# 49 2016 Dev. Mt.5:11-12. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Matthew 5:11-12
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you”.
In these last verses of the Beatitudes Jesus doubles down on the persecution we should expect as followers of the the truth. If you think followers of Jesus should be passive and lay down like a doormat to be stepped on, you have the wrong idea. As long as we have the rule of secular law, the law applies to all people equally. We have an example of that in Scripture.
Acts 16:16-38: When Paul and Silas visited the Greek City of Philippi, in Paul’s time a Roman colony, they cast a familiar spirit from a slave girl that angered her owners because of lost income. The owners falsely accused Paul and Silas of disrupting the city with illegal practices. They were “severely flogged” with rods and put into the inner prison. After the events of the conversion of the jailer and family the authorities wanted to release Paul and Silas, this was their answer: “But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”
What does Jesus say in verse 11: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me”. We are blessed, God’s blessings cover all of our living and continues into eternity. Jesus qualifies it because it does not apply to me or to you, not for our actions but because of what Jesus does and what He stands for.
Verse 12 is more difficult to comprehend because we are to rejoice under persecution. Really, “rejoice and be glad”! Here also we have an example from Scripture Acts 5:40-41 “The Sanhedrin called the Apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. V41. “The Apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name”.
Persecution in Scripture is nothing new both in the Old and New Testaments and it continues today on an ever increasing scale. Take heart, “because great is your reward in heaven”. Jesus calls us, empowers us and takes care of us in all situations. Praise Him!
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