John 16:2-4, “…the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.”
Today’s verse picture is pretty self-explanatory if you’ve kept up with the news over the weekend….I prayed about whether or not to do a picture related to yesterday’s attacks against Coptic Christians in Egypt…..I certainly do not want to “capitalize” on the suffering…..but at the same time, Jesus has said much regarding the persecution of His disciples, especially at the hands of those who claim to be “offering service (or worship) to God” and I think these are truths that both the Christian and non-Christain world would do well to hear.
According to Jesus, attacks like the ones we saw yesterday are most fundamentally expressions of hearts that hate God and want to kill Him, but can’t so they will kill those who are being kept in His Name–that is, in the Name of His Son, Christians (John 15:21)…
May the Lord give us grace to know what it looks like to suffer with our brothers and sisters–members of the same Body–who are grieving and frightened right now…May He give the sufferers grace to hope afresh in Christ who has passed through suffering and death into glory and invincibly carries us with Him….And may He pour out Zechariah 12:10 and Acts 9:4 mercy on deicidal ISIS, drawing Christ-exalting Pauls from an army of Christ-hating Sauls.
