to conquer, died in debauch; Hannibal, who filled three bushels with the gold rings of
slaughtered knights, perished at his own hand in exile; Caesar, who took eight hundred cities and caused a million deaths,
was stabbed to death by a friend; and Napoleon,
after reaching the throne of Europe over eight million corpses, died in the
hands of his enemies. But it is not so
among us: “But whosoever would be great among you”
shall be a minister among you. It is an
astounding revelation, for it carries this priceless fact that everything that
lowers me, lifts me; that all that forces me down, forces me up; that every
pang, every renunciation, every boycott, every indignity we suffer for Christ is measured and treasured. By deepening our
characters, suffering is actually
creating our thrones. So the Lord
presents Himself as our Model – “For the Son of Man
came to serve.” There is
the path to the stars; we must do as
Jesus did. He poured out God’s
golden truths; He suffered with men, and for men; He led them to the Father to
pardon and to grace; He sympathized and wept with them; He poured out His heart
upon God’s children; He fed the hungry, healed the sick, taught
the ignorant. At last He laid down His
life for others. The Lord reached the
heights of glory because He plumbed the depths of suffering.
- R. W. WOLFE.
AFRAID? OF WHAT?
This poem was
written by C. H. Hamilton, a missionary in Kiangsu,
after the martyrdom of J. W. Vinson in
To feel the spirit’s glad
release?
To pass from pain to perfect peace,
The strife and strain of
life to cease?
Afraid - of that?
Afraid to see the Saviour's face,
To hear His welcome and to trace
The glory gleam from wounds
of grace?
Afraid? of
what?
A flash, a crash, a pierced heart,
Darkness, light, 0 Heaven’s art!
A wound of His a counterpart!
Afraid? Of what ?
To do by death what life could not,
Baptize with blood a stony plot,
Till souls shall blossom
from the spot?
Afraid-of that?
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IF
How many things
one learns - and how many are unlearned! - in
[38] years.
In [2010] we bid you mark, with us, that
“if so be that (we) may lay hold”, that “if by any
means (we) may attain.” Mark it well: something to gain - or
lose; an inheritance to enjoy - or forfeit; a goal to be reached - or missed; a
prize to be won or lost. That “IF” is spilled over all the page of Scripture; and
the Saviour has been pressing in, so hard, yet so tenderly, the implication of
this “IF” in all its bearings. Almost the tiniest word – “IF”; involving almost the mightiest issues.
What a precious
thing it is that some things are inviolable! Our “life
is hid with CHRIST IN GOD”, and is inviolable, depending not upon us,
but upon Him. To be “born from above” is to pass
“from death unto life” and to come into
possession of the life of the ages, which “shall never
perish”. But we are called of The
LORD “unto His own Kingdom and Glory”,
and this reign with CHRIST is clearly forfeitable. This
privileged service of the coming Age is something for which He seeks to
discipline and train us here, and He shows clearly that some of His own
redeemed ones “shall inherit” and “enter the Kingdom”, while others “shall not inherit” being “not
fit for the Kingdom”, in a day which seems to be coming on apace. Of resurrection to meet and live with the LORD
he was certain (1 Thess.
4.), but of the “out-resurrection” unto a priestly-reign with The LORD
he said “not already attained, not yet laid hold”
(Phil. 3.).
This goal of the upward calling of GOD in, CHRIST JESUS
was the purpose for which He had been laid hold of by CHRIST, and so
urgent was it that he “press on-unto the prize”,
the out-resurrection and the Kingdom and glory, that he counted but offal what
is everything to most, and held his body in utter subjection and control, lest
having preached to others he should himself be rejected.
It
would serve to much spiritual enlightenment and quickening if The LORD’S
people underlined in their Bibles, the ‘IF’
and ‘IF NOT’ addressed so often to
believers, and sought the Spirit’s unveiling of the full import of what they
mark. There is an increase of
travail in the Church, to-day, for a company to be found worthy in the
day of His coming, and those whose spirits cry to GOD for the
manifestation, and who wait for the birth, are keenest in their longing to be
found ready, and among the profitable servants.
Child of God, will you seek to
know your relation to these things?
-
GEORGE BANKS.