When Jesus looked down the course of history and prophesied earthquakes, famines, plagues and nations at war with each other, he also added a further major characteristic; the persecution of his followers. His accuracy with regard to such persecution through the ages is on a par with his accuracy on the other characteristics. Like them persecution does not in itself constitute a mark of the end of world history, but as with them we may anticipate a marked increase in the incidence of persecution as history reaches a conclusion.
In the book of Revelation there is a very graphic explanation of the dynamic behind this persecution (Rev. 12). John, the author, saw a Dragon ready to pounce on a child about to be born, a child who was to rule the nations (quite evidently Jesus). The child, however, was snatched away from the Dragon to the throne of God. The woman who gave birth to the child fled to the wilderness and was protected. The Dragon, however, made continuous war against her, and against the followers of her child. This is an astonishing prophetic vision of the historic persecution of the Jewish nation (the woman) and the Christian church. It is a persecution rooted in the struggle between Satanic forces and the Kingdom of God and his Christ. It would last throughout the ages, and could be expected to climax as the ages came to a close.
This prophecy explains a number of features evident in the persecution of Christians. It explains first why such persecution comes from every conceivable human “power base” on the earth. The “Prince of this World”, (as in effect Jesus described the Dragon), exerts his rule by force, fear and oppression from any religious, ideological, political base under his control, wherever that may be in the world. That control is widespread and where he exercises it persecution will come. The prophecy explains the dogged persistence of persecution throughout the ages. It explains the viciousness of it and the hatred that so often accompanies it. It explains why, as the gospel reaches more and more to the end of the earth, persecution is likely to escalate in extent and intensity. It explains why the church suffers so much persecution where it grows the fastest.
So, historically, we find that persecution attacked the Christian church from the very first, and from such diverse sources as the Jewish religious leadership and pagan Roman rulers. Even when Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire persecution raised its head in bitter in-fighting among Christians. The mediaeval Catholic Church degenerated into an appallingly oppressive political power base and became the perpetrator of unbelievably inhuman persecution against genuine spiritual Christianity. In modern times it is not simply other religions like Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism that have been the persecution centres, but, perhaps even more so, the secular ideological totalitarian dictatorships such as Russia and China.
The appalling widespread persecution of Christians across the world today is, therefore a remarkable endorsement of the prophetic scenario sketched out by Jesus for world history up to the end times. What has happened and what is happening is precisely as he foretold. However, despite the certainty it gives us of the ultimate triumph of the Kingdom and of the church of Christ, persecution remains very much part of the “beginnings of sorrows”, and it calls for much prayer for those most exposed to it.
There has never been a time of greater need for intercession for those suffering for the sake of the gospel. Thank God this is reflected in the fact that there are more agencies getting involved in such intercession than ever before. The church needs to take it to heart.
As a postscript, one might add that the prophetic vision from Revelation, pointing as it does at the constant attempt of the dragon to destroy the mother of the child born to rule has much to teach us concerning the nature of the vicious and persistent anti-Semitism that the world has witnessed down the ages, since that mother clearly personifies Israel.
Bob
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