Suffering for the Lamb

Following Jesus requires the willingness to suffer for him. Enduring persecution is the highest honor imaginable for his disciples.

Retaliation and violence are not appropriate reactions to hostility for the disciple of Jesus. Instead, we must meet threats and assaults with humility, mercy, and forgiveness. This is what it means to “deny yourself,” “take up his cross,” and follow the Lamb “wherever he leads.” Doing good to our “enemies” is how we become “perfect as our Heavenly Father.”

[Crosses - Photo by Federico Tasin on Unsplash]

“Carrying the cross” is a fitting image of enduring unjust suffering for the sake of Jesus. When Roman authorities condemned a man to death by crucifixion, he was forced to carry the crossbeam on which his executioners would hang him to the place of execution, just as Jesus was forced to do. This cruel act served to further humiliate the condemned man:

• “Let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” – (Hebrews 12:1-2).

• “But if a man suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name” – (1 Peter 4:16).

In contrast to the ways of this world, Jesus taught his followers to “rejoice and leap for joy” whenever “men hate you, and reject you, and profane you, and treat your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.” Mistreated disciples are especially “blessed,” which is why they should “exult greatly” when persecuted, since “great is their reward in Heaven” - (Matthew 5:10-12).

By enduring trials faithfully, we emulate our Lord and Messiah. Just as his enemies abused him, so the enemies of the Cross oppress believers who dare to follow the teachings and example of Jesus.

Remaining faithful through persecutions and tribulations is how we overcome the “Great Red Dragon,” Satan, and his earthly vassals:

• “They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their life even unto death” – (Revelation 12:11).

After his Resurrection, Christ’s disciples took these instructions to heart. When Peter was hauled before the Sanhedrin and ordered to cease preaching, rather than surrender to anger or hatred, he went his way “rejoicing that he was counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name” - (Acts 5:41).

On another occasion, after being abused and imprisoned, Paul and Silas spent the night “praying and singing hymns to God” in their prison cell. They did not curse their persecutors or call down God’s wrath on their jailers - (Acts 16:23-25).

Jesus provided the ultimate example for us. As Isaiah prophesied:

• “The Servant was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.” He did not “wrangle or cry aloud, nor did anyone hear his voice in the streets. He did not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick” - (Isaiah 53:7).

Jesus the Nazarene was no violent political revolutionary!

CHRIST’S EXAMPLE

Jesus instructed us to “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.” He was the only truly righteous man who ever lived. If anyone deserved respect for his individual rights and life, he did. Instead, “the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” – (Mark 10:45).

Christ  “served” his people by suffering a horrific death for them. Not only so, but he chose to die for them when they were “yet enemies of God.” Conforming to this pattern is how we become “great” in his realm - (Matthew 20:28, Romans 5:10).

When an armed mob arrested Jesus, Peter drew his sword and “smote the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear,” but Jesus did the unexpected. Rather than flee or join Peter in defending his “rights,” he rebuked Peter and commanded him to sheathe his sword. He then healed the wounded man who was part of the very squad that was sent to arrest him - (John 18:10-12).

Interrogated, beaten, and reviled before the High Priest, Jesus reviled not in return. While dying on the Cross, he prayed for his Father to “forgive them, for they know not what they do” - (Matthew 27:39, Mark 15:32, Luke 23:34).

Opposition is something we should expect and endure faithfully. To suffer for Jesus is a great honor rather than a cause for anger and despair. Through loud protests and legal maneuvers, we may avoid persecution, but we will also rob ourselves of something of infinitely greater value than a comfortable life..

We think as this world does when we insist that men and governments must respect our inviolate civil rights, but this flies in the face of New Testament teachings on discipleship, mercy, humility, and suffering for the sake of Jesus and other men, including our enemies. 

If we wish to  follow Jesus, we must daily “take up his cross and follow him.” Failure to do so will make us unworthy of the “Kingdom of God.” To become "greatest" in God’s Kingdom, we must first become the “slave of all.”

• “Let this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus <…> He poured himself out, taking the form of a slave, having come to be in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name” – (Philippians 2:5-9).

• “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works” – (Titus 2:14).

In contrast to the ideologies of the present age, the Kingdom of God offers its citizens the far greater privilege of self-sacrificial service for others, and the very high honor of enduring insults, hatred, and even death because of Jesus.

The rewards for carrying the Cross of Christ will far outweigh any losses we may suffer in this present life.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Dragon's War - (Satan is the Great Red Dragon that attacks the Lamb by persecuting his followers, the men and women who have the Testimony of Jesus)

• The Coming War - (At the end of the age, Satan will wage his final war on the saints, the followers of the Lamb)

• Economic War - (The False Prophet employs economic pressure to coerce men and women to swear allegiance to the Beast from the Sea)

• Stand Fast! - (Believers prepare for the Apostasy and the coming Man of Lawlessness by standing firm in the apostolic tradition)