Throughout the nearly two millennia of its existence, the church of Jesus Christ has been no stranger to suffering.
The clash of truth with error, of the kingdom of light with the kingdom of darkness, and of the children of God with the children of the devil inevitably results in severe conflict.
Opposition, rejection, ostracism, scorn, contempt, persecution, even martyrdom have been the lot of believers through the centuries.
That the evil world system vents its fury on the church should surprise no one, for that is how it treated the Lord Jesus Christ. Describing the persecution His followers would experience, Jesus pointed out the axiomatic truth,
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master.
If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!” (Matt. 10:24–25).
Centuries before His birth, Isaiah predicted that Christ would be “despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). The apostle John noted His rejection by the sinful world:
“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:10–11). Jesus plainly told the disciples that He was going to suffer and be killed.
Matthew 16:21 records that “Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (cf. 17:12; Mark 8:31; 9:12; Luke 9:22; 17:25; 22:15; 24:26, 46; Acts 1:3; 3:18; 17:3; 26:23; Heb. 2:10, 18; 5:8; 13:12; 1 Peter 1:11; 2:21, 23; 4:1; 5:1).
Unable to attack Jesus after His ascension, the enemies of the truth assaulted His followers. Stung by its phenomenal growth, the Jewish authorities desperately and futilely tried to stamp out the newly formed church.
Acts 4:1–3 records that as [Peter and John] were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.
