Chris' Corner -- Sunday, March 28, 2021
Powerful, wealthy, popular people in our society have decided those who speak contrary to their thinking, need to be shutdown and silenced. It’s not that they just don’t like opposing thoughts, they know how powerful and influential those words can be.
Jeremiah followed God’s directive in writing a scroll to be presented before the king and entire nation of Judah. The message was to stir up repentance. “It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people” (Jeremiah 36:7).
The reaction of the wicked king was to destroy the written word of God by cutting it up and throwing it into the fire. Scripture tells us, “Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words” (36:23, 24).
Even though they went on to threaten the lives of the prophet and his scribe, God’s counter response was to have the scroll rewritten and preserved for those who will listen.
Generations have come and gone who have tried to silence and destroy God’s truths. The wicked have spewed out their hatred and disdain for all things holy and righteous that come from our great Creator. Their efforts will not succeed even if they physically silence our voices.
The Son of God did not escape the attacks against Him for speaking the truth. They succeeded in having Him killed. But God was not deterred in the outcome of His plans for saving the world. Peter pointed the finger at the Jews on Pentecost and said, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).
Peter and John were threatened numerous times by the Jewish high court as they tried to stop the message of Christ from being preached. (Acts 4, 5).
The Sanhedrin were so enraged by the things this Christian said, they literally silenced him for good. After they gnashed at him with their teeth, “they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord…” and stoned him to death (Acts 7:54-60). They still failed to silence God’s word. Despite the great persecution that arose after Stephen’s death, Christians “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).
Sometime after King Herod had the apostle James killed and Peter was arrested (although Peter later escaped), an angel of the Lord “struck” Herod “...and he was eaten by worms and died. After this scripture says, “But the word of God grew and multiplied” (Acts 12:23, 24).
After years of being hunted down and harassed by his own Jewish brethren, Paul was eventually arrested, falsely accused, imprisoned, (and beheaded according to records outside of scripture). Paul’s words live on today through the 13 books he wrote by inspiration (14 if we count Hebrews).
We may face the anger and threats of our modern society for speaking the truths of God’s word. They may shut us out of social media and the public square, but rest assured they will not silence God’s word. “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:24, 25).
Never be intimidated by what men say or try to do to silence God’s truths on any topic (1 Peter 4:11). May our lives focus on the truth Jesus spoke many years ago, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35).