Luke 21:5-38
“And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls,” Luke 21:13-19.
In our last study, the concluding point that we made was:—
FROM IMMEDIATELY AFTER CHRIST’S ASCENSION UNTIL HIS RETURN, HIS PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF AN ANTAGONISTIC AND HOSTILE WORLD!
As is stated in verse 12, before the events of the later times of the Saviour’s absence from us, there will come persecution. “But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you . . .”
In truth, there never has been a time when the persecuting of the people of God was not taking place.
Yes, there have been times of comparative quiet, when God’s people were unmolested. But other times the flames of cruel hatred have raged hot.
Stephen
Stephen, the first martyr of the Gospel era, asked this question of the Sanhedrin, before which he had been summoned to give an answer to the charges laid against him by the “Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia,” Acts 6:9:
“Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers,” Acts 7:52.
That question makes it clear that the message of God and His messengers have always been opposed, even unto death.
Here, in verse 12, the Saviour warns His disciples that such a spirit of antagonism will continue throughout the intervening years before His return in glory.
We come now to a new section – verses 13-19.
I. SUCH TIMES OF OPPRESSION BECOME OPPORTUNITIES TO WITNESS.
“And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.” (more…)
