In this lesson, Pastor Dave Capoccia examines the persecutions Christians suffered in the first to early fourth centuries. Specifically, Pastor Dave explains:
1. What were the persecutions?
2. Why were Christians persecuted?
3. How did Christians respond to persecution?
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who kind of breaks things up or there’s a riot that breaks out I forget which city it is where they want the Apostle to be dealt with and the galio the the leader there he says look guys if you want to deal with this if you have a complaint it’s got to be done in an orderly way you can go to the courts but this this is not right so actually we see the Roman government interceding to protect Christians and why is that well you see at first Christianity was not regarded as its own separate religion but just a sect of Judaism there were different sects in Judaism there were the zealots there were the essenes there were the Pharisees there were the Sadducees and Christians just appeared to be another sect therefore certain zealous Jews Pharisees especially like Saul of Tarsus before his conversion they saw this sect as heretical as dangerous to the Kingdom of Israel and to Judaism as a religion so they sought to violently repress it but the Romans the polytheistic pragmatic Romans they had come to generally tolerate that strange Jewish religion that strange ancestral religion it has a whole bunch of different sex within it that’s fine they can do whatever they want but Romans felt obligated to restore order when any Jewish religious squabble got out of control and so they would do that to Christian’s benefit as time went on though Romans began to regard Christianity as something different from Judaism it became clear that this is not some ancient National and benign religion this was in the Romans view a new religion International in character and threatening to overturn both the social and political order because of Christianity’s incessant evangelism after all by the end of the first century Jewish rabbis were forbidding Christians from coming into synagogue and even pronouncing a curse on Christians as part of the synagogue services moreover Christians did not participate in the Jewish rebellions against Rome in A.D 66 which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 80 70 nor the barcokba Revolt in 132 which resulted in the slaughter and enslavement of many Jews Christians didn’t participate so Roman rulers from multiple angles were realizing these Christians are not Jews these Christians are different and they’re dangerous between the start of the church in ad30 and the Edict of Milan in 8313 there were at least nine waves of persecution led by Roman emperors against Christians I know that writing’s a little bit small I will be publishing the slides in the afternoon today so you can have a more readable version at least nine waves of persecution we don’t have time to go through all of these waves specifically I provided this chart to give you a little bit of overview information I want to highlight a few Emperors though especially the first emperor to officially persecute Christians and who is that well one of the most infamous Emperors probably in our minds Nero certain disaster triggered Nero’s attack on Christians what was that disaster yeah I hear you saying it sure it was a fire The Great Fire of Rome in AED 64.
the secular first century historian a Roman historian tacitus reports that a massive fire burned for days in Rome it killed many and it destroyed or severely damaged much of the city ten of the city’s 14 districts cause of the fire was unknown it still is unknown could have been arson probably it was just an accident yet there was a rumor among the Romans about who started it what was the rumor well before before they turned to the Christians they it was they actually thought it was someone else Nero himself started it but why but why wouldn’t Europe want to burn Rome yeah people said you know he has all these Grand plans for building he wanted to destroy the city so he can build it as he wanted or why else would he have done it well he would have certainly uh hurt his standing with the Romans if he had indeed burned the city of Rome uh we’ll talk about how he sought to salvage his reputation after these rumors but it wasn’t about new reputation Nero was known for his love of the theatrical he would uh do chariot races he he was a singer a musician he wrote poetry and so some were saying that Nero started this just so that he could have a dramatic backdrop to some musical performance while Rome is burning behind him he’s playing his liar or he’s singing a song or maybe he just wanted some sort of inspiration for this great poem he was going to write and so he destroyed the city and you say that seems pretty crazy well they thought he was crazy or at least some people did they thought Nero was insane some people were saying this now these rumors were almost certainly not true actually tastic says that Nero was not even in Rome when the fire broke out but when he learned of the fire he came back immediately and did a decent job of trying to put out the fire and helping the community recover but Nero was unpopular enough at this point in his Reign that he was wary of rumors further undermine undermining his Rule and so he searched for a scapegoat and who better than the disliked and secretive Christians listen to what tacitus himself says what happened in his annals quote consequently to get rid of the report Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most Exquisite tortures on a class hated for their Abominations called Christians by the populace Christus from whom the name had its origin suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators Pontius Pilatus and a most mischievous Superstition thus checked for the moment again broke out not only in Judea the first source of the evil but even in Rome were all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their Center and become popular accordingly an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty basically forced to plead guilty then upon their information an immense multitude was convicted not so much of the crime of firing the city as of hatred against mankind mockery of every sort was added to their deaths covered with the skins of beasts they were torn by dogs and perished or were nailed to crosses or were doomed to the flames and burnt to serve as a nightly illumination when daylight had expired Nero offered his Gardens for the spectacle and was exhibiting a show in the circus that is the circus Maximus The Chariot Arena while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood Aloft on a car hence even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment there arose a feeling of compassion for it was not as it seemed for the public good but to glut one man’s cruelty that they the Christians were being destroyed now this is an arresting account of the first Roman persecution against Christians for several reasons first because tastes confesses that Christians are worthy of death for all their Abominations second because even tastes confesses that Nero went too far with these punishments and actually aroused pity and compassion from the Roman populace on behalf of Christians and third because of the humiliating and deadly cruelty that was suddenly exhibited against Christians who had done nothing wrong now some later Church historians claim that Nero issued an empire-wide edict against Christians perhaps that’s true modern historians have not yet found evidence for that the neuronian persecution seems to have been confined to Rome itself and the surrounding area but whether it was empire-wide or just around Rome it was a devastating persecution and it resulted in the martyrdom of many believers including to apostles after writing second Peter Peter was crucified under Nero apparently upside down after writing second Timothy Paul was beheaded in Rome given a more honorable death in crucifixion since Paul was a Roman citizen the books of First Peter and Hebrews considering their obvious backdrop of persecution may also have been written in the shadow of Nero’s attack so books of scripture were written in this context not exactly clear how long this persecution lasted but it seems to have lasted until Nero’s death by suicide in the face of a coup in ad68 so Nero was the first you see some other ones here I’ll just mention two other Emperors particularly the mission dimitian is the Emperor whose persecution from A.D 90 to 96 forms the context of the Apostle John’s exiled a Patmos Book of Revelation and the letters of first second and third John most likely and that persecution seems to have centered on Rome and Asia Minor Diocletian with his co-emper galarius is the Emperor who presided over the last wave of emperor-led persecution this was from ad303 to 311 sometimes called the Great persecution because it was the most widespread and vicious it truly was empire-wide this persecution first began as a ban on Christians assembling for worship and then the destruction of all Christian scriptures and churches hand them over we’re going to destroy your scriptures but eventually spurred on by galarius who seem to hate Christians Diocletian called for all Christians to be rounded up tortured and executed if they would not recant and offer proper sacrifices many of our early Brethren suffered and died in this final persecution along with the other persecutions but you know what it failed this effort to Stamp Out Christianity failed indeed every wave of targeted persecutions against Christians in the Roman Empire eventually failed because popular support turned against it so it was no longer effective or the Emperors who were leading it died often violently or were captured thus in the Roman Empire we see the Lord’s promises in scripture prove true once again he will not let evil people get away with their sin forever and he will eventually vindicate the righteous and when it comes to his church that General promise will never fail Matthew 16 18 and Upon This Rock I will build my church in the gates of Hades will not overpower it the grave even the attacks of the evil one will never destroy God’s Church never totally destroyed but perhaps you’re wondering why were Christians considered so evil and dangerous in the first place do people not know what Christians are about well now we look at the second question why were Christians persecuted one theologically correct way to answer that question is say Satan hates God and all the children of God and therefore directs his slaves those under his power directs the Nations and rulers the powers of the world and his fellow fallen angels to persecute and Destroy God’s Church he’s always about this that’s why it happened in the Roman Empire and of course God will one day judge Satan and his minions for this evil but another theologically correct way to answer this question of why persecution is God after all God has Satan on a leash he only allows Satan to do whatever God has ordained for God’s Own good purposes so in the early church it was God who brought the persecution it was God who was using the persecution to spread the gospel purify his church bless his people and put his glory on display in a special way before the universe these are both theologically correct biblical answers but what were the human reasons for persecution what excuses did the Romans give for hating these abominable Christians well four main reasons and I’ll go through those with you briefly first outrageous rumors Christians often met in secret and anytime you have a secret society people begin to say the wildest things about what that Society does in secret and I’m sure you can think of weird rumors about secret societies like the Freemasons or the Templars these secret groups what they people said they did well the same thing happened with Christians during the early church rumors about Christians were wild and often based off of a misunderstanding of what Christians actually did for example Romans accused Christians of being cannibals of even eating babies crazy why would they think that well Christians talked about eating the body and blood of the Lord and Christians had a penchant for taking care of earth going and picking up babies that had been left in the trash Heap or some other place because people didn’t want them Christians would take them and care for them themselves but the Romans thought they’re eating those babies that’s why they’re always talking about eating the body and blood Christians are cannibals they also accuse Christians of incest and of immoral parties what where did you get that from Christians always called each other brother and sister even if they were married to their spouse they married their brother and sister and they always talked about these love feasts that they would have whenever they got together they must be having some terrible perverse party and so they people made up and believed these rumors about Christians and this of course put Christians in a catch-22 they had to meet in secret because of persecution but the more that they met in secret the more that people made up rumors about what they were doing and persecuted them these rumors would ultimately subside but they were one reason that people hated and were suspicious of Christians second reason why Romans hated Christians was atheism you might say what are you talking about I know that sounds weird why were Christians being accused of atheism well that’s because atheism meant something different according to the Romans the problem was that wasn’t that Christians didn’t believe in a God but they didn’t acknowledge and serve and sacrifice to the Roman gods and this was a big problem if your Society and your government believes that temperamental Gods will send you massive problems if the people are not faithful enough it’s kind of like those Christmas programs about Santa if not enough people believe in Santa what’s going to happen Santa goes away his sleigh won’t be powered gifts won’t come Christmas will be ruined so we got to get people to believe in Santa if you don’t believe in Santa everybody else is going to suffer well it’s kind of like this for the Romans except for them it’s more like if not the people sacrifice to the gods or if we have Christians in our government we Romans are going to lose battles against the barbarians and the gods are not going to send us their Communications via oracles and Omens anymore and circumstantial experience seemed to confirm this for the Romans this is why tertullian says in the second century remember he’s a church leader and writer quote if the Tiber floods the city that’s the river near Rome or the Nile refuses to rise or the sky withholds its rain if there is an earthquake famine or pestilence at once the cry is raised Christians to the Lions that is let’s execute Christians by beasts in the arena for causing all this there’s another saying at that time no rain because of the Christians so apparent atheism was a persistent reason for the Romans to persecute Christians and Christians couldn’t do much about it if Christians were being true to Christ they could not help but deny the Roman gods all they could do was try to persuade people that the gods weren’t real so Christians weren’t really hurting Society by not serving the Gods so outrageous rumors atheism were both reasons a third reason why Romans persecuted Christians was anti-social Behavior anti-social Behavior besides being very secretive about their meetings Christians noticeably did not take part in many activities considered quintessentially Roman Christians were taking seriously Paul’s command in First Corinthians 10 14-21 to flee idolatry don’t even go near the table of demons so Christians didn’t go to Rome’s community events and festivals which all involved some sort of recognition or sacrifice or praise to the Gods Christians also didn’t get involved in government generally since government posts involved recognition and implication of the Gods but everybody was interested in government at that time if you were a Roman citizen Christians also didn’t take part in the drunken parties and other immoral entertainments of the Romans such as the theater and the gladiatorial games it’s like Christians were trying to avoid everything that the Romans loved because it was sinful but how did the Romans respond well exactly is First Peter 4 3 and 5 says they maligned Christians for being hateful even holier than now because they would not run into the same dissipations as unbelievers and the same is still true isn’t it however accusing Christians of being unloving and hateful didn’t really make sense and why not because what are Christians doing at the same time that they’re doing charitable things for all the people that the Romans won’t even touch taking care of Orphans taking care of the sink visiting people in prison these are hateful people these are people who hate mankind it didn’t make any sense and this is actually according to the directive even given to us in the letter of First Peter in other places so no accident that those early Christians were given this exhortation to live holy among the Gentiles so that Gentiles would become ashamed of their own slander when they see the good works of Christians that’s first Peter 2 12 at First Peter 3 16. and of course the same is true today we’re going to be maligned we’re going to be slandered but we’re gonna we are called to bring those slanderers to be ashamed of themselves when they see our excellent living among them keep your behavior excellent trusting God to convict and bring Vindication at the proper time so persecution was fueled by outrageous rumors perceived atheism and anti-social Behavior but finally the most significant reason for persecution was stubborn Devotion to Christ and not Caesar the Roman government of the early centuries saw itself not some God as the final Authority as the final Authority and the emperor actually considered himself God therefore for Christians to follow a strange of religion that had not been permitted by the government to refuse to honor and sacrifice to the gods that were set up by the state and to abstain from all activities that were inherently Roman this was not simply anti-social or sacrilegious it was treason it was disloyalty the more that Pagan rulers Pagan Emperors understood what Christians were about the more they wanted to persecute them not less because Christians in their mind were a fundamental threat to the state’s absolute Authority and agenda this stubborn refusal to honor and seek the state above Christ it became a chief reason for persecution the chief reason let me show you an example consider Pliny the Younger again he was the governor of bethenia Northwest turkey during the early 2nd Century I mentioned him a little bit to you before he wrote a letter to Emperor trajan about Christians in 112.
I shared a piece with you a piece of that letter with you before here’s another part Pliny writes to trajan meanwhile in the case of those who were denounced to me as Christians I have observed the following procedure I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time threatening them with punishment those who persisted I ordered executed for I had no doubt that whatever the nature of their Creed stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserved to be punished there were others possessed to the same Folly but because they were Roman citizens I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome those who denied that they were or had been Christians when they invoked the gods and words dictated by me offered prayer with incense and wine to your image the Emperors which I ordered to be brought for this purpose together were statues of the Gods and moreover cursed Christ none of which those who are really Christians that the sad can be forced to do these I thought should be discharged here’s Emperor trajan’s reply you observed proper procedure my dear Pliny the Christians are not to be sought out if they are denounced and prove guilty they are to be punished with this reservation that whoever denies that he is a Christian and really proves it that is by worshiping our gods even though he was Under Suspicion in the past shall obtain pardon through repentance irony there now Pliny wrote his letter to trajan because Pliny wasn’t sure he was dealing with the Christians appropriately but even without instruction from the emperor Pliny figured that those who obstinately refused to submit to Rome’s orders particular religious rules who did not seek approval from Rome before carrying out a new form of worship well they deserved punishment even capital punishment Emperor confirmed that Pliny had acted rightly but how could Christians do anything different as the Apostle said to the Sanhedrin in Acts 5 29 must obey God rather than men Christians not only had a different ultimate Authority but a fundamentally different set of interests than the rulers of the empire the situation is not unlike what we see in many countries today where rulers and governments expect their people’s interest to coincide with the interests of the state Christianity or at least Christianity that’s not sponsored by the state is seen as a dangerous undermining influence to the government and its agenda of recognition of the state’s ruling party Unity around State promoted values and Devotion to the strengthening of the expansion of and the preservation of the state and so Christians are persecuted but we Christians are not ultimately concerned with an Earthly Kingdom or its agenda we are concerned with Christ’s Kingdom and The Gospel agenda he will honor governments for God’s sake but they’re not our ultimate interest Roman ruler saw this fundamental Clash of interests and loyalties as a true threat to the Empire especially as more and more Romans were becoming Christians so even when popular support for persecuting Christians waned the governments the Emperors still made concerted efforts to eliminate Christians from the empire so we’ve seen what the persecutions were and why they emerged in an increased and now we turn to our last question how did Christians respond to persecution not all Christians responded the same way there were four main types of response the first is compromised I wish I could tell you that all professing early Christians endured in the face of persecution but not only is that untrue it’s not what the Bible would lead us to expect the sad fact is that in the early church when the mobs came when Christians were dragged to court when the Roman emperors demanded sacrifice or else many Christians denied their lord they made the sacrifices to the gods they hailed Caesar as Lord and they cursed Christ sometimes these compromisers even betrayed their brethren they informed the Romans about other Christians or they testified falsely against Christians now how could this be how could real Christians compromise like this what do you think I’m not sure there’s a fair question of whether they were real Christians first John says they went out from us because they were never of us so some of this happened because they were just seeds among rocks uh yeah someone else 33 the glory denies me before Matt I will also to him before my father who’s in heaven yeah Jesus said you deny me I’ll deny you so many of these weren’t real Christians but is that the only reason it could be that real Christians simply yielded to sin in a moment of weakness and we see this in the Bible chiefly in Peter he denied Christ three times he was one of his closest disciples he was a True Believer but he was fearful he was shaken because things were not working out the way he wanted he was raised to stand up for Christ with his sword in the garden but after that he was so afraid he couldn’t even acknowledge himself as a disciple and Christians may also have rationalized their behavior even as we see rationalizations appear in the Bible remember First Corinthians 8 to 10 an idol is nothing it doesn’t really matter if we eat food sacrifice to idols I’m sure Christians were doing the same thing it’s not a big deal if I deny Jesus temporarily or make this sacrifice I mean it’s not a real God I’m just speaking words and rationalize their sin not everyone compromised of course but certain areas certain times or no I want to say it this way certain areas in certain times were worse than others when it came to compromise in particular Christians who were in areas that had never seen persecution before or had not seen it for a long time that’s where you found Christians who most commonly faltered in the face of persecution but there was little Solace found for those who temporarily strayed who Shipwrecked their faith by denying Jesus because the guilt and sorrow that came with that was often too much to bear and many who deny Jesus often came back and presented themselves as martyrs especially when they saw their Brethren being faithful when they weren’t or if they didn’t come back immediately the next time persecution came around they suffered they suffered gladly even to death actually what the surviving church should do with compromised Christians who returned to the church after the persecution died down it became a very contentious issue in the early centuries the third and fourth centuries in particular we don’t have time to discuss it now but if you want to learn more check out the novationist and donatisk controversies it almost some historians say it almost destroyed the church what do we do with these lapsed Christians but one way that Christians responded to persecution was compromised another is they fled they hid or fled from persecution persecution was stirring up in a particular town the Christians would leave and go somewhere else until the persecution went died down went to other cities or maybe they went out into caves in the wilderness actually as an example when persecution broke out in Carthage North Africa in the third Century cyprian who was the main Church leader there and he’s an important Church Father prolific writer he fled to another town which actually many Christians at the time criticized him for doing you should ask is fleeing itself a form of compromise yeah Dwayne that’s right God did tell Joseph to flee with Jesus and we have some other scriptures to consider it’s kind of like we have two opposing truths in the Bible we would probably assume that fleeing was a bad thing because many times people flee out of fear or cowardice and Christians are not to be fearful they are not to be cowardly actually Revelation 21 8 which I remember was written in the context of the domitian persecution says that the Cowardly along with murderers and adulterers and the like they do not have a place in New Jerusalem but rather in the Lake of Fire forever so seems like fleeing is obviously a wrong thing to do you don’t want to be a coward and yet Dwayne pointed out Joseph fled with the baby Jesus and Jesus and the apostles sometimes fled or hid from persecution it says people try to kill Jesus and he passed out of their midst he didn’t just wait around for them to kill him many times he went away or the apostles Peter’s being led down through a window in the wall or he’s going from one city to another in fact Jesus even commanded his disciples to flee in one instance in Matthew 10 verses 16 and 23 this is what Jesus says this is when he’s sending out his his disciples to 12 City or no to various cities in Israel 12 disciples Matthew 10 16 and 23 behold I send you out a sheep in the midst of wolves so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves but whenever they persecute you in one city flee to the next but truly I say to you you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the son of man comes wait a second how do we reconcile this don’t be a coward but also be ready to flee persecution how do we bring those together well I submit the key to answering this question comes in Jesus own command that we just read it says whenever they persecute you when one city flee to the next four what’s the reason we won’t finish going through the cities of Israel until Jesus comes in other words there will be plenty of other places that will need the gospel too go where you can be effective so here’s how I think we can State the biblical balance fleeing or hiding from persecution is wrong if it means you stop sharing the gospel or you stop doing what the Bible calls you to do like gathering with your brethren Hebrews 10 24.
but fleeing or hiding from persecution is right and wise when you have the opportunity to minister elsewhere or Minister remotely that’s actually what cyprian did when he fled Carthage even though he wasn’t there he continued to minister to the Christians there via Messengers and also Christians elsewhere of course he was later martyred now is it wrong to stay in faith persecution if you have an opportunity to flee well no especially if you see gospel advantage in doing so after all Paul was glad to face persecution in Jerusalem even though he knew it was coming he didn’t flee from that because he says God has a purpose for me in going there but neither is it wrong to minister Elsewhere for a time we aren’t going to finish going through all parts of the world until the son of man comes and certainly when persecution and martyrdom cannot be avoided when there is no way to flee or hide the Bible instructs us not to worry but to embrace persecution and even martyrdom as an honor and a joy in Christ yeah Glenda John who oh John Mark right come right right okay what about John Mark did he leave the ministry for a good reason or not I don’t want to deal with that right now because I want to make sure we have enough time for the rest of the class but I think there is an answer to that and maybe we can talk about it afterwards it’s a good question I also want to say this in my opinion I think some Christians in this early period began to exalt suffering and martyrdom too much or those things became ends and goals in and of themselves rather than means to share the gospel proclaim the worthiness of Christ and love the brethren sometimes it looks like people were trying to be martyred when they didn’t need to so some Christians compromised some Christians fled third response of Christians was to defend amid persecution some Christians stood up to offer legal defense for other Christians especially in the court of public opinion we call these men early church apologists now apologists back then or a little different from today’s apologist will often focus on the historical a scientific credibility of the Bible whose early apologist they published arguments about specific issues namely that none of the outrageous rumors about the Christians were true that Christians were good citizens and a great benefit to Roman society that the Roman government was unjust in persecuting Christians and that the gospel is not some Wicked Superstition but instead rational truth these apologists also responded to the attacks and critiques of Christianity from unbelieving Romans now I really love these early apologists because many of them are from the second century by the way there’s a whole group called the second century apologist that’s what those five pictures are of but I love these guys because they’re an example of what the Bible calls us all to do Christians using their skills their gifts whatever they have on behalf of Christ and his church their brothers and sisters these guys were former philosophers and skilled debaters and rhetoricians and what better way to apply those skills than in the defense of suffering Brethren before the public now how effective were the apologists in stopping persecution or dealing with persecution that’s a bit of a debate philosophers often address their writings to the Roman emperors but the emperor is probably never read what these persons wrote certainly weren’t swayed by them nevertheless others heard and read the writings of these apologists the apologist surely played a role in the encouragement of suffering Believers the evangelism of Romans and the changing of popular opinion toward Christianity so they certainly had an impact later in the course I’ll share with you some of the writings and more specifically about the persons these apologists of course in our current cultural climate with increasing hostility toward Christianity even legally we’re going to continue to need people like this people who are able and willing to stand up for their Brethren even in court or in the court of popular opinion to defend them finally the fourth and really main way that Christians responded to persecution as they suffered they simply chose to suffer and this is what I’ve been leading to up really for the whole class and we already have an idea of what this suffering entailed every kind of pain humiliation and loss even unto death I’ve already mentioned in a previous class how the apostles happily suffered and even died because they would not deny Jesus and they would not stop gospel work many other believers followed in their footsteps and in the footsteps of Christ there are of course too many stories of the martyrs for me to share even half of them with you especially with the small amount of time we have left but I do want to share at least one story with you one excerpt of one story of a martyrdom and this is the martyrdom of a woman named landina I do recommend that you also read some other martyrdom accounts read about the martyrdom of polycarp and a martyrdom of perpetua I’ve I’ve listed the documents the early documents that contain these records these are considered some of the more reliable among the early martyrdom accounts and I think they will be informative and encouraging to you but I want to share with you about blandina who was blandina well blandina was a Christian slave woman who was martyred along with some other believers in a local persecution in lagdanum which is present-day Leon in France don’t know anything about this woman except what is written in a letter from the churches of Vienna and log Dunham to churches of Asia and phrygia written around 8178 the letter opens by describing a severe persecution and also describing in particular one group of rounded up Christians being brought before the local governor after explaining how some of the rounded up Christians denied Christ what the author calls they proved abortions because they were fearful and also describing how certain terrified household slaves who belong to the Christians they just said whatever the crowd wanted to hear and they said yes they are committing incest yes they are eating babies after these two things the eyewitness author describes how the crowd then Unleashed its rage on the group and especially on blandina now I’m gonna try and read this to you I know I’m probably going to get emotional in it but um I think it’s important for us to hear they’ve got 10 different slides here then at last the holy Witnesses suffered tortures beyond all description Satan’s striving eagerly that some of the evil reports might be acknowledged by them that is they would confess yeah we are committing incest and all that but in an exceeding degree did the whole Wrath of mob General and Soldier fall on Sanctus a deacon from Vienna and on maturis a newly enlightened but Noble combatant and on Atlas a native of pergamus who had always been the pillar and foundation of the church there and on blandina through whom Christ showed that the things that to men appear mean and deformed and contemptible are with God deemed Worthy of great glory on account of love to him a love which is not a mere boastful appearance but shows itself in the power which it exercised over the life for while we were all afraid especially her mistress in the flesh that is the one who owned blandina as a as a slave who was herself one of the combatants among the witnesses that she would not be able to make a a bold confession on account of the weakness of her body blendina was filled with such power that those who tortured her one after the other in every way from morning till evening were wearied and tired confessing they had been baffled for they had no other torture they could apply to her and they were astonished that she remained in life when her whole body was torn and opened up and they gave their testimony that only one of the modes of torture employed ought to have been enough now ought to have been sufficient to have deprived her of life not to speak of so many excruciating inflictions but the Blessed woman like a noble athlete recovered her strength in the midst of the confession and her declaration I am a Christian and there is no evil dog amongst us brought her refreshment and rest and in sensibility to all the sufferings inflicted on her pause there first second what were the Christians at first fearing about blandina she wouldn’t be able to hold up she was old she was frail torturers could not break her neither would she die and even when she weakened she became renewed and confessed Christ again denying that the charges against Believers were true the letter goes on to describe how the people attempted to kill blandina blendina was hung up fastened to a stake and exposed as foods to the wild beasts that were let loose against her and through her presenting the spectacle of one suspended on something like a cross and through her Earnest prayers she inspired the combatants with great eagerness we’re in the combat they saw by means of their sister with their bodily eyes him who was crucified for them that he might persuade those who trust in him that everyone that has suffered for the glory of Christ has Eternal communion with the Living God when none of the wild beasts at that time touched her she was taken down from the stake and conveyed back to prison she was thus reserved for another contest an order that gaining the victory in many preparative conflicts she might make the condemnation of the Crooked Serpent unquestionable and that she might encourage the brethren for though she was an insignificant weak and despised woman yet she was clothed with the great and invisible athlete Christ and on many occasions she had overpowered the adversary and in the course of the contest had woven for herself the crown of incorruption so to pause again here rather than accomplish her execution what had the persecutors unwittingly done by hanging her up on a stake they emboldened her and her Brethren because they saw something that reminded them of Jesus and they were reminded of their communion with him you know it’s funny I don’t have this included in the slides but the narrator later explains that due to the steadfastness of blandina and the other sufferers some of those who earlier denied being Christians came back and they said we will suffer with our brethren and they were martyred as well they rejoiced in Jesus to do so well blandina herself was eventually killed but not before further encouraging her brothers and sisters in Christ after all these on the last day of the gladiatorial shows blandina was again brought in along with ponticus a boy of about 15 years of age these two had been taken daily to the amphitheater to see the tortures which the rest endured and force was used to compel them to swear by the idols of the heathen but on accounts of their remaining steadfastness and setting all their persecutors devices at not the multitude were Furious against them so as neither the pity The Tender Years of the boy in order to respect the eight the the sex of the woman accordingly they expose them to every Terror and inflicted on them every torture repeatedly trying to compel them to swear but they failed in affecting this for ponticus encouraged by his sister so plainly indeed that even the heathens saw that it was she that encouraged and confirmed him after enduring nobly every kind of torture gave up the ghost while the Blessed landina last of all after having like a noble mother encouraged her children and sent them on before her Victorious to the king drawn the same path of conflict which her children had trod hastening on to them with joy and exultation at her departure not as one Throne to the wild beasts but as one invited to a marriage supper and after she had been scourged and exposed the wild beast and roasted in the iron chair as he was at last in clothes in a net and cast before a bowl and after having been well tossed by the bowl though without having any feeling of what was happening to her through her hope and form hold of what had been entrusted to her and her Converse with Christ she also was sacrificed he’s in the heathens themselves acknowledging that never among them that a woman endures so many in such fearful tortures so this is blandina an old frail slave woman yet a conqueror in Christ an hour dear sister she and the boy ponticus and the new Christian and the Deacon and everyone else mentioned in this account they died happy in Christ despite the tortures and even because of them they were Earnest to endure for Christ’s sake for the joy set before them just as Christ was pleased to endure the cross for the joy set before him in the Triune God and at the place of exultation at the father’s right hand so what about us what Joy is set before you when it comes to serving and even suffering for the Lord that you have not yet taken hold of do you and I see Christ as the greatest treasure till we count it a privilege to serve him and suffer for him so that our Brethren might be encouraged and that the world might see a powerful witness of the truth and Glory of Christ are we doing that are we faithful in that or do we settle for the dull and deadly joys passing idols the early Martyrs were glad to overcome the world and its deceptive Treasures by suffering for Jesus let’s join with them let’s join with them and all the saints of the scriptures that Hebrews talks about let’s joined with Paul let’s joined with Peter let’s join with Timothy all our brothers and sisters of times past suffering with them suffering for the Lord no longer being ashamed of Jesus for our own hostile culture we can be sure that in the end even though we suffer even though we die we actually Triumph in Christ the Lord’s church will continue the Lord’s elect will still be saved and we will receive the crown with our Brethren and Glory foreign next week we talk about a massive change that took place for the church at the end of the or rather the beginning of the fourth century that is persecution ended there was an official Edict of Toleration for Christians more than that Roman society is about to become Christian and while in many ways this was a Triumph and blessing to the church in other ways it was a problem and even a curse for the church talk about that next time it’s closing prayer oh Lord we are so encouraged even as we are grieved to hear about these brothers and sisters martyred in the past Lord how vicious how nonsensical how evil was the persecution arrayed against them as every persecution is arranged against you and your church but Lord they persevered many of them dim the Lord they conquered they had joy in suffering for you Lord we are so fearful sometimes of just merely a hostile word or glance from people we don’t even want to bring up things spiritual for fear of a negative reaction but let us no longer be ashamed God as as Mark mentioned if we deny you you will deny us that’s not consistent with what our confession Lord let us gladly confess you before men and even proclaim the gospel so that others may be saved and they might have a hope that goes beyond this world into death beyond death and into eternity help us do this we can only do this by your grace in Jesus name amen