Please read and re-read the teaching that Jesus Christ gave to his disciples prior to his death, resurrection and ascension:
John 15: 18 – 21
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. (John 15: 18 -21)
John 16: 1 – 4
“All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you. (John 16: 1-4)
In these two passages, we are given four reasons for the hatred and persecution of Christians.
1. No servant is greater than his master
‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.’ (15:18) ‘No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.’ (15:20)
2. Christians do not belong to the world
‘If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.’ (15:19)
(Not the world of nature but the world of people in their rebellion against and alienation from God the Father of Jesus Christ, organised under the power of evil.)
3. The persecutors do not know the Father or the Son
‘They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me’ (15:21)
‘They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.’ (16:3)
4. Those who kill Christians will think they are doing God a service
‘In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.’ (16:2)
We should not be surprised at the prevailing hatred and persecution of Christians which is taking place throughout the world, because the above teaching of Jesus Christ comes to us as a CLEAR WARNING (see 16: 4)
For more information on this subject, contact www.opendoors.org and www.barnabasfund.org
