“Persecuted For Righteousness’ Sake”
“And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings,
yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in
sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented.” Hebrews 11:36-37
It has always been the lot of God’s people in this world
to suffer persecution at the hands of men, to suffer persecution at the hands
of those who profess to be God’s people. The cause of this relentless
persecution is the gospel of Christ, the offense of the cross. —“Persecuted
for righteousness’ sake!” As Cain persecuted Abel and Ishmael Isaac, so it
has been throughout the ages, and so it shall be until time shall be no more.
The words of Jeremiah describe the condition of God’s church
in all ages and in all places in this world. —“Our necks are under
persecution…We get our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword
of the wilderness…For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are
dim” (Lam. 5:5, 10, 17). Persecution is the lot of God’s saints in this
world (Matt. 5:10-12; Rom. 8:34-39; Gal. 5:11; 6:12; Phil. 3:18-19; 2 Tim.
3:12). Sometimes the persecution is open and violent. Sometimes it is very subtle.
But persecution is ever the lot of God’s saints in this world.
The Persecutors
The persecutors of God’s
people are not usually ignorant barbarians, but men and women who are highly
educated, of great respectability in society, high rank, political power and
religious influence. Magistrates, governors, princes, kings, queens, popes,
prelates, priests and preachers have all dipped their hands in the blood of
God’s saints. Such facts are so shocking that our historians and educators try
as much as possible to explain them away, find excuse for them, and invent
horror stories about God’s people that make such persecutions seem justifiable
when they must be mentioned.
Those
who have thirsted for the blood of God’s saints have never been content merely
to hurt, or punish, or even kill them. They have invented the most cruel,
barbaric forms of torture imaginable to inflict as much pain as possible before
the objects of their hellish hatred died.
God’s
Purpose
Why has
God allowed such persecutions? What is his purpose? Unlike their persecutors,
God’s saints know and understand that the Lord God is in absolute control of
all things and all men. “Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased.” If he permits wicked men to violently abuse his people,
he has good reasons for doing so. I cannot pry into the mind of the infinite
Lord God. I know nothing about God’s secret will. But those things that are
revealed are revealed for our learning. And these things he has revealed.
2
All our
trials come from God our heavenly Father, even when they come by the hands of
wicked men. – “All things are of God.”
Our
trials are intended by God to strengthen our faith in Christ and make us grow
in the grace and knowledge of our Savior. – “Tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope” (Rom. 5:1-5).
By our
trials our heavenly Father teaches us sympathy with and compassion for one
another.
By
temptations, trials and persecutions, we are taught to lean on our Savior,
finding grace all-sufficient in him.
Trials
are designed of God to wean us from the world, set our hearts on heaven, and
make Christ more precious.
These
trials, especially those offenses that come because of the gospel, separate the
precious from the vile (Matt. 13:21; Lk. 8:13; 1 Pet. 1:7).
That
faith which is "the gift of God" endures to the end. Only that
faith which comes from God endures the testing of God. In the furnace gold and
silver are made brighter. Dross is consumed. So it is in the furnace of
affliction. True faith is made better. False faith is consumed.
Daniel
3
We are
given a strikingly solemn example of this in Daniel 3:13-30. —The fires in that
furnace in Babylon did not hurt Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Those three
men did not even have the smell of smoke on them when they came out of the
furnace. The fires by which they were proved only destroyed their bonds! But
they consumed the Babylonians who threw them into the furnace! Then, when
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the burning and fiery furnace, the
king promoted them. And far more importantly, God was honored as the result of
their trial in the fiery furnace (Dan. 3:13-29).
More
Precious Than Gold
True
faith is more precious than gold; and our faith itself is only made better by
the fire that tries it. But the Holy Spirit would have us understand that the
"the trial of faith" (the trial itself) is more precious than
perishing gold (1 Pet. 1:7). The trial of faith is precious to us because it
makes God’s promise sweet. Our trials are precious to our brethren because one
believer’s endurance of hardship strengthens another in faith. Our trials are
precious to our God because he is honored by that faith that endures the trial.
And the trial of our faith will be found "precious" when the
Lord Jesus comes again in his glory (2 Thess. 1:10). Our bitterest trials here
will only serve, in the end, to make our heavenly inheritance sweeter and more
glorious. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).