Thematic Bible: Who shall face persecution


Thematic Bible




For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on exhibition at the disgraced end of the procession, as they do with men who are doomed to die in the arena. For we have become a spectacle to the universe, to angels as well as men. For Christ's sake we are held as fools, while you through union with Christ are men of wisdom. We are weak; you are strong. You are held in honor; we in dishonor. To this very hour we have gone hungry, thirsty, poorly clad; we have been roughly knocked around; we have had no home. read more.
We have worked hard with our own hands for a living. When abused by people, we bless them. When persecuted, we patiently bear it. When we are slandered by them, we try to conciliate them. To this very hour we have been made the filth of the world, the scum of the universe!

As He was leaving the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Look, Teacher! What stupendous stones, what beautiful buildings!" Jesus said to him, "Are you looking in wonder at these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another that will not be torn down." As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew, in a private group, were asking Him, read more.
"When will all this take place? Tell us. And what will be the sign that it is about to be put into effect?" Jesus began to say to them: "Look out that no one misleads you about it. Many will come bearing the name of Messiah, and saying, 'I am He,' and they will mislead many. But when you hear of wars and rumors of war, stop getting alarmed. They have to come, but the end is not yet. For one nation will go to war with another, and one kingdom with another. There will be earthquakes in many places; there will be famines. But this is only the beginning of the agonies. So you must be on the lookout for yourselves; they will turn you over to courts, and to synagogues where you will be beaten, and you must appear before governors and kings for my sake, to testify to them. But before the end comes, the good news must be proclaimed to all the heathen. Now when they take you to court for trial, do not be worrying beforehand about what you should say, but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you that will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit. One brother will turn another over to death, and a father his child, and children will take a stand against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everybody, because you bear my name. But whoever bears up to the end will be saved.

"Listen! I am sending you out as sheep surrounded by wolves. So you must be sensible like serpents and guileless like doves. Be on your guard against men, for they will turn you over to the courts and will flog you in their synagogues, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness to them and the heathen. read more.
But when they turn you over to the courts, you must not worry at all about how or what you ought to speak, for it will be given you at that hour what you ought to speak. For it is not you who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father that is speaking through you. One brother will turn another over to death, and a father his child, and children will take a stand against their parents, and will have them put to death. And you will be hated by all men, because you bear my name, but whoever bears up to the end will be saved. But whenever they persecute you in one town, flee to a different one. For I solemnly say to you, you will not cover all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man returns. No pupil is better than his teacher, and no slave is better than his master. The pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and the slave should be satisfied to become like his master. If men have called the Head of the house Beelzebub, how much worse names will they heap upon the members of His family!

And Jesus left the temple, and was going away, when His disciples came up to Him, to show Him the temple buildings. But He answered them, "Do you see all these things? I solemnly say to you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be torn down." While He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came up to Him by themselves, and said, "Tell us when this is to take place, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age." read more.
Jesus answered, "Look out that no one misleads you about it, for many will come bearing the name of the Messiah, and saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many people. You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars; take care not to be scared out of your wits. They have to come, but that is not the end yet. For nation will go to war with nation, and kingdom with kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in many places. But all this is but the beginning of the agonies. At that time they will turn you over to torture, and will murder you, and you will be hated by all the heathen, because you bear my name. Then many will fall by the way, and will betray one another and hate one another.

Now while some people were talking about the temple, how it was decorated with beautiful stones and votive-offerings, He said, "As for all this that you are admiring, the time is coming when not one stone will be left upon another, that will not be torn down." Then they asked Him, "Teacher, when will this be? And what is the sign that it is about to take place?" read more.
So He said, "You must take care not to be misled about it! For many will come bearing the name of Messiah, and saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, never be panic-stricken. For this has to take place first, but the end will not come all at once." Then He continued to say to them, "One nation will go to war with another, and one kingdom with another. There will be great earthquakes and pestilences and famines in various places, and there will be dreadful portents and awful signs in the sky. But before all this takes place, people will arrest you and persecute you, and turn you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. It will furnish you an opportunity to testify. So you must purpose in your hearts not to prepare beforehand how to make your defense, for I will give you such wisdom of speech as all your opponents combined will not be able to resist and refute. Yes, you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be continuously hated by everyone, because you bear my name. And yet not a single hair on your head will perish. By your endurance you will win your souls.

"I am the real vine, and my Father is the cultivator. He cuts away any branch on me that stops bearing fruit, and He repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more. You are already pruned because of the teaching that I have given you. read more.
You must remain in union with me and I will remain in union with you. Just as no branch by itself can bear fruit unless it remains united to the vine, so you cannot unless you remain in union with me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in union with me and I in union with him will bear abundant fruit, because you cannot do anything cut off from union with me. If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is thrown away as a mere branch and is dried up; then it is picked up and thrown into the fire and burned up. If you remain in union with me and my words remain in you, you may ask whatever you please and you shall have it. By your continuously bearing abundant fruit and in this way proving yourselves to be real disciples of mine, my Father is glorified. I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. You must remain in my love. If you continue to keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in His love. "I have told you these things, that the joy which I have had may remain in you and that your joy may be complete. This is my command to you, to keep on loving one another as I have loved you. No one can show greater love than this, the giving of his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you keep on doing what I command you to do. I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing; I now call you friends, because I have told you everything that I have learned from my Father. You have not chosen me; I have chosen you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit, that your fruit may remain too, so that the Father may grant you, as bearers of my name, whatever you ask Him for. "What I command you to do is, to keep on loving one another. If the world continues to hate you, remember that it has first hated me. If you belonged to the world, the world would love what is its own. But it is because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, that the world hates you. Remember what I once told you: No slave is greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you too. If they have observed my teaching, they will observe yours too.

"I have told you these things to keep you from falling over stumbling blocks. Men will turn you out of their synagogues. Yes, indeed, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think that he is rendering a religious service to God. They will do this, because they have never come to know God nor me. read more.
But I have told you these things that when the time does come, you may remember that I told you. I did not tell you these things at the start, because I was with you.