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Persecution and the Early Church

During his years of teaching, Jesus told the disciples that they would be persecuted for following him. He delivered this message more than once to the faithful who were with him to the end (John 15:20).

In the Olivet Discourse, when Jesus revealed the fate of Jerusalem and the signs to watch for concerning it and the end of the age, he pointed again to persecution for the church (Matt. 24:9; Luke 21:12). From Mount Olivet Jesus foretold what would befall his followers in the early years and all down through the centuries until his return.

“The followers of Christ must tread the same path of humiliation, reproach, and suffering which their Master trod,” wrote E.G. White in The Great Controversy, (p. 14). When one steps back from the story of Jesus’ great miracles and looks at the larger picture, we find only a few followers who actually stayed with him until the end. Luke tells us in the book of Acts that there were only 120 gathered together after his ascension from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:15).

Jesus’ teachings and his miracles attracted large crowds in the early days of his ministry. People came for the healings and the miracles, but that was really all they wanted. When it came time for the serious teaching about what they would have to do, very few were interested (John 6:66). The crowds that called for Jesus’ crucifixion very likely contained men who had witnessed him performing miracles and healings on an earlier occasion.

The humiliation, reproach and suffering inflicted on Jesus came from a world that wanted no part of the real message he came to bring. And they still want no part of it today. The savior’s words of persecution have been fulfilled down through the centuries, but most of the world is confused and in the dark about it. The history books paint a distorted view of what has really transpired, but the truth is not lost. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, we can still find the church that Jesus founded. But it won’t be where most of the world expects it to be.

Persecution is a sign
When Jesus spoke of his followers being persecuted he was not speaking of only a brief time after his death. He was stating a truth that would be a part of his true church until his return. At the time he promised to return, most of his followers thought it would be soon and even in their own lifetimes. Little did they know that 2,000 years would pass.

Following Jesus’ death, the church was persecuted. The Bible tells us of the treatment they received at the hands of the Jews. While the fledgling new Christian church was forming in the heart of a Jewish world, the Jews as a nation were rushing toward their own destruction. (See The Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.)

Nearly all of the early converts were Jews. The three thousand who became Christians (although they weren’t called “Christians” until some time later) on the day of Pentecost were Jews who had come up to Jerusalem from Judea, Galilee and other nations to celebrate the Holy Day. These pilgrims began the first spread of Christianity away from its center at Jerusalem. But the small sect was not accepted by the main body of Judaism of that day any more than they were later.

We don’t hear much in the first few years as the new converts met at the Temple and listened to the disciples speak. But it wasn’t long until they came under attack and were forced to scatter. Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned to death by the Jews under the watchful eye and guiding hand of Saul, who later became Paul.

It was after Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus that Gentiles began to be numbered among the converts. In spite of their opponents efforts to stop the spread of this new sect, spread it did until there were churches established all around the Mediterranean basin.

As long as the church was under persecution from those all around them, the witnesses for Jesus kept their faith unsullied. As we’ll note later, when the persecutions stopped is when the faith began to become corrupt and go astray.

Why persecution?
From the very beginning of mankind, Satan has set himself and his followers up against those who would follow God. As the God of this world, Satan influenced the powers of heaven and earth to destroy the church of God. As the message of Christ spread out to the Gentile world, paganism saw that if the gospel was to triumph over them, it would mean the destruction of their temples and altars. Satan, as the author of paganism, which is really the worship of him, pulled out all the stops to end this new movement that was beginning to spread across the land.

The fires of persecution were kindled and the new Christians found themselves stripped of their possessions and driven from their homes. They were beaten, imprisoned, and many were killed. They were hunted like beasts of prey.

But they prevailed as the Holy Spirit of God inhabited them. In the height of persecution they remembered Jesus’ words when he said they should be “exceeding glad” when they were persecuted. They remembered his promise that “great would be their reward in heaven.” They remembered that persecution had been delivered up to their master just as it had to the prophets who had gone before him. Like God’s servants of old, they were “tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection” (Heb. 11:35). The loss of every earthly blessing could not force them to renounce their belief in Christ. Trials and persecutions were but steps that brought them closer to their rest and their reward. They rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer for the truth and they sang songs of triumph in the midst of the fire.

Satan’s efforts to destroy the church by violence was a failure because Jesus had warned them ahead of time and they chose to believe the words of their master. As Christ’s faithful were slain and fell at their posts, others sprang up to take their place. By defeat, the Christian movement conquered. God’s workmen were slain, but his work went steadily forward. The gospel continued to spread and the numbers of its adherents continued to increase.

The sufferings which the Christians endured brought them closer to one another and to Christ. Their living example and dying testimony were a constant witness to the truth. Even many of the followers of Satan were leaving their service to him and began enlisting under the banner of Christ.

What did Satan do?
When Satan saw that his campaign of violence was not prevailing against the government of God, he took another path. The persecutions began to dwindle and the Christians were allowed to live in comparative peace for a while, because Satan had come up with a new plan.

He would plant his followers in the midst of the church. He would begin a campaign of deceit and pull Christ’s followers away. If he could deceive them into displeasing God, he could break their strength and they would fall easy prey to his nefarious plans.

The adversary ceased his influence that led to persecutions and substituted the dangerous allurements of prosperity and worldly honor. Men were planted in the church who began to teach compromise between the idolaters and the faithful. These idolaters professed acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and to believe in his death and resurrection, but they had no conviction of sin and felt no need for repentance and change of heart. Without repentance the Holy Spirit can not come, so the church began to fill with those who did not have the Holy Spirit.

The church came into fearful peril and many of the later books in the New Testament attest to the false teachers who were now beginning to lead the church astray. Some of the Christians stood firm and refused to compromise, but others reasoned that if they would yield or modify some features of their faith they would be able to unite with those who had accepted a part of Christianity, if not all of it. Those who reasoned in such ways thought that by so doing they could effect the means by which those who had accepted a portion of Christ’s truth could come to full conversion.

But it really didn’t work that way. Rather than converting the idolaters to Christianity, the idolaters converted the compromising Christians to idolatry. The problem came in that the compromising Christians did not recognize the author of what was happening to the church. They did not recognize that Satan’s plan of deception had entered in and they were fooled into thinking it was God’s Holy Spirit that was bringing the idolaters to prominence in their midst.

The church began to split. There became two classes of those who professed to be followers of Christ. Those who refused to compromise and held out for the purity of Christ’s gospel and refused to allow the idolaters to change it eventually ended up back under persecution, but this time from a so-called Christian world.

The other faction moved forward with unsound doctrine, superstitious rites and idolatrous ceremonies. The idolaters professed to be converted and united with the church, but they clung to their idolatry, only changing the objects of their worship to images of Jesus, Mary, and eventually, the saints. The worship of God alone, which Jesus had taught, became lost in the idolatry and the purity of the original church lost its strength and power. Those who clung to the original message were once again forced into hiding and were persecuted and killed for their faith.

Why did Christian kill Christian?
Since all began from a common beginning, what would cause one group who professed to be followers of Christ to take up the sword to torture and kill another group who also professed to be followers of Christ? The group that had come under the influence of Satan, of necessity, had to become bitter foes of those who were under the influence of the Spirit of God. Satan is Christ’s bitterest foe who wants only to bring him down to defeat. So those who stayed true to Christ’s original gospel became Satan’s foes also.

There can be no union between the prince of darkness and the Prince of Light. Those who remained true to the light exposed the sins of those who were on the path of darkness and that is still true today. They did not want their sins exposed or their peace disturbed. The true followers of Christ convicted the followers of idolatry by their very existence.

Under the influence of Satan, the idolaters sought to stamp out all of those who remained true to Christ’s gospel. God’s discerning Spirit among the true followers became too uncomfortable to the hypocrites and evil-doers who had gone after the ways of Satan. They would seek to betray any who disturbed their comfort or didn't agree with them.

The allures that Satan held out were too tempting. He introduced prosperity and creature comforts that drew many away from Christ’s truth and back to worldly pursuits. He had to have been exulted by how well his plan worked as he drew large numbers away from the purity of the gospel and then exerted all of his power to influence them to persecute those who had not succumbed to his influence.

After a long struggle, the faithful few dissolved all union with the apostate church that was growing in numbers. Under severe persecution, all attempts at trying to save the purity of Christ’s gospel among them was abandoned and the faithful went underground where they could worship God in honesty and truth, hidden from the eyes of the world. The early Christians and their descendants were indeed a peculiar people. Their unwavering faith in the gospel was a constant reproof to those who had followed the way of compromise. In order to maintain their purity to Christ’s message, they had to withdraw. But they did not disappear.

The true followers of Christ’s gospel continued to be persecuted down through the ages just as Jesus had said they would. The pogroms and inquisitions recorded in history testify to the truth of what Jesus told his followers. Much of the truth is hidden from the world even today. The history books are usually written by the victors, and, on the surface, it would appear the victors are the church that Satan built. The world at large is under the control of Satan, whether they know it or not. They have offered up their version of what happened in history and the world at large has accepted it. But God’s truth will ultimately be the victor.

The question that ought to engage today’s church is, if Jesus said the church would be persecuted and Paul said that “all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12), why is it, then, that today’s church is not under persecution? And don’t even begin to think that a few missionaries and pastors at various locations in non-Christian countries around the world who are killed constitutes persecution. Today’s Christian church is not a persecuted church. It is a popular church revered by millions.

If Christ said it would not be that way, then why is it? The only reason is that the church has compromised to the world’s standards and is not of the pure and holy character of the original church that Jesus founded and his apostles built upon. The great truths of God’s Word are treated with indifference by today’s church. If the church would turn back to the faith and power of the early church based on God’s truths, persecution would be revived. But that is unlikely to happen. God’s prophecies of the end times and the one-world religion under the influence and power of the beast will reign until Christ returns to set all things back in order.