Is there any
difference in the practices of injustice and wickedness between the 1st century like our Lord’s day on the earth
and the throughout the centuries including the 21st century? Or the
same. Precisely, it is the same. The times of the Lord Jesus on the earth was
dark and evil, so is today. How can we embrace the days of evil? No one can
escape the days of dark forces of evil in any time and space since the fall of
man. Life is full of troubles and challenges, one at a time. Everyone is
experiencing the same way for the time of days on earth is overwhelmingly
wicked and evil. It is easy to succumb to the principality of wicked and evil
practices for everyone does in this crooked and twisted world. Immorality and
outlaw are rampant and widespread even in the name of the law. Injustice is
being exercised and practiced in every corner of society and in all nations. It
is almost hard to breathe at hearing and seeing all sorts of hypocrisy and
falsity and shallowness in out midst. Just read the newspapers! However, we are
not left alone to learn how to survive, doing our best we can, but given the
Lord Jesus Christ as an example to follow. The Son of Man was accused and
slandered and persecuted without cause. He died simply because he was good in
all truths. We are called to follow our Lord Jesus which means to suffer and be
persecuted for the name of Christ. Apostle Peter says, “When they hurled their
insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.
Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23) “No
servant is not greater than his master,” Jesus says. If they persecuted the
Lord Jesus Christ, they would also persecute his followers. (John 15:20) They
persecuted John the Baptizer without cause.
“King Herod
heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, ‘John
the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers
are at work in him.’ Others said, ‘He is Elijah.’ And still others claimed, ‘He
is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.’ But when Herod heard this,
he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!’ For Herod
himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in
prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had
married. For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have
your brother’s wife.’ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to
kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him,
knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was
greatly puzzled, yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time
came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military
commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came
in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the
girl, ‘Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.’ And he promised
her with an oath, ‘Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.’ She
went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ ‘The head of John the
Baptist,’ she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the
request: ‘I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a
platter.’ The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his
dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an
executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the
prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl,
and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and
took his body and laid it in a tomb.” (Mark 6:14-29)
In this
remarkable account, we see how much the wicked are foolishly boastful and mad,
while the righteous are under the severe pressure and persecution to the point
of death. King Herod threw a pompous and lofty party with his nobles and lords
and generals. So was the queen Herodias and her daughter who danced so
impressively for the king and the honorable guests. King was so amused and
delighted that he offered the daughter of the queen anything she wanted, even half
of the kingdom. The girl consulted with his mother Herodias and requested the
head of John the Baptist on a platter right now. Herod hesitated to allow such
a bewildering and unexpected request by the daughter, but eventually yielded
for his name’s sake. He was nothing but a fool who was responsible for the killing
of a righteous man in the sight of God. Herod knew it, but he had no power to
practice righteousness. In this way, the forerunner of Christ Jesus was killed
and martyred.
Why do the
evil and wicked flourish and careless (at least outwardly) though the righteous
suffer enormously? It is true back then, so is it now. Nothing different if not
worse. Psalmist cries out loudly exactly the same way the righteous does throughout
the centuries.
“Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
From their callous hearts comes;
their evil imaginations have no limits.
They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
They say, ‘How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?’
This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
All day long I have been afflicted,
and every
morning brings new punishments.” (Psalm 73:1-14)
It is true
that the righteous are having been ill-treated and abused and harmed without
cause all throughout the time and space. Why so? Because Jesus says so. Our Lord
Jesus says forthrightly for his disciples that they would be persecuted without
cause by the world. “Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than
his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they
obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way
because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.” (John 15:20-21) Peter,
one of Jesus’ disciples, firstly rejected the business of being suffered without
cause when he was told that the Son of Man had to suffer and die. But he accepted
the suffering servant of God who went to the Father through the way of the
cross. He truly learned and obeyed the way of the Lord Jesus Christ to the
point of death even though he denied the Lord three times. He writes, “For it
is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”
(1 Peter 3:17) How is it possible to be suffering for doing good? Yes, it has
happened to no other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says:
“When they
hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no
threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ‘He himself
bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live
for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’” (1 Peter 2:23-24)
Therefore, it
is better to suffer for ill-treatment and persecution for the sake of Christ. Because
when we did, we also share with his glories. The Judge will justly reward those
who suffering for doing good. “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery
ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were
happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of
Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12-13)
But the wicked and the evil have no place in the Father’s house. Nor any inheritance
from the kingdom of God. Their destiny is destruction and eternal isolation
from the grace of God. The unrighteous cannot stand before the Holy God. The
Lord God says, “I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned
his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert
jackals.” (Malachi 1:2b) The difference between the righteous and the wicked is
not the situation here on the earth but the destiny. Christians are called to
suffer for the name of Christ Jesus, while the wicked seem to enjoy and
entertain themselves without care. However, the righteous will inherit the
kingdom of God which is the destiny for all believers in Christ Jesus. But the
unrighteous and wicked shall not for their destiny is judgment and death.
The Psalmist
learned this truth and repented and praised the Lord:
“If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of
all your deeds.” (Psalm 73:15-28)
We don’t have
to wait to rejoice in sharing with the glories of Christ till we enter into the
kingdom of heaven. It has already been fulfilled in the spirit, though the hope
remains in the future, the full experience of participating in his glory. By his
grace and mercy, we have been united with Christ the Son and God the Father. We
have been adopted as his beloved children in the family of God. We have been
chosen, justified, and glorified through the blood of Christ once for all.
Therefore, we keep on coming unto Jesus and appropriating his rest and peace in
the midst of struggles and challenges. Christ’s death is our death. The punishment
imposed upon Christ is the punishment we deserved. Having believed in Christ
means that we accept the fact that we died with him, buried with him, and further
raised with him from the dead. That is the immovable position of every Christians.
We died to sin. The dead man do not sin. That is our victory guaranteed in
Christ! It is available now and forever when we take it by faith. The
sufferings cannot shake us a bit for our Lord Jesus has overcome the world. So
are we in him. Believe!
February 15, 2019
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