Tuesday: Faithful Amid Persecution
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 9th of April 2024
Throughout the early centuries of Christianity, the Christian church grew rapidly, despite imprisonment, torture, and persecution. Faithful believers, totally committed to Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaimed His Word with power; lives were changed, and tens of thousands were converted.
Read Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4,31; Acts 5:42; and Acts 8:1-8. What do these verses teach us about the challenges the New Testament church faced and also why it grew so rapidly?
The disciples faced threats (Acts 4:17), imprisonment (Acts 5:17-18), persecution (Acts 8:1), and death itself (Acts 7:59, Acts 12:2), yet, in the power of the Holy Spirit, courageously proclaimed the resurrected Christ, and churches multiplied throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria (Acts 9:31).
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The bastions of hell were shaken. The shackles of Satan were broken. Pagan superstition crumbled before the power of the resurrected Christ. The gospel triumphed in the face of overwhelming odds. The disciples no longer cowered in the upper room. Fear danced away like a fading shadow.
Instead, faith filled the disciples’ hearts. One glimpse of their resurrected Lord changed their lives. Jesus gave them a new reason for living. Our Lord had not only given them the Great Commission (Mark 16:15) but the great promise, “ ‘But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth’ ” (Acts 1:8, NKJV).
The gospel penetrated the remotest corners of the earth (Colossians 1:23). Although the last of the disciples, John, died at the end of the first century, others picked up the torch of truth and proclaimed the living Christ. Pliny the Younger, governor of the Roman province of Bithynia on the north coast of modern Turkey, wrote to Emperor Trajan around a.d. 110. Pliny’s statement is significant because it was nearly eighty years after the Crucifixion. Pliny described the official trials he was conducting to find and execute Christians. He stated, “For many persons of all ages, and classes and of both sexes are being put in peril by accusation, and this will go on. The contagion of this superstition [Christianity] has spread not only in the cities, but in the villages and rural districts as well.”—Henry Bettenson, Documents of the Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 4.
Despite the devil’s most vicious attacks, the Christian church grew rapidly.
What can we learn from the early church that could help us, the end-time church?
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The history of Christians being persecuted in the first three centuries of the Christian Era is a complex one and we need to be aware of the broad picture rather than just accepting that Christians were persecuted for their beliefs.
The Romans were fairly tolerant of other religions and often accepted other gods into their pantheon. However their acceptance was patchy and conditional. The Romans had a religious view of allegiance to the emperor and any religion that disputed the public religious allegiance ceremonies were considered as traitors. Jews, and by association Christians, obviously were at odds with the authorities because they refused to go through the motion of religious allegiance to the emperor.
There were several periods of persecution in the period up to about 300AD. Nero's persecution was largely restricted to Rome, but wider persecutions were under Aurelius, Decius, Gallus, and Valerian. It should be noted that there were also periods of tolerance and acceptance too. Because Christians were different, they were often blamed for disasters, plagues and other misfortunes.
One thing I have learned about persecution is that the persecutors were not targeting Christians specifically but rather anybody who was at odds socially and culturally with the Roman ideal, or at least with the local ruler's perception of it.
Are Christians persecuted today? Yes they are and there are several well-documented persecution events in recent years in several countries. But persecution is not limited to just Christians. Minority groups in many countries including "enlightened Western cultures" often suffer from intolerance and loss of privilege and civil rights. Is it possible that we are complicit in that sort of persecution?
If we only use history to justify ourselves, we have learned very little.
You have a point brother M, but I just think that the emphasis on Tuesday is about that group who remained faithful amid persecution... Of course we can broaden it to the other examples like you did. However the issue is on what we need to do today, learning from the examples given
Faithful amid persecution
Why do we sing the song, dare to be a Daniel?
Why are the three Hebrew Boys, our heroes?
What about Mordecai?
All these people are an inspiration because they were faithful even when their lives were at stake.
It's easy and convenient to worship God when you have money in your wallet. It's easy to be a Christian when there is no sickness in the family.
It's easy to worship God when there is no death in the family.
But it's very difficult to worship God when you have problems. Not only is it difficult but there is the threat of being unfaithful... These people were faithful amid persecution.
During the dark ages, to avoid persecution, you just needed to recant and forsake the truth.
Today, there are situations where you either keep the Sabbath, or lose your job. What do you do? Do you bribe your way to the top? Do you sell your body to get a promotion? Faithful amid persecution.
Recently I was reading Foxe's book of martyrs. These people did not die so that they become martyrs. They died because they wanted to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience...
Believe you me, during the times of persecution, there are people who compromised and we do not read about them. Those we read about, are the ones who through the strength of God, remained faithful amid persecution
Thank you brother in Christ for the excellent comment. I'm curious ! Where do you write from?
We all need the same Spirit that led the first disciples. We need the inner peace that the world cannot give. We need Jesus more than ever because He is close; we hear his steps already. We need to be ready and contagious with His joy! The King is coming!
Well said. The emphasis is on fathfullness dispite being persecuted. May God help is to be faithful dispite being persecuted. Sometimes our persecution comes from those closest to us.
May God help us to remain true to Him no matter what
The disciples were faced with problems just as the church is today, however their success and increase in numbers daily was due to the fact that their mission statement outweighed the challenges faced. The goal was to preach and share the good news of Jesus globally. Satan has not changed in his efforts to attack the people of God, he has gotten better at perfecting his craft over the years. I pray we have the same passion dedication and love as the early church to remain faithful even at the cost of our lives