Revelations 13:8 gives us a glimpse of an event that took place before the foundation of the world. The King James Version puts it beautifully,
“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
It is not the first part of the verse that took place before time began but the second part. John, the prophet and apostle is writing furiously in allegorical form events that were taking place as he wrote over against a background of persecution, abuse and death brought on by the Romans against Christians which caused great suffering and the shedding of unnecessary blood.
The losing of property, getting fired from theirs jobs and having no personal rights were for the most part the price believers had to pay in order to keep their faith in the Lord intact. The gospel in those days had nothing to do with receiving a free ticket to heaven after “praying to receive Jesus in their hearts.”
Going to heaven was the last thing these believers had in their minds because they were on a survival mode. They knew that if their Lord had shed His blood for them, sooner than later, they too would have to shed their own. The price to be a Christian was very high even though the truth was that the Romans had no real basis for their hatred except that Christians refused to bow down to Caesar’s capricious ways.
Bible Study Tools says the following at these particular times,
“A variety of fabricated tales were, during this reign, composed in order to injure the Christians. Such was the infatuation of the pagans, that, if famine, pestilence, or earthquakes afflicted any of the Roman provinces, it was laid upon the Christians. These persecutions among the Christians increased the number of informers and many, for the sake of gain, swore away the lives of the innocent.
Another hardship was, that, when any Christians were brought before the magistrates, a test oath was proposed, when, if they refused to take it, death was pronounced against them; and if they confessed themselves Christians, the sentence was the same.”[1]
I have read somewhere that one Roman soldier was writing a letter to a relative or to another soldier. I don’t remember which. In his letter he gave a passing comment where he said that Christians were so stupid that they loved one another even before they met.
I have also heard through teachings of godly men that brand new Christians were warned about the price they had to pay before they were sealed with baptismal waters. Water baptism was the mark of a believer who understood that to be baptized meant that the invisible mark of the beast was instantly removed from their forehead and was replaced by the also invisible seal of God (2Cor 1:22, Eph. 1:13, 4:30, Rev 7:3).
They understood that Christ not only had died for them but also AS them, meaning He had taken their place on the cross and as a result He had initiated an unbreakable covenant with them where His death had become their death, His resurrection, their resurrection, and His ascension meant that they too had ascended with Him and were sitting in heavenly places in Christ (Ro 6:3, 5, Eph. 2:6, Col 2:12). But what does that mean to us today?
Well, it means that we now possess the ability to think in a new way because we have the mind of Christ and a divine nature that was given to us at our new birth (1Cor 2:16, 2Pe 1:4).
Our old way or rationalization, philosophy and thinking pattern has died and has been buried with Christ through baptism into His DEATH. Our old man or our old mankind (referring to our Adamic nature) was crucified with Christ therefore it no longer has any authority over our thinking process unless we allow it.
This old mankind still operates in the unredeemed according to the pattern of this world, yet in God's eyes, it died at the cross, it continues to be dead and at the same time continues to produce the fruit of death to those who are outside of Christ’s grace, (Eph. 2:1-3)
We, on the other hand that are born from above do not have an old nature hanging around to make our lives miserable from time to time. We are not a two headed monster with two natures that are constantly battling it out for control. The scriptures tell us to put on the new man, which really means to bring to action our new Christ-nature (new man), which is now a vital part of us as legitimate children of God,
KJV Eph. 4:24“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
The Complete Jewish Bible puts it a little different that in my opinion makes more sense,
CJB Eph. 4:24 “And clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.”
We are a new creation that has passed from death to life. This is who we are! However, the problem is not our “old man” but our minds. We need to constantly renew our minds in order to act out our true self that must reflect our true sonship (Ro 8:14, 12:1-2).
We renew our minds by concentrating on the things that edify, the things that encourages us, the things that produce fruit that automatically will continue to produce more fruit in our lives---if we keep at it,
NAU Col 3:1“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
NAU Phil 4:8-9 “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
As disciples of our Lord and Master, we must then begin to think and operate through our new Christ-nature (new man) because of the resurrection of the Christ and because of the new life we have in Him. We are a new creation, not a reformed creation (2Cor 5:17).The indwelling Holy Spirit makes this real to us because He takes from the Lord and apply it to us as we walk by faith with Him.
As the body of Christ, we are also wherever the “Head” is. If the Lord is in heaven so are we. The body is vitally connected to the head even in natural form. Of course, I’m not saying that we are literary in heaven now, but I could say that we are heavenly sons and daughters in embryo form bound to be home with the Lord when He calls us home.
Yes, we are now sitting in heavenly places… not yet. We are, but we aren’t, yet the Holy Spirt has been given to us as a down-payment of our salvation with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:13-14)
The moment the Spirit of God came into us we were sealed and marked as God’s possession and became sons and daughters of God, making us at the same time part of God’s divine family.
This union between our God-Man and us was so perfect that Christ in His humanity took our history as our covenant representative, while at the same time He gave us His history of victory over sin and death. Since the Lord is our covenant representative, whatever happened to Him happens to us. The result is that we have now begun to reign with Him as part of the body of Christ, which makes us heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Ro 8:17). All that because Jesus has given us His inheritance so that we may enjoy this incredible act of sheer grace forever.
There is an obscure scripture in the Old Testament that points to one horrific act that was done to our Messiah. I would like to take a brief look at it in order to clarify a little more what I’m saying. It is found in Isaiah 52,
The Complete Jewish Bible says the following,
CJB Isaiah 52:14“Just as many were appalled at him, because he was so disfigured that he didn't even seem human and simply no longer looked like a man.”
The Holman Christian Bible says,
CSB Isaiah 52:14“Just as many were appalled at You---His appearance was so disfigured that He did not look like a man, and His form did not resemble a human being.”
The New Living Translation says,
NLT Isaiah 52:14“But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.”
Why then was so important for our Messiah to suffer to the point that His features no longer resembled a human being, and what’s the spiritual reason behind it?
Although we may have never thought about this, I heard a preacher say once that he had spoken to a surgeon who was his personal friend. He asked him what would have been the result of such trauma to the head and face of a man.
This teacher of the word of God told us that his doctor friend said that it was very possible for His head to swell up twice its size due to the compound trauma of thorns being inserted into his head. The Doctor continued to say that the face of this human being would have become completely unrecognizable. He even went on further to say that if we would take into consideration the beatings of His body, the punches and kicks He received plus a cruel and demonic crucifixion, the people of those days may have actually looked at a human monster worse than our worst nightmares.
If I may be bold, I would infer that Jesus, our beloved Savior took the physical form of what SIN really represents (2Cor 5:21). We cannot see our sins but we can taste its bitter effects, but just imagine that one day in the history of mankind, the personification of SIN became a reality for the Jews and for the Romans who at that time represented the entire world! Even Jesus’ disciples had a hard time recognizing Him when He rose from the dead because the image of a crucified Messiah had been seared in the minds from that point on.
At the cross “SIN” with capital S had no face along a battered body full of blood and unspeakable pain.
Isaiah 50 tells us another part of the horror story,
NET Isaiah 50:6“I offered my back to those who attacked, my jaws to those who tore out my beard; I did not hide my face from insults and spitting.”
Is it possible then that the Triune God had allowed this to take place to let us know how “SIN” really looks like when we look at it straight way? It is necessary that we too become horrified at our own sin that for all practical purposes put Him on the cross.
Is it possible then that the Spirit of God desires for all of us to put our own faces on the faceless face of Christ to identify ourselves with His suffering and death in order to know that Christ’s death was too our death?
We could say without a shadow of a doubt that “Two thousand years ago I was there and died Christ as my sinful nature was crucified with Him,”
Paul made it very personal when he said in Galatians 2,
NAU Gal 2:20"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
Could we truly believe and say, “Christ died for me and AS me; He dealt with my sin, therefore I am now free to live a righteous life, no matter what are the circumstances of my life are?”
If would let this eternal truth become a reality for us, we could very well and by the help of the Holy Spirit develop a hatred for our own sins even to the point that we would begin to turn the corner once and for all, and leave them behind by the grace of our God and Savior. We could also forcefully deal with them the moment the Lord reveals it to us, firmly repent (or change our minds) and turn away from it,
NAU Matthew 5:28“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 "If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 "If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.[2]”
If we could do that moment by moment as we walk with Christ, we will perhaps begin to understand that Calvary’s cross was not simply an event of history that took place 2,000 years ago. We could instead consider it as an ongoing experience for us that will seal us with the sure revelation that sin can no longer have room in our lives because sin does not have the power to have dominion over us anymore (Ro 6:14). Why? Because it was dealt at Calvary by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit once and for all.
NAU Heb 9:26“Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
NAU Ro 6:5-11 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus”
This is very important because we need to understand that Christ put to death our false humanity which is also called our carnal nature at the cross. The first Adam gave us his death, while the last Adam gave us His life (Gen 2:17, 1Cor 15:45). For that to become a reality in our lives, a believer needs to understand that he has exchanged his old Adamic nature for his new Christ-nature in order to become a new creation in Christ (2Cor 5:17, 2Pe1:4)
So believers in those days knew that to be a Christian meant so much more than a free ticket to heaven. To them it meant the possible loss of life along with their property, loss of income, loss of their place in society, loss of family relationships, etc. Christians became the joke and the ridicule of the town; moreover, their destiny was either prison, torture, starvation, or a sure death in the hands of hungry beasts at the Coliseum.
So, the reality to be dead to this world meant that they were willing to suffer insults, calumnies, slanders, bold-faced lies and ridicule which identified them completely with a suffering Christ in order that later on they would partake of His final triumph against all the powers of darkness.
NAU Hebrews 11:36-40 “And others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”
“The Christianity Today Library” concurs with this tragic reality because it shows how loathed and despised our brethren were in those days, but first I will quote from one of the opposers,
“Christians are cannibalistic, incestuous, ass-worshiping magicians who practice dangerous superstitions.”
“Christianity faced opposition from its inception. Its founder was killed, and its first major missionaries were martyred. But as Christianity spread beyond Judea, the nature of the criticisms changed. Rather than opposing Jesus' teachings, most attacks against Christianity arose from ignorance and fear. Frequently critics had little, if any, firsthand experience with Christians, their worship, or their beliefs. So for the first two centuries, at least, attacks tended to restate stereotypes, stock objections, and misconceptions circulating throughout the pagan world.” [3]
What was going on in the minds of these people that rose up to set themselves up against a group of people that were not hurting them in any way, and were decent, respectful, and godly law abiding citizens?
Shouldn’t have been a delight to live next door to one of these good, honest and loving people? Yes, but the truth wasn’t like that. Actually, it was the opposite.
Well, the cause of this travesty was in a certain way invisible, but no less real due to the fact that something else was happening in the heavens that had much influence in the way people thought and acted...
[2]The noun “hell” may not necessarily mean what we believe to be because this noun could also be translated as “Gehenna” (Gr) which was a garbage dump that was located South of Jerusalem (Strong’s Greek #1067)
PART I
Revelations 13:8 gives us a glimpse of an event that took place before the foundation of the world. The King James Version puts it beautifully,
“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
It is not the first part of the verse that took place before time began but the second part. John, the prophet and apostle is writing furiously in allegorical form events that were taking place as he wrote over against a background of persecution, abuse and death brought on by the Romans against Christians which caused great suffering and the shedding of unnecessary blood.
The losing of property, getting fired from theirs jobs and having no personal rights were for the most part the price believers had to pay in order to keep their faith in the Lord intact. The gospel in those days had nothing to do with receiving a free ticket to heaven after “praying to receive Jesus in their hearts.”
Going to heaven was the last thing these believers had in their minds because they were on a survival mode. They knew that if their Lord had shed His blood for them, sooner than later, they too would have to shed their own. The price to be a Christian was very high even though the truth was that the Romans had no real basis for their hatred except that Christians refused to bow down to Caesar’s capricious ways.
Bible Study Tools says the following at these particular times,
“A variety of fabricated tales were, during this reign, composed in order to injure the Christians. Such was the infatuation of the pagans, that, if famine, pestilence, or earthquakes afflicted any of the Roman provinces, it was laid upon the Christians. These persecutions among the Christians increased the number of informers and many, for the sake of gain, swore away the lives of the innocent.
Another hardship was, that, when any Christians were brought before the magistrates, a test oath was proposed, when, if they refused to take it, death was pronounced against them; and if they confessed themselves Christians, the sentence was the same.”[1]
I have read somewhere that one Roman soldier was writing a letter to a relative or to another soldier. I don’t remember which. In his letter he gave a passing comment where he said that Christians were so stupid that they loved one another even before they met.
I have also heard through teachings of godly men that brand new Christians were warned about the price they had to pay before they were sealed with baptismal waters. Water baptism was the mark of a believer who understood that to be baptized meant that the invisible mark of the beast was instantly removed from their forehead and was replaced by the also invisible seal of God (2Cor 1:22, Eph. 1:13, 4:30, Rev 7:3).
They understood that Christ not only had died for them but also AS them, meaning He had taken their place on the cross and as a result He had initiated an unbreakable covenant with them where His death had become their death, His resurrection, their resurrection, and His ascension meant that they too had ascended with Him and were sitting in heavenly places in Christ (Ro 6:3, 5, Eph. 2:6, Col 2:12). But what does that mean to us today?
Well, it means that we now possess the ability to think in a new way because we have the mind of Christ and a divine nature that was given to us at our new birth (1Cor 2:16, 2Pe 1:4).
Our old way or rationalization, philosophy and thinking pattern has died and has been buried with Christ through baptism into His DEATH. Our old man or our old mankind (referring to our Adamic nature) was crucified with Christ therefore it no longer has any authority over our thinking process unless we allow it.
This old mankind still operates in the unredeemed according to the pattern of this world, yet in God's eyes, it died at the cross, it continues to be dead and at the same time continues to produce the fruit of death to those who are outside of Christ’s grace, (Eph. 2:1-3)
We, on the other hand that are born from above do not have an old nature hanging around to make our lives miserable from time to time. We are not a two headed monster with two natures that are constantly battling it out for control. The scriptures tell us to put on the new man, which really means to bring to action our new Christ-nature (new man), which is now a vital part of us as legitimate children of God,
KJV Eph. 4:24“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
The Complete Jewish Bible puts it a little different that in my opinion makes more sense,
CJB Eph. 4:24 “And clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.”
We are a new creation that has passed from death to life. This is who we are! However, the problem is not our “old man” but our minds. We need to constantly renew our minds in order to act out our true self that must reflect our true sonship (Ro 8:14, 12:1-2).
We renew our minds by concentrating on the things that edify, the things that encourages us, the things that produce fruit that automatically will continue to produce more fruit in our lives---if we keep at it,
NAU Col 3:1“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
NAU Phil 4:8-9 “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
As disciples of our Lord and Master, we must then begin to think and operate through our new Christ-nature (new man) because of the resurrection of the Christ and because of the new life we have in Him. We are a new creation, not a reformed creation (2Cor 5:17).The indwelling Holy Spirit makes this real to us because He takes from the Lord and apply it to us as we walk by faith with Him.
As the body of Christ, we are also wherever the “Head” is. If the Lord is in heaven so are we. The body is vitally connected to the head even in natural form. Of course, I’m not saying that we are literary in heaven now, but I could say that we are heavenly sons and daughters in embryo form bound to be home with the Lord when He calls us home.
Yes, we are now sitting in heavenly places… not yet. We are, but we aren’t, yet the Holy Spirt has been given to us as a down-payment of our salvation with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:13-14)
The moment the Spirit of God came into us we were sealed and marked as God’s possession and became sons and daughters of God, making us at the same time part of God’s divine family.
This union between our God-Man and us was so perfect that Christ in His humanity took our history as our covenant representative, while at the same time He gave us His history of victory over sin and death. Since the Lord is our covenant representative, whatever happened to Him happens to us. The result is that we have now begun to reign with Him as part of the body of Christ, which makes us heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Ro 8:17). All that because Jesus has given us His inheritance so that we may enjoy this incredible act of sheer grace forever.
There is an obscure scripture in the Old Testament that points to one horrific act that was done to our Messiah. I would like to take a brief look at it in order to clarify a little more what I’m saying. It is found in Isaiah 52,
The Complete Jewish Bible says the following,
CJB Isaiah 52:14“Just as many were appalled at him, because he was so disfigured that he didn't even seem human and simply no longer looked like a man.”
The Holman Christian Bible says,
CSB Isaiah 52:14“Just as many were appalled at You---His appearance was so disfigured that He did not look like a man, and His form did not resemble a human being.”
The New Living Translation says,
NLT Isaiah 52:14“But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.”
Why then was so important for our Messiah to suffer to the point that His features no longer resembled a human being, and what’s the spiritual reason behind it?
Although we may have never thought about this, I heard a preacher say once that he had spoken to a surgeon who was his personal friend. He asked him what would have been the result of such trauma to the head and face of a man.
This teacher of the word of God told us that his doctor friend said that it was very possible for His head to swell up twice its size due to the compound trauma of thorns being inserted into his head. The Doctor continued to say that the face of this human being would have become completely unrecognizable. He even went on further to say that if we would take into consideration the beatings of His body, the punches and kicks He received plus a cruel and demonic crucifixion, the people of those days may have actually looked at a human monster worse than our worst nightmares.
If I may be bold, I would infer that Jesus, our beloved Savior took the physical form of what SIN really represents (2Cor 5:21). We cannot see our sins but we can taste its bitter effects, but just imagine that one day in the history of mankind, the personification of SIN became a reality for the Jews and for the Romans who at that time represented the entire world! Even Jesus’ disciples had a hard time recognizing Him when He rose from the dead because the image of a crucified Messiah had been seared in the minds from that point on.
At the cross “SIN” with capital S had no face along a battered body full of blood and unspeakable pain.
Isaiah 50 tells us another part of the horror story,
NET Isaiah 50:6“I offered my back to those who attacked, my jaws to those who tore out my beard; I did not hide my face from insults and spitting.”
Is it possible then that the Triune God had allowed this to take place to let us know how “SIN” really looks like when we look at it straight way? It is necessary that we too become horrified at our own sin that for all practical purposes put Him on the cross.
Is it possible then that the Spirit of God desires for all of us to put our own faces on the faceless face of Christ to identify ourselves with His suffering and death in order to know that Christ’s death was too our death?
We could say without a shadow of a doubt that “Two thousand years ago I was there and died Christ as my sinful nature was crucified with Him,”
Paul made it very personal when he said in Galatians 2,
NAU Gal 2:20"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
Could we truly believe and say, “Christ died for me and AS me; He dealt with my sin, therefore I am now free to live a righteous life, no matter what are the circumstances of my life are?”
If would let this eternal truth become a reality for us, we could very well and by the help of the Holy Spirit develop a hatred for our own sins even to the point that we would begin to turn the corner once and for all, and leave them behind by the grace of our God and Savior. We could also forcefully deal with them the moment the Lord reveals it to us, firmly repent (or change our minds) and turn away from it,
NAU Matthew 5:28“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 "If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 "If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.[2]”
If we could do that moment by moment as we walk with Christ, we will perhaps begin to understand that Calvary’s cross was not simply an event of history that took place 2,000 years ago. We could instead consider it as an ongoing experience for us that will seal us with the sure revelation that sin can no longer have room in our lives because sin does not have the power to have dominion over us anymore (Ro 6:14). Why? Because it was dealt at Calvary by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit once and for all.
NAU Heb 9:26“Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
NAU Ro 6:5-11 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus”
This is very important because we need to understand that Christ put to death our false humanity which is also called our carnal nature at the cross. The first Adam gave us his death, while the last Adam gave us His life (Gen 2:17, 1Cor 15:45). For that to become a reality in our lives, a believer needs to understand that he has exchanged his old Adamic nature for his new Christ-nature in order to become a new creation in Christ (2Cor 5:17, 2Pe1:4)
So believers in those days knew that to be a Christian meant so much more than a free ticket to heaven. To them it meant the possible loss of life along with their property, loss of income, loss of their place in society, loss of family relationships, etc. Christians became the joke and the ridicule of the town; moreover, their destiny was either prison, torture, starvation, or a sure death in the hands of hungry beasts at the Coliseum.
So, the reality to be dead to this world meant that they were willing to suffer insults, calumnies, slanders, bold-faced lies and ridicule which identified them completely with a suffering Christ in order that later on they would partake of His final triumph against all the powers of darkness.
NAU Hebrews 11:36-40 “And others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”
“The Christianity Today Library” concurs with this tragic reality because it shows how loathed and despised our brethren were in those days, but first I will quote from one of the opposers,
“Christians are cannibalistic, incestuous, ass-worshiping magicians who practice dangerous superstitions.”
“Christianity faced opposition from its inception. Its founder was killed, and its first major missionaries were martyred. But as Christianity spread beyond Judea, the nature of the criticisms changed. Rather than opposing Jesus' teachings, most attacks against Christianity arose from ignorance and fear. Frequently critics had little, if any, firsthand experience with Christians, their worship, or their beliefs. So for the first two centuries, at least, attacks tended to restate stereotypes, stock objections, and misconceptions circulating throughout the pagan world.” [3]
What was going on in the minds of these people that rose up to set themselves up against a group of people that were not hurting them in any way, and were decent, respectful, and godly law abiding citizens?
Shouldn’t have been a delight to live next door to one of these good, honest and loving people? Yes, but the truth wasn’t like that. Actually, it was the opposite.
Well, the cause of this travesty was in a certain way invisible, but no less real due to the fact that something else was happening in the heavens that had much influence in the way people thought and acted...
(Will continue in Part II)
[1] http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/foxs-book-of-martyrs/the-second-persecution-under-domitian-a-d-81.html
[2] The noun “hell” may not necessarily mean what we believe to be because this noun could also be translated as “Gehenna” (Gr) which was a garbage dump that was located South of Jerusalem (Strong’s Greek #1067)
[3] http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1998/issue57/57h012.html