October 12. 2013
THE TESTIMONIES OF JESUS
The Testimonies of Jesus Part 5 “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Galatians 6:12 One of the greatest examples of persecution in the bible was Job. We all know the story of Job. He lost everything, his wealth, his children and even his health and he still retained his integrity. When his friends came to visit him, instead of comforting him they began to accuse him. This is what reviling is, to say all manner of evil against a person.
Job was just one of a multitude, because all of God’s children suffer persecution. We could begin with Abel who was murdered by his own brother because of his righteousness. Laban cheated Jacob, tricking him into marrying Leah and forcing him to work seven more years for Rachel. He constantly defrauded him of his wages. Joseph was sold by his own brothers as a slave because of his righteousness. Moses and Aaron were constantly being accused of evil and the people threatened to stone them. David won Saul’s battles, but he was so envious he tried to hunt him down and kill him. The prophets were cast out, stoned, imprisoned, threatened by the kings, and put to death for speaking the words that God commanded them to speak. All of the Maccabee brothers were martyred. And the apostles of Christ were martyred too. As Christ told them they would indeed drink of his cup and be baptized with his baptism. In comparison our persecution seems very light, almost nothing. Yet we still bear in our bodies the suffering and death of Lord Jesus. People still revile us. They talk about
us. They make fun of us, especially of our beliefs. Sometimes they try to take advantage of our kindness and goodness. They know we won’t treat them like they treat us and they consider us weak because of that. They do not know that we choose to act like Christ, not out of mental weakness or because we are afraid of them, but because of spiritual strength and because we trust in and fear God. And still the persecution will grow much worse in the last days. Evil will wax worse and the saint of God will be as a prey to the wicked. There will arise a great persecution of the saints, worse than was ever experienced before. Yet the Lord and his angels will ever be with us. We must all drink the cup of salvation and carry the cross of Christ. As the Wisdom of God spoke about the time of Christ, so also it is true about the last days, they will kill the prophets and the blood of all God’s saints will be on that wicked generation. And so the wrath of God will be executed with great vengeance on the wicked and he will deliver his saints. Luke 11:49-50, “Therefore also said the Wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostle, and some of
them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation.�
Please read 52 verses John 15:17-25, I Corinthians 4:9-13, II Corinthians 1:3-7, II Corinthians 4:6-18, II Corinthians 6:1-10, and I Peter 3:8-17