Matthew 10:17, 21-22 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to
the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues.
21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the
children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to
death.
22 And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake: but he that
endures to the end
shall be saved.
The greatest persecution will not come from non-Christians. They just aren’t that interested in us. The persecution will come from other Christians, people who believe to be serving the Lord. It has always been that way - brother delivering up brother.
It was the Pharisees who persecuted Christ. During the rise of the Reformation, it was the Roman Catholic Church that persecuted those whom the Lord was using to bring revival, men like Martin Luther and John Calvin. When the Holiness movement began under John and Charles Wesley, it was the Lutherans, Calvinists, and others like them that persecuted it. When the Pentecostal movement started, it was persecuted by the Holiness and mainline denominational churches. Later when God began restoring the ministry of apostles and prophets to the church, it was the Pentecostals who persecuted it the most. And the persecution that comes against us in this day will come from those who have walked with God up to a certain point, and said, “This is as far as we are going and no farther.” Whenever God stirred men’s hearts to move into more of Him it was always those of the previous move that opposed it.
Anyone whose dedication to God is limited is a candidate for being opposed to those who are not limited in their dedication. That’s easily understood because half-heartedness is exposed by dedication. If you are not limited in your dedication, if you love the Lord and want to grow and walk with him, those who are limited in their dedication will hate you. The Christ in you shines a light on what they are. You don’t have to do or say anything; it just happens. Christians will hate you, because what you are will expose what they are. Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. Matthew 10:26.
Copyright © 2005 by Henry DuBose