Biblical Breakdown #2: Providential Persecution

God’s sovereignty is a comfort even in persecution.

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In American Christian circles today, it is common to hear people talk about how the world is just so different now than it used to be. This is particularly true in the South where cultural Christianity has dominated the region for decades. The major problem that Christians faced in this context was being “lukewarm” or a “nominal” Christian, not persecution.

This isn’t unique to the South though, as the entire Western world has experienced a dramatic shift away from Christian ethics over the course of the last century or so. The rise of secularism has been most prominent in western Europe, but America is quickly catching up with the rising number of Americans identifying their religion as “none.”

Naturally, the loss of Christianity’s influence over culture has brought to the forefront ethics that are antagonistic to Christian ethics. The expectation is that people have sex outside of marriage, view homosexuality as acceptable, believe right and wrong are subjective, etc. Many American Christians live with a constant fear that if they fail to affirm these beliefs and/or have the audacity to openly state opposition to these beliefs, then they will face social, professional, or economic consequences.

I often think this fear is overblown, but I want to assume that it’s not. In fact, let’s assume that these fears come to pass and then some. The United States continues on its path of secularization, Christians are ostracized from society, fired from their jobs, and their businesses collapse as the rest of the world refuses to do business with them. Maybe, Christians even lose their political rights. What are Christians to do now and in this dystopic future?

The answer: trust the sovereignty of God.

Acts 4:23-31

In Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested and tried by the major religious leaders in Jerusalem. I’m pretty sure that this is the first time recorded in Acts that the apostles were arrested; but, it would not be the last. The religious leaders end up letting the apostles go this time, but it is clear that they are not done with the apostles.

Following their release, Peter and John went to fellow Christians in Jerusalem and shared their experience. Acts 4:23-31 records the response:

23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant,[d] said by the Holy Spirit,

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
    and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers were gathered together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed’[e]—

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

After hearing the news of Peter and John’s arrest, the first words out of the mouths of Christians in Jerusalem were “Sovereign Lord.” It was not to proclaim the godlessness of the religious leaders or the world writ large. It was not to curse the names of the religious leaders for their wicked actions. It was not to ask God to pour out his wrath on the religious leaders or save them from the religious leaders. The first thing the Christians did was recognize and praise that God was sovereign.

It is a remarkable thing that these Jerusalem Christians found comfort in the reality of God’s sovereignty in the midst of persecution. If God is sovereign, then he ordained the very persecution they were suffering. Not only that, the persecution was likely to continue into the future and God was sovereign in that persecution as well.

It is interesting that the Jerusalem Christians emphasize God’s sovereignty by going all the way back to the beginning with creation. I wrote my newsletter last week about Genesis 1:1 and the foundation that it provides us as Christians. As I mentioned last week, the reality of God as creator means he has endowed creation with purpose. By citing God as creator, the Jerusalem Christians are recognizing his power over and purpose in their persecution.

We live in a world where we are told to avoid pain and suffering at all costs. In many ways, we view pain and suffering as inherently problematic because they prevent us from experiencing maximum present pleasure. However, the Bible talks about pain and suffering in a much different way. Frequently, pain and suffering is used by God to make his people more righteous.

This makes for an uncomfortable reality: if righteousness is our goal (which it ought to be as Christians), then pain and suffering may be the means by which God has ordained for us to achieve it.

Now, that does not mean we seek out suffering. We don’t inflict pain on ourselves or intentionally make our lives worse for the sake of suffering. We also aren’t called to remove all pleasure from our lives as long as the things that bring us pleasure aren’t sinful and/or idolized. God is a good God that gives us pleasures which are meant to be enjoyed as a way to direct our affections to him and whet our appetites for eternity with him. With that said, God is also a good God that ordains suffering to turn his people into a people that are reliant on him for their joy.

This may sound counterintuitive, but there are still some areas that we recognize the value of going through pain and suffering for the end result. For example, exercising is an immensely painful experience in the moment but makes us better off in the long run.

Notice that the Jerusalem Christians did not pray that God would take away the persecution they were currently experiencing and would likely continue experiencing in the future. Instead, they asked for boldness to continue to speak God’s word in spite of the persecution.

This is important because it also means that they didn’t minimize the suffering and pain that they were experiencing. They didn’t need a “perspective change” that would magically make the persecution less painful. They needed boldness because they recognized that persecution brought real pain and suffering and they were scared to face it.

This brings me back to our current context in America. I have no idea if Christian persecution will increase in intensity or not. Maybe the cultural trends and news events that strike fear into many Christians do not come to fruition. On the other hand, maybe they are mere contractions at the beginning of more intense birthing pains. Either way, we can trust that our God is sovereign, pray for boldness, and remain faithful regardless of the earthly consequences.

God Bless,

Hunter Burnett