Persecution is Coming. Will you Stand?
By Harold Sadlier
May 1, 2025
“When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up sted-fastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, re-ceive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:54-60).
Persecution will come. Will you stand? Our world is in serious trouble, for it is ruled by the prince of darkness, whose goal is to steal, kill, and destroy.
A time is coming, when it will mean death to be a Christian, perhaps very shortly. In several countries, this is al-ready the case. Are you willing to die?
God’s children have been and always will be persecuted. Direct persecution comes from the government or another authoritarian figure outright and delib-erately creating pain, suffering, or death, directed at God's people. Indirect persecution can come in many forms, such as by slandering, mocking, belit-tling, etc. There has always been a de-gree of persecution and always will be.
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecu-tion” (2 Timothy 3:12).
Do you think that by following Christ you will leave this world unscathed?
Jesus said, “…In the world ye shall have tribulation…” (John 16:33).
Paul said, “…for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Gal 6:17).
Stephen did not go looking to die for Christ. Indeed, to do so is nothing short of a martyr complex. He preached the gospel, and such was their hatred for him that they set up false witnesses against him. His faith never wavered, nor did his love and compassion for these men.
Man seeks a reason, a cause to live, and will not willingly lay his life down for no reason. Our human body fights against death. We want to live. So how could Stephen die this painful, agoniz-ing death? Go back to Acts 7:55:
“But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus stand-ing on the right hand of God.”
Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost. God was with him, for God was in him. He knew who He was! Stephen knew where he was going! He knew that kill-ing his body was the extent of their power!
“And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4).
Stephen looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God. His affections were set on things above, not on the things of this world! Through faith, he looked beyond his pain. He saw the finish mark. His race was nearly won! Near-ing death, Stephen saw the One who gave him his breath, and very soon, he would be face to face. He had found that God’s grace was sufficient in life, and remained sufficient as he neared death!
Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. The patriot of this world says, “I’ll die on my feet before I live on my knees!” Stephen was willing to die on his knees. He saw his Lord standing! Jesus was not oblivious: His face was set toward Stephen. What a way to die!
Consider the Apostle Paul. He was kept chained in a dark, cold dungeon, wait-ing for his execution. Early one morn-ing, he awoke from his sleep and heard, THUD, THUD! “What was that?” he wondered.
A key rattled in the lock. A big Roman soldier swung open the door.
“Paul!” He barked.
“Yes,” Paul replied.
“Get up! You’re coming with me!”
“Uh, ok,” Paul replied. “Why so early? Where are we going?”
“Haha!” The soldier grinned. “Today you die, Paul! I’m here to take you to the square. I’m taking your head off. This is going to be fun!”
“Really?” Paul replied. “Hold on, let me grab my hat!”
They step out into the prison hall. As the soldier led him out, Paul couldn’t help but smile. A whistle broke his lips. Bewildered, the soldier looked at Paul and asked, “You must not understand. You realize I’m taking you out to kill you, right? How can you be so joyful? Not many people recover from a be-heading!”
Paul stopped whistling. He turned and looked at the soldier, and with a twin-kle in the eye he said, “This is nothing new. I die daily!” (1 Corinthians 15:31)
What did both of these men have, that they could face death in such a way? Jesus! They knew who they were. They knew where they were going!
Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
They knew they lived in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom they were called to shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:15).
Will you be able to stand? Do you have real salvation? Does the Spirit of God live within you, so that with Christ and because of Christ, you can stand… and you will?
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