THE BLESSEDNESS OF PERSECUTION.
By G.
THE Lord Himself has pronounced this blessing. It is one of the many encouragements He left on record for His people to buoy them up during their pilgrimage in a world of sin. It was while He was Himself amid the experiences of persecution that He gave the assurance, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Jesus knew what persecution meant, that it was a ruse of Satan to discourage and deter men from following in the footsteps of Christ, and thereby being saved. If they can be lured to destruction by flattery, and by the prospect of pleasures in this life and hereafter without the cross of Christ, they will not be persecuted for the truth's sake. If Christ had yielded to the blandishments of Satan's temptations in the wilderness, He would have had no persecution. But, failing to win over the world's Redeemer by guile and fair promises, the arch enemy at once sought to hedge up the Saviour's way by inciting the church to persecute Him. However, having overcome the temptations solely through the power of the Word of God, —"It is written,"—He was also proof against the terrors of persecution. By that same Word He was apprized of the overcomer's reward. The psalmist had spoken by the Spirit concerning Him, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." Ps. 2:2, 3. By the same Spirit he shows the outcome: "Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Verses 6-9. Jesus knew that every possible pressure would be brought to bear upon His followers to turn them from the Way. All the fair promises of a deceptive world,—wealth, honor, pleasure,—would be displayed before them; and, these failing, as also the snares of perverted scripture, persecution would be the last resort. For "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. 3:12. Knowing all this by the Spirit of prophecy as well as by personal experience, the Lord gives us the comforting encouragement that there is blessing in the worst that the enemy can do against us. We are not to fear even death itself. "Yea, tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." Ps. 23:4, 5. It was from this table that the Saviour had eaten when He said to His disciples at Jacob's well: "I have meat to eat that ye know not of. . . . My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." John 4:32-34. When those disciples had learned more of Christ, when their understanding was opened to an understanding of the Scriptures (Luke 24:45), when they had been baptized with the Spirit with which He was filled, then they could eat from the same table in presence of the bitterest persecution their foes could devise. They could "endure hardness as good soldiers" in the strength of present blessedness and in the faith of future glory. Peter and John, when cruelly beaten for their faith, could go on their way "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." In this same spirit of faith Paul could admonish the brethren at Rome, "Bless them which persecute you; bless, and curse not." Rom. 12:14. Paul did not merely admonish, but he had set the example, and his testimony was, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Chapter 8:18. Then "who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Verse 35. Shall any child of God forego the blessings that accompany persecution for the truth's sake? Shall we turn aside because of "our light affliction, which is but for a moment," knowing that it "worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory"? 2 Cor. 4:17. "It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him [by shrinking from the trials and sufferings], He also will deny us." To reassure us in this matter, as it were to emphasize the promise to the persecuted ones, the Lord has told us through special "revelation" to His servant John that "to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Rev. 3:21. G.