Suffering: An Honor for the Christian
"Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake."
- Philippians 1:27-29
"Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." (John 15:20)
The principle of Christians facing the Antichrist and enduring his persecutions is written large in the Scriptures. It is made very clear that the Church has always stood before and in opposition to antichrists, and has always suffered persecution from systems ruled by such. For the Church, therefore, to go into the days of the Antichrist and be called upon to endure his hatred and harassments, is but for her to pass from one phase of an experience into another, the difference being not in kind, but in degree. Moreover, the fact that Christians have faced past antichrists and suffered because of them presents strong, presumptive evidence that they will face the future Antichrist and suffer because of him. Whatever may be true in regard to this last, it is unmistakably plain that suffering on the part of the Church, because of antichrists, is not inconsistent but, rather, wholly harmonious with the thought and fact of God's most tender love. The question of divine love permitting such suffering, therefore, is not one which needs to be considered.
The thought is often expressed, and still more often felt, that God loves his saints too well to allow them to stand face-to-face with the Antichrist and to pass through the Great Tribulation. If Scripture and experience teach this, all controversy, of course, is immediately ended. But do they? Did God love Christ too well to forbid His standing before His antichrist and passing through His great tribulation? Did God love Peter, James, John, and Paul too well for them to suffer, or the apostolic Church, the Church of the Reformation, or the more modern Christians of Armenia, Madagascar, and China? It is a historical fact that the Church, from apostolic days to the present, has always faced antichrists and has frequently passed through periods of tribulation. The Scripture makes it plain that this will be her appointed portion to the end of her earthly pilgrimage (Acts 14:22, Rom. 8:35-39, 1 Thess. 3:4).
There is no occasion, then, for surprise on the part of the Church when an antichrist arises and persecution comes. As a matter of fact, there is more need for surprise when there are no antichrists and persecutions. Indeed, this latter is so true that Christians may well question, in times of universal quiet and peace, if things are with them spiritually as they ought to be. For it is suffering, not comfort, that is the appointed lot of God's heritage, even as Paul said, "For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." And again, "We must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of God."
On God's side, there has been granted to the modern Church a breathing space in order that there might be ample and unhindered opportunity to pass through divinely opened doors. But as for the saints, the vast majority have accepted the breathing space but then refused to pass through these open doors. Therefore, these saints have, over time, come to conclude that the prosperity of quiet and ease from suffering is not only their lot, but also their right. What a shock it was in 1900 when the Boxer movement broke over their cherished kin like a devastating storm! In those days of sorrow, many a soul secretly demanded to know from God what he was doing. His only answer was the allowance of further torture and death, until the storm passed. Since then he has given another, and even more dreadful, answer to questioning souls, as France, Germany, Turkey and Armenia bear witness.
It is evident that He who has for a time turned the usual state of suffering into the unusual state of peace, will in coming days turn this unusual state of peace into the usual state of suffering. Accumulating evidence indicates that the Church, which had torment in the old days but has sat at ease in the new, will be called upon to reenter blood-stained paths and follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
