| WEEKLY WORD |
Blessed Persecutions in the Christian Life
(Overcomer Wu)
“... in the world you shall have tribulations ” --John 16:33
From reading books like Fox's Book of Martyrs and other books as well as accounts of the lives of Christians living in other parts of the world where persecution is a daily danger that they face, we get a glimpse of their gallantry in enduring the trials, tragedies and triumphs of persecution for the sake of Christ.
To a lesser extent of persecution, some of us may experience something of being ostracized by friends for taking an unpopular stand for Christ and for His teachings/testimony alone in our school or workplace, or of being misunderstood or despised because of our uncompromising Christian convictions. We may have learned of something said negatively behind our back in ridicule or anger because of our unwillingness to compromise the truths of God's Word, or perhaps we have even been ganged up on, teased, and met some physical persecutions face to face. But very few of us have gone through unspeakable tortures or been jailed or been attacked viciously and left for dead because of our faith in Christ. Yet it is also likely that there may be some young Christians in other areas of the world who are reading this article, only weeks or months old in the Lord, have faced this kind of hardcore persecutions... maybe because of the great majority of the people in their society belong to a religion that despises and even believe in persecuting and committing genocide against Christians.
The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt 5:11-12). We who have much religious freedom in many of the Western countries, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves if our good or our living testimony for Christ is evil spoken, ought to thank God for an opportunity to touch even the fringes of suffering for our faith. It strengthens our fellowship with Our Lord, Who was a “Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3), who "... suffered outside the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach [disgrace]” (Heb 13:12-13).
From the human standpoint, it often makes little sense to see that the ones attacked are often the community’s most moral, best-model, and trustworthy citizens, the most diligent and honest workers, and the most kind, helpful, and loving of people in the society. Yet because of their faith and devotion to Christ, they suffer injustice and some unspeakable persecutions. The natural human reaction would be anger at this kind of injustice and horrific treatment that are undeserved.
Yet, we must keep in mind that we are called to a spiritual battle raging in the world – the battle between the the devil with his fallen angels, the demons and all the people under their dominion against the God, the good angels, and His people. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12). Thus, our spiritual battle should be directed not so much at the people under the control of Satan and his cohorts, but against the evil one himself. Like there is a Chinese proverb that says, “Cut off the head of the snake and the rest of its body shall expire.” And Ephesians 6:13-18 shows us how to fight this spiritual battle by taking on the whole armor of God and especially the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God with all prayers (Eph 6:17-18).
Some of the tortures inflicted on Christians are frightfully inhumane – like feeding of a living Christian to a hungry wild beast in a Romans arena! Some may ask: How can a loving God Whose love is so "rich and pure, so measureless and strong," so superbly excellent as to be unfathomable to us allow His people to suffer such immeasurable cruelty? First we must keep in mind that God is still allowing Satan who is still given the temporary custody of this world being that he was the arch-angel in charge of this world and the Lord Jesus confirmed this by calling him the “ruler of this world” (Jn 14:30, look also at 2 Cor 4:4). Thus, the hatred propagated by the satanic forces against God's people with such horrific, cruel depths is not to be blamed on God but on Satan himself who was the one who instigator of all these persecutions.
Our brother Watchman Nee himself was imprisoned for his faith in Christ for about 20 years and endured numerous beatings and tortures to where his tongue was even cut off for his refusal to stop preaching the gospel in prison. By this we see that he harbored no hatred against his persecutors in prison; rather, he had such love for their lost and perishing souls that he continued to preached the gospel to them at the expense of losing his tongue and finally died in prison from the gradual degradation of his health from the continual torture. We have read of many other Christian prisoners who learned to love—yes, love their tormentors and to pray for their salvation in spite of the cruel treatment they received. It was like the Lord Jesus on the cross and Stephen in Acts chapter 7 who prayed to to God “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” One of the characteristics of God's people as taught by our Lord and King Himself in Matthew chapter 5 was the message: "love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matt 5:44).
If or when we become victims of such cruel persecutions, have we learned an inner joy and peace in Christ that could endure through all circumstances? Have we learned to so rejoice in our Lord who abides in us and will never leave us nor forsake us, that will carry us through when we are in "heaviness through manifold trials"? We can practice now enduring trials God permits in our lives without murmuring and complaining, without bitterness and allowing our joy in Christ to be eclipsed by any pain, sufferings, or hardships, and without losing sight of Christ Who is our great hope of glory (Phi 1:27). At the same time, our suffering triumphantly borne also glorifies God.
We need to develop the kind of joy that was displayed by the Apostle Paul and Silas when they sang in prison, with bleeding backs, and with hands and feet aching while shackled to a stock. "Rejoice in the Lord always:" says the Apostle Paul, "and again I say, rejoice" (Phi 4:4)! The apostle Paul said this when he was in prison!
"Rejoice in the Lord" Paul says. That is the secret. It may mean rejoicing through tears, through pain and suffering. But looking unto Jesus who will never leave us nor forsake us, we are able to endure with patience, with "cheerful" endurance. Our Lord’s precious presence can make any place a paradise. On the other hand, where there the Lord cannot be found, even the Shangrila or the nicest palace on this earth can be a hell hole. Hell is in essence a place where one spends eternity without God.
We know that the Lord also used persecutions and sufferings to refined us into His image. We are told in Malachi 3:3, “He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.” A refiner of silver once said that he sits until he sees his reflection on the surface of the silver under the crucibles of fire. That is when he knows the silver is pure. Likewise, the Lord will refined us with some intense fire of persecutions and sufferings at times to refined us and transformed us until we bear His image through and through.
For this reason, it is quite true as some have said that the most likely place to find the most fervent love for Christ is where there is persecution. It is too risky there to be half-hearted. There was a true story of a group of underground Christians meeting in Russia. Several good Christians wanted to find a group of fervent Christians to meet with and they finally found a referral to this group of Christians. They joined the group in a most unorthodox manner by dressing up as the then KGB agents and stormed into their meeting one day with submachine guns. They asked anyone here who is willing to deny their faith in Christ step forward and they will be spared of their lives. To their great surprise, not a single one step forward! Subsequently, they revealed that they are in fact Christians who are looking for a fervent group of Christians to join and they have found it in their midst, because they don't want to join a lukewarm group of Christians who would deny their faith in Christ at the moment of crisis,trials, or even at the threat of their lives. Indeed, oftentimes it is costly and a life of suffering for us to live as faithful Christian, but we need to be willing to pay the price if we are to be pronounced by the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ someday as “good and faithful servants.”