Perseverance and Israel

When a righteous person finds themselves in the midst of a trial that has a very high level of difficulty and challenge, they are not the only one whose heart is tried by the circumstance. In effect everyone who is around them or knows them well is put to the test, and as the prophet Simeon said of Jesus when he was yet a baby, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own [Mary's] soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Lk. 2:34,35). The righteousness of Christ and his subsequent sufferings brought out just exactly what was really in the hearts of everyone around him, which is to say that "the thoughts of many hearts [were] revealed." For instance there was a really big difference in what was manifested about Mary and John, who were at the foot of the cross; and the chief priests who were also at that scene, and said, "He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him" (Mat. 27:42). But in any event the suffering of Jesus brought out a clear picture of what was in the hearts of all of those who were around him. No wonder we have the prophecy of the sufferings of Christ in the Psalms, that say, "Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none" (Psm. 69:20). The same was true with Job, who probably suffered a greater personal catastrophe on an acute level than anyone in the Bible other than Jesus. His three 'friends' who actually came to grieve with him ended up changing their tune when Job finally opened his mouth and expressed his unbearable grief. I can't imagine what else they expected from the man, but what was down in them just couldn't stay bottled up in the face of this righteous man's unfathomable hardship and pain. Their first words after hearing Job's expression of untold sorrow should have been words of comfort and hope for their friend, but that wasn't the case: "Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled... Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same" (Job 3:3-5,7,8).

Wow! It sure didn't take much time for Job's 'friends' to be manifested as not being so friendly. It only got worse, and it lasted for some time until God rebuked their folly himself, and shut down their false accusations against Job with quite a force (Job 42:7,8). In Job's case there was no one at all on earth who was there to stand with him against the vicious onslaught of his 'friends,' only the Lord himself. On top of everything else he suffered, his friends turning on him was like salt poured into a gaping wound. Jeremiah is a good example of this malady as well, seeing he was likely the most persecuted of all the prophets of the old testament. He was cast into a miry pit in a dungeon for no good reason by the wicked king's princes who hated him for the word of God's sake. Yet there was an Ethiopian eunuch of the king, named Ebedmelech who was bold in the face of great opposition, and appealed to the king to have Jeremiah brought up out of the pit, which appeal was granted (Jer. 38:7:13). Again there was a very big difference in what was manifested about the hearts of the princes, and the heart of this eunuch. Not only so, but God later sent Jeremiah to Ebedmelech with a message that pertained to himself and the coming doom of Jerusalem which was foretold by Jeremiah: "Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord" (Jer. 39:16-18). As for Jeremiah, his pain will one day be answered with great eternal reward, but woe unto those who caused it. Then we have the apostle Paul, who probably suffered for the Gospel more greatly than anyone in the new testament. At the end of his life in his last letter to Timothy, he spoke of the time years earlier when he was first taken to Rome as a prisoner: "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion" (II Tim. 4:16,17). He doesn't name names there, but he did say that "all men forsook him." That clearly manifests that whoever was with him was more afraid of men than they were of God, and more concerned about their lives and freedom than they were about their loyalty to God's servant. It was no doubt very disheartening to Paul to be abandoned by everyone who was with him when his life was on the line.

Paul also wrote in this last letter about those who were with him in the present time when his life was once again on the line in Rome, and this time he did name names; most notably his fellow servant Demas, who had been named for good in other epistles: "Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica... Only Luke is with me" (II Tim. 4:9-11). Whether the others named in this passage had forsaken him or had just moved on to preach elsewhere, is not clear. What is clear is that Demas, who had been with him for some time as a fellow minister, certainly forsook Paul for the love of this world's sake. What else is clear is that Luke, the beloved physician who wrote the book of Acts, was with Paul till the end. That shows us a sharp contrast as to what was deep in the heart of Demas, and what was in Luke's heart. It should also be duly noted that at the time of this last epistle of the great apostle, it was certain that he was about to be put to death, which he was. The moral of all of these true and sobering stories is that in all of these instances, and in others like them to this day, those whose hearts were true with God were manifested to also be true and loyal to the righteous souls they knew who were in great affliction. Those whose hearts were not rooted in the love of God like they needed to be, were manifested to be such by their not remaining true to their friends and God's servants who were being tried with great challenge and adversity. The good news is that God delivered each and every one of these beloved souls who were suffering so greatly, though some were delivered only by death. The bad news is that those whose hearts were manifested to not be as true as they should have been, at the least did themselves great disservice by being critical of, reviling, doing damage to, and/or forsaking the faithful who were in great need. It pays greatly to know what is what and who is who in these kinds of circumstances, and to know which side of that kind of thing to be on. Reason being that God is always with those whose hearts are fully with him, whether they be the ones who are afflicted, or those who remain loyal to them. The bottom line is that those with faithful hearts to God are also faithful to others whose hearts are faithful to God. And one never knows when some mighty warrior of the faith could be writing his last epistle, or at least feeling that he may be. Amen, and God bless.