JESUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS UNPOPULAR IN THE WORLD.
By A. Smith
It is said of Jesus that “he is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isa. 53:3. Although Jesus was the Creator of heaven and earth, and was adored and obeyed by angels and the countless inhabitants of the starry worlds, he laid aside his glory to save rebellious man, who, in turn, was ashamed of the Lord of glory, and rejected him, his only hope. Jesus said of himself on one occasion, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Matt. 8:20. At length he was arrested as a criminal, mocked, scourged (publicly whipped), and crucified. If such was the treatment that Jesus received in this world, what must his followers expect but like treatment. “As he is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17. “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” John 15:18, 19. Paul says, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Tim. 3:12. Such was the treatment awarded our Saviour while he was upon earth, and such is the prediction concerning his followers after him. Many illustrious examples in fulfillment of the prophecy are on record. Take, for instance, the case of the apostle Paul. Speaking of his experience in the Gospel, he says, “Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds.” 2 Tim. 2:9. Of himself and fellow-laborers he says, “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labor, working with our own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.” 1 Cor. 4:11-13. Paul and his co-laborers suffered these things because they chose to walk as Christ walked in this world. Of the apostolic church it is recorded, “For as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against.” Acts 28:22. And so at the present day the church that will not adopt worldly methods and worldly fashions in carrying forward her work, will be no more esteemed than was the church of the first century. It will not be a popular church, but quite probably the Spirit of Jesus will be seen in its efforts, for “the meek will he guide in judgment; and the meek will he teach his way.” Ps. 25:9.