Preparation To Face Persecution

AFTER instructing his apostles in methods of carrying out the preaching work, Jesus warns them about opposers. He says: "Look! I am sending you forth as sheep amidst wolves . . .Be on your guard against men; for they will deliver you up to local courts, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. Why, you will be haled before governors and kings for my sake."

Despite the severe persecution his followers will face, Jesus reassuringly promises: "When they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what you are to speak; for what you are to speak will be given you in that hour; for the ones speaking are not just you, but it is the spirit of your Father that speaks by you.

"Further," Jesus continues, "brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise up against parents and will have them put to death." He adds: "You will be objects of hatred by all people on account of my name; but he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved."

The preaching work is of primary importance. For this reason Jesus emphasizes the need for discretion in order to remain free to carry out the work. "When they persecute you in one city, flee to another," he says, "for truly I say to you, you will no means complete the circuit of the cities of Israel until the Son of man arrives."

It is true that Jesus gave this instruction, warning and encouragement to his 12 apostles, but it was also meant for those who would share in the worldwide preaching after his death and resurrection. This is shown by his saying that his disciples would be 'hated by all people,' not just by the Israelites to whom the apostles were sent to preach. Further, the apostles evidently were not haled before governors and kings when Jesus sent them out on their short preaching campaign. Moreover, believers were not then delivered up to death by family members.

So when saying that his disciples would not complete their circuit of preaching "until the Son of man arrives," Jesus was prophetically telling us that his disciples would not complete the circuit of the entire inhabited earth with the preaching about God's established Kingdom before the glorified King Jesus Christ would arrive as Jehovah's executional officer at Armageddon.

Next time: Conclusion of Preparation To Face Persecution

The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived, 1991