Persecution

post 128

This post is to the Christian.

Why do you suppose the early Church had such boldness in the face of persecution?
Why didn’t they cry out in confusion asking; “What have we done wrong to deserve this?” Where did their confidence come from to know they were in the will of God?
I contend they new far more about the role of the Church in Gods plan than we do today.
I would like to offer one such example:

Mark 6:48-51 “And he saw them toiling in rowing: for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.
But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out:
For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.”

Another great Sunday School story that has no real application in the adult Christian life.
Hardly!
First we need to recognize that the 4 gospels are not a redundancy to fill up pages.
Each recorded eyewitness of the same events are given with slightly different purposes.
While Matthew was written by God to the Jews, Mark was written by God to the Gentiles.
So what is different for Gentiles than for Jews?

We find this answer when we back track to the earlier time they were all in the boat.
Mark 4:35 “And the same day, when the even was come, he (Jesus) saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.” (shown also in Matthew 8:23-)
Now I am going to take a small liberty and suggest an idea that perhaps we can use this “pass over unto the other side” to represent death, just as it sounds like.
(It is important to recognize that in both boats, these were close followers of Jesus, while the rest of the people remained behind.)
We continue to read as a bad storm came up that would have destroyed them all, when Jesus, who was with them, performed a miracle and calmed the storm.

But now in the second voyage, Mark 6 passage, Jesus is not with them. They are by themselves when a storm comes up that again threatens to destroy them.

The two historical events are not to tell us they liked boating, but to tell us of a deeper, more important secret of God.
The boatload with God in the midst of them, represents the Jews, God’s people.
And when the storm (evil troubles against the Jews) came upon them, their God delivered them through a miracle.
Note here their response in v.41:
“And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

* * *
But in the second boatload, they did not have the physical presence of God with them.
This represents the Christian Church.
And when the storm of evil troubles comes against the Church, Jesus is not physically in our midst. It seems as if we are alone!

But Jesus was well aware of their circumstances; “and he saw them toiling in rowing; (doing their part of what he called them to do) for the wind was contrary unto them:…” (the persecution)
“…and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea..."
I don’t yet understand the significance of the specific time, other than to tell us he did not come to them right away but let them toil for a spell.
But interestingly, he comes on the stormy sea.
This tells us that we are to expect to see Jesus in the persecution, not outside of it.
This represents the millions of Christians tormented and killed throughout the Church age, even up to today! Jesus does not save them out of the toil, but comes in the contrary wind unto them, to comfort them in the storm of persecution.

This next part has always caused me to wonder;
“…and would have passed by them.”
The wording of this suggests the intention of passing them if they did not see him there.
Because of the strange wording here, we must look for the clue that is implied.
We can understand that he would have let them continue struggling if they had not seen him in the storm. We can also gather that Jesus does all he can to ready the circumstances; His awareness of our condition, His arrival at just the right time, his ready ear to hear our cry, but he cannot violate our free will and so unless we cry out he must pass us by.

“But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, 5326 and cried 349 out: for they all saw him, and were troubled…”
5326: phantasma, from 5324; a show, i.e. spectre. [from which we get phantom]
349: to scream up.
This one sentence here simply does not seem to fit for a variety of reasons. Primarily that Jesus would allow himself to be seen as a scary ghost!
Just when you think all is lost, there is yet a new compounding element that seems to be yet more doom, but that turns out to be the working of the LORD coming to you.
I am reminded of Cori TenBoom who gave God praise for the lice in her prison camp, because the guards would leave them alone in their quarters, allowing her to read her smuggled bible to the others.
A very common application to this verse is the phrase; “The LORD works in mysterious ways.”
It is important to realize they were not chastised for mistaking Jesus for a ghost. But his appearing is what he used to make them cry out! As soon as they did…

“…And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.”
Yet even at this point the storm did not end. I can only imagine this represents the LORD’s presence seen in the joy and peace witnessed as believers were burned at the stake, or fed to the lions! (Foxes Book of Martyrs) The recognition of God’s presence in our circumstances brings good cheer and fearlessness of the troubles though they persist.

“and he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered…”
This shows that even those who experienced the LORD’s presence of Joy and Peace in the midst of the unspeakable persecution, were amazed at it themselves!

What a contrast of reaction from that of the representational Jew’s experience in the first voyage!
(We read the Jew’s rendition of their story in Matthew 8:27 and it is actually comical that their explanation is; “But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him!”
The narrative is not actually flawed, just interesting how they don’t make themselves seem so scared!)

“And when they had passed over…”

What an interesting and instructive narrative to the persecuted believer, even unto death.
A stark difference from the American Christian perspective that Jesus will save us from all our troubles!

* * *

So how can I double check my work to make sure I am not misusing this passage?

The curious thing is to now go back into Matthew and see that this same story in the narrative for the Jews is completely missing the Gentile message.
The only thing the Jews get is found in Matthew 9:1 “and he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.”
This represents the Jews have no idea what Jesus actually is doing in the times of the Gentiles and only see him return to Jerusalem when he plants his feet on the mount of Olives at his second coming.

The scriptures are fascinating how each fabric of every story is woven so meticulously with the fabric of the other stories, to weave the Holy Cloth of scripture from Genesis to Revelation! It is all just one incredible work of Jesus the Christ.

* * *
Real life application:

For many years I quietly contemplated the evidence that All God’s people seem to be hosed whether they rebel against him and are punished, or they are faithful and are persecuted. Either way they get the short end of the temporal stick.

Yet as an American Christian in a generalization, we have never fit into either of these categories, and so I was always confused about this observation.

Here in America we figure if things are going well and good for us, we must be in the will of God, and when things seem to go south for us, we cry out “WHY?”

Remember my post “So What Happens if America falls”?*1 In it I discussed how to pray for the persecuted church, and then turned the thoughts to ask why is it like this. (I recommend a review of that post)

We learned that America was unique in her role here on earth, and received incredible blessing and protection for the purpose of fulfilling her role of spreading the benefits and blessings of the faith around the world.

But what was not discussed is that this blessed protected state is not the natural state of the Christian. To understand this fully is to strike a deep and real appreciation for what was America... and anomaly in history.
It is because the world recognized the unique blessing and benefits, that all the world wanted to immigrate to America! The fact that America has no race, but are a melting pot of all races is a fact that will be hard for history to blot out. Truly, in spite of a soon re-writing of history to show otherwise, America was the most blessed nation the planet has ever seen! What Americans themselves no longer know is, “Why?”

* * *

I am now seeing a very exciting reawakening of God’s people in America, and as they awaken the fire of faith is quickly spreading again.
So shouldn’t we be able to see this as a salvation for America? Doesn’t this mean I am wrong as I declare America’s doom?
Sadly no.
America’s time has come. And now it is too late to save her, in spite of the very true awakening.
How do I know for sure?
If you will remember, the masses of people accepted Jesus as the messiah when he rode the colt into Jerusalem as king. But only a few days later he was hanging on a cross.
What happened?
The religious leaders had the authority in the people’s eyes, and were therefore able to turn the people very easily.
The people had no real foundation, they were simply led as sheep.
And so at the death of the Christ, the suffering of the Jews was established.

Now of course this was all a part of the master plan, and nothing came as a surprise to God, he foretold it. *2
But my point is that due to world events, and the slumber of the American Christian, we have now arrived at this pivotal point in history, where America will join the persecution of the believers.
The current awakening of the faithful is not for the purpose of restoring America, but to strengthen the believers for what is to come.

Take heart dear faithful, the LORD will be with you in the days to come!... though the storms will be great.

* * * * * * *
*1 So What Happens If America Falls - http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2010/06/so-what-happens-if-america-falls.html

*2 Some of many prophecies of Jesus rejection and crucifixion used by God to save mankind.
His rejection by the Jews - Isaiah 53:3
His entry into Jerusalem - Zechariah 9:9
His betrayal by a friend - Psalm 41:9, Zechariah 11:12,11:13, Matthew 26:2,24
His pre-crucifixion torture - Isaiah 50:6, 53:4-5, Psalm 22:6-8
His crucifixion - Isaiah 53:12, Psalm 22:16, 34:20 Zechariah 12:10
His resurrection - Psalm 16:10, 68:18