Green Baggins

Matthew 10:17-23

Audio Version

When the emperor Valens threatened Eusebuis with confiscation of all his goods, torture, banishment, or even death, the courageous Christian replied, “He needs not fear confiscation, who has nothing to lose; nor banishment, to whom heaven is his country; nor torments, when his body can be destroyed at one blow; nor death, which is the only way to set him at liberty from sin and sorrow.” And hear this poem by Amy Carmichael, a bit overstated, but with important truth nevertheless: “Hast thou no scar? No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand? I hear thee sung as mighty in the land, I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star, Hast thou no scar? Hast thou no wound? Yet I was wounded by the archers, spend, Leaned Me against a tree to die; and rent By ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned: Hast thou no wound? No wound, no scar? Yet, as the Master shall the servant be, And, pierced are the feet that follow Me; But thine are whole: can he have followed far Who has no wounds nor scar?” What Jesus says to His disciples is true of us as well. True followers of Jesus will be persecuted in some fashion in their lifetime. It was probably worse for Jesus’ twelve disciples than it will ever be for us, although there are no guarantees. The point of what Jesus is saying here is that Jesus is with them in the midst of persecution, and therefore they should take courage, and be wise.

Jesus says that the disciples are to be on their guard. This implies that the disciples should flee persecution if they can do so. Persecution and the so-called martyr complex are not good things. They are evil things. Jesus implies that when He says that it is on His account. The same kind of people who would kill Jesus and hand Him over are the same kind of people who will persecute the disciples. There will be corporal punishment: flogging was an immensely painful punishment that involved a whip of several strands of leather, or sometimes even bits of metal attached to the ends of the leather. Jewish law required that 40 lashes be the maximum penalty. Being good Pharisees, they didn’t want to run the risk of going beyond that, so they usually made it 39 lashes. Paul received the “40 minus 1” five times in his life.

It is important for us in our day and age to be aware of the persecuted church, and to be praying for those who are being persecuted. Ray Vander Laan, who does the video series that we saw for family night last year, said that when the persecuted church suffers, we all suffer, even if the suffering does not directly affect us. We are all part of the same body of Christ. Even if we may be a leg, and it is the arm that suffers, the leg feels it too. I’m sure you know well that if one part of you hurts, then that’s just about all that the body can think about at the time.

Jesus tells us not to worry about what we might have to say if we are arrested for being a Christian. The Lord will give us what to say. This verse has sometimes been twisted to mean that the preacher never needs to prepare what he is going to say. He should just rest on the Lord that the Lord will give him what he needs to say, and that he should’nt prepare at all. Well, that is not what this passage is teaching. This teaching is talking about being arrested for the Christian faith. What is happening is that the people who are being arrested are worrying about what to say. They wonder if they will have the words that will be honoring to God when crunch time comes. Jesus assures such people that they will have the words to say. It will be at that time that the Spirit will work in that person’s life so that they will have the words to say. Don’t worry about that. Only be concerned with being faithful to God in the times of persecution.

The persecution can often be fierce. Brother betrays brother, even to death, and family relationships are torn apart. Christianity divides people. It is also true that Christians are united together. However, Christianity also divides. How many families since the beginning of the New Testament era have been torn apart by a non-Christian rejecting the Christian! This is the best illustration of the fact that all men will hate Christians because of Jesus. All men, including family. But Jesus states that those who stand firm to the end will be saved. Briefly, how are we to understand this verse? Scripture uses the word “salvation” to mean two basic things: the moment of conversion, and the whole of the Christian life. Jesus plainly means the latter here.

Verse 23 has been described by many people as the most difficult verse in the entire New Testament, as to its meaning. If Jesus is talking about the Second Coming, then we have the problem that He was talking to His disciples. If we say that Jesus is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., then we have the problem that Jesus hasn’t mentioned anything about such a judgment anywhere in the context. I think that Boice says something very reasonable when he says that we ought to understand it as a general principle that we will always have work to do, and that we will never finish all that could be accomplished before Christ comes. I agree, and I think the passage has three main applications. Christ “came” at His resurrection. In that sense the disciples did not finish going through the cities of Israel before Christ was resurrected. Secondly, it could also apply to the destruction of Jerusalem. This would be Christ coming in judgment. Thirdly, it can also apply to Christ’s Second Coming. We will not finish our work before Christ comes again. That should not discourage us. It should rather encourage us, since we know that times are urgent, and therefore we should work hard. But also, Christ is not going to delay His coming if we do not get absolutely everything done that we might have gotten done.

So, the principles that we can glean from this are these: persecution will come. We can count on that. We should not pursue persecution, nor should we be afraid of persecution. Jesus is going to say just a little bit later that we are to fear God rather than men, since men cannot kill our souls. No matter how badly the persecution gets, we can be assured that it will never take our soul. Our soul is safely in the hands of Almighty God. Secondly, do not worry about what you will say if you are arrested. It might very well happen one day, you know. America is becoming less and less a Christian nation, and more and more pagan and atheistic. The Spirit gives special help to those who are persecuted. You need not worry about that. Only be faithful. Thirdly, pray for the persecuted church that they will hold fast and seal with their blood what they teach with their lips, as John Hus said of himself. Fourthly, and lastly, our work is to share the good news of Christ crucified to every last tongue and nation. We should be encouraged to that work by the idea of Christ’s Second Coming, not discouraged by it.