In the reaction of the Jews to the healing of the man by the Pool of Bethesda, the Bible says:
“For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.”
John 5:16 NKJV
Yes, Jesus faced persecution for healing a man on the Sabbath day. He performed a miracle on a day when He was supposed to be resting. This was a serious violation of their religious law.
This was one of the many instances when Jesus had faced persecutions, during the three and a half years of His ministry on the earth. He was constantly on the move because of persecutions. Even as Jesus was always facing persecutions, He never allowed them to hold Him back from His Mission on the earth.
You may be experiencing a foretaste of what Jesus went through in His own country right now. He had to fight back constantly against the traditional religious leaders of His time. The miracles of Jesus became a hindrance, to their sway and influence over the people. The examples of Jesus are there for us to follow as we confront persecutions.
If Jesus had not healed the sick or delivered the captives, He would have been like one of the religious leaders of His time. They would have welcomed Him into their circle.
But He was different. He was not like them, so they persecuted Him. Jesus had to be different from them. Otherwise, He would not have been able to bring changes to us, that are still affecting our world today.
Every Christian who is living righteously will be persecuted. You will be persecuted for living right for Jesus. You’re not the only one who’s being persecuted. We all will face persecutions in one form or another. It’s nothing new! It’s been going on for as long as Christianity had existed.
So, pull yourself together and buckle up your belt of righteousness. Take it with joy, because the hand of the Lord is upon you.
However, we do have a duty to respond in reaction to the persecutions of fellow Christians worldwide. The enemy is targeting our faith in the world today, because he knows that the end is getting closer than ever before for him.
Jesus is our example in all things. And as His followers we need to be asking ourselves the question: “What would Jesus had done with all these persecutions that are going on everywhere today?”
Don’t let the enemy silence you.
The enemy’s plan is to silence the voice of every believer in Christ Jesus. But he has already failed, because we will never yield or succumb to his tactics of intimidation.
This is even more so since we do know that we had been made victorious over him already by the Blood of Jesus Christ.
We do know from the scriptures that the early believers were also persecuted. Christians in all ages had been persecuted. They were intimidated through forceful imprisonments, death threats and murders. Their houses were burnt down. They were deprived of their rights, lands and their families.
The enemy did all these things and much more with the aim of stopping them from preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christians had always been singled out and sought out for persecution. It is nothing new. There is nothing new in everything that the devil does.
But the scriptures tell us about the reaction of Peter and John to one of these threats, after they had just been commanded to stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ:
It says:
“But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Acts 4:19-20 NKJV
Peter and John would not be bordered by any of these threats. They were prepared to stand firm in the face of persecution. That was not the end of what they did in reaction to being persecuted.
The Bible says that after they left the religious leaders, they assembled all believers in Christ together, so as to seek the face of the Lord.
They did not cry or wail about it. It was not even the time for consultation with one another about what to do next. It was the moment of consultation with God through the Holy Spirit who lives inside of them.
The Bible says:
“And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.”
Acts 4:31-35 NKJV
The early Church grew in the face of persecution. The history of Church persecution reveals to us that, persecution has always brought unity into the Body of Christ. Instead of tearing Christians apart, it had always brought us together and stronger in a more powerful and fruitful way. This was what happened to the Church at Jerusalem.
Prosperity came to the early Church at Jerusalem with the persecution that was being experienced. Many more souls were being won into God’s Kingdom. Many were being healed. There were miracles taking place everywhere. Boldness came upon the believers in Christ like never before.
The devil wanted them to be quiet, but he ended up getting them more energized and better equipped so as to become more fruitful.
The Church grew in spiritual, numerical and structural strength as the new believers in Christ gained the favor of those living around them. The miracles, signs and wonders were outstanding. No one could deny them.
The testimony of Jesus was too powerful for those who were persecuting the Church. The growth of the early Church was unstoppable.
Are you facing some sort of persecution right now for doing the work of the Kingdom of God? Take a closer look at your response to it. You may be the one actually hindering yourself, from performing better with the full potential of God that is in your life.
So, take it with joy, and don’t ever allow the devil to see you sweat or worried as a result of it (James 1:2-4).
You therefore ought to be consulting with God about it, rather than consulting with men. He will reveal to you what He expects you to be doing in every step that you are taking.
Just keep on doing what the Lord tells you to be doing, because there is a bright light that will show you the way out as you keep on being faithful to Him.
The early Church refused to succumb to the threats to stop testifying about Jesus. The devil could not stop them. They stood up against the forces of darkness around them and prevailed. And you can do likewise today also.
In the face of the persecution, we saw that Peter and John actually counted it as a badge of honor, to had suffered persecution for being associated with Jesus.
The Bible says:
“ .. and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So, they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”
Acts 5:40b-42 NKJV
The persecution did not stop them. What have you suffered in comparison to what they went through?
Peter and John just continued doing what they had been doing before. They never allowed the threat of persecution to stop them. They had seen Jesus going through the same thing before. They were prepared to go through it also.
True believers in Christ don’t ever retreat in the face of persecution. No, it’s not what we do. True believers in Christ Jesus will keep on proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in the face of persecution.
They may lock you up in prison, but the prison has so many souls who are longing to hear you testify about Jesus to them. Many are sick in prisons who need the healing hand of Jesus to touch them through you. That’s why you are there.
In fact, Jesus showed us the perfect example concerning this, when He was once told that Herod was after His life. He immediately responded to the threat without even pausing to think about it.
The Bible says:
“On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You.” And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’ Nevertheless, I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.”
Luke 13:31-33 NKJV
What a powerful response from Jesus to the threat of persecution. Jesus would not allow the threat from Herod to take His eyes away, from the mission to be accomplished at Calvary. He would not allow a silly threat of persecution from Herod, to derail the plan of God for His life on the earth.
He went head-on after Herod in response to the murder threat from him. He showed us here what our reaction should always be, whenever opposition arises against the call of God over our lives.
The forces of opposition should be pushing us to re-fire in our zeal for the Lord, instead of cowering in fear to their threats.
So much at stake. Don’t give up.
There is a lot at stake before us today with the persecution of Christians worldwide. Your eternal destiny with God is at stake in this.
And if you’re not being persecuted, it’s just because you are not testifying about Jesus where you are. The devil loves the lukewarm Christians. They are not threatening to him at all.
The hosts of heaven are watching at your response to the persecution of your fellow Christians worldwide. They are waiting to react in response to the stand that you will decide to take in support of them.
The angels cannot get involved until you take a stand of faith along with them, through prayer or your testimony of Jesus to the unsaved around you. That’s how you identify with them in their persecution.
When the Church at Jerusalem was being persecuted, the believers chose to be holding prayer meetings, until they began spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere they went. They were not looking for ways to stop the persecution.
They were looking for ways to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ further in the midst of the persecution. They went forward to the end of the earth declaring that Jesus is Lord!
So don’t be waiting on God to do something for you during persecution, when God is actually waiting on you to put your faith to work in confronting it.
And if you are taking a stand, you’d better be sure that you’re firmly taking it; because the Lord will put the intent of your heart to test with the stand. Heaven will deploy all the resources that are needed to protect you, the moment you take a firm position against any threat to your freedom in Christ Jesus.
It’s absolutely ridiculous to forfeit eternity with God, because of the persecution from the enemy. We do know that he had already been defeated, because:
“He (Jesus) having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it”.
Colossians 2:14-15 NKJV
The devil is forever defeated. He had been made nothing to us, by the defeat which he suffered in the hand of Jesus. And we had been made more than conquerors in Christ Jesus (see Romans 8:31-39).
We however do have the Christian duty to enforce our victory in Christ Jesus, especially in the face of the opposition or the persecution.
If the opposition from Herod could not stop Jesus from accomplishing His mission on the earth, the Herodians of today’s world can’t stop you also.
But you do have to take a firm and solid stand against them. Taking no stand at all sends a wrong signal to the enemy that he’s winning against you. Whereas you do know that he is the looser.
The persecution of Stephen (see Acts 6:8-7:60) could not stop the early Church. On the contrary it aided the spread of the gospel all over Samaria and beyond. The same thing should be happening today.
The gospel goes further into new territories where it has never been preached before in the face of persecution. There are people groups, communities and nations that are yet to hear the gospel preached in the demonstration of the power of God’s Kingdom.
They need to see Jesus heal their sicknesses and deliver those in bondages to the devil among them. They are waiting for you to come and help them.
You see, the persecution can’t stop you; but it will take you further into new territories for you to win for Jesus. And as Jesus said:
“When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
Matthew 10:23 NKJV
Persecutions are meant to be helping you with the spread of the gospel. If you don’t bend to them, you will never bow or fail. Your faith as a child of God is more powerful than anything that the devil is throwing at you.
Taking a firm stand.
That’s why Jesus told us about what our reaction is supposed to be in the face of the persecution. He said:
“And by standing firm with patient endurance you will find your souls’ deliverance.”
Luke 21:19 TPT
By standing firm on the promises of God for your eternal salvation, healing, deliverance and prosperity on the earth, you will come out triumphantly. What does it mean to stand firm?
It means to be uncompromising about the promises of God to you. It means to be unyielding in the face of the pressures from within and outside, for you to compromise the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the moment to stand firm with your head up high, just as Daniel did. King Nebuchadnezzar had erected a golden image for everyone in his kingdom to bow down and worship before it. It was a plot by the enemies of Daniel to bring him down.
Daniel had been found to possess an excellent spirit. He had been able to do this by standing firm, on the promises of God with patient endurance. His ability to endure in the midst of persecution helped him to build up the excellent spirit in his life. He became the envy of others around him, to the extent that they could not find any fault in Daniel.
The Bible says:
“So, the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”
Daniel 6:4-5 NKJV
The enemies of Daniel plotted to persecute him. They wanted him dead.
So, they devised a scheme against him by pushing king Darius into making a decree, that no one should pray to any God for thirty days, except to him alone.
They were thinking of restricting Daniel from worshipping God. They were thinking of setting a trap for him, so as to kill him because anyone who broke the decree would be thrown into the den of lions.
Daniel stood firm. He was not even ready to consider the decree at all, since it violated his conscience before his God. It violated the commandment of God to him. The commandment of God was more important to Daniel than the king’s decree.
The Bible says in his reaction to the decree:
“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.”
Daniel 6:10 NKJV
Daniel did exactly what Jesus told us to do in reaction to persecution. They ended up throwing him into the den of lions, but the lions never touched him at all. Daniel was sleeping inside the den.
But it was King Darius who could not sleep. The king knew that the enemies of Daniel had deceived him into making the decree. He could not do anything to change it.
But because Daniel stood firm with patient endurance, the Lord sent His angel to protect him:
“Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”
Daniel 6:21-22 NKJV
Daniel was rescued and his enemies ended up being eaten by the lions in the den. God turned the very weapon of Daniel’s enemies against them. What was meant for the destruction of Daniel opened the door of the blessing into his life.
The Bible says:
“So, this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”
Daniel 6:28 NKJV
Instead of the persecution stopping Daniel, it brought the blessing of the Lord into his life. He was honored before everyone in the Kingdom by King Darius.
If you don’t bend, you won’t bow.
Your ability to trust in God’s promises more than ever before, and to be patient as you are enduring the persecution, will manifest greater things in your life.
There is a blessing that Jesus promised to those who are facing persecution. They have denied themselves of many things in this life. There is surely a reward waiting for them, not only in the world to come, but on this earth also.
Jesus put it like this:
.. “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Mark 10:29-30 NKJV
Everything that you have lost because of the spread of the gospel, is coming back to you in multiple folds. The persecution positions and qualifies you for the blessing of the Lord.
There are a lot of people who are panicking instead of just standing firm on the word of God during persecution. The devil has seen through the door of fear in defeating them.
This was how Peter reacted in the face of the storm, after Jesus told him to walk on the water.
The Bible says:
“But when Peter saw how strong the wind was, he was afraid and started sinking. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.”
Matthew 14:30 CEV
There are many people like Peter today who are only seeing the persecution around them. They are spiritually blind to the potentials of God in their lives. So, they can’t stand firm in the face of persecution.
The ability of the believer in Christ Jesus to stand on God’s promises, will cause him to experience great spiritual growth, especially in the face of the persecution.
Patience in the midst of it all will help him to build up a godly character within himself. Such a believer will begin to differentiate between what brings the blessing and what brings the curse.
He will begin to separate himself from the works of the flesh in his life, and the evil that may be surrounding him; because he knows by the Spirit of God in him, that the blessing is just around the corner.
When he is standing firm with patient endurance, he will become grounded and rooted in the word of God. He will be able to distinguish between the voice of his soul and his born-again spirit man. He will begin to grow in spiritual discernment, so as to recognize and separate the voice of the devil from the voice of God.
He is then able to recognize the devil’s subtle tactics of speaking to his mind with lies and deceptions (Revelation 12:9).
He is able to recognize the move of God during the persecution. He is then able to make smart decisions during the persecution, because God is leading and guiding him and not his flesh.
But if you don’t bend to pay attention to his lies and deceptions, you will not bow. The Lord is your strength and refuge. He is there with you. He will lift you up and get you out into a higher position.
And you will keep on going in the strength of the Lord, winning new territories for the Lord in the demonstration of the power of His Kingdom.
