I have told you all this now to prepare you!

John 15:26-16:4

“I will send you the Helper from the Father. The Helper is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When he comes, he will tell about me. And you will tell people about me too, because you have been with me from the beginning.

“I have told you all this so that you won’t lose your faith when you face troubles. People will tell you to leave their synagogues and never come back. In fact, the time will come when they will think that killing you would be doing service for God. They will do this because they have not known the Father, and they have not known me. I have told you all this now to prepare you. So when the time comes for these things to happen, you will remember that I warned you.

“I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you then.

Food for thought!

Jesus knows life. Jesus knows man. Today, he is warning us of real danger, not of animals, not of catastrophes, of man. It is true, the greatest enemy of man is man, and Jesus knew and knows it. That is why he told us: "People will tell you to leave their synagogues and never come back. In fact, the time will come when they will think that killing you would be doing service for God."

Jesus is talking out of experience. He was hated by men, slandered by men, tortured by men, beaten by men, crucified by men and killed by men. What Jesus is telling us today, is what happened to him. They expelled him from the synagogue, and was later killed by the religious people of the day. Things have not changed much. The people who hate and wish us evil are not atheists but theists, that is, religious people. As recent events in Nigeria have shown, our greatest threat are fellow believers in God.

Jesus warned us. "I have told you all this now to prepare you. So when the time comes for these things to happen, you will remember that I warned you." When the hour comes, many times, if not always, we don't remember Jesus' warning; we don't remember that we have to suffer just as Jesus said.

Next time when the people you are trying to help turn against you, remember Jesus' warning. Or when someone turn against you for doing or being good, remember Jesus' words. Or when someone hates you out of jealousy, remember Jesus' warning. Or when people hate you for being contrary to their expectations, remember Jesus' warning.

Remember that many of the people who give us hard time are not pagans but fellow belivers, and sometimes fellow Christians; those who worship with us and profess the same faith in Jesus. As it was with Jesus so it will be with us. Jesus was killed by fellow Jews, fellow believers. Even though the people who give us hard times do think that by doing so they are offering service to God, the truth is that they have not known the Father, and they have not known Jesus. 

“The blessing and the honor and the glory and the power belong to the one sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever.” (Rev. 5:13)