Judgment Or Persecution?

For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. [1 Thessalonians 5.9]

This IS the Gospel message. Look at the similarities to what Jesus told Nicodemus:

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. [John 3.16-18]

God's judgment is the pouring out of His anger through curses (punishments). Judgement is the default condition of mankind apart from faith in Christ (John 3.18 above). These punishments were very clearly defined by God to Moses in Deuteronomy 28.15-68. These punishments, in fact, were and are the very infirmities and diseases that Jesus, the apostles, and all believers were and are sent to heal in ongoing demonstration of God's forgiveness. 

In contrast to the curses upon disobedience found in Deuteronomy 28.15-68, we are also given the blessings upon obedience in Deuteronomy 28.1-14. The conditions of "obedience" or "disobedience" in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, were attained through keeping or breaking the Law respectively. With the Advent of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, a New Covenant was established replacing the Law with Christ, with "obedience" or "disobedience" being fulfilled through faith or unbelief respectively. Faith is obedience to Jesus and unbelief is disobedience to Jesus.

Jesus spent most of His ministry to man in teaching and demonstrating how faith in Him transcends the believer out of the default condition of judgement (curses) and into the redeemed condition of salvation from judgment (healing and deliverance). Jesus also made every effort to convince His followers that His mission was also their mission.

How do we know we have believed in and thus obeyed Christ? We simply live outside the realm of judgment and in the realm of blessings.

But, in counting the cost of these blessings (yes, there is a cost), we must understand that persecution is drawn to those blessings like bugs to light. Persecution is not to be confused with judgment. Blessings are the result of obedience and faith. Judgment is the result of disobedience. Persecution is the result of blessings. For this reason, even in Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, this is made clear:

So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. [1 Thessalonians 1.6]

And then, dear brothers and sisters, you suffered persecution from your own countrymen. In this way, you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea who, because of their belief in Christ Jesus, suffered from their own people, the Jews. [1 Thessalonians 2.14]

Persecution is not the anger of God poured out on sin, but instead the spiteful anger of Satan manifested through deceived men and poured out upon those blessed by God. These two must not be confused! Sadly however, they are. And, because they are, few ever boldly rise by faith above judgment because they are ignorant of the difference between persecution and judgment. In that ignorance, innocently enough, they don't want to "resist God." Their ignorance is seen in their belief that judgments (curses, sickness, disease, etc) are the persecutions Jesus, Paul and others warned that they must bear. 

There is a glaringly gross irony to this however. Those who refuse to apply faith to rise above curses they ignorantly deemed "persecution" still seek medical relief from it! Is this not hypocrisy in its purest form?

Satan's lies prey upon those ignorant of God and His Word (Jesus) causing curses to continue unchecked under the guise of persecution. True persecution is then reserved for the rare occasion of those who truly believe with the evidences of miracles and signs (like Jesus, Peter, Stephen, Paul, and many many others).

New Covenant faith raises the true believer above judgment and curses. When the church today returns to New Covenant faith with the evidence of miracles and signs, persecution will be unleashed once again with a vengeance.

I am growing in my knowledge of God and His Word. As I do, I see the necessity of miracles and signs in and through my life if I am to "be sent as Jesus was sent" (John 20.21) And, when this happens, I am preparing myself to move beyond just understanding "taking up my cross and following Jesus" and to begin experiencing "taking up my cross and following Jesus" as true persecution begins.

Sickness and disease, get out of my way, I have a cross to bear!

Father, I receive Your Word today. I know You have no intention of pouring anger upon me, but I know our enemy feels very differently about it. May I effectively represent Christ on earth complete with miracles and signs so I might effectively bear the cross He invited me to bear! So be it!