Luke 21:12-15 12But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you into the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13It will be to you a witness. 14Therefore, put in place in your hearts not to prepare beforehand how to answer, 15for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to resit or contradict.
The next trouble the disciples would face would be persecution. Persecution can come in many forms and to different degrees of intensity. Jesus’ words in verse 12 were all fulfilled in the book of Acts (Acts 9:2; 22:19; 26:11). Acts 8:1 records the growing persecution the early church experienced. The persecution grew in the Roman Empire until the Edict of Serdica in AD 311, which officially ended it.
Wherever the church has grown, Christians have experienced persecution. Evil infiltrates people’s hearts and deceives them into hating God’s people, even when believers live by love and do good to others. Such hatred is sometimes caused by insecurity, fear, or hardness of heart, as shown by the Jewish leaders towards Jesus and the early disciples. As the church grows to new areas, we should expect persecution also to increase.
Those who are weak in faith and knowledge of the truth of the gospel will be enticed away from the truth and fall away when persecution comes. They will turn on one another because they have been deceived. The meaning of love will be distorted by selfishness. The early church faced false teachers and prophets who were in ministry for money (1 Timothy 6:3-10) and power (Philippians 1:15). Sadly, this problem has only grown in our day with the increase in communication channels. When truth is defined by something other than Jesus, humanity will self-destruct.
But disciples should not be discouraged by persecution because it gives an opportunity to witness about Jesus and the gospel. Jesus offers assurance and his presence to those who are persecuted. But believers must trust at the moment of trial and not try to figure out what to say in defense. The gospel speaks for itself. Peter gives a good example of this in Acts 4:8-12. Jesus is the source of the wisdom that disciples will be given. The words at the end of Matthew echo in the background: “And surely, I will be with you to the end of the age.”.
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