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JEREMIAH PERSECUTED
LESSON IX., FEBRUARY 28, JEREMIAH 38:1-13.
Golden Text--"I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver
thee."--Jer. 1:19.
This lesson tells how the faithful Prophet,
Jeremiah, was persecuted because he boldly
declared the word of the Lord which foretold
only trouble upon Israel, and how the government
foolishly thought to avert the trouble by
persecuting the Lord's warning messenger, instead
of by heeding his wise counsel.
In this the faithful Prophet typified the faithful
of the Gospel age who will also suffer persecution
in some shape or form, if they boldly
declare the whole counsel of God; for, until
the Kingdom of God is established in the earth,
"all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution." (2 Tim. 3:12; Phil. 1:29.)
And the Apostle Paul points those of the Gospel
Church, who are running for the prize of our
high calling, to the noble, self-sacrificing faithfulness
of the ancient worthies who endured so
much for their faithfulness to the Lord and his
truth.--Heb. 11.
The deliverance promised to Jeremiah in the
words of our golden textwas not to be a deliverance
from persecution or even from death, but
merely such protection as would prevent his enemies
from prevailing against him to hinder the
Lord's purposes in him. The Lord does not
engage to deliver his children from all the ills
of this present life. They are permitted to
share them with the rest of mankind, and even
to suffer injustice and abuse and often martyrdom
for righteousness; but if faithful unto
death--loyal and true to God and to his truth
and to conscience--their glorious deliverance
will come at last with an abundant entrance into
the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ--those of the Gospel age
into the spiritual phase of that kingdom, and
those of the Jewish age into the earthly phase
of it. During this time in which God's people
pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is done in heaven," they, as its representatives,
suffer violence as foretold (Matt. 11:12);
and as it was with the Master, so it is
with his followers, the violence comes more
from worldly-spirited ones in the nominal church
than from the open rejecters of God.
As with the Master, so with the true followers,
the persecutions may be more open and
more severe at some times than at others, but
no radical and complete change may be expected
until the kingdom is the Lord's and he
is the governor among the nations. (Psa. 22:28.)
"Then shall the righteous [the wheat of
this Gospel age] shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father." (Matt. 13:43.) No
longer shall they suffer the scorn, contempt and
opprobrium of the world with Christ (2 Tim. 2:12;
Rom. 8:17), but they shall be glorified
with him as joint-heirs with him in his kingdom
which shall bless the whole world, including
those who ignorantly persecute them now,
and bringing all to a clear knowledge of the truth.
