Year of Exposure Day 35: Expect resistance, or worse.

Year ““Son of man, do not fear them or their words. Don’t be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls, even though they are rebels. You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won’t listen, for they are completely rebellious!”

‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus never sugarcoated anything with His disciples. He knew that one of them would betray Him; and He told them so. He knew that they all were going to flee at the moment of His arrest; and He told them so. As well, He knew that they would face persecution, even death, because of Him; and He told them so.

I believe that—perhaps inadvertently—in some trying to present a more “positive” gospel, many Christians are left unprepared for the resistance, rejection, and persecution, that comes because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

““If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭18‬-‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Lord made it clear that they, and indeed, all those who would follow after Him, would be persecuted because of Him.

We have been discussing the rejection of the Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, because of the words of warning they spoke for the Lord.

Indeed, all of the prophets sent to warn Israel, faced persecution and resistance, to one degree or another. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, made this point abundantly clear to the religious leaders.

““You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.””

‭‭Acts 7‬:‭51‬-‭53‬ ‭NLT‬‬

And of course, we know how that ended for Stephen.

In our opening scripture we see that when the Lord first called Ezekiel to warn the people, He told Ezekiel (as He did in a similar way with Jeremiah) that the people would not listen to him. Yes, he would be resisted and rejected, if not worse.

However, we also see that the Lord told him that whether they listened or not, it was his job to faithfully speak what the Lord had spoken.

In another place, the Lord reminded Ezekiel that even if they rejected what he had to say, when these things came to pass, they would know that a prophet had been in their midst.

“But when all these terrible things happen to them—as they certainly will—then they will know a prophet has been among them.””

‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭33‬:‭33‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Child of God, first of all, let’s make sure we aren’t resisting or rejecting the word of God in our own lives. But with that, let us also understand that as the people of God, as followers of Christ, we must speak the truth, whether that is met with resistance, rejection, or even persecution. All of this was done to our Master. So, when we are resisted, rejected or persecuted, we’re in very good company.

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!