IN the previous discourse the Lord had set before His disciples the marks of the new Christian company, whose privilege it would be to bear fruit for the Father, and bear witness to Christ in a world from which Christ is absent.
(V. 1). Those, however, who, in any measure, wear the character of Christ, and bear witness to Christ in a Christ-hating world, will assuredly have to face something of the suffering, and persecution, that is brought before us in the opening verses of this chapter. The thoughtful and tender love of the Lord, anticipating the suffering of His own, gives them this loving warning lest, when persecution arose, they might be offended. If unwarned their natural prejudices, formed by their links with the dispensation that was closing, together with their ignorance of the new Christian era about to dawn, might become a cause of stumbling when faced with persecution. How needed the warning, the after-history of the disciples will prove.
John the Baptist, in his day, came nigh to being offended. His faith received a severe shock by treatment that was so foreign to his thoughts. As the result of his faithful witness he finds himself in prison, and, being ignorant of the mind of the Lord, he sends a message to the Lord, “Art Thou He that should come,” to receive the answer, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.” With this danger the disciples were faced. Filled with the false hope of the immediate redemption of Israel, they would hardly be prepared for persecution from Israel. Their false expectations exposed them to the danger of being offended.
(Vv. 2, 3). The Lord’s warning prepares them not only for persecution, but for religious persecution. The disciples of Christ would be put out of the synagogue, involving the loss of all fellowship whether in the family, social or political circle (John 9:2222These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. (John 9:22)). This religious persecution would proceed from religious motives. “Whosoever killeth you will think that He doeth God service.” Hence the greater the sincerity, the more ruthless the persecution. But this persecution would proceed from ignorance of the Father and the Son. And thus it has been with every form of religious persecution. It has been truly said, “As it was with the Jews who persecuted Christians, so with the Christians who have persecuted Christians. Things have been done ‘to the glory of God,’ and ‘in the name of Christ,’ of which He who looks down from heaven could only say, ‘They have not known the Father nor Me.’”
(V. 4). In the days to come the persecution would become an occasion of recalling the Lord’s words and comforting the disciples’ hearts with a fresh sense of the omniscience that foreknew, and the love that forewarned. Hitherto the necessity to speak of these things had not arisen, for the Lord was present to shelter and guard them. These things belonged to the timed of His absence, not the time of His presence.