Christ's Kingdom Through Persecution
By Solomon White
Matthew 5:10 -
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
It’s difficult to talk about Christian persecution in America when we see a church on every corner. For many of us, it feels like a distant issue. We have “In God We Trust” written on our money, we swear on a Bible in our courtrooms, and our nation’s leaders have a National Prayer Breakfast every year. Christian persecution is, of course, more clearly seen in a place like China, where any dissent from the gospel-compromised, government authorized version of Christianity can be met with harsh penalties such as jail time or even death. We know no such persecution in America.
But Christianity has always grown best in the face of severe persecution. As a second-century Christian and church father, Tertullian wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” A Chinese pastor called Pastor Lamb said that after spending half of his life in prison the authorities eventually stopped arresting him. When asked why, he said, “every time they threw me in prison, the church grew.”
As Christians, if we trusted the promised blessing, we would actually be praying for persecution. There are no lukewarm Christians in China. There is no comfortable “cultural Christianity” for them to hide behind. You either are, or you are not, following Christ. It doesn’t benefit Chinese Christians in any way to play the part unless you’re willing to die for it. We should pray that such faith would be found in our country.
There is a difference between mistreatment and persecution for righteousness’ sake. For some believers, every challenging word is claimed to be persecution. Everyone encounters some form of criticism but being “clapped back” is not necessarily the persecution that brings forth the blessing that the beatitude promises. It must be persecution “for righteousness’ sake.” Too often, especially in America, Christians claim to be persecuted for upholding the principles. But are our principles biblical, or are they political and not of true biblical righteousness, but our self-righteousness? We need to check our hearts and see what we are truly being criticized for. Jesus spoke harsh words to the religious, but kind words to sinners.
Our job is not to condemn the world; it already stands condemned (John 3:18). Our job is to stand for righteousness and when we do we should expect the world to fight against us. Attacking a marginalized group of sinners, then being called an insensitive jerk, is not persecution. It’s one thing to speak the truth in love without compromise to the gospel and be vehemently, harshly shouted down. It’s another thing entirely to smugly, almost gleefully announce a lost person’s condemnation to hell and be called judgmental. That’s not persecution. We must know the difference. We must not point fingers at people, but point people to Christ and his Word.
We must pray for our persecutors because God’s sovereignty means no one is too far from his reach. Look at the apostle Paul, self-proclaimed “chief of sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). Christians said of Paul, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy” (Gal 1:23). A wicked emperor sending Christians to the blood-soaked Colosseum is no farther lost than an unsaved churchgoer who’s been unknowingly faking it his whole life. We are Christ’s witnesses to everyone.
This is what Jesus means when he says of the persecuted “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:29-30 says, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” This is part of the upside-down kingdom Jesus talks about in Mark 10:42-45 where those who are great will be servants and those who are first will be slaves. The kingdom of heaven is for “the least of these” (Matt 25:40).
Those who face persecution in this life will have glory in the next. But this isn’t only a promise for when we die. The Bible promises a new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1). In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus says, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). Christ’s kingdom is coming and when we face persecution for the sake of righteousness, we’re walking in the footsteps of Christ that lead to our status as citizens of Christ’s kingdom that is in a sense already, but not yet, here.
We do not need to look very far to see that our world needs righteousness. There will be times when standing for righteousness is going to cost us. Even though true persecution for righteousness’ sake currently may seem rarer, it’s reasonable to assume that a reckoning is on the horizon where popular culture and public opinion will slip further and further away from a biblical-Christian worldview. But over that horizon is the kingdom of heaven, not the kingdom of America. We need to hold on to this promised blessing as we continue to stand for righteousness in our world even though persecution may follow, only then will we inherit the kingdom we have been hoping for. No matter what, our hope is not in the future of our nation or our government. Come what may, our hope is in Christ and his kingdom, and the church will grow through persecution for the sake of true righteousness.