And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
Those who harm Christ's followers do so because they lack a true experiential knowledge of the Father and the Son. They will expel believers from the synagogues and even kill them while sincerely believing they are doing God service. As long as believers follow Christ and witness for Him, tribulation is certain, for as He was hated without cause so His people are hated without cause merely for obeying God's commandments, however blameless their lives. The bitterest hatred comes not from the openly unbelieving world but from those who profess to serve God, with trials coming through unconverted believers. Christ spoke this on the night of His suffering to His faithful disciples after Judas withdrew, telling them beforehand because He knew every conflict they would meet, so that when exclusion and suffering come they will not be offended or lose faith but will remember His warning mingled with the bright hope of the coming Comforter.
Farewell Setting and Purpose
Jesus spoke these words to His faithful disciples in the upper chamber after Judas withdrew, on the night of suffering just before betrayal, death and crucifixion. They belong to the comfort, counsel and prayer recorded in John 15-17. They were sacred truths He did not speak before the multitude who could not understand them. They were given to keep troubled hearts from sinking.
Even the disciples could not fully understand them till after the resurrection took place. In their great disappointment and trial they repeated those words again and again to stay their sinking hearts. Those truths have spread through their testimony over all lands. They live through all ages to comfort the hearts of the desponding and give peace and hope to thousands who believe.
He told these things beforehand because He knew every phase of experience and every conflict His disciples would meet, and He was grieved that they must pass through manifold afflictions from the world. He plainly presented their future trials to prepare them for that time of trial and great temptation to lose their faith. So when exclusion, hatred, putting out of the synagogues, killing, and suffering come, they will not be offended or troubled or lose faith but will remember He told them. He mingled the dark warning with the bright hopeful lines of the coming Comforter. He called them while in the world not to be of the world but to remain Christlike and bear faithful witness against evil.
The words belong to His special instruction before His separation to prepare and strengthen His disciples for future ministry and for the trials and difficulties they would face. That future ministry had to be built on Christ and depend on divine power working with human effort. The instruction showed His love and made His purposes and plans known to them. He knew those trials would come through unconverted believers, and He gave words of encouragement and hope to strengthen them to stand firm.
The instruction in John 14-17 is to be understood with new enlightenment through the influence of God's Spirit. The discourse in John 15-17 is to be presented in every home as a message from God about receiving Christ's grace. It expresses God's will for His people to live out the unity and love of His prayer so that dissension is cured and they stand together with Christ against the enemy. Refusing its conditions leaves people unready and unworthy to meet Christ in glory.
Persecution from Not Knowing
People do these things to Christ's followers because they have not known the Father nor Christ the Son, lacking experimental and experiential knowledge of them. Christ gave this warning beforehand to prepare His disciples so that when persecution comes they will not be offended but will remember that He told them.
Persecutors will put believers out of the synagogues and will kill them while sincerely thinking they are doing God service. This belongs to Jesus' warning that His disciples would face opposition and suffering for the truth, and He spoke it beforehand so they would not be offended and would remember He had told them when the time comes.
Tribulation will assuredly come as long as believers are followers of Christ and witnesses for Him, so God's children today can expect nothing less than persecution because their Master was persecuted and no less persecution and trial than the ancient worthies and the three Hebrew children met. As Christ was hated without cause, His people are hated without cause merely because they are obedient to the commandments of God and do His works instead of working directly contrary to them. However faultless their life and blameless their character, disciples can expect the same treatment given to Him who was pure, holy and undefiled, who did good and only good, yet was treated as a base criminal and condemned to death without a vestige of evidence.
The most bitter hatred comes not from the world who make no profession but from those who profess to be doing God service. Christ knew these trials would come through unconverted believers, and He gave His disciples words of encouragement and hope to strengthen them to stand firm.
This hostility belongs to the controversy between Christ and Satan that has continued since the fall, in which Satan catches away the seeds of truth and sows the tares. Because Satan knows Christ has purchased salvation for the whole world, he is determined to wrest every possible soul out of His hand. Satan's allies can wound Christ's followers, but their attacks cannot defeat the faithful cause they defend. Its presence reflects a great departure from Christ's principles that keeps the church in warfare and delays entry into the promised land until the gospel has been proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue and people.
All who prove loyalty by obedience to the law of Jehovah as God's distinct commandment-keeping people must be prepared to be arrested and brought before councils whose standard is not the high and holy law of God but stringent human laws inspired by Satan as manifested at the trial of Christ. There human enactments are exalted while God's holy enactments are despised and trampled underfoot. Their rejection of God is shown by persecuting people who obey God and do His works, so loyalty to God's law can bring arrest and unjust treatment under human laws that oppose it. This has proved a reality in the experience of all who have been loyal and true to God according to the light received, has appeared in past conflicts, and will be seen again in the closing work of God, which Christ foretold so His followers would remember His warning when it came to pass.
Discernment in God's Work
Those who have not known the Father nor the Son lack spiritual discernment concerning God's work. Because of that lack they cannot rightly judge God's work or determine what its workers should do. They cannot rightly judge the character or needs of that work, and they cannot rightly direct it. Their opposition to Christ's followers springs from this not knowing the Father or the Son.
To follow the counsel, suggestions, plans, or advice of such unbelievers weakens God's work. It weakens the means God uses to carry His work forward. Accepting such counsel sets Christ's counsel aside. God's workers must therefore follow the orders that come from above rather than the plans of unbelievers.
Those who harm Christ's followers do so because they lack a true experiential knowledge of the Father and the Son. They will expel believers from the synagogues and even kill them while sincerely believing they are doing God service. As long as believers follow Christ and witness for Him, tribulation is certain, for as He was hated without cause so His people are hated without cause merely for obeying God's commandments, however blameless their lives. The bitterest hatred comes not from the openly unbelieving world but from those who profess to serve God, with trials coming through unconverted believers. Christ spoke this on the night of His suffering to His faithful disciples after Judas withdrew, telling them beforehand because He knew every conflict they would meet, so that when exclusion and suffering come they will not be offended or lose faith but will remember His warning mingled with the bright hope of the coming Comforter.
Farewell Setting and Purpose
Jesus spoke these words to His faithful disciples in the upper chamber after Judas withdrew, on the night of suffering just before betrayal, death and crucifixion. They belong to the comfort, counsel and prayer recorded in John 15-17. They were sacred truths He did not speak before the multitude who could not understand them. They were given to keep troubled hearts from sinking.
Even the disciples could not fully understand them till after the resurrection took place. In their great disappointment and trial they repeated those words again and again to stay their sinking hearts. Those truths have spread through their testimony over all lands. They live through all ages to comfort the hearts of the desponding and give peace and hope to thousands who believe.
He told these things beforehand because He knew every phase of experience and every conflict His disciples would meet, and He was grieved that they must pass through manifold afflictions from the world. He plainly presented their future trials to prepare them for that time of trial and great temptation to lose their faith. So when exclusion, hatred, putting out of the synagogues, killing, and suffering come, they will not be offended or troubled or lose faith but will remember He told them. He mingled the dark warning with the bright hopeful lines of the coming Comforter. He called them while in the world not to be of the world but to remain Christlike and bear faithful witness against evil.
The words belong to His special instruction before His separation to prepare and strengthen His disciples for future ministry and for the trials and difficulties they would face. That future ministry had to be built on Christ and depend on divine power working with human effort. The instruction showed His love and made His purposes and plans known to them. He knew those trials would come through unconverted believers, and He gave words of encouragement and hope to strengthen them to stand firm.
The instruction in John 14-17 is to be understood with new enlightenment through the influence of God's Spirit. The discourse in John 15-17 is to be presented in every home as a message from God about receiving Christ's grace. It expresses God's will for His people to live out the unity and love of His prayer so that dissension is cured and they stand together with Christ against the enemy. Refusing its conditions leaves people unready and unworthy to meet Christ in glory.
Persecution from Not Knowing
People do these things to Christ's followers because they have not known the Father nor Christ the Son, lacking experimental and experiential knowledge of them. Christ gave this warning beforehand to prepare His disciples so that when persecution comes they will not be offended but will remember that He told them.
Persecutors will put believers out of the synagogues and will kill them while sincerely thinking they are doing God service. This belongs to Jesus' warning that His disciples would face opposition and suffering for the truth, and He spoke it beforehand so they would not be offended and would remember He had told them when the time comes.
Tribulation will assuredly come as long as believers are followers of Christ and witnesses for Him, so God's children today can expect nothing less than persecution because their Master was persecuted and no less persecution and trial than the ancient worthies and the three Hebrew children met. As Christ was hated without cause, His people are hated without cause merely because they are obedient to the commandments of God and do His works instead of working directly contrary to them. However faultless their life and blameless their character, disciples can expect the same treatment given to Him who was pure, holy and undefiled, who did good and only good, yet was treated as a base criminal and condemned to death without a vestige of evidence.
The most bitter hatred comes not from the world who make no profession but from those who profess to be doing God service. Christ knew these trials would come through unconverted believers, and He gave His disciples words of encouragement and hope to strengthen them to stand firm.
This hostility belongs to the controversy between Christ and Satan that has continued since the fall, in which Satan catches away the seeds of truth and sows the tares. Because Satan knows Christ has purchased salvation for the whole world, he is determined to wrest every possible soul out of His hand. Satan's allies can wound Christ's followers, but their attacks cannot defeat the faithful cause they defend. Its presence reflects a great departure from Christ's principles that keeps the church in warfare and delays entry into the promised land until the gospel has been proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue and people.
All who prove loyalty by obedience to the law of Jehovah as God's distinct commandment-keeping people must be prepared to be arrested and brought before councils whose standard is not the high and holy law of God but stringent human laws inspired by Satan as manifested at the trial of Christ. There human enactments are exalted while God's holy enactments are despised and trampled underfoot. Their rejection of God is shown by persecuting people who obey God and do His works, so loyalty to God's law can bring arrest and unjust treatment under human laws that oppose it. This has proved a reality in the experience of all who have been loyal and true to God according to the light received, has appeared in past conflicts, and will be seen again in the closing work of God, which Christ foretold so His followers would remember His warning when it came to pass.
Discernment in God's Work
Those who have not known the Father nor the Son lack spiritual discernment concerning God's work. Because of that lack they cannot rightly judge God's work or determine what its workers should do. They cannot rightly judge the character or needs of that work, and they cannot rightly direct it. Their opposition to Christ's followers springs from this not knowing the Father or the Son.
To follow the counsel, suggestions, plans, or advice of such unbelievers weakens God's work. It weakens the means God uses to carry His work forward. Accepting such counsel sets Christ's counsel aside. God's workers must therefore follow the orders that come from above rather than the plans of unbelievers.