Jesus the Light 35 Suffering 2
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial among you, Which comes upon you for your testing, As though some strange thing happened to you 1 Pet.4:12
If the Master is maligned as Beelzebub, the members of His house must fare even worse at the hands of men [Mt.10:25]. Jn.15:20: “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”
There is nothing strange, then, about Peter and John being arrested and flogged [Acts 5:17,18,40] nor that Stephen was stoned to death [Acts 7:58]. It was the same high priest and council that had crucified their Lord that was responsible for their own afflictions.
They, like their Lord, spoke the truth without compromise and testified to the religious world that its deeds were evil. They also set aside as the worthless rubbish it is, the man-made traditions of men. And they were hated because of it.
Conformity to Christ’s character necessarily results in partaking of His sufferings. The two are inseparable. 2 Tim.3:12: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Fiery trials are therefore not a strange thing, but follow expectedly as a consequence of godliness.
They arise from wicked men but are sent by the hand of God accompanied by the Spirit of glory and of God. 1 Pet.4:14: “If you are insulted for the Name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”
We should not be ashamed to be reviled for the name of Christ and suffer for uprightness. 1 Pet.4:16: “If anyone suffers as a Christian, his is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this Name.” Men may malign and mistreat while casting shame and slander upon the righteous; but it is no cause to be ashamed.
Rather, it is cause to glory, to rejoice, and to be exceedingly glad. Mt.5:11,12: “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because your reward is great in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Such response demands the spiritual reality evident in a Paul who witnessed that he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” -2 Cor.6:10. Will fiery trial turn us from the appointed path?
Job 2:4: “Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.” So says Satan. What do you say? What said three young Hebrew men?
Dan.3:17,18: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace…but if not, be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods.”
God is able…but if He does not…we will not. Their devotion did not depend upon deliverance. Rescued or not, to them, God must be honored, truth upheld, and faith rest unwavering. This is the unyielding allegiance of true consecration.
God is to be glorified as God without rival or compromise though Self perish in the process. All of the workings of truth flow to this end. It is why we are tried by fire.
It is why we exult in our tribulations. They produce perseverance and that tested character which issues in hope [Rom.5:3-5]. The godly quality of life resulting from enduring afflictions lends confidence to the soul of its eventual conformity to Christ’s image. That is hope: a hope born in the fire and fanned into a flame of light by the winds of adversity. It is truth and righteousness upheld that are the provocations to heat the furnace seven times hotter and cast the godly therein.
Fiery trials ensue when we are unashamed of Christ and His Words in the midst of a sinful and adulterous generation [Mk.8:38]. This, no Nebuchadnezzar can endure.
Cains will arise against the Abels of the land. Pharaohs will increase their afflictions upon the Israel of God who refuse to compromise divine decrees. Testifying the good confession before the Pilates of this world ushers one to Golgotha’s brow. And craftsmen of Diana’s shrines will riot against gospel light.
Suffering for the sake of truth embraced is the portion of the godly in all generations. Heb11:25,26 says Moses chose “to suffer affliction with the people of God. He regarded abuse suffered for Christ greater riches than the treasure in Egypt.”
Heb.11:35: “Others were tortured, not accepting release, that they might obtain a better resurrection.” Time would fail us to recount the histories of the men whom, valiant for truth, the world was not worthy of [Heb.11:36-38].
Suffice it to say that Paul kept the faith, though at his first trial “no one stood with me, but all deserted me” -2 Tim.4:17. Peter and Apostles, though maliciously imprisoned and beaten said: “We must obey God rather than men” -Acts 5:29. John partook of tribulation on Patmos’ Isle because of “the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus” -Rev.1:9. And our Lord Jesus Christ “for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, disregarding the shame” -Heb.12:2.
But what shall we do when persecution and suffering meet us? 1 Pet.2:19-23 answers this. “This finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God, someone endures hardships in suffering unjustly. If when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”
Love of truth issues in salvation of those who embrace it [2 Thess.2:10]. At the same time, though, it also issues in persecution from those who do not love it.
Jn.15:19: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.”
Cowardly compromise of the way of righteousness does not gain what we imagine it will. Rather, out of fear to displease any, we offend all. The righteous will pity and pray for us. The unrighteous we are trying to satisfy will only despise us all the more because we were willing to abandon what we claim to believe.
No matter what you do in this life, you will suffer. No person can escape it. Best to suffer for doing what is right than for what is evil. Either way, you will suffer.
But something happens when we stand stalwart and immovable and refuse to bow the knee at Babylonian shrines. The world rises up in haste when it sees One like the Son of God with us in the flames [Dan.3:24,25].
A testimony is established in the furnace. But we must not shrink from the fire if we would have Christ meet us therein. It is there that it becomes evident to all that it is God, and not Self, that we serve.
Brethren, don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing. It is no strange thing. Suffering is our expected portion in this world, but Christ will be with us if we stand erect when Babylon’s notes compel our prostration.
1 Pet.5:10: “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
Copyright Steve Phillips 2020