Persecution
1) Christ suffered persecution:
Ps 69:26
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of
those whom thou hast wounded.
Joh 5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute
Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath
day.
2) Christ voluntarily submitted to persecution:
Isa 50:6 I
gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I
hid not my face from shame and spitting.
3) Christ was patient under
persecution:
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he
opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
4) Saints
may expect persecution:
Mr 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now
in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and
lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
Lu 21:12 But
before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you,
delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before
kings and rulers for my name's sake.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said
unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me,
they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours
also.
5) Saints suffer persecution for the sake of God:
Jer
15:15 ¶ O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my
persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I
have suffered rebuke.
6) Persecution of saints, is a persecution of
Christ:
Zec 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he
sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth
the apple of his eye.
Ac 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice
saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Ac 9:5 And he said, Who
art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard
for thee to kick against the pricks.
7) All that live godly in Christ,
shall suffer persecution:
2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
8) Persecution originates in
your persecutors from:
8a) Ignorance of God and Christ:
Joh 16:3 And these things will
they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
8b)
Hated to God and Christ:
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto
you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours
also.
Joh 15:24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man
did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my
Father.
8c) Hatred to the gospel:
Mt 13:21 Yet hath he not root in
himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth
because of the word, by and by he is offended.
8d) Pride:
Ps 10:2
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the
devices that they have imagined.
8e) Mistaken zeal:
Ac 13:50 But
the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the
city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of
their coasts.
Ac 26:9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many
things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Ac 26:10 Which thing I also
did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having
received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I
gave my voice against them.
Ac 26:11 And I punished them oft in every
synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against
them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
9)
Persecution is inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel:
Mt 26:52 Then
said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that
take the sword shall perish with the sword.
10) Men by nature addicted
to persecution:
Ga 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh
persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
11)
Preacher of the gospel subject to persecution:
Ga 5:11 And I, brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the
offence of the cross ceased.
12) Persecution is sometimes to
death:
Ac 22:4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and
delivering into prisons both men and women.
13) God forsakes not his
saints under persecution:
2Co 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast
down, but not destroyed;
14) God delivers out of
persecution:
Da 3:25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose,
walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the
fourth is like the Son of God.
Da 3:28 ¶ Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said,
Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel,
and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's
word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god,
except their own God.
2Co 1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and
doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
2Ti 3:11
Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra;
what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered
me.
15) Persecution cannot separated from Christ:
Ro 8:35 Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
16) Lawful
means may be used to escape persecution:
Mt 2:13 ¶ And when they were
departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying,
Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou
there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy
him.
Mt 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another:
for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel,
till the Son of man be come.
Mt 12:14 ¶ Then the Pharisees went out, and held
a council against him, how they might destroy him.
Mt 12:15 But when Jesus
knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and
he healed them all;
17) Saints suffering persecution should:
17a) Commit themselves to God:
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that
suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in
well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
17b) Exhibit patience:
1Co
4:12 And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being
persecuted, we suffer it:
17c) Rejoice:
Mt 5:12 Rejoice, and be
exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the
prophets which were before you.
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may
be glad also with exceeding joy.
17d) Glorify God:
1Pe 4:16 Yet if
any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God
on this behalf.
17e) Pray for deliverance:
Ps 7:1 ¶ <> O
LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me,
and deliver me:
Ps 119:86 All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute
me wrongfully; help thou me.
17f) Pray for those who inflict
persecution:
Mt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you;
17g) Return blessing for
persecution:
Ro 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse
not.
18) The hope of future blessedness supports under
persecution:
1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we
are of all men most miserable.
1Co 15:32 If after the manner of men I have
fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let
us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
Heb 10:34 For ye had compassion of me
in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves
that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
Heb 10:35 Cast not
away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of
reward.
19) Blessedness of enduring persecution for Christ's
sake:
Mt 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness'
sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Lu 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men
shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall
reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's
sake.
20) Pray for those suffering persecution:
2Th 3:2 And
that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not
faith.
21) Hypocrites cannot endure persecution:
Mt 4:17 From
that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
22) False teachers shrink from persecution:
Ga 6:12
As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be
circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ.
23) The wicked:
23a) Addicted to persecution:
Ps 10:2 The wicked in his pride
doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have
imagined.
Ps 69:26 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they
talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
23b) Active in
persecution:
Ps 143:3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath
smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as
those that have been long dead.
La 4:19 Our persecutors are swifter than the
eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us
in the wilderness.
23c) Encourage each other in persecution:
Ps
71:11 Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none
to deliver him.
23d) Rejoice in its success:
Ps 13:4 Lest mine
enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when
I am moved.
Re 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over
them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two
prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
23e) Punishment for
persecution:
Ps 7:13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of
death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
2Th 1:6 Seeing it is
a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you;
23f) Illustrated:
Mt 21:33 ¶ Hear another parable: There was a
certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and
digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and
went into a far country:
Mt 21:34 And when the time of the fruit drew near,
he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of
it.
Mt 21:35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed
another, and stoned another.
Mt 21:36 Again, he sent other servants more than
the first: and they did unto them likewise.
Mt 21:37 But last of all he sent
unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
Mt 21:38 But when the
husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let
us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
Mt 21:39 And they caught
him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
24)
Spirit of persecution exemplified:
24a) Pharaoh &c:
Ex 1:8 ¶ Now there arose up a new king over
Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
Ex 1:9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the
people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
Ex 1:10 Come
on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that,
when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight
against us, and so get them up out of the land.
Ex 1:11 Therefore they did
set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for
Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
Ex 1:12 But the more they
afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because
of the children of Israel.
Ex 1:13 And the Egyptians made the children of
Israel to serve with rigour:
Ex 1:14 And they made their lives bitter with
hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the
field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with
rigour.
24b) Saul:
1Sa 26:18 And he said, Wherefore doth my lord
thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in mine
hand?
24c) Jezebel:
1Ki 19:2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto
Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life
as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.
24d) Zedekiah
&c:
Jer 38:4 Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech
thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men
of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking
such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but
the hurt.
Jer 38:5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand:
for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.
Jer 38:6 Then took
they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech,
that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And
in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the
mire.
24e) Chaldeans:
Da 3:8 ¶ Wherefore at that time certain
Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.
Da 3:9 They spake and said to the
king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever.
Da 3:10 Thou, O king, hast made a
decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp,
sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and
worship the golden image:
Da 3:11 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth,
that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Da 3:12
There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of
Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded
thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set
up.
Da 3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the
king.
Da 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden
image which I have set up?
Da 3:15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye
hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and
all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well:
but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a
burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my
hands?
Da 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the
king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Da
3:17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning
fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Da 3:18 But
if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Da 3:19 ¶ Then was
Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they
should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be
heated.
Da 3:20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to
bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery
furnace.
Da 3:21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and
their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the
burning fiery furnace.
Da 3:22 Therefore because the king's commandment was
urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that
took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Da 3:23 And these three men,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning
fiery furnace.
Da 3:24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up
in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men
bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O
king.
Da 3:25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the
midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the
Son of God.
Da 3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning
fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants
of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.
Da 3:27 And the princes,
governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together,
saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their
head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed
on them.
Da 3:28 ¶ Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his
servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded
their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own
God.
Da 3:29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and
language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill:
because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
Da 3:30 Then
the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of
Babylon.
24f) Pharisees:
Mt 12:14 ¶ Then the Pharisees went out,
and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
24g)
Jews:
Joh 5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to
slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
1Th 2:15 Who
both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and
they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
24h) Herod:
Ac
12:1 ¶ Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex
certain of the church.
24i) Gentiles:
Ac 14:5 And when there was an
assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to
use them despitefully, and to stone them,
24j) Paul:
Php 3:6
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless.
1Ti 1:13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor,
and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in
unbelief.
25) The suffering of persecution
exemplified:
25a) Micaiah:
1Ki 22:27 And say, Thus saith the king, Put this
fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of
affliction, until I come in peace.
25b) David:
Ps 119:161 ¶ SCHIN.
Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy
word.
25c) Jeremiah:
Jer 32:2 For then the king of Babylon's army
besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the
prison, which was in the king of Judah's house.
25d) Daniel:
Da 6:5
Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except
we find it against him concerning the law of his God.
Da 6:6 ¶ Then these
presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him,
King Darius, live for ever.
Da 6:7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the
governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted
together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever
shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he
shall be cast into the den of lions.
Da 6:8 Now, O king, establish the
decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of
the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
Da 6:9 Wherefore king Darius
signed the writing and the decree.
Da 6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the
writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his
chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and
prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
Da 6:11 ¶ Then
these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his
God.
Da 6:12 Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the
king's decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a
petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be
cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true,
according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
Da 6:13
Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the
children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree
that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.
Da 6:14
Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and
set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of
the sun to deliver him.
Da 6:15 Then these men assembled unto the king, and
said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is,
That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.
Da
6:16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den
of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest
continually, he will deliver thee.
Da 6:17 And a stone was brought, and laid
upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with
the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning
Daniel.
25e) Peter &c:
Ac 4:3 And they laid hands on them, and
put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.
25f)
Apostles:
Ac 5:18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in
the common prison.
25g) The Prophets:
Ac 7:52 Which of the prophets
have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before
of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and
murderers:
25h) The Church:
Ac 8:1 ¶ And Saul was consenting unto
his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church
which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the
regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
25i) Paul and
Barnabas:
Ac 13:50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable
women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and
Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.
25j) Paul and
Silas:
Ac 16:23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast
them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
25k)
Hebrews:
Heb 10:33 Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by
reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that
were so used.
25l) Saints of old:
Heb 11:36 And others had trial of
cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment:
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