In His departing message to His disciples, our Lord warns them of impending danger (Matthew 24) and the threat that the world will impose on them, and subsequently all believers, because of their hatred of Him.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”
John 15:18
After Jesus’ death, which was the pinnacle of darkness and tribulation in the world, and His resurrection, persecution of His followers became a very real fulfillment of prophecy. The earliest believers were of course Jewish. If we begin with the earthly ministry of our Lord we know that there was a symbolic purpose of gathering to Himself the Twelve as a typological reconstitution of true Israel, that is, Israel who were the branches abiding in the True Vine (John 15:1-17). As they began fulfilling the commission given to them by Christ, namely, to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of earth (Acts 1:8), persecution begins almost immediately. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the persecution begins from their own kinsmen, as it had been before with our Lord. Jews, most notably the religious leaders of the Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees, and Priesthood, began persecuting the Jewish apostles who were preaching the gospel throughout Jerusalem. The height of this persecution occurs in Acts 7 after the speech of Stephen where he recounts the history of Israel, including their generational resistance of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the prophets. This of course led to Stephen’s stoning death and was the springboard for persecution of Christians beginning in Jerusalem and then expanding regionally, as seen with Saul (Paul) who was on his way to confront believers in Damascus. The entirety of the gospel spread in Acts, letters written by the Apostles, their imprisonments, beatings, and murderous deaths (except John) were all testimony to the truths that our Lord had warned them about. There would be a fiery persecution because the world would hate them on account of Him.
This persecution would not come to an end with the death of the last apostle, nor would it be limited to Jew on Jew hatred. No, as the gospel spread and Gentiles were brought to saving faith, the persecution of the saints became universalized too. Well known is the persecution brought about by Nero, the Emperor of Rome (54-68 AD), but there was also that brought on by Domitian (89-96 AD), Trajan (98-117), and others essentially continuing into the 4th Century until the reign of Constantine (306-337) and the rise of Christendom. The persecution of Christians is not relegated to antiquity, the 20th Century was the bloodiest century on record for the persecution of believers. Just because it has been less notable in Western civilization certainly doesn’t mean that its absent from the face of the earth. No, the continual fulfillment of our Lord’s warning continues to this day.
It of course should not come as a surprise to us, as the death of our Lord was prophesied all the way back in the beginning, literally. As we know, Genesis 3:15 announces a division that is placed between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman, clearly announcing a spiritual division even before the first child was born. As the passage continues, we are told that the serpent would bruise the head of the Offspring and that He would crush the head of the serpent. This of course was a prophetic allusion to Christ, in which the fulfillment was inaugurated at the cross, then with Jesus’ resurrection, and will ultimately be fulfilled at His Second Coming.
This brings us to the present. As we’ve already pointed out, the 20th Century was a bloody one for Christians worldwide. But in the West, Christianity has become largely nominal and could be identified alongside any number of the churches mentioned in Revelation 2-3, but perhaps most notably Laodicea. Nevertheless, vigilant Christians heading the warnings of Scripture and the words of our Lord know to anticipate persecution, even if it appears on individual levels or on a minor scale. When global events capture the headlines we always need to pause and examine them from a Scriptural world view and then ask how it is affecting Christians. More often than not, there is more going on than what we know or what is reported in the media. We can see this in the number of wars and skirmishes around the world. In fact, the latest data suggests that 1 in 7 Christians worldwide live in a nation with high levels of persecution or discrimination. Research indicates that the areas with the highest rates of persecution also corresponds to areas where Christianity is growing the fastest. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these areas are located roughly along the same geographic latitude and include Mexico, Northern Africa, India, Kazakstan, China, and North Korea.
The U.S., as pointed out in a recent post, has passed legislation in the House of Representatives that refers to certain language related to Christ’s death as antisemitic. While debate over this rages on, it’s important to watch where this might lead. How soon does it become hate speech to tell someone of another religion or belief that they must repent and believe in the One True Lord, Jesus Christ? Because we’ve largely been lulled to sleep in the West, much like frogs in a pot, our persecution has come and will come in more subtle ways. But make no mistake about it, what we’re seeing postured on both the political Left and Right will have dire consequences for genuine believers. This pattern will continue as long as evangelicals are viewed as a voting block. Once their usefulness wears off or they become outnumbered, then the increase in persecution will come.
Be vigilant. Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, but make no mistake about it, the world hates you just as it did our Lord.
