Why Do You Persecute Me?

The Jews were expecting a great and mighty Messiah—a prince who would be able to liberate them from all their enemies—so they were very angry and indignant when the Messiah appeared in poverty and weakness. They saw all His works, but because He had no eminence, they did not esteem Him. On the contrary, they hated Him and crucified Him.

We are experiencing exactly the same thing today. Preachers associate themselves with names like Luther, Wesley, Booth, Pentecost, friends of A and friends of B, and they decry Christ manifested in the flesh. They expect Him to be a great prince and cannot imagine Him manifest in the flesh. Yet Jesus said to Saul of Tarsus in the heavenly vision, “Why are you persecuting Me?” In their blindness these great men are persecuting Him both publicly and privately by repeatedly warning against Christ manifest in the flesh. They warn against the mysteries of godliness, and at the same time they bring ungodly entertainers into their assemblies to provide them with songs and music. They argue among themselves, but just like Herod and Pontius Pilate, they are in full agreement about persecuting all who dare to present their bodies as well-pleasing sacrifices to God. We hear the same old story, time and again: “If we had been alive in the time of our forefathers, we wouldn’t have persecuted Jesus.” Yet they persecute Him still today, both in word and in deed, by warning against Him and mocking Him wherever He is manifested in the flesh. Just like their forefathers, they still expect to see Him as a great prince. They can’t bear to see Him as a lowly sacrificial lamb. They continue to kill the prophets and build their tombs, all the while believing that they thereby do God a service. Wherever Christ is manifest in the flesh, religious magazines try to outdo one another in mocking and blaspheming. All of this shows how great the darkness is. Living according to God’s will is still a mystery. It still requires sacrifice, and this sacrifice is still despised. People only know Jesus as the Son of God, but as the Son of Man, they reject Him. Yet it was as the Son of Man that He had to suffer for us. Everyone who is united with Jesus in the fellowship of His sufferings—through obedience—is still labeled as a dangerous person, a heretic who leads people astray. Yet the day will come when these people will see those whom they despised sharing in Christ’s glory. On that day will they praise their doctrine that called for neither sacrifice nor blood? Christians today resemble their brothers, the Pharisees. They glory over the Spirit, fire, kindling and the knife. But the question remains: Where is the sacrifice? They reply, “Jesus was sacrificed.” Yes, He was sacrificed for you, but where is your sacrifice in Him? How have you followed Him? We hear an abundance of words, but where is the power?