Persecution

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Jesus Christ left us an example not only of how to live (1 John 2:6), but of also how to be persecuted (1 Peter 2:21-24). He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Every Christian should therefore expect to be persecuted: “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Because the disciple is not above his master (Matthew 10:24-25), when we suffer for Christ, we are filling up “that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24). Those who persecute us, persecute Jesus (Acts 9:4).

Although God has not appointed us to wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9), which is what God does to the world, God has appointed us to tribulation (1 Thessalonians 3:3-4), which is what the world does to God’s people. The Bible says that those who preach Christ receive many blessings from God “with persecutions” (Mark 10:30). Before we can enter heaven, God’s word says “that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). We would be wise therefore not to think that a fiery trial of persecution is a strange thing (1 Peter 4:12-13).

Philippians 1:29 “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake”

Why Christians are Persecuted

It should be no surprise to someone who is not of the world that the world persecutes them, because the world does not understand the truth (1 Corinthians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 4:4-6; see also 1 John 3:1), it does not love the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10), and it does not love those who are not of the world (John 15:19). Jesus taught that we must bear our cross to follow him:

Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

The cross is an instrument of execution. We are saved by the cross of Christ (Colossians 1:20), but we are made disciples by bearing our own cross. Being a disciple of Christ therefore includes self-denial (personally serving Jesus), cross-bearing (patiently serving Jesus), and Christ-following (vocationally serving Jesus). Just as Simon of Cyrene was compelled to bear Christ’s cross part of the way to Calvary (Matthew 27:32), so also are we compelled so to do. The “cross” that we are called to bear is the persecution which we share with Jesus.

The preaching of the cross is foolishness to the world (1 Corinthians 1:18). Thus, if we are going to follow Christ, persecution “for the cross of Christ” (see Galatians 5:11; 6:12) is to be anticipated: this is because (1) the message of the cross is offensive to the world, just like the title above Jesus’ head angered the Jews (John 19:21). (2) The messenger on the cross is offensive to the world, just as the Jews mocked Christ on the cross (e.g., Matthew 27:40). (3) The messaging of the cross is offensive to the world, just as the Jews resisted the preaching of the apostles in the book of Acts. Christians are thus persecuted for three reasons:

  • Christians are persecuted FOR THE WORD of God.

Jesus said “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). Much of the Bible’s doctrines are hard sayings (e.g., John 6:60), counter-intuitive truths, and anti-worldly teachings (James 1:27), which make it bitter to the world, “the savour of death unto death” (2 Corinthians 2:16). Paul spoke of the “afflictions of the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:8), and both John and the martyrs in the book of Revelation were persecuted “for the word of God” (Revelation 1:9; 6:9; 20:4). It is not just for clinging to Christ that we are put through tribulation, but also for speaking and holding to what he said that gets a godly Christian into trouble:

Mark 8:38 “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

  • Christians are persecuted FOR THE NAME of Christ.

Everything a Christian does should be in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17). As a result of the world’s hatred for Christ, anyone who names his name (see 2 Timothy 2:19) becomes the world’s enemy. We are the ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) and savor (2 Corinthians 2:15) of Christ, which means that anyone who despises us is really despising Christ; “he that despiseth you despiseth me” (Luke 10:16).

Peter said that we can be “reproached for the name of Christ” (1 Peter 4:14), and Jesus said that we will be hated (Luke 21:17) and persecuted (John 15:21) “for my name’s sake.” After their beating, the apostles were glad that “they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41). For Christ’s name sake Paul was to suffer (Acts 9:16), and he said that “I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).

  • Christians are persecuted FOR THE DIFFERENCE between their life and the life of the world.

2 Timothy 3:12 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

The best way to avoid any persecution is by being just like the world. The world is so irritated with the children of God because there is such a big difference between the standards of the church and the standards of the world (see John 3:19-21; 1 Peter 4:3-4). A righteous Christian makes a worldly person feel uncomfortable, because there is no fellowship between light and darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). Those who are salt and light upset the bland and dark world (see Matthew 5:13-14), and it is for righteousness’ sake that we are persecuted. It was because Daniel kept praying, because Jesus kept teaching, and because the apostles kept preaching, that the world was provoked.

Types of Persecution

There are numerous methods of persecution that the people of God experience. Jesus himself, as the captain of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10), received or came close to receiving almost all forms of persecution.

False Accusation/Slander: Normally someone does not suffer under the true charge that they are really being persecuted for (e.g., Acts 23:6; Hebrews 10:33). Jesus’ trial was attended by multitudes of false witnesses (Mark 14:55-59) who lied about him. Jesus said that men will “say all manner of evil against you falsely” (Matthew 5:11). When Jeremiah was under fire by the Jews, they lied saying that he was a traitor to the Babylonian empire (Jeremiah 37:13-14). Job’s friends defamed him as a sinful man (see book of Job).

1 Peter 3:16 “Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.”

Deportation/Expulsion: Sometimes a persecutor will cause their enemy to be put to flight. Jesus had to flee from Bethlehem as a little child (Matthew 2:13-15), and in one instance the Samaritans did not receive him into their city (Luke 9:52-53); after his first sermon he was excommunicated from the synagogue he preached in (Luke 4:28-30). Paul had to escape the city of Damascus (2 Corinthians 11:32-33), and was later expelled out of the coasts of Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:50). The Jews commonly put people out of their house of worship if they confessed Christ (John 16:1-2; John 9:18-22; 12:42-43; see also 3 John 10).

Betrayal: The Bible says that “a man’s enemies are the men of his own house” (Micah 7:5-6). Family can be the greatest source of persecution in a believer’s life, just as Jesus was mocked of his own kindred (Mark 6:2-3), and at the first not believed in by any of his own brothers (John 7:5). Judas, one of Jesus’ closest friends (Matthew 26:50), betrayed him (cf. Psalm 41:9; see also Psalm 55:12-14). Parents, siblings, relatives, and supposed friends of all kinds will prevent people from doing the things of God, and make fun of them when they do God’s will.

Matthew 10:21, 34-35 “21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.   34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace,   but a sword.   35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.”

Restrictions and Penalties: The ministries of those serving God have at times been limited by wicked men. The disciples were commanded never to preach Christ (Acts 5:28; 5:40), and Ezra’s construction of the temple was halted by the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin (Ezra 4:6-24). Nehemiah was forced to have everyone work with a weapon in one hand, and a building tool in another while constructing the wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 4:17).
Arresting, Trial, and Imprisonment: Jesus was arrested by soldiers, and had a cruel trial by the Jewish Sanhedrin. He said that his disciples would experience the same (Matthew 10:17-20). In the book of Acts, the apostles are constantly seen behind bars and in chains (Acts 4:3-22; 5:17-42; 16:23).
Physical Punishment: The best way the world knows to harm the servants of the Lord is to physically chasten them (see Hebrews 11:33-38). From whipping (Acts 5:40; 16:23; 2 Corinthians 11:24), to stoning (Acts 14:19; 2 Corinthians 11:25), to killing (Acts 7:57-60; 12:1-5; Matthew 14:10). Jesus’ death was none other than “the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).

Persecution Through The Ages

God’s people have historically passed through a torrent of persecution. Persecution is ubiquitous from the A to Z of the Bible, as Jesus said, “from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias” (Matthew 23:35). Stephen asked the Jews, “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?” (Acts 7:52), because all godly people have gone through some form of persecution in their lives.

1 Peter 5:9 “Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”

PERSECUTION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

  • Abel was killed by his brother Cain (Genesis 4:1-8), simply because Abel’s works were righteous (1 John 3:12), and God had respect unto him (Genesis 4:4).
  • It would appear that even Noah, being a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), who went about preaching to his generation that was to drown in the global world flood (1 Peter 3:18-20), received some kind of persecution by “the world of the ungodly”.
  • Lot is described as a “righteous man” for his faith in the Lord, and attempted to live in a different way from the inhabitants of Sodom where he dwelled (2 Peter 2:6-8). Because of his refusal to submit to the will of the Sodomites, he was defamed (Genesis 19:9) and put in physical danger (Genesis 19:10-11).
  • Esau “hated Jacob” and purposed to eventually slay his brother Jacob after he had his blessing and birthright taken from him (Genesis 27:41-42), which caused Jacob to flee his father’s house (Genesis 27:43-28:5).
  • For the love that Jacob had to Joseph, Joseph was mistreated by his brothers who “hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him” (Genesis 37:4) out of envy (Acts 7:9). After conspiring to kill Joseph and leave him for dead in a pit, his brothers decided instead to sell him into slavery. Their hatred for Joseph was further fueled for his dreams which he dreamed (Genesis 37:5)––a picture of his understanding of the revelation of God––and for bringing up the evil report of the work of his brothers to his father (Genesis 37:2, 13).
  • The Israelites figuratively began to be persecuted by the heathen world when Ishamel mocked Isaac (Genesis 21:8-9), which pre-figured the persecution that the children of God would receive by the Jews in the New Testament (Galatians 4:22-31). This ill-treatment of the Lord’s nation continued on into the land of Egypt, where Pharaoh subjected the Israelites to slavery because of their fruitfulness, making their lives “bitter with hard bondage” (Exodus 1:7-14). As if that were not enough, then Pharaoh ordered the execution of every male child born to the Hebrew people (Exodus 1:15-22). Carrying the scourge of affliction against the Israelites, the Canaanites relentlessly formed thorns in the side of Israel from Philistine warfare to Moabite marauding, some punishment being deserved for their sins, other punishment being wholly undeserved (see the book of Judges and the books of the Kings). In the book of Esther, the Jews the world over were placed into a mortally dangerous case by Haman, “the enemy of the Jews” (Esther 9:10).
  • Saul persecuted David, seeking his death, which pictured the future persecution that Saul of Tarsus would wreak upon the church at Jerusalem. The parallels between King Saul and the Apostle Paul are numerous: (1) both share the same name, and (2) were from the same tribe––Benjamin (Saul: 1 Samuel 9:21; Paul: Philippians 3:5). (3) Saul persecuted David out of envy, and Paul persecuted Christians out of zeal to the Jewish cause, which Jews were envious persons (See Matthew 27:18). (4) Saul devoted the latter half of his life entirely to pursuing David, and Paul “did many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 26:9), even from youth (Acts 7:58). (5) Saul incessantly spoke against David, and Paul breathed out “threatenings and slaughter” against the disciples (Acts 9:1). (6) Saul traveled far unto many cities and places to hunt David (e.g., 1 Samuel 23:23), and Paul persecuted Christians “even unto strange cities” (Acts 26:11). (7) David never retaliated against Saul, and the Christians never sought vengeance against Paul (Galatians 1:23; see also Acts 9:26-28).
  • For preaching against the wicked rulers of his nation, Elijah’s life was threatened (1 Kings 19:1-3; 14) by Jezebel.
  • The king of Israel threatened to take off Elisha’s head (2 Kings 6:31-32), among other dangers that his stance for the word of the Lord put him into (2 Kings 6:13-18).
  • Micaiah preached negatively regarding the planned military campaign of the kings of Israel and Judah, and promptly was arrested and imprisoned (1 Kings 22).
  • Asa put Hanani in a prison house for speaking against his unholy alliance with the king of Syria (2 Chronicles 16:7-10).
  • Zechariah testified against the king of Judah saying “because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you” (2 Chronicles 24:20), and died posthaste by stoning at the king’s commandment (2 Chronicles 24:21).
  • Prophesying against the land and city of Jerusalem caused Urijah to flee into Egypt, and soon be fetched from there and to be slain by Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 26:20-23).
  • Jeremiah the prophet experienced ostracism by his family (Jeremiah 20:10), beating and public humiliation (Jeremiah 20:1-2), and imprisonment (Jeremiah 32), even of the worst sort (Jeremiah 38). Jeremiah could therefore often be found wearing chains (Jeremiah 40:1).
  • Ezekiel was frowned upon and spoken against by the Jews, but was told by God “be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words” (Ezekiel 2:6).
  • Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were cast into a burning fiery furnace for not bowing down to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol (Daniel 3:16-30), and Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den for refusing to cease praying (Daniel 6).

PERSECUTION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

  • The ministry of John the Baptist formed the connection between the Old Testament prophetic tradition and the New Testament Messiah, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John” (Matthew 11:13). He was eventually beheaded for preaching against the adultery of King Herod (Matthew 14:3-12).
  • Jesus told his apostles that they would be persecuted for their faith (John 16:1-4): they were beaten (Acts 5:40), James was put to death (Acts 12:1-2), Peter was imprisoned (Acts 12:3-6) and killed (John 21:18-19) and John was expelled to the isle of Patmos (Revelation 1:9).
  • More than any other Christian, Paul the apostle suffered “great things” for Jesus’ name sake (Acts 9:16). He records that persecution was a daily part of his life, saying, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:30-31), having “the sentence of death” in himself (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). The final several chapters of the book of Acts are devoted to the judicial grievance that Paul was put through merely for his belief in and preaching of the risen Christ (Acts 22-28). For this reason Paul was able to list catalogs of his afflictions (2 Corinthians 11:16-33; 1 Corinthians 4:8-13). Paul called himself “the prisoner of Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1; Philemon 1, 9). Indeed, many of Paul’s letters were written from prison: Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon.

2 Corinthians 4:10-11 “10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”

In the Old Testament, much persecution was typically carried out by the hand of the nations like Egypt and Canaan (Acts 7:19; Deuteronomy 26:6). There was then a shift where the persecution of God’s people became the work of the Jews (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16). Rome later became Christianity’s greatest adversary, followed historically by the Roman Catholic Church who afflicted Christians, like the great whore in Revelation, which was “drunken with the blood of the saints” (Revelation 17:6). As we approach the end times, the saints of the Lord will enter into “great tribulation” as the antichrist (Revelation 13:11-18; cf. Matthew 24:21-25; see also 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5) begins to level his persecution against any who have the testimony of Jesus Christ and which keep the commandments of God (Revelation 12:17).

The Christian’s Response to Persecution

Matthew 11:6 “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”

JOYFULNESS: When we are persecuted, we should be joyful, welcoming the affliction. Jesus taught us to “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad” (Matthew 5:12) in the time of trouble occasioned by our Christian convictions. The Thessalonians received the word with much affliction and joy (1 Thessalonians 1:6). The audience of the book of Hebrews “took joyfully” the taking of the things that they had, “knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance” (Hebrews 10:34).

After being whipped, and thrust into the inner prison of a Philippian jail, Paul and Silas are found singing praises to God (Acts 16:25). They were “As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). In Paul’s short letter to the Philippians, which was written to them while he was in prison, the word “rejoice” is used 11 times, and the word “joy” 6 times: the recurring theme is, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). After being beaten, the apostles rejoiced that they went through shame for Christ (Acts 5:41).

2 Corinthians 12:10 “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

PATIENCE: When we are persecuted, we should be “patient in tribulation” (Romans 12:12), never giving up on the things of God (see Ephesians 3:13). In the face of suffering for the savior, the most common reaction is to be offended and quit on the Lord (Matthew 13:21). However, Jesus never gave up when he was persecuted, and our persecution can never match his (Hebrews 12:2-4). Therefore, we ought to glory in tribulations so that they can work patience, experience, and hope in our lives (Romans 5:3-5). Tribulation tries our faith and purifies it (1 Peter 1:6-7). Being mistreated for Christ’s sake should drive us toward Christ, not away from him (1 Peter 4:14). Just as Job and the prophets endured their afflictions, so should we (James 5:10-11); there is no virtue in fainting (Proverbs 24:10; see also Hebrews 12:12-13) or in turning back (Luke 9:62; Luke 17:32).

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but   not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed”

BOLDNESS: When we are persecuted, we should be bold, doing more work for God. Over and again, Jesus told his disciples “fear not.” The worst thing that man can do to us is to bind and kill our body (Luke 12:4-5), but they cannot kill our soul or bind the word of God (2 Timothy 2:9). In our affliction, we should do more for God, not less. When Paul was put in Prison, many of the brothers in Christ in Philippi “waxed confident” by this occasion to preach the gospel more often and more authoritatively (Philippians 1:14). As Saul made havoc of the church at Jerusalem, the members “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:3-4), and Philip was driven to preach unto the Samaritans (Acts 8:5-8). Similarly, the persecution that arose about Stephen scattered other soul-winning members of the church to preach wherever they went so that “a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord” (Acts 11:19-21). Immediately after being stoned by the Lycaonians in Lystra, Paul “rose up, and came into the city” again (Acts 14:19-20).

God uses the persecution we receive for the sake of the gospel. Paul began his tirade against Christianity by consenting unto the martyr’s death of Stephen (see Acts 8:1; 22:20), which planted a seed in his heart that would grow into his belief in the gospel that Stephen died for. When the solider saw Jesus die on the cross, he declared, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). The Thessalonian church that received great persecution was also a powerhouse of preaching (1 Thessalonians 1:8).

Persecution will not stop the work of God, but rather cause it to be multiplied. God allows us to be afflicted for the benefit of others and the gospel (2 Corinthians 1:6). The more that Pharaoh afflicted the children of Israel, “the more they multiplied and grew” (Exodus 1:12). The book of Acts chronicles the intense persecution against the disciples, but also the multiplicative growth of the church (e.g., + ~3,000 people: Acts 2:41; + ~5,000 people: Acts 4:4). Paul said that all of the persecution he endured happened to him “unto the furtherance of the gospel” (Philippians 1:12). In the midst of the dangerous situation Paul was in inside of the region of Achaia, God told him, “I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city” (Acts 18:10). Gamaliel’s age-old advice is still as true today as it has been through the history of the world’s most persecuted and still most lively religion, Christianity:

Acts 5:38-39 “38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: 39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.”

LOVE: We should be charitable, standing with and supporting the people of God. The Bible commands us to “weep with them that weep” (Romans 12:15), and as a body in Christ, “whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26). Remembering those passing through trials for Christ, we should think of ourselves as being in their body or bonds (Hebrews 13:3). When the world or even those that claim to be Christian come against a righteous servant of God, we should rally behind them and “love the brotherhood” (1 Peter 2:17). Contrary to Cain’s arrogant question, we are indeed our “brother’s keeper” (Genesis 4:9).

Rahab took her station in support of the people of God when she hid the Israelite spies and “received them with peace” (Hebrews 11:31). When Jezebel was cutting off the prophets of the Lord out of the land, Obadiah took one hundred of them and “hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water” (1 Kings 18:4). All the time that Peter was in prison, expected to be executed the next day, “prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him” (Acts 15:12). When Jeremiah was about to die in the dungeon where he was, Ebedmelech the Ethiopian rescued him out (Jeremiah 38). When the Jews plotted against Paul at the beginning of his ministry, the disciples of Damascus let him down by the wall in a basket (Acts 9:23-25); when the Jews plotted against Paul nearing the end of his ministry, his nephew informed him of their intentions (Acts 23:12-22). Moses could have lived a comfortable life as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, but chose rather “to suffer affliction with the people of God” (Hebrews 11:25).

God’s Response to Persecution

God will judge our persecutors, and will ultimately vindicate the righteous

God delivers the godly out of temptations, and reserves “the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Peter 2:9). Every unbeliever (who never believes) that has ever lifted themselves up against Christ and his people has or shall be brought down and burned in hell forever (2 Thessalonians 1:4-10). We should therefore not seek vengeance upon our enemies, but bless them and allow God to enact judgement (Romans 12:14; Matthew 5:44).

The ungodly world that, by and large, did not hearken unto Noah, were drowned in the deluge (see Genesis 7). The Sodomites that troubled Lot and the angels were all burned with fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven (see Genesis 19). The nation of Egypt that enslaved and mistreated the Israelites was itself brought under God’s wrath in the ten plagues that ravaged the land. God caused the death of Saul for persecuting David (see 1 Samuel 31), the death of Jezebel for seeking the life of Elijah (2 Kings 9:30-37), the death of Jehoiakim for persecuting Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36:30), etc.

1 Peter 4:16-18 “16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And   if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

God will reward us when we are persecuted

All of our present suffering results in future glory (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Each imprisonment gains us a greater heavenly home, every false accusation a divine commendation, and every wound for Christ’s sake will be glorified in the kingdom of God (see 2 Timothy 2:12)––just as the cross, which used to be a symbol of death, is now a sign of triumph (Colossians 2:15; Galatians 6:14). Jesus motivated the church in Smyrna to go through the ten days of tribulation that awaited them boldly, expecting at the end to receive a “crown of life,” should they be “faithful unto death” (Revelation 2:10).

Matthew 5:11-12 “11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”