Persecution for the Witness

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8.

Giving witness to the truth of the Law formed an essential part of the Judeo-Christian faith. In later Judaism, however, witness to the truth became associated with a readiness to die for that truth. For example, in the Apocrypha we read that the priest Eleazar was prepared to die a glorious death for the holy laws when confronted with an order from King Antiochus’s officials to perform sacrifice (2 Maccabees 6:24-28).

In the Old Testament, the people of Israel were the primary witnesses, but the prophets in a special sense were witnesses with a special commission. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5.

In the New Testament the Church was the witness that was to take the Gospel to the whole world, but like the prophets, the apostles were special witnesses, since they were witnesses not only to Christ’s teaching and works, but also from their own personal experience of His Resurrection. And, they received special authority from Christ, who Himself was the ultimate Witness.

In the Johannine literature (Gospel of John) we get the sense of missionary witness to the truth by Jesus and His disciples. For example, when responding to Pilate, Jesus said, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” John 18:37. Furthermore, John gives us the clear sense that this witness was sealed in “water and blood.”

“Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe” John 19:34-35.

“For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.” 1 John 5:8.

When Jesus ascended, the witness continued through the Spirit of God and the Spirit bore witness concerning Christ and spoke through the mouths of Christians in their hour of crisis. The sacrificial and expiating nature of Christ’s death, and those of the prophets, is vividly expressed in Hebrews, where we are told Christians are to: “resist unto blood” striving against sin. (12:4).

Not long after Jesus’ ascension, persecution arose against both Jews and Gentiles, with the result that many of those who bore faithful witness experienced physical attacks and even death. Deacon Stephen and James, the brother of John were two of the earliest witnesses who suffered the extreme penalty for witnessing Christ. Of course, others followed including the Apostles Peter and Paul and many of lesser fame. Those who so suffered became “witnesses” to Christ in a special sense which led the Church to accord them a special place in its tradition; these are they who had given the ultimate by faithful obedience unto death.

We know that during this period, the profession of Christianity was illegal and Christians were subject to execution at any time. Christians became increasingly hated by the urban mobs in cities where Christian communities had become established. Thus, by the end of the second century, as the early witnesses to the faith sealed with their own blood their testimony, the suffering, witness, judgment and ultimate triumph merged together in the single concept of martyrdom. Witnessing to Christ’s Gospel, imitation of His passion and apocalyptic hopes all formed part of the martyr’s aspiration.

In Revelation, the idea of martyrdom was fairly well developed. Apostle John, the only apostle who allegedly escaped a violent death, records Christians had gained victory because of the “blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (12:11).

Detailed Acts of the Martyrs in the form of letters of survivors to other churches are preserved by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History . It records the martyrdoms of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna and of the terrible fate of the Christians at Lyons who were scourged, branded, and taken to the amphitheater to “entertain” the crowd during a Roman holiday by being thrown to wild beasts. It also details the tremendous faith and martyrdom of the slave girl Blandina who endured terrible torture rather than betray fellow Christians. The Ecclesiastical History form one of the amazing epics of early Christianity.

From the time Christ was sent to the cross, there began the persecution of Christians which will never end until His coming again. Christ Himself told us: “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” John 15:20.

Persecution of Christians continues to show compelling evidence of its existence today.

It is a well-known and enduring characteristic of the Church of Christ: it is a Church of Martyrs and every true Christian who takes the stand: live or die, survive or perish, for the faith will suffer persecution in some form. There is no such thing as Christians without physical, spiritual, or emotional battle scars, marks of the crucifixion.

Some of us living in a country with freedom of religion may not be aware of the Christian persecution and martyrdom taking place in other countries today. According to Paul Marshall, in his book, Their Blood Cries Out , millions of Christians around the world suffer imprisonment, abuse and even death because of their faith. Many Americans are not aware of their horror stories.

Yet, we do know that it cost heavily to be a disciple of Christ. It will cost us some marks, some scars, even death. There Are No Exemptions. All soldiers in the army of the Lord are at risk of becoming a causality of war. Christ did not invite us to an excursion but an execution, death to ourselves, death to sin, death to the world and death for our faith. He challenged us to take up our cross, let the dead bury the dead, cut off offending eyes or hands or feet and let’s go fishing for men. In this world, we will suffer persecution and tribulations. The kind of service that does not cost anything is not worth anything for His Kingdom.

We ought to have some deep scars, some physical, psychological or spiritual wounds of war inflicted by a hostile and resistant world.

- Joseph's brothers hated him and sold him into slavery.
- Daniel's fellow governors hated him and attempted to kill him.
- The priests of baal hated Elijah and Jezebel swore to kill him.
- David’s own son plotted to kill him.
- Herodias hated John the Baptist and precipitated his beheading.
- The Pharisees and the Judaizers hated Paul with a burning passion and forty men took an oath they would fast until they saw Paul dead.

Jesus was public enemy number one in His day. But He refused to compromise, appease, conciliate, popularize. I hope we remember that the next time we so smugly sing:

To that old rugged cross I will ever be true,
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;

Though the argument has circulated that times are better now, humanity more civil and the church is in better standing so that we need not suffer as our forerunners. The truth is that times were never darker. Never has Satan been in fuller control. Christians are an alien influence and a minority group in an evil and pagan world. If we, the Church, the Body of Christ, are acceptable to this present age, then may God have mercy on us all.

Stephen the first Christian Martyr, as he was being stoned to death by the Pharisees:

“Forgive them Lord, they don't know what they do. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”  

James, the brother of John, the first apostle to suffer after the martyrdom of Stephen.  His arrester was so moved with compassion that as John went to his execution; he stepped forward and confessed to be a Christian of his own accord. As they were led to the chopping block the man begged John’s forgiveness. John turned to him and said, “Peace be to thee, brother;” and kissed him. Both were beheaded together, A.D. 36. 

Polycarp gives his famous response -- “Eighty and six years have I now served Christ, and he has never done me the least wrong: How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”

Henry Vos, “If I had twin heads, they should all be off for Christ.”

Castilla Rupea, “Though you throw my body down off this steep hill, yet will my soul mount upwards again.”

John Buisson, “I shall have a double jail delivery: out of my sinful flesh and out of the loathsome dungeon I have long lain in.”

Carpenter, “All Bavaria is not as dear to me as my wife and children, but, for Christ’s sake, I gladly forsake them.”

John Huss, pastor of Prague, was arrested, condemned, and sentenced to be burned by a church council in 1415, prayed, “In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed.”

“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.” Revelation 6:9-10.

Credits

W. H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church

Herbert Musurillo, Acts of the Christian Martyrs