Kingdom Come

“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:” (II Timothy 2:12)

“As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” (Acts 8:1-4)

Saul / Paul exemplifies for all who claim to witness of the Christ by bearing his name / identity that this entails suffering, and a self-sacrificing love for people whatever ethnicity they may be, however much they may have harmed us.

“he is a chosen vessel / messianic one unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel…great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15-16)

“there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up…Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:19-22)

“Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 3:17-20)

As the author of the vast majority of the letters to the churches, Paul rightly exhorts members of the body of Christ to follow his lead. Those who merge their identity in YHVH’s Savior’s death and resurrection to spiritual life have the same purpose in this life – to bear personal witness of transformation using the eternal truth in scripture regarding freedom from sin’s destruction in this life and resurrection to eternal life to come.

Trust me, even as a secular psychiatric provider I can assure you that people do not like hearing that they, themselves – not society or their partner or their mother – are responsible for their misery, and that they themselves need to change in order to fix their problems.

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know [identify with] not him that sent me.” (John 15:18-21)

Regardless of the differences in false doctrines, there is one single common denominator that underlies every one, every time. It is defined in this passage as refusing to suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Nobody can deny the persecution that all the apostles did in fact experience, including suffering and martyrdom, and that their Christ-likeness is what spread the Gospel through the known world.

They were killed because they claimed to be eyewitnesses of Christ’s death and resurrection. They all died because of an unwavering, unrelenting claim that Christ rose from the grave…This article doesn’t cover all the evidence so you might want to check out 14 Evidences for the Resurrection of Jesus and 14 References.

The gruesome death of the apostles…is one of the greatest gifts God ever gave to the Church. It contributes much to Christian apologetics by answering the question “How can you be sure of the resurrection of Christ?”

“Then shall they deliver you [Christ’s followers] up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another…And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:9-14)

What we find when we don’t just hop and skip over Bible passages like a Chinese menu, choosing only the ones we like, is that ALL followers of YHVH’s Savior are called to witness of the resurrection of Christ through our faith that we too will be resurrected. And the greatest evidence of our faith in resurrection to a higher quality of life is our willingness to give up the lesser, though admittedly valued, benefits of this life, to be despised, rejected by family and friends, to lose our self-importance to identify with YHVH and his Savior, even to die if called to follow in that path.

“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And…became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him…to become the sons of God…we are the children of God:…if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Hebrews 5:7-8, John 1 :12, Romans 8:16-18)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ…unto the church of God which is at Corinth…Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;” (II Corinthians 1:1-10)

“I would ye should understand, brethren, that…unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.” (Philippians 1:12-30)

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” (I Peter 5:8-10)

“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an [even just one] ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the [Gentile] churches. (Revelation 2:9-11)

As in any good book, the Bible stays true to its theme from its introduction, expansion through the middle, to the climax at the end.

The take-home message: Winners stay in the battle through worsening circumstances.

“Beginning: “of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it…lest ye die…And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said…Hast thou eaten of the tree…?

• And the man said, Yes – because The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree after she had eaten and I wouldn’t abandon her in death.
• Adam was not…in the transgression.
• Marriage is honourable…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
• So that we – having this proof – may also  boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear.” (Genesis 3:3-12, I Timothy 2:14, Hebrews 13:4-6)

Middle: “O LORD, how long shall I…cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!...spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention…the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.” (Habakkuk 1-3)” 

• Who shall separate us from the love of God’s Chosen Savior? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
• As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
• Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
• For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in His Chosen Savior our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)

End: “the fourth kingdom upon earth…shall…wear out the saints of the most High…unto the end. And [then!] the kingdom and dominion…under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High.” (Daniel 7:21-22)

Christianity...a strange, new cult…spread across people groups and geographical boundaries…

Claudius Nero…reigned from A.D. 54-68…following the Great Fire of Rome in A.D. 64…people suspected that Nero started the fire himself, so he pointed the accusing finger at Christians. The fact that he felt confident in doing this indicates the low regard in which people held Christians already. Historian Philip Schaff says that “Their Jewish origin, their indifference to politics and public affairs, their abhorrence of heathen customs, were construed into an ‘odium generis humani’ (hatred of the human race), and this made an attempt on their part to destroy the city sufficiently plausible to justify a verdict of guilty.” Schaff says that “there began a carnival of blood such as even heathen Rome never saw before or since….A ‘vast multitude’ of Christians was put to death in the most shocking manner.” Some were crucified, some sewn up in animal skins and thrown to the dogs, some were covered in pitch, nailed to wooden posts, and burned as torches. It was in the fallout of this that Peter and Paul gave their lives for their Savior, probably within a year of each other…

Emperor Trajan ruled from A.D. 98-117…Persecution was especially bad in Syria and Palestine during Trajan’s reign. In 107 he went to Antioch and demanded that everyone sacrifice to the gods. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch and pupil of the apostle John, refused and was martyred by being thrown to wild animals. Ignatius wrote this to Polycarp, another disciple of John, on his way to Rome: “Let the fire, the gallows, the wild beasts, the breaking of bones, the pulling asunder of members, the bruising of my whole body, and the torments of the devil and hell itself come upon me, so that I may win Christ Jesus [quoting Paul.”

Sooo…to avoid suffering, many Christians bent the rules to fit in with their surroundings.

The historical record shows that, just as YHVH’s Savior and the New Testament writers foretold, various heretical ideas and teachers rose up from within the early Church and infiltrated it from without. Himself warned his followers: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name… and will deceive many” (Matthew 24:4-5).

You can read many similar warnings in other passages (such as Matthew Acts 20:29-30; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 2 Timothy 4:2-4; 2 Peter 2:1-2; 1 John 2:18-26; 1 John 4:1-3).

Barely two decades after YHVH’s death and resurrection, the apostle Paul wrote that many believers were already “turning away . . . to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6). He wrote that he was forced to contend with “false apostles, deceitful workers” who were fraudulently “transforming themselves into apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13). One of the major problems he had to deal with was “false brethren” (2 Corinthians 11:26).

By late in the first century, as we see from 3 John 9-10, conditions had grown so dire that false ministers openly refused to receive representatives of the apostle John and were excommunicating true Christians from the Church!…

It wasn’t long before true servants of God became a marginalized and scattered minority among those calling themselves Christian. A very different religion, now compromised with many concepts and practices rooted in ancient paganism (such mixing of religious beliefs being known as syncretism, common in the Roman Empire at the time), took hold and transformed the faith founded by Jesus Christ…

By the second century, faithful members of the Church, Christ’s “little flock” (Luke 12:32), had largely been scattered by waves of deadly persecution. They held firmly to the biblical truth about Jesus Christ and God the Father, though they were persecuted by…those who professed Christianity but were in reality teaching “another Jesus” and a “different gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:6-9).

Marcion rejected the theology of the Old Testament entirely and regarded the God depicted there as an inferior being. In the Antithesis, he claimed the theology of the Old Testament was incompatible with the teaching of Jesus regarding God and morality…[and] refused to accept Yahweh, the deity described in the Old Testament, as the “Heavenly Father” proclaimed by Jesus.

Marcion concluded that the Old Testament god was…a mere tribal god of the Jewish people, while Jesus preached of a God marked by compassion, love, and mercy.

Marcion’s opinion is antithetical to Jesus’ and Paul’s words.

“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:28-34)

For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off…But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it…I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life.” (Deuteronomy 30)

“But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;” (Romans 10:6-8)

So how do people get by claiming that the God of the Old Testament is completely different from the God of the New?