God’s Plan for Persecution, Part 4 | Finding Joy in Persecution

Luke 21:14-19

Verse 10, says, “Then he continued saying to them, ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. It will result in an opportunity for your testimony. So set in your hearts not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. But you will be betrayed, even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your perseverance, you will gain your lives.’”

So point number three is the pain in persecution. The pain in persecution, verses 16 to 17. The real pain in persecution is not the loss of reputation. It’s not being marginalized. It’s not being made fun of. It’s not loss of jobs, loss of opportunity. It’s not loss of property. It’s not imprisonment. It’s not pain in physical suffering, torture, and even death. The real pain in persecution is who brings it and by whose hand it comes.

Look at verse 16, “But you will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends. They’ll put some of you to death and you’ll be hated by all on account of My name.” Three main verbs in this section measure the pain in persecution. You go to the doctor, he says, hey, tell me the pain you’re experiencing, level 0 to level 10, and you say 9. Here the pain of persecution is measured in its depth and its height and its breadth.

First, the depth of the pain in persecution is in relational betrayal. Relational betrayal, that cuts to the heart. Verse 12, They, “Jesus said, ‘They will lay their hands on you. They will persecute you, handing you over to the authorities for My name’s sake.’” Because you stand with Christ and for Christ.

Here in verse 16, Jesus tells us who the, they are, who will be responsible for starting the process of your arrest and your persecution, who will deliver us over to the authorities. It’ll come through betrayal. It’ll come through close relations. It’ll come through treachery of family members and close friends.

Roman historian Tacitus, born in AD 56, he lived to around AD 120 and he wrote of events that were very close to this time. He tells about Nero burning Rome and then scapegoating the Christians and blaming them for it. They were all, the Christians, considered by Romans, considered by the pagans to be following a pernicious superstition. He considered them, and Romans considered the Christians, to be a disease, and Tacitus writes this, he says, “First confessed members of the sect were arrested and next on their disclosures, vast numbers were convicted.”

On their disclosures: In other words, they arrested certain confessed members of the Christian sect, professing Christians, and then they turned on other Christians. They disclosed who their family and friends were, and then vast numbers were just, just, grab a few, put enough pressure upon them, turn the screws a bit, and they’ll give up their friends and relatives. They were convicted, he says for hatred of the human race.

That’s how the Romans viewed Christianity, as a hatred of the human race. It’s not too far from what we’re experiencing in our time, either. As Christians speaking the gospel and teaching the truth about sin and repentance, we’re tell, we’re told now, that we’re doing psychological harm to those who cannot handle. They need a safe space away from us, because what we’re saying is so psychologically disturbing and can even drive them to horrible things like suicide or drug use or alcohol use.

 It was during the COVID-19 response, it was common for some, even some professing Christians to tell everybody that wearing masks and getting vaccinated was loving one’s neighbor, and not to do so then was unloving, that is hatred of the human race. It’s happening today. It’s not just non-Christians who treat us like this, those who are consciously opposed to Christ, who will persecute Christians; false Christians too. Those who think that they are Christians, but they’re not. They will turn on true Christians. They’ll betray them to authorities.

 This happens during times of social persecution, upheaval against Christians. These false brethren are the ones that Isaiah writes about, in Isaiah 66:5, “Hear the word of Yahweh, you who tremble at His word:” So you true Christians, you true believers, listen to what Yahweh says. “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake.” They’ve excommunicated you. They’ve gotten rid of you. They, “Have said, ‘Let Yahweh be glorified, that we may see your joy.’”

Just go along with the flow. Love your neighbor, vaccinate, wear a mask, don’t talk about sin and repentance, don’t force people to change what they can’t change, go along with it, that we may see your joy. We just want to see you happy again. Ever since you’ve gotten into this Christian thing, you’re glum, and you’re talking about sin and judgement and all these bad things. Listen, lighten up. Yahweh promises, in Isaiah 66:5, “But they will be put to shame.” That is, in the recompense of divine judgement.

False Christians, Non-Christians too, they really become irritated with holy living, don’t they? They really become irritated with irrefutable wisdom from Scripture. And so, when they’re unable to refute the wisdom of biblical arguments, they stop arguing and start persecuting. If they can’t silence us by reason, they will shout us down. They’ll censure us, silence us, which may mean death for some.

That leads into the second thing, the height of the pain. We see here, for some, the height of the pain is physical death. It’s notable that of the four apostles that are named in Mark 13:3, these are the ones who came to Jesus, named as the ones coming to Jesus with questions; Peter, James, John, and Andrew. That’s two sets of brothers, Peter and Andrew, James and John.

Three of those four died as martyrs. The first to die is James, the great, John’s older brother. He died in AD 44, just ten years after the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr of the church. He was beheaded. James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa, who hoped to ingratiate himself to the Jews with this action. John Fox tells the story of James’s accuser, who witnessed how James faced his death. Fox says, quote, “His accuser was brought to repent of his conduct by the apostles. Extraordinary courage and undauntedness, his accuser fell at his feet to request forgiveness, and he professed himself to be a Christian on the spot. It was resolved that James shouldn’t die alone and so the two were beheaded together.”

Andrew, he’s one of the ones who came to Jesus with these questions. He preached the gospel all around the Mediterranean, also in Greece and southern Greece and in AD 60, in the city of Odessa, the wife of a Roman provincial governor was converted to Christianity through Andrews’ preaching and testimony. The enraged governor, once he found out his wife had converted to this sect, he had Andrew arrested, scourged, and crucified.

 And to mock him, and mock the religion, and the cross, that he proclaimed, the governor had the two ends of the cross fixed transversely into the ground to resemble an X. It’s known as Saint Andrew’s Cross. Even, today it’s emblazoned on the flag of Scotland, since Andrew is the patron Saint of Scotland and so now we see the Governor’s attempt to disparage the Christian faith has, today, become a symbol to honor Andrews’ martyrdom. Quite an ironic twist.

 Peter’s martyrdom, also well known. He died under Nero’s persecution in Rome in AD 64; around there. According to Saint Jerome, Peter considered himself unworthy to be crucified in the exact manner as his Lord, and so he was granted his request to be crucified upside down, head down, feet up, and that still, Saint Peter’s cross is still portrayed that way, upside down.

And John was the only apostle who did not, and only, only, one of these four, the only apostle of these four who didn’t die a violent death. AD 95, he was banished by the Emperor Domitian to the Isle of Patmos, where he received the revelation from Jesus and wrote that down. So the two sets of brothers, Peter and Andrew, James and John, John is the one who outlived them all. In fact, John is the one who survived all twelve of the apostles. He lived into his late 80s or early 90s, died of natural causes in Ephesus during the reign of Emperor Trajan shortly after the year AD 98.

 The martyrdom of most of the apostles is one of the reasons that we have to see that these apostles listening to this, on this particular occasion, they represent believers in the church age. It’s not just them, to whom Jesus speaks, because look at the limitation that Jesus gives in verse 16, “They will put some of you to death.” Not all of you, not most of you, not even many of you, just some of you. So if Jesus is speaking to the twelve only, about this persecution, he’s talking about only them and their lives. He would have said they will put all but one of you to death.

 It wasn’t just some of the apostles martyred, it was most of them. It’s also, so obviously, it’s, he’s speaking to them, but, he’s, they’re representing others. It’s also true we can’t see the apostles as representing only the Jews who died during the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in AD70, because at that time more than 1.1 million Jews died during that Roman siege. That’s not just some Jews, that’s the entire non-Christian Jewish population of Jerusalem; 1 to 200,000 in the population of Jerusalem, plus the hundreds of thousands of Jewish pilgrims, who visited for the feast, and they were caught there when the Romans surrounded the city and besieged it.

 So again, these apostles and disciples to whom Jesus speaks, they’re representatives of believers. At some points throughout this section of the Olivet Discourse, they represent Jewish believers who are living in the tribulation, as we see in the previous section. But in this case, they represent church age saints; Christians like you, like me, living now.

 So for Christians living in the church age, the depth of the pain in persecution, what really cuts us to the heart is due to relational betrayal. Just as Jesus was kissed, betrayed, by Judas, his close friend, the one he shared bread with, the one he travelled with, the one who was trusted by all the apostles, so much so that he kept the money bag and yet he betrayed them all. That’s the depth of the pain in persecution is by whose hand it comes.

 The height of pain for some is going to be physical death. Mindful of what Jesus told him in Luke 21:16, “That only some will be put to death,” Peter says this, in 1 Peter 3:14, he said, “Even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness,” even if you should like, in that remote possibility you might suffer. And he’s writing to a, to a people under persecution, going through fiery trials, he says, “But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness.” The verb is in the optative mood, which is very rare in the New Testament. It’s a mood of kind of remote possibility. Could happen. Probably won’t. Could.

He’s writing to believers who are living under Nero’s persecution. He’s telling them not to be surprised at the fiery ordeal among them. 1 Peter 4:12, “As though some strange thing is happening to you.” This is planned. So consider Peter’s words as you listen to Tacitus describe; remember the Roman historian Tacitus? He describes Christians who suffered under Nero, derision accompanied the end of these Christians. They were covered with wild beasts’ skins, and torn to death by dogs. They were fastened on crosses, and when daylight failed, they were burned to serve as lamps by night.

Nero had offered his gardens for the spectacle, and gave an exhibition in his circus, mixing with the crowd in the garb of a charioteer, were mounted on his car. Hence, in spite of a Guild, which he had earned the most exemplary punishment, there arose among the Pagan Romans a sentiment of pity, due to the impression that they were being sacrificed not for the welfare of the state, but to the ferocity of a single man, that is Nero.

That is to say, Tacitus could recognize that Nero’s persecution of the Christians, him scapegoating them for the burning of Rome, and how viciously he treated them, and the guilt of his conscience, just loading on more and more; more suffering, and persecution, and death, and cruelty upon the Christians. His plan failed, because the rest of Rome started to see he’s not persecuting them because they’re guilty. He’s persecuting them because he’s guilty. And still, Peter says suffering for the sake of righteousness, even severe persecution unto death, that is a remote potential for most Christians.

 Most of us, we will live relatively normal lives. We’ll live in relative peace and security, as we are now. Which one of you is suffering like that? Being chased by hounds, pursued at the point of a gun, or the edge of a sword? We’re not. No bullets are flying, no new holes that we didn’t wake up with. Even though some of us may be persecuted to the highest degree, even to death.

 So the depth of pain, the height of pain, that brings us finally to the breadth of pain in persecution. The breadth of pain. The breadth is in universal hatred. Universal hatred, I think, that this is probably the hardest for many of us Christians to accept, because when we’re not living in a time of acute suffering, that is being hunted down the streets, losing jobs, being thrown into prison, slaughtered in gladiatorial games, we can easily interpret the intolerance of the world as friendliness. It’s not.

 Jesus tells us to make no mistake. In verse 17, he said, “You will be hated by all because of My name.” You will be hated by all, even those who smile at you at the grocery store. “You will be hated by all because of My name.” Same level of warning comes the very next night, John 15, verse 18, and following, “If the world hates you, know it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you’re not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this, the world hates you. Remember that I said to you, ‘a slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you,” also. Make no mistake. oh, but if they kept my word, they’ll keep yours also.

Most of the time, as you and I, as Christians, as we move through the world, we go to work, we make a profit for our employer; as good citizens we enter the marketplace, buy and sell. We do what others do around us to provide for our families, just like they do with theirs. We’re kind to others. The fruit of the Spirit shines forth in our lives, and people really like that. They like our friendliness.

In fact, sometimes people with bad motives enter into the Church and take advantage of Christian friendliness; happens all the time. With people who are not as, who are not close to us, we appear to be nice people, friendly, mild mannered, well behaved, productive citizens. Gospel teaches us to live in exactly that way, to live virtuous lives. The more the gospel transforms our lives, the more exemplary our lives become, the more attractive we are to other people.

But the closer people get to us, when they find out what explains the transformation of our lives, the attractiveness of our speech, of behavior, why we’re like that. What explains the change? What explains the difference? They’re either drawn even closer to find out about true salvation, or they’re repelled from us in total offence. There’s really no middle ground. The closer that they get, the line that’s already there in the sand starts to appear more clearly.

It’s through our lives and behavior, though, that God spreads the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ in every place. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2:14, “We’re the fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and also among those who are perishing; to the one,” we’re the aroma, “We’re an aroma from death to death, and to the other an aroma from life to life.”

So the closer people come, the more they know of the gospel that has saved us and transformed us, that is when they react. Some react with gratitude for the knowledge of Christ and salvation. If they kept my words, they’ll keep yours too. Others react, though, with anger and hostility, which is what explains what Jesus predicted in verse 16, that parents, brothers, relatives, friends, husbands, wives, cousins, family members, they will turn against us. They’ll betray us. It’s not because of us, per se. It’s because of what we represent. It’s because of who we represent.

Oh, they’ll blame us for sure. They’ll never blame him. They’ll call us judgmental, though, pharisaical. They’ll speak all kinds of slanderous lies about us. Sinner’s hate having their sins exposed. They hate being confronted. They hate being called to repentance. They always want to find some way to let themselves off the hook. Roman citizens, they used to slander the early Christians by calling them cannibals, because of the Lord’s Supper. They partake of the body and the blood of the Lord.

It’s they, they, they slandered them as sexually immoral, because the Christian said, we’re going to the love feast. They used lies like that and really, intentionally misconstruing the truth, because they knew. But they use that intentional misconstruing of the truth to justify their hatred of Christians and their persecution of Christians, which was entirely unjustifiable. But that is what proud sinners always do. Rather than humble themselves and repent of their sins, they shift the blame. They shift the focus off themselves, speak of themselves as the victim and everybody else, all the Christians as their persecutors. They disparage others, slander them, misconstrue their words and accuse them of wrongdoing.

 And Jesus wants us to know, in no uncertain terms, “you will be hated by all because of My name.” Do not misunderstand him on this point, beloved. Do not walk through life with a Pollyannaish view that if you’re just nice to them, they’ll be won to Christ. They need a, they need a deep confrontation with their sinfulness against God, with coming judgment, with the, with the prospect of eternal hell lying before them.

They need to understand they’ve sinned against a Holy God, they’re condemned underneath his wrath, and it’s only Jesus Christ in whom they’ll be saved. The construction of the verb, you’ll be hated by all because of my name, shows a progressive ongoing nature of the hatred of Christians. So Christian again, do not be fooled. Now, even in spite of this, the pain in persecution, we’re not to walk around in fear and anxiety. We’re not to walk around frightened by everyone we meet as a potential tormentor. Looking at the grocery store checkout person and saying, man, that she’s going to be turning the screws on my thumbs. We’re to walk around humbly, but boldly, because of what we’re promised.

 Final point. Very short one. Final point, just briefly: The promise in persecution, verses 18 and 19. The promise in persecution. Jesus promises us, “Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your perseverance” or your endurance, hypomonē, “you’ll gain your lives.” We notice that in, in verse 16, Jesus said, “They will put some of you to death.” In verse 18, “Not a hair on your head will perish.” That, that’s not a promise, you’re going to die with perfect hair.

 It’s a common metaphor: Not a hair of your head will perish. It’s a common metaphor for safety. Often, it’s a physical safety. You can see that in the Old Testament. 1 Kings 1:52, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, has that. Acts 27:34, Paul promises all the, the, sailors on the ship, when the ship is going to break apart, he says, if you’ll trust God and just do what I say not a hair of your head will be. It’ll be wet, but it won’t perish. Right?

 Here in this context though, Jesus is talking, he’s using the same metaphor, but he’s talking about spiritual safety. The word, lives, is the word, psyche. Psychos in the plural. The basic translation of, psychē, is soul, so that’s what he’s talking about. Here, the point is to portray the soul as the whole of human life. So he’s saying, even if your body should die, your life consists of more than your body and you will not lose your life.

 “Don’t fear those who can kill the body and after that there’s nothing they can do,” Luke 12. Tell you who to fear. “Fear the one who, after killing the body, can cast,” your, “both body and soul into hell.” That’s who you’re to fear. He’s emphatic on this point. He uses a verbal mood here in, in, conjunction with an emphatic denial, which, taken together, denies even the, the, potentiality of Christians who forfeit their souls; can’t happen, at all. It’s an emphatic and very vigorous statement of the eternal security of the believer par excellence.

 There’s no stronger way, in the language, to say your soul is safe. You will live forever. Same idea, Luke 9:24, “Whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who will save it.” God is sovereign over our lives. Our lives are precious to him. He’s ordained the day of our, our birth, day of our death, every day in between. Indeed, Jesus says in Luke 12:7, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t fear,” not a hair will be lost. God’s purpose in persecution is so that we speak about our testimony of his saving grace in Christ Jesus, the one who died for the sins of sinners, that they would repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ and live new lives that bring glory to God, that do true good to people.

God’s power in persecution, it’s to give us words and wisdom that are sufficient to the task and to the moment, so that the power is not explainable, because of us, or through us, or because of us. It’s clearly because of him. All of it, to bring glory and honor to him. Even in the pain of persecution, think about each of those points. God has a purpose in the pain, as well. Peter says, that “the fiery ordeal comes upon you.” He says, “for your testing to prove the quality of your faith,” not to destroy you, but to prove you, to strengthen you, to bring you through that fire.

 And, and the, the, the faith that is more precious than gold, even though it’s tried by fire. When it’s tried by fire, true gold is purified, it’s not destroyed. Tested with the prospect of physical death, true faith does not shrink back. It endures under the trial, because God has made us invincible, truly invincible. Tested with the pain of intimate betrayal, we find that true faith doesn’t prefer anyone else, even close family members, to Christ. We would rather stand with Christ, and fall with Christ, and die unto Christ, than betray him who saved us from our sins. He is that precious to us.

 He’s a friend that’s closer than a brother. Tested with the pain of universal hatred, the world hating God and hating Christ and because we represent God and Christ, they hate us too. And yet tested with that pain of universal hatred, true faith clings so closely to the Lord Jesus Christ, that though Mother and Father abandoned me, yet I will hold fast to him. He’s the one who has loved us and gave himself for us. If I should be counted worthy to die for his name’s sake, the worst thing that could happen to me, immediate glory. Death takes me to, immediately transports me, to the presence of Christ, the one I love.

God’s promise in persecution is really our soul’s salvation. And so Peter goes on to say that to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing. Beloved, rejoice if you endure suffering for his name’s sake, or persecution. Keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exaltation. If you’re reviled for the name of Christ, you’re blessed, because the spirit of glory that is glorifying God, revealing him, revealing who he is, and the Spirit of God rests upon you. That’s why you suffer. That’s why they’re persecuting you. It’s because you look more and more like him. Amen.

Is that good news? Let’s pray. Our Father, thank you so much for this, the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. We thank you for raising him up and sending him to be the savior of our sins. Sending him to us. We’re so grateful for his teaching, the illumination of the truth by your Spirit. We thank you for this precious word that we have that, shines forth the path to glory, and it does come through suffering and persecution.

 We pray that, if this does come to us, in our time, in our church, it should help us to stand firm and to endure to the end. Because we know your plan for this. It’s for our testimony. It’s for our good. It’s for our strength, for our growing. It’s so that you may be glorified in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, the one we love. It’s in whose name we pray. Amen.