Truth Unites - Persecution in Church History: Stories We MUST Know

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

Gavin Ortlund shares three lessons we can learn about persecution from church history. Truth Unites exists to promote gospel assurance through theological depth. Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is President of Truth Unites and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville. SUPPORT: Tax Deductible Support: https://truthunites.org/donate/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/truthunites FOLLOW: Twitter: https://twitter.com/gavinortlund Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthUnitesPage/ Website: https://truthunites.org/

One of the most inspiring things for me to do is to study about martyrs and others persecuted for their faith in Christ. There's so much of this throughout church history, of course. It always seems like it's in those times where the church flourishes the most, and I think we have so much to learn from that today. I get emotional a lot when I study this because it's just so powerful to see what, just the courage. I mean, my video on the Scandinavia and martyrs, for example, the Christianization of Scandinavia, these people going up to evangelize the Vikings. I think about that all the time. I mean, I think it's incredibly helpful for us today. This video is going to be sort of a more devotional video, basically drawing lessons from church history on how we should respond to persecution as followers of Christ. I have three lessons I'm going to

draw out. Number one, don't be ashamed. Number two, don't be afraid. And number three, rejoice in Christ. And I'll give reasons for those things from church history. Now, I know the topic of persecution is a little tricky to talk about. When I preach about this, I have to think about this because some Christians have a persecution complex. Other people are reacting. Maybe you're not a Christian, but you're aware of that. You see that out there and you're watching this video, you think, oh, persecution. We've all seen Christians, you know, they're out there with a megaphone shouting about Christ and just annoying people, and then they're acting like they're getting persecuted when they're just being obnoxious. That's a real thing. We want to really be careful to avoid that. There's a danger, though,

in the opposite direction. This topic is so personal for me, because I've found, it's also possible to downplay persecution, act like it's not, you know, be so afraid of having a persecution complex, we go so far in the other direction. And when we do that, we don't get the help we need. And so this video is going to try to give help and resources to people. Sometimes you have to just name it for what it is in order to experience the encouragement that we'll get from church history and from scripture on this topic. Another challenge, though, is that for many of us who live in the modern West, I know not everyone who watches my videos lives in, you know, the West, but many of us struggle to relate to this topic because it feels kind of foreign,

it feels distant, it feels remote. We feel like, well, I don't really get persecuted, and that's not really realistic where I am. Two things I would say, number one, persecution is increasing, not decreasing, around the world in general. Second of all, the scripture seems, and I'll put up three examples, to depict persecution as the norm. We should expect that persecution will come in some way or another.

I think what helps is if we take the idea that persecution has to be from the government or has to be a physical and or overt attack upon you, we take that off the table. We can recognize actually persecution can come in a lot of different contexts. Three examples would be speech, spiritual attack, and social pressure. Okay? Getting being told you're on the wrong side of history, being called bigoted and so forth. Spiritual attack from demons. My wife and I have been through seasons where, like it feels like Satan is harassing us. And every night at night, you know, just the nightmares with our kids and just things like this. I, you know, I think there's some reality to all of that. And then also just how people talk about you, the, you know, what we used to do with the stocks, now we do on social media, if we want to shame someone, if we want to cancel someone, if we want to attack someone, we slander them and attack them with our words. And we can do that on the internet. So persecution can come in all different varieties, and I think it's helpful to

recognize just because one particular form of persecution may not be the most grandiose and the most extreme doesn't mean we should downplay it as if it's nothing. Some examples of persecution could be if you're a high school student and you have another person in your grade is being bullied and picked on and you intervene and try to defend them because you say, look, look at what Christ has done for me. I don't want to stand idly by and not stand up for what's right here. Now you're getting picked on as well. Is that persecution? I would say, in some ways, yeah.

Maybe not the most extreme form, but yeah. Persecution can be anything where you're seeking to follow Christ, and as a result of seeking to follow Christ, you're attacked or gossiped about or badmouthed or whatever it might be. You know, it could be something as subtle. It can come from Christians. You can absolutely get persecuted by other followers of Christ. Absolutely.

I mean, the New Testament has a lot of warnings about how we can harm one another and damage one another by our speech. And by the way, speech is a lot of times how we do it. The Book of Proverbs has a lot to say about how reckless words can pierce like a sword and so forth. So, you know, if you're a part of a group and it gets really gossipy and you express discomfort with the gossip and then you get excluded from the group as a result of that, is that a form of persecution? I would say a milder form, but yeah. or if you're a part of a campus ministry and there's clicks in it and you're trying to call for people to have unity in Christ and avoid the clicks and people start spreading false rumors about you to attack you because of that. Is that persecution? I would say, yeah. You know, I think it actually

helps to be able to name this for what it is and acknowledge it. And the reason it's so emotional for me is because it's extremely helpful for me when I face an onslaught of toxicity coming at me. I mean, I get harassed. I get weird stuff. There's some troubled people out there, okay? And they're just terrible things. And it's, you know, you don't want to be grandiose about it, but actually it is tremendous. I would say this as an encouragement to people watching this.

If you're ever attacked, insulted, belittled, condescended to, there's all, this is a huge part of our online discourse right now. You don't want to be grandiose about it. You want to be willing to be humble to learn and say not some, some, some, you know, Most criticism, you have something you can learn from too. But to the extent that this is coming as a result of trying to be faithful to Christ, and to the extent that it is just genuinely false, it is genuinely a slander, you know, then you can go to Matthew 5 and say, rejoice and be glad when people speak evil of you because of me.

And I would just say the reason this topic is so important to me is that is so profoundly helpful, to be able to name that for what it is, and run to Christ. And think of it in that category and actually rejoice. in it is so helpful. This is like a godsend for us when we're trying to respond to evil around us. And so that, you know, with vigilance to not fall into a persecution complex, I think we also need to be able to acknowledge this for what it is and responding to it in a mature way, you know. So let me do that now, and I'll give three sort of pieces of advice or three lessons we can learn from church history about what do we do when we're facing persecution? Because in one way or

another, it will probably come, you know? And I would say three things. Number one, don't be ashamed. One of the interesting things in the New Testament is how often this commandment comes. You know, I'll put up some examples of this. Don't be ashamed when you're suffering for being a Christian. And that's interesting because, you know, you say, well, okay, so if you're commanded not to be ashamed, that sort of implies that that's a temptation. Otherwise, we wouldn't even need to worry about that, it seems to be a possible danger that when we are persecuted, we might feel ashamed, or when we're suffering for Christ. Now, why would that be? Sometimes during persecution, I don't think we always even realize what is happening. It doesn't feel grandiose when you're

going through it. Oftentimes it will feel demeaning and belittling, often mocking, and social ostracization. Wow, as soon as I started to say that word, I was afraid I wouldn't get the syllables right. Being socially ostracized, a lot of times that's a part of it. You see this through our church history. One of the most brutal persecutions of Christians, of course, is under Nero in the first century. This is one of those times when Satan just unleashed absolute hell upon Christians. And Tacitus is describing this, and he says, mockery of every sort was added to their deaths, covered with the skins of beasts. They were torn by dogs and perished. or were nailed to crosses or were doomed to the flames.

These served to illuminate the night when daylight failed. Nero had thrown open his gardens for the spectacle and was exhibiting a show in the circus. By the way, I'm not going to get into a lot of gory details in this video, because I know not everyone can handle that, but we'll just describe these things factually and calmly. But under Nero, this is the kind of thing that's happening. And what you see in this passage with the reference to mockery there is how degrading and humiliating.

many of these forms of persecution were. So crucifixion, for example, we don't sometimes forget this today, but crucifixion had a huge shame factor. Crucifixion was the ancient world's way of humiliating somebody, you know, that you're a criminal and you're a public spectacle if you're getting crucified, or to be dressed up in animal clothing, you know, or to be made into a human torch. These things aren't merely torture. They're also dehumanizing. and degrading, you know, and this is a feature of all persecution. It's this, the voice of Satan coming at you to whisper, you know, you're nothing. It's trying to tear you down. And so part of responding to persecution well is not yielding to the shame and kind of keeping your head held high,

so to speak. Mrs. Richardson was a missionary refugee fleeing from persecution when she was stopped with her two children and interrogated by a soldier, and she was trying to be respectful, but at one point she asked, how long are we going to be detained? And the response to that was a harsh slap across her face, which was kind of shocking, both physically but also mentally. You know, if you're like a dignified elderly lady, you're not used to being treated so cruelly and so evilly, so terribly. And so for a while, she feels sort of violated as anyone would.

And she's finally released. She gets back into her rickshaw, which is. the, I'll try to put up a picture of these so you know what they are. It's like a two-wheeled transport device carried by a runner. And she wrote about this, and she said, as I passed through a little lane, seeing nobody in sight, I gave vent to my feelings and began to sob. I could not help it. When the rickshaw coolly heard me crying, he turned around and said, don't cry, lady, blessed are those that are persecuted for righteousness sake. This humble servant of the Lord, a perfect stranger to me was being used of the Lord to bring me a message of comfort and to give me a thought

that would overcome all feeling of resentment. I appreciate that story because it helps draw us up into some of the realistic emotions that come during persecution. There's an emotional process that comes to persecution. Oftentimes, there's an initial feeling of shock. Sometimes it can feel kind of degrading. This happens, you know, the online toxicity is coming at you. It's kind of shocking, you know.

And you see the things people are saying, it's kind of like, wow, what? what is going on? And there can be other feelings that we can feel resentment. She references resentment in this passage. There can be bitterness. There can be anger. We can want to fight back, you know, and so forth. And one of those emotions that can come up is feeling ashamed.

We can feel, you know, if in your work setting, people know that you go to church and you tie the church, people can make fun of you and be like, kind of smirk at you for that, and you can be tempted to wear that and internalize that a little bit. if you're holding to your Christian convictions and you're called prejudiced and bigoted for that, that comes at you at a psychological level, you know, not just, it's not physical persecution, but it can make you feel ashamed. Or when you're in the body of Christ, when you disagree with another Christian and they start attacking you, maybe spreading rumors about you, all of that can come at you at these multiple levels, right? And one of the things that helps us, I think when we're tempted to feel

ashamed is studying church history and seeing the way Christians dealt with it, and especially the way they would focus on heaven. It's such a helpful focus. So one of the great texts that I wish more of us would read, it's so good, is from the early Christian origin. It's called an exhortation to martyrdom, and it's a wonderful book. People oftentimes don't read some of origins, other stuff. You know, they think of them as a heretic. I think origin, I think we need to give origin more attention. He was reading through this and a book by Chris Hall on this, and this one little line stopped me in my tracks, even though it's not necessarily new information.

He said, origin says, He who drinks the chalice that Jesus drank will sit, reign, and judge beside the king of kings. Now just think about that. Just imagine that. This is what you need to fill your heart with when you're tempted to be ashamed of persecution. And just to name it for what it is,

if someone is maligning you because you are, seeking to follow Jesus, it's okay to just say, you know, that's what this is. That's the category I have for this. And then to focus upon heaven and to know that Christ is, not only will you have joy in heaven when you make it there, but right now heaven is cheering you on. I actually think this is true. And you want to be careful with this, not to go too far, but at the same time, it's so meaningful to think about this. The two things, two examples in the New Testament that really move me and inspire me to think about is one when Jesus, I love the letters of Revelation 2 and 3. I've preached through these a while back, and this has a lot to do with persecution. I love these

letters. It's my favorite portion of all of Scripture, letters of Revelation 2 and 3, but one little detail. I'll never forget preaching through, I can't even remember which church this letter is to, but in Revelation 2.13, Jesus is speaking, and he references Antipus, my faithful witness, who was killed among you where Satan dwells. And I just remember thinking, can you imagine being Antipus and it's like Jesus is bragging about you? My faithful witness. I mean, is there anything in all reality more wonderful than that? Can you imagine, you know, when you're faithful to Christ, this is what you need to do and you're tempted to feel ashamed. Jesus is pleased with what you are doing. And if you drink that in and let that land upon your heart,

you can get through anything. Another example of this, I preach, I put a sermon on my YouTube channel a while back on Acts 7, Stevens Martyrdom, that one means a lot to me as well. I, and I talked about this at the end, I won't go into the full case here, but I wonder if the reason Jesus is standing rather than sitting, because every other reference to the son of man at the right hand of God he's sitting, I wonder if the reason he's standing is some sort of honor and recognition to Stephen. Don't go too far with it, but let it go far enough that it touches your heart to be able to say, Christ is pleased with his martyrs. Christ is pleased with those who suffer for him. If you know that, you know, that will fight off the shame. The other text I go to so much is Matthew 5,

and just the powerful motivation this is. It's not, so the motivation here is twofold. It's forward looking concerning joy, for great is your reward in heaven. But it's also backward-looking, concerning identity, for so they persecuted the prophets before you. That is incredible happiness that will steal you against the shame when you're suffering for Christ to know, I'm with the martyrs. Even though my suffering is probably not nearly as grandiose as what other people have gone through, nonetheless, I can recognize that I'm a part of this team that goes, I'm on the side of history that goes all the way back to Abel, you know, starting with Canaan Abel, and I'm on that side. so they persecuted the prophets before you. Again, you don't want to get a complex about this,

but sometimes when you're really suffering, it really helps get you through it. There was a young man who was new on the football team, and he, in a high school football team, freshman, he didn't play in any of the games, so he didn't really feel like he was a part of the team yet. But then every member of the team started getting hate mail from a rival team, kind of mocking them and demeaning them. And at first he was shocked by it, but then the thought came to him, now I know I'm a part of the team. I wouldn't be getting this hate mail if I wasn't a part of this football team, and that's how we can feel about the suffering we go through for Christ.

You're a part of this great tradition going back to Abel. Second thing, don't be afraid. This is what I get from Athanasius. He has this wonderful passage in his book on the incarnation where he's talking about how Christians don't fear death, and that shows that the gospel is true. This is a part of apologetics to show the gospel is true when we are not afraid of death. Quote, a very strong proof of this destruction of death and its conquest by the cross is supplied by a present fact, namely this. All the disciples of Christ despise death.

They take the offensive against it, and instead of fearing it, by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ, trample on it, as on something dead. So we're saying, this is how you know the gospel is really true. look at how these Christians line up to fearlessly attack death as a dead thing itself. And then he shows about how the work of Christ has completely changed humanity's relationship to death. Before the divine sojourn of the Savior, even the holiest of men were afraid of death and mourn the death as those who perish. But now that the Savior has raised his body, death is no longer terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it underfoot as nothing and prefer to die. rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die they do not perish, but live indeed and become incorruptible through the resurrection. Then he gives this great metaphor for this.

Death has become like a tyrant who has been completely conquered by the legitimate monarch, bound hand and foot. The passers by sneer at him, hitting him and abusing him, no longer afraid of his cruelty and rage because of the king who has conquered him. So has death been conquered, and branded for what it is by the Savior on the cross, it is bound, hand and foot, all who are in Christ trample it as they pass and as witnesses to him deride it, scoffing and saying, oh, death, where is thy victory, O'Grath, where is they sting?

I love this idea. It's like making fun of death, mocking death. You know, what can you do to me? We're utterly fearless of it, and the encouragement to go into your heart. When you are facing persecution, is to ask this question, what can they do to me? If death has been drained of its sting, what can they honestly do to me?

You know, you might say, well, they might damage my reputation. Well, so what? Heaven is going to clear all that up. You know, we know the truth is going to win. Jesus talks about, you know, he says, what's whispered in your ear shot from the rooftops. The truth will always win in the end. So what can people actually do to you? And that's just such a comfort to soak your heart into saying, no matter what they do,

they can't ultimately hurt me because of the utter security of my salvation in Christ. And this ability to be fearless in the face of death or other forms of threat against you really is a powerful apologetic for the gospel. I've thought many times, I think the lives of saints and martyrs is the best argument for God and for Christianity, way better than all the others. I don't know why it is. I just think that it is. I can't give an argument for that.

I just see its effects in real life. Peter Craft talks about that. I think he's right. You see this. John Wesley, okay? One of my favorite Christians, amazing man of God, John Wesley. He's on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic. A terrible storm comes, and there's a group of Moravian missionaries having a worship service on the deck,

and he talks about how the English were terrified of death. They were screaming, but these Moravians were just saying. singing on calmly, and that really had an impact upon him. And he asked someone afterwards, were you not afraid? And the person said, I thank God, no. And he says, but were your women and children not afraid? And he says, no, our women and children are not afraid to die. This is a profound influence on Wesley's own spiritual development.

And so you see this. This is what Athanasius is saying. It shows how true Christ is that Christians can face death like this. and I would say face all persecution like this, because ultimately our welfare is indestructible. If you've put your hope in Jesus Christ, if you're following him, nothing can ultimately harm you.

You know, you might die, you might get your head chopped off, you might get slandered, but so what? None of that's going to touch you in the end. And that's what the gospel is done for us. So we don't need to be afraid, you know. And I love in that passage from Athanasius,

he's talking about the transition that has occurred in humanity's orientation to death because prior to Christ, our natural state was dread. And you see in this passage from Paul that I've used for many memorial services that'll put up the words, as others do who have no hope, are a reflection of kind of the normal human condition. When we think about death, it's hopeless. You know, Hebrews 215 even talks about how the fear of death is a kind of lifelong slavery. And you see this throughout human history. There's a famous letter from the, I think it's from the second century.

It's called the letter of condolence. It's a famous, I think it was from an Egyptian woman to her friend. And basically her friend's child died, their young child died, and she's writing to show condolence and sorrow. And it's such an interesting foil or contrast to how the New Testament provides hope in the face of death, like First Thessalonians 4 or example. And the whole letter ends with just these words, nevertheless, against such things one can do nothing, therefore comfort one another, farewell, and that's it. And it's like, what a difference. You see, it helps to appreciate what Christ has accomplished when you see the alternative. Apart from the gospel, that's our natural state of mind. We can't do anything about death.

All we can do is trying to comfort each other. It really is brutalizing. When you're you think about it, if the gospel's not true, if basically, let's say it's a strict atheism that we default to, and you're in the hospital with somebody, and they're in their final moments, what the heck can you do? You don't have any hope to offer. But this is what the difference that Christ has made. Now we have an infinite hope, the best possible hope secured in his resurrection. So you see, you can see this throughout church history. One of the ways you do this, and I've quoted a lot of these, I'll just give you like two examples. I've quoted a lot of these in memorial services when I'm leading, just to try to impress upon people's hearts what Christ is accomplished. First, Thessonians,

four. So the situation there is when he's saying, we do not want you to be uninformed. It's, he had had to leave abruptly before he'd got to finish Christian teaching about death. And so he's saying, we don't, we want you to understand what happens, you know, and the hope that we have. But you can see people's deathbed final words from Christians and from non-Christians and see the difference that Christ makes. The one that is most poignant, I mean, I have a lot of these, I'll just give you one, but some of these are very dark. People, what they say in their, like, really successful people, they get to their final seconds of life in this world, and they don't have a lot of hope, you know, but the one that's, it's not over the top, but actually, if you think about what he's

saying, it's very poignant, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, his last words, I am about to take my last voyage a great leap in the dark. That's it. That image, a leap in the dark, that's what you have if you face death and you don't have Jesus Christ. When you do have Christ, you can see how Christians have spoken of death. My favorite is David Livingston, simple words, I am going home. Those were his final words. He was a great missionary. My granddad, one of the godliest people I've ever known. I remember this wasn't his final words, but he used to say to us as he was getting toward the end of his life, at my funeral, throw a party because I'll be with Jesus.

And he would say with a great big smile on his face. Probably my favorite story is Francis Havargal, the hymn writer, when she was told by the doctor that she was going to die because of her sickness. She smiled and said, beautiful, too good to be true. I would have thought he would have left me here for a while, but he is so good to take me now, come Lord Jesus fetch me. You might not think this is possible. I can imagine someone watching this video feeling like, oh, that's not realistic.

People are just saying that, or this is embellished. But the truth is, yes, this is why Athanasius is saying this is an apologetic for the gospel. Yes, Christians can and do face death like this. Of course, not always. But what a gift the persecuted church is to us when they have done this. Because they give us such a powerful witness. Let me give you an example before moving on. Richard Wormbrand, one of my great heroes of the Christian faith,

a Lutheran minister in communist Romania, spent 14 years in prison being tortured for his faith. I love his testimony of not being afraid when he was first abducted. And on a Sunday morning, I walked to the church. We don't drive to the church because we have no cars. I've never had a car in my life, neither a bicycle. We walked, and then a van of the secret police stopped near me. Four men jumped out of the car.

and pushed me inside. I was kidnapped. There are no warrants of arrest or something like this. And I had to disappear from the face of the earth for 14 years. The first thing which occurred into my mind in that moment was that the words don't fear occur in the Bible 366 times, once for every day of the year. And because there is an extra day of the leap year, it is not 300. 365 times but 366 and I've been kidnapped on the 29th of February and I said to myself well I have motives not to fear this day is also covered and I began to smile now when I began to smile they got frightened because they had to submit me to interrogations and they believed that

they've gone mad now who smiles when the communist kidnapped him believes that I had a nervous shock They asked me, why do you smile, sir? I said, because of the promise which I have, what promised? And since we were very sure that I've gone mad, we had this promise that we don't have to fear. And Jesus is a gentleman. He has told us that we don't have to fear, and he keeps his words. You can watch, do edify yourself sometime by doing a search for Richard Wormbrand on Google or on YouTube and get to know him better, amazing man of God.

Here's the last thing we can learn from church. history, rejoice in Christ. This is the most counterintuitive, but the most helpful. This is the one that I need. I need to remember this. I need to say, rejoice. You know? It just changes your perspective completely. And the reason I say rejoice in Christ is we know, and this is what we can learn from church history, Jesus is especially near to those who suffer for him. Just as he's proud of his martyrs, he is especially available and close with them. All Christians are united to Christ and we commune with Christ, but there's a particular kind of intimacy with Christ that comes in the context of suffering with Him. Try to explain what no human words can fully articulate here.

Think of Paul's language in Philippians 3 and elsewhere about sharing or participating in the suffering of Christ. That word sharing implies there's this kind of objective reality out there that we're entering into when we suffer. Think of a door. You open the door, you walk through the door, you're going into this objective terrain, the suffering of Christ. And when that falls upon you, maybe this could encourage somebody out there, when you go through that door, and it's the worst thing you could imagine, it's absolutely terrible. This is how you can rejoice, and this is how you can get through it, just to know Christ is here first.

This is not on chartered territory. I'm not in this scary, foreign, unknown place. I'm going through the doorway that Christ already walked before me. He's already there. He's been through it. He's been through it way worse. He faced the wrath of God. And because of that, this is already on the map.

And I'm not called to explore. I'm called to follow. And he's there with me in it. There's an awareness of this in the early church. text the martyrdom of Polycarp. This recounts not only Polycarp's martyrdom. He was the second century bishop of Smyrna, but other martyrs as well. I'll never forget preaching on the letter in Revelation 2 to the church in Smyrna. Terrible suffering there. Some people think Polycarp was a little child when that letter was written. Who knows? But he talks about in the martyrdom, he's recorded

as saying on the day of his death, 80 and six years have I served him and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my king and my savior? And during his farewell, he says, I bless you, Father, for judging me worthy of this hour, so that in the company of the martyrs, I may share the cup of Christ. Note those words, in the company of the martyrs, I may share the cup of Christ. And what is so enthralling about this to know that what will completely change your life, if you really take it in, is to know that Christ is there with you in the suffering. I would just invite people out there watching this video to dare to believe this, to let this land upon your heart, to the extent that you are imperfectly but sincerely seeking to

Christ, and you're facing opposition for that. Christ is especially near to you in that. Think of Christ saying to Saul. Saul, why do you persecute me? Jesus, you could almost think of it like this. You know how in the documentary, the last dance, I've been watching back through that, second time through that lately when Michael Jordan is always saying, I took it personally. And then you know things are going to go bad for the other team. It's like, it became personal to me. The suffering of the sheep of Christ is personal to him.

He takes it personally. He's there with them. It's persecuting him. There's this, think of it like this. The union that Jesus has with his people is particularly evident in their suffering like he did. And he's particularly near to them. This is the most mind-blowing part of this that I'll share with you to finish off here.

in the martyrdom of Polycarp, there's also reference to these terrible forms of suffering that the early Christians were facing, scourges, fire, bloodshed, being fed to the wild beasts, being stretched out on beds of spikes, horrific torture, trying to procure a denial of Christ from them. But it talks about how many Christians remained calm and were shielded from the pain by the presence of Christ. I'll just read from this emboldened portion. It says, but they reached such a pitch of magnanimity that not one of them let a sigh or a groan escape them, thus proving to us all those holy martyrs of Christ. At the time when they suffered such torments were absent from the body,

or rather that the Lord then stood by them and communed with them, skipping down a bit for this reason the fire of their savage executioners appeared cool to them. Do you see what he's saying? The fire wasn't even that hot because Jesus was so close. to them. It's like they'd already left the body. Now, when we get to a passage like this, we need to be careful. Yes, there's an idealizing happening here. Of course, we know that some Christians did break under torture. We know that some Christians did experience fear and despair, and they were not superhuman. Nonetheless, there is something true about this that during intense persecution,

the intimacy of Christ can be so thick that it can shield you from the worst of the pain. Something supernatural happens where you're surrounded. Boniface Ramsey comments like this at the root of the physical and psychological transformation attributed to the martyrs was the firm conviction that they were not suffering alone. They were following Christ closely as possible and experiencing his presence in their sufferings. This union with Christ is understood to be so overwhelming that it obliterates any sense of pain. In the very act of martyrdom, the sufferers are already out of the flesh. Now you might think, ah, that's not realistic. That's exaggerating. I don't really buy it. Okay, go back to Richard Wormbrand.

14 years of torture, right? I think the worst thing he went through, maybe, three years of solitary confinement. And they drugged them so that they couldn't even think straight. So he couldn't even recite the Lord's prayer because his brain was so addled from the drugs. And, you know, the guards would wear rubber souls so they couldn't even make any noises so that the prisoners couldn't see anything, total darkness. couldn't hear anything and they're all alone, three years. You study these things in church history, because I consider this church history, even though it's more recent church history, and at times it overwhelms you and you think,

it's how could anybody endure that? Okay, now I'm going to say a sentence that, to me, you know, this is the kind of thing, it's like, it's so shocking. But again, it's like, okay, now I know the gospel's true. Wormbrand spoke of that time as a time of joy. Watch the film The Voice of the Martyrs. Read about him.

He talks about the pain of that, the suffering of that, the psychological bombardment against you. He says at one point all he could think to say is Jesus, I love you, over and over. But in the midst of that, this is the testimony that he gave. I would prepare a regular sermon and I would deliver it. Then I would sit down sometimes and out of a very primitive thing. made a chess play and I would play chess with myself. And then again, I would walk around, pray and speak to God. This for a time.

But afterwards, the narcotics which were put in our food had effect upon our minds. And we could not really pray in the usual sense of the world anymore. It was one of the most desperate moments my life when I tried one evening to say the Lord's prayer and I found out that I had forgotten it. I said our Father, which are in heaven, allowed be thy name and I didn't know what follows. And then for a long time I prayed only so much.

Jesus I love you, Jesus I love you. I think that is prayer enough. And then I could not concentrate my mind even on that. And my only prayer would be the beating of a loving heart. Sometimes we would be overcome by such a joy of the presence of the Lord that we would have to dance. And we dance like this. This is the slavas, Senin.

Donulblancatel, I say. Do who luituit, Tone, my Mulya, my vre. You would feel that your heart will. Rents in pieces if you would not dance for joy so great was the joy of the presence of the bread. So that gives you just a flavor of it. You hear that language of the bridegroom. This is how he often talks. I love Richard Werbrand.

He's always saying, you know, the bridegroom, he talks about, I was the bride in the presence of the bridegroom. This marital language, like the Song of Songs, for intimacy with Christ. And during those, elsewhere, he says, when I remember that time, I remember that time, I remember. remember it is a glorious time. The bride was in the embraces of the heavenly bridegroom. We received his holy kiss. We knew his caresses. It has been one of the most beautiful times of my life. If you can kind of not, on the one hand, you might get embarrassed by the like intimate marital imagery. And then you realize, no, that needs to be that way. You have to use that imagery because there's no other way to describe this intimacy with Christ. And if it weren't,

it's the kind of thing. It's like you would never believe it unless you've seen it. You'd never believe it. You'd say, no, no, no, no. There's no way. You can be in solitary confinement for three years and say it's a glorious time. That's clearly an exaggeration. But then you see these men.

You see these martyrs. You see the persecuted church. And it's the best sermon you've ever heard in your life. And you realize, oh, that's what the difference is that Christ makes. That's why I've said many times I do think the martyrs are the best argument for Christianity. their joy is so hard to argue against. So I would just say summing it up so I can get through the end here, no matter what you are facing in this world.

Some of you watching this video, the pain, you know, that's one thing I have great respect for is the amount of pain that is in this world. If you have Christ, you can have joy. I'm not saying that from my standpoint. I say that just, you know, refracting what the testimonials. of the martyrs is and the sufferers like Wormbrand. They went through that door before us. They shone a light into that dark place. They showed us what to do. And that's your rejoice in Christ. Don't be ashamed. Don't be afraid. Rejoice in Christ. There's joy in the midst of the suffering

because of thick, tremendous intimacy with Christ. And if non-Christians mock me for using that language, that is fine with me. Because it's the most wonderful thing you can possibly imagine. up all the great experiences you've ever had in this life. Multiply it, and it doesn't compare to the joy of knowing Christ. And that's one thing that the martyrs can teach us. I need to conclude by just saying, of course, the greatest truth of the Bible is not that we suffer for Christ, but that he suffered for us on the cross. And that is the basis for all of our efforts to follow him, to serve him, and

so forth, because that established forgiveness of sins, a clean slate before God. So all of our suffering for him, we're not earning anything. We're doing this all as a grateful response to what he did for us. But the promise is also, there's also this dynamic that in following Christ, you're following in his footsteps, and that's suffering, he will be with you every step along the way. Here's a final thought. When all else fails, I'll put up Romans 817. If nothing else is getting you through, remember the doctrine of glorification, which is a very happy thought. Yes, we suffer for Christ in this life, but we will be glorified with him. I mean, it's, again, it's the kind of thing, it's like I never would say that unless I had biblical warrant to say that Christians will be

glorified. But that's literally part of the Ordu Saludus. That's part of the doctrine of salvation, that we get glorified. What does that mean? Well, there's a lot there to probably unpack, but the emotions of it might be captured by this great scene in Lord of the Rings. Remember when the four hobbits are there, and Aragorn, they start bowing down, and Aragorn says, my friends, you bow to no one. And then everyone honors them. This is a way of honoring them for their suffering, honoring them for what they did. Think of what Jesus said about Antipus, my faithful witness. Think of Jesus standing to honor Stephen. Think of Jesus saying, so they persecuted the prophets before you. what will Jesus do in heaven to honor those who suffered for him like Eragorn did for the hobbits?

I don't know, but I know it makes it worth it. And if you fill your heart with that, you can make it through anything in this life. All right, thanks for watching everybody. This went from church history lessons to sermon, but hopefully it helps somebody out there. All right, we'll see you next time.