Seven Present Realities For The Persecuted Church

"But you are come to Mount Zion..." 

(Hebrews 12:22)

The Persecuted Church is Growing.

Not only is the persecution of the church growing worldwide, but the church itself is growing as a result. Modern communications are all but impossible to stop except through imprisonment and death. Yet the more people see that there is something worth dying for, the more people see that Jesus is worth living for.

For us in the west, persecution is growing but has not yet reached the level of other parts of the world. Yet regardless of the level or intensity of the persecution, believers need to be fortified by knowing what it is that we already possess.

This was certainly the case for the Hebrew believers of the first century. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews goes to great lengths to prove the surpassing worth of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant. 

Those that followed Christ lost everything that the world considers valuable. They needed to be encouraged about what they already had in Christ. This should also encourage all believers today regardless of the level of persecution and loss that they face presently due to their faith.  

To these persecuted believers of the first century we can tease out seven questions that appear to be implied by a list of seven present realities that every believer is already come to. (Hebrews 12:22-24)

1. Heaven.
1. Is this all that there is?
2. For a people that are taught that earthly prosperity is evidence of God's favor, these dire circumstances caused them to question their decision to follow Christ.
3. They needed to know that there is a city whose builder and maker is God.
4. This is the Heavenly Jerusalem that Abraham saw and that the Apostle John describes in Revelation 21. 
2. Angels in festal attire
1. Is God angry with me?
2. Their earthly joys were taken away. Is this evidence that God will not hear?
3. They needed to know that they are fellow worshipers with angels (not worshipers of angels).
4. When we worship, we are welcome guests at the Lord's banquet hall where His banner over us is love. (Song of Solomon 2:4)
3. An Inheritance: Church of The First Born
1. If I am cast out of the synagogue (or my social group) for being a 'Jesus freak', won’t I lose out on what this world offers?
2. They needed to know that their inheritance is reserved in heaven and is untouchable. 
3. The Kingdom of God is far greater than any earthly kingdom or possession.
4. To God the righteous judge of all
1. Where is God when I am so unjustly treated?
2. They needed to know that He will defend His redeemed in His own way at His own time, for His own purpose. ("Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay" Romans 12:19; Isaiah 63:4)
5. To the OT Saints (fellowship)
1. If this is right, Why are we are such a small group of  believers?
2. They needed to know that they are joined to a great company of faithful men and women already dead but now in the presence of Christ.
3. They could not be completely a part of this inheritance until the Lord Jesus finished His Work. (Hebrews 11:40)
4. Now we are, together with them, all complete in Him (Colossians 2:10) and take part in the larger fellowship of the saints. 
6. To Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.
1. Am I being punished for my sin?
2. This is the question that the enemy of our souls wants us to ask.
3. They needed to know that God will discipline us but He will not punish us for what Christ is already paid for.
4. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He represents us to God, to declare us right with God through our faith in Him as God.
7. To the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than Abel’s. 
1. Am I really accepted by God?
2. They needed to know that the grace of God in Christ is sufficient for them to be accepted of God.
3. Abel's sacrifice of a lamb speaks of acceptance before God. This sacrifice is the forerunner of all of the animal sacrifices that followed. 
4. In other words, the temple, the priesthood, the altar are all obsolete as a means of being accepted by God. 
5. None of these were sufficient but merely pointed toward the cross of Christ. Jesus sacrifice is the fulfillment and end of that system guaranteeing the believer's acceptance with God. 

smc