| "Blessed are those who are
persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God.
"Blessed are you when men revile you
and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you on my account.
Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so men
persecuted the prophets who were before you."
The prophets suffered on account of the true king of Israel, Yhwh. Because they declared His word above the word of the kings of Israel. There always has been a struggle between the rulers of Israel and YHWH'S prophets. Not only Israel but also the foreign Kings such as Herod. When he heard that an usurper was to come as King of Israel he issued decrees for all the children under 2 years to be killed. It is clear that the rulers of the world are threatened by the message of the Kingdom. To say our God reigns in Israel is to declare his rule as King and Christ. The same for the early Christians. They
weren't put to death for believing in Jesus, They were put to death
because they would not worship the emperor as "King". The Roman emperors
because they ruled over all the kown earth at the time were called King of
Kings, Lord of Lords and saviour of mankind. Christians accepted the
Emperor as the lawful ruler at that time but would not worship him as
King. Allegiance to the King is another way of talking about trusting in
Christ in the context of Kingship. Jesus is the future ruler of the world.
As such he is very much a political ruler in every sense. This is an
element very much missing from modern Christianity, because the gospel of
the kingdom seems to have been lost. Jesus is the King and ruler of
christians lives but that is limiting the meaning far too much. Jesus is
the future political ruler of all the nations. Read Genesis 49:10 where
the Christ is to rule and have the obedience of the nations
.
We are his servants declaring the end of
the rulers of this worlds rule, and the arrival of the true King who will
overthrow all false rulers and establish his Kingdom in righteousness.
This is amply demonstrated in Matthew 2: where King Herod on hearing that
the Christ (God's King) was to be born, he set a plan in action to have
the child Jesus killed. Why is that? There was another King who would
threaten his throne.
Therefore we are the stated enemies of the
enemies of God and their invisible ruler. So because of the political
agenda we as the people of God are caught up in, it is no wonder we are
hated and persecuted. It has been said to be completely surrendered as a
proclaimer of God's truth is to lose your liberty and even your life. !!
Isaiah 50-60 a major theme is the kings of this world versus the Kingdom
of the True king. Likewise the temporary kingdoms of this world and the
everlasting Kingdom of this world, are foretold. Let it be known that the
world waits for it's true King and ruler, Jesus Christ
In understanding the question of been persecuted for the name of Christ we need to ask ourselves who are we? The answer is, we are the people of the King. We have been delivered from the slavery of the power that is at work in this world, namely sin . We have also been delivered from the power of Satan, the ruler of this world. Where are we? Again, we are in the present wicked age, where the order of things work according to lawlessness. It is a temporary age. What time is it in this wicked age? We are in the last hour, before the violent overthrow of the rulers of this world. It is because we declare the Lord Jesus as King and no other that we are hated. Christians in Roman times were persecuted for refusing to worship Caesar as King. They would only bow the knee to Jesus. For every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. It is impossible to preach the Kingdom of God without declaring the rule or reign of God.. To preach his rule is to say all usurpers will be overthrown. No wonder they hate you, it's a power thing. Even Jesus was put to death because he was said to be the king of the Jews .Because the High priests feared losing position and power they demanded that he be executed. The other element is the preaching of righteousness. People are natural enemies of the true king because they are people of this age. When you declare the wickedness of people you are shining light on their darkness. The natural reaction is to shut you up either by character assassination or imprisoning you, even taking your life to silence you. The powers of the age to come, which is righteousness just have no place amongst the wicked. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus and the other prophets all called the people to repent. And because of righteousness were put to death. If you don't like the message, kill the messenger is the way many wicked people, deal with the messengers of the most High. Repentance calls people to trust in Christ and turn from trusting in themselves and false Gods, to save them from their bondage. Repentance is also to turn from wicked actions and turn to the True God to save and forgive them. PPeople hate to be told they are under God's judgement because of their wicked lives. Look at a proclaimer of the Kingdom, John the Baptist. He was executed for pointing out the Kings sin. People also hate to be told they are worshipping false God's. To have the righteousness of Christ doesn't mean we don't have to live righteously. Rather it follows that those who are declared righteous through faith in Jesus are given power to walk in Godliness. Because we are joined to His resurrection, through faith in Jesus we walk in newness of life. |
