Things will get worse before they get better!

Luke 21:12-19

“But before any of this happens, they’ll arrest you, hunt you down, and drag you to court and jail. It will go from bad to worse, dog-eat-dog, everyone at your throat because you carry my name. You’ll end up on the witness stand, called to testify. Make up your mind right now not to worry about it. I’ll give you the words and wisdom that will reduce all your accusers to stammers and stutters.

“You’ll even be turned in by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. Some of you will be killed. There’s no telling who will hate you because of me. Even so, every detail of your body and soul—even the hairs of your head!—is in my care; nothing of you will be lost. Staying with it—that’s what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry; you’ll be saved.

Food for thought!

The disciples are warned that they will be delivered up to court and jail. This is a reference to the Jewish Sanhedrin, which was their version of the Supreme Court. They would also stand before “rulers and kings”, who would interrogate them concerning their preaching and doctrine. They would be hunted, hounded, beaten, and some would even die, for the faith they preached.

This prophecy was literally fulfilled in the book of Acts.

·         Acts 4 – Peter and John face the Sanhedrin and give an account of the healing of the lame man at the Temple.

·         Acts 7 – Stephen is tried by the Sanhedrin and is condemned to die.

·         Acts 9:22-25 – The Jews want to kill Paul for His preaching.

·         Acts 12 – James and Peter are arrested by King Herod. They are imprisoned and scheduled to be executed. James is beheaded, but Peter is delivered by a divine miracle.

·         Acts 14:19 – Paul is stoned and left for dead at Lystra.

·         Acts 16:19-24 – Paul and Silas are imprisoned in Philippi.

·         Acts 18:12-17 – Paul is persecuted in Macedonia.

·         Acts 19 – Paul is arrested and tried in Ephesus.

·         Acts 21 – Paul is arrested and held for trial in Jerusalem.

·         Acts 24 – Paul is tried before Felix.

·         Acts 26 – Paul is tried before Festus and King Agrippa.

·         Acts 27-28 – Paul is kept under arrest and sent by ship to stand trial before Caesar. Paul remains a prisoner in Rome until he is executed by the Romans.

        

That is but a brief sampling of the kind of persecution that rocked the early church. Here is Paul’s own testimony concerning the things he suffered for Jesus, 2 Cor. 11:23-27.

I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.

Like the disciples of Jesus of yesterday, today's disciples, you and me, have our own suffering that we must undergo. As Helen Keller put it, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambitions inspired, and success achieved.”