But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake. It will turn out as a testimony for you. Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict. You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death. You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake. And not a hair of your head will perish.
“By your endurance you will win your lives.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv13, 19 This shall be the end of your troubles and…
This shall be the end of your troubles and afflictions, they shall be witnesses both before God and man, as well of the treacherous and cruel dealing of your enemies, as also of your constancy: A noble saying, that the afflictions of the godly and holy men pertains to the witness of the truth.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 18, 19 10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise…
10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
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12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.
Ver. 12. See Mat 24:9; Mar 13:9.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19 We have all this justified from holy writ, Act…
We have all this justified from holy writ, Act 4:3; 5:18; 7:4; 16:24. What of this shall be seen before the end of the world, time must show; though the prophecies of holy writ speak enough of that also.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v12 Our Saviour here goes on in giving farther signs…
Our Saviour here goes on in giving farther signs of Jerusalem’s destruction.
He declares, 1. The sharp persecution that should fall upon the apostles themselves, They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you.
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Learn hence, that the keenest and sharpest edge of persecution, is usually turned upon the ambassadors of Christ, and falls heaviest on the ministers of God.
He acquaints them, 2. That for preaching his holy doctrine, they should be brought before kings and rulers; but advises them not to be anxiously thoughtful, or exceedingly solicitous what they should say, for it should be suggested to them by the Holy Ghost, what they should say in that hour.
Learn thence, that though the truth of Christ may be opposed, yet the defenders of it shall never be ashamed; for rather than they shall want a tongue to plead for it, God himself will prompt them by his Holy Spirit, and suggest such arguments to them, as all their enemies shall not be able to gainsay. I will give you a mouth and wisdom.
Observe, 3. How he describes the bitter enmity of the world against the preachers of the gospel, to be such as would overcome and extinguish even the natural affection of nearest relations. Ye shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren. Grace teaches us to lay down our lives for the brethren; but corruption in general, and enmity to the gospel in particular, will put brother upon taking away the life of brother, and cause parents to hate and persecute their own bowels.
Observe lastly. Our Saviour’s admonition, In your patience possess ye your souls. There are three degrees of Christian patience: the first consists in a silent submission to God’s will; the second, in a thankful acceptation of God’s fatherly rod; the third, in serious cheerfulness under sorrowful dispensation, rejoicing in tribulation, and counting it all joy when we fall into divers temptations: by this patience we possess our souls; as faith gives us the possession of Christ, so patience gives us the possession of ourselves: an impatient man is not in his own hand; for what title soever we have to our own souls, we have no possession of them without patience. In your patience possess ye your souls.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–19 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.…
And it shall turn to you for a testimony. By this means they would have an opportunity of leaving their testimony for Christ before kings and rulers; and what they should meet with from them, would be a means of strengthening and confirming them in the truths of the Gospel; and be a proof and evidence to them of the certainty of the above things Christ had said should be accomplished; as well as be for a testimony against the rulers and governors, Jews, and Gentiles, before whom they should be convened; see Mat 10:18.
.
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Luke 21:14
luk 21:14
luk 21:14
luk 21:14Settle it therefore in your hearts,.... Resolve on this in your minds, and let it be a rule never to be departed from:
not to meditate before what you shall answer; not to sit down, and study a form of words, and scheme of things, what to reply to the ensnaring questions, that may be thought would be asked, by kings and rulers, or any of the judges before whom they should be brought; it being natural for persons, especially of a low life, to be timorous and fearful, to appear before such great personages, and to be thoughtful and solicitous what to say to any question that may be asked them; See Gill on Mat 10:19.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19 Mark xiii, 9.
Mark xiii, 9.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19 Verse 12. Synagogues] Or, assemblies, &c. See these all…
Verse 12. Synagogues] Or, assemblies, &c. See these all explained on Mr 13:9.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12–13 Luk 21:12. But before all these — Before the…
Luk 21:12. But before all these — Before the appearing of the false Christs — before the rumours of wars — the earthquakes, famines, and pestilences that were to be in divers places; they shall lay their hands on you, &c. — “How fully the particulars foretold in this verse were accomplished, we learn from the Roman historians, Tacitus and Suetonius, who have given an account of the persecution raised against the Christians by Nero. But the history of the Acts will throw the greatest light on this passage. For there we are told, that immediately after our Lord’s ascension, Peter and John were called before the Jewish senate, and beaten; (Act 4:6-7; Act 5:40;) that Stephen was brought before the same court; (Act 6:12;) and put to death; (Act 7:58;) that Saul made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison; (Act 8:3;) and punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, persecuted them unto strange cities; (Act 26:11;) that James was brought before Herod, and by him put to death; who also laid Peter in prison, intending to kill him likewise; (Act 12:2; Act 12:4;) that Paul, formerly himself a persecutor, but now converted, was, in his turn, frequently persecuted; that he and Silas were imprisoned and beaten in the synagogue at Philippi; (Act 16:23;) that he was brought before the great synagogue of the Jews in Jerusalem; (Act 22:30;) before King Agrippa and his wife, before the Roman governors, Gallio, Felix, and Festus; and last of all, before the Emperor Nero, in Rome, and his prefect, Helius Cæsariensis.” — Macknight.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 18, 19 This verse is spoken to the apostles alone; and…
This verse is spoken to the apostles alone; and was verified, by most of them having been martyred and put to death, before the destruction of Jerusalem. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 18 brought before, &c.--The book of Acts verifies all this.
brought before, &c.--The book of Acts verifies all this.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13, 15, 18 13. To you for a testimony—Your persecutions shall be,…
13. To you for a testimony—Your persecutions shall be, in the judgment day, a testimony to your faithfulness in behalf of Christ.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–19 12. they shall lay their hands on you, &c.]…
12. they shall lay their hands on you, &c.] The best comment on the whole verse is found in Act_4:3; Act_5:17-41; Act_6:11-13, Luk_12:2, Luk_16:19-31, 2Ti_4:16-17. Comp. Joh_15:20; Joh_16:2-3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19 (12) Before all these.—The special indication that the sufferings…
(12) Before all these.—The special indication that the sufferings from persecution should precede those from wars, famines, and the like, is peculiar to St. Luke, and was, it need hardly be said, abundantly fulfilled.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 But before all these, they shall lay their hands…
But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you. The Master continues his prophetic picture. From speaking generally of wars, and disasters, and tumults, and awful natural phenomena, which would mark the sad age in which his hearers were living, he proceeded to tell them of things which would surely befall them. But even then, though terrible trials would be their lot, they were not to be dismayed, nor to dream that the great catastrophe he had been predicting was yet at hand. Some doubt exists as to the meaning of "before" (pro) in this twelfth verse usually has been understood in a temporal sense, i.e. "Before all the wars, etc., I have been telling you of, you will be persecuted." A more definite sense is, however, produced by giving the word pro (before) the signification of "before," equivalent to "more important important for you as signs will be the grave trials you will have to endure: even these signs must not dismay you, or cause you to give up your posts as teachers, for the end will not be heralded even by these personal signs." Delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my Name"s sake. What may be termed instances of many of these special persecutions are detailed in the Acts (see, for instance, Act_5:40; and portions of 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 16, 21, and following).
Afterwards.
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"No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness." Concerning any course we take the question how it affects us now is not so important as is the question to what it leads, or, in the words of the text, "to what it turns." And while that which is very pleasant often "turns to" much that is painful and bitter, or even shameful, (see Rev_10:10) on the other hand, that which is very trying and even saddening at the time often "turns to" an issue that is full of honor and of joy. The context suggests that
I PERSECUTION TURNS TO TESTIMONY to a most valuable proof of sincerity and faithfulness. When a man endures the blows and buffetings of the cruel hand of the persecutor, "we know the proof of him;" we write him down a true, loyal, noble servant of Christ. To how many men, not of the earliest age only but of all ages, has this steadfastness in the hour of trial been accepted by us as a "testimony" of the very greatest worth, so that their names are treasured by us as those of men that have done highest honor to their race! And their martyr-sufferings have turned to a testimony in the heavenly country; they have gained for them there the commendation of their Lord and the greeting of their glorified brethren. When, from "wandering in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth," the persecuted Christians of Madagascar came forth to be welcomed by those who were then living under a kindly rule, they were greeted as such faithful and heroic men deserved to be; their persecution had turned into a testimony. In a similar way we may say that
II TOIL TURNS INTO ACHIEVEMENT. The toil of the desk, of the field, of the shop, of the factory, may be hard and wearisome; our back may bend beneath our burden; our mind may be strained to its utmost capacity of continuance; but let us take courage and work on at our task; further on is the precious goal of achievement; after a while we shall look with unspeakable satisfaction on the work that has been done, the result that has been reached.
III PRIVATION TURNS INTO ENRICHMENT. Sad and serious indeed are the privations, the losses, which are suffered when men are suddenly reduced in their temporal possessions, or when they are bereaved of near relatives or most intimate friends. Yet is there something more than compensation when the loss of the one leads, as it has often led, to the enrichment of the soul, by its finding refuge in God and in his service; or when the loss of the other has brought to the soul the fullness of the sympathy and friendship of Jesus Christ; privation has turned to enrichment.
IV SERVICE TURNS INTO RULE. The soldier in the ranks becomes an officer of the army; the apprentice becomes the master; by long and faithful service in any one of the fields of human activity we prepare to rule. Thus is it in the spiritual realm. Obedience to Divine law turns into a perfect self-command, which is another name for liberty. And a lifelong service of Jesus Christ will turn to an occupancy of that heavenly sphere for which our fidelity shall have fitted us; the "faithful and wise servant" his Lord will "make ruler over all his goods". (Mat_24:45-47) Faithful service here "turns to" happy and helpful rule hereafter.
V PATIENT WAITING TURNS TO BLISSFUL PARTICIPATION. Some souls have much waiting for the hour of deliverance, for the redemption of our body; it is a weary and a trying time. To "learn to wait" is the hardest of all lessons. But though the night seem very long, the morning will come in time; and if the steadfast soul wait patiently the holy will of God, the long endurance shall turn to a full and joyous participation in the glory that is to be revealed the "glorious liberty of the children of God. C.
Vers. 14-19. Inevitable trial and unfailing resources.
Here we have one more illustration of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ toward his apostles. So far was he from encouraging in them the thought that their path would be one of easy conquest and delightful possession, that he was frequently warning them of a contrary experience. It was not his fault if they failed to anticipate hardship and suffering in the neat" future; he told them plainly that his service meant the cross, with all its pain and shame. In reference to the apostles of our Lord, we have here
I THE SEVERITY OF THE TRIALS THAT WERE BEFORE THEM. Jesus Christ had already indicated the fact that fidelity to his cause would entail severe loss and trial; here he goes into detail. He says that it will include:
1. General execration. They would be "hated of all men." This is a trial of no small severity; to move among men as if we were unworthy of their fellowship; to be condemned, to be despised, to be shunned by all men; to be the object of universal reprobation; this is a blow which, if it "breaks no bones," cuts into the spirit and wounds the heart with a deep injury. Fidelity to their Master and to their mission would entail this.
2. Desertion and treachery on the part of their own friends and kindred. (Ver. 16) Very few sorrows can be more piercing, more intolerable, than desertion by our own family, than betrayal by our dearest friends; it is the last and worst calamity when "our own familiar friend lifts up his heel against us." Those who abandoned the old faith, or rather the Pharisaic version of it, and who followed Christ had to be prepared for this domestic and social sorrow.
3. Death. (Ver. 16)
II THE UNFAILING RESOURCES ON WHICH THEY COULD DEPEND.
1. Everything they suffered would be endured for the sake of Jesus Christ; all would be "for my Name"s sake" (ver. 17). We know how the thought that they were experiencing wrong and undergoing shame for Christ"s sake could not only alleviate, not only dissipate sorrow, but even turn it into joy. (see Act_5:41 Php_1:29) To suffer for Christ"s sake could give a thrill of sacred joy such as no pleasures could possibly afford.
1. They would have the shield of the Master"s power (ver. 18). Not a hair of their head should perish until he allowed it. That mighty Friend who had kept them in perfect safety, though enemies were many and fierce, would be as near to them as ever. His presence would attend them, and no shaft should touch them which he did not wish to hurt them.
2. They should have the advantage of his animating Spirit (vers. 14, 15).Whenever wisdom or utterance should he needed, the Spirit of Christ would put thoughts into their mind and words into their lips. His animating power should be upon them, should dwell within them.
3. They should triumph in the end; not, indeed, by martial victories, but by unyielding loyalty. "In patience" (in persistency in the right course) "they would possess their souls." Losing their life in noble martyrdom, they would save it; (Luk_9:24) loving their life, they would lose it; but "hating their life in this world, they would keep it unto. life eternal". (Joh_12:25) The bright promise of an unfading crown might cheer them on their way, and help them to pursue without flagging the path of devoted loyalty.
APPLICATION.
1. Similar trials await the faithful now. The dislike, the aversion, the opposition, of some, if not the active and strong hatred of all; the opposition, perhaps quiet enough, and yet keen and injurious enough, of our own friends or relatives; loss, struggle, suffering, if not fatal consequences of enmity. Downright loyalty to Jesus Christ, tenacity and intensity of conviction, usually carry persecution and trial with them.
2. We have the same resources the apostles had.
(1) The constant, sustaining, inspiring sense that we are enduring all for Christ our Savior for him who suffered all things for us.
(2) His protecting care.
(3) His indwelling, upholding Spirit.
(4) The strong assurance that he will cause us to triumph, that he will help us to be faithful unto death, and will then give us the crown of life; that by "patient continuance in well-doing" (patience, perseverance) we. shall have "eternal life" (shall possess our souls). C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v19 Mat 24:13. - Luk 21:19.
Matthew
TWO FORMS OF ONE SAYING
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Mat 24:13. - Luk 21:19.
These two sayings, different as they sound in our Version, are probably divergent representations of one original. The reasons for so supposing are manifold and obvious on a little consideration. In the first place, the two sayings occur in the Evangelists’ reports of the same prophecy and at the same point therein. In the second place, the verbal resemblance is much greater than appears in our Authorised Version, because the word rendered ‘patience’ in Luke is derived from that translated ‘endureth’ in Matthew; and the true connection between the two versions of the saying would have been more obvious if we had had a similar word in both, reading in the one ‘he that endureth,’ and in the other ‘in your endurance.’ In the third place, the difference between these two sayings presented in our Version, in that the one is a promise and the other a command, is due to an incorrect reading of St. Luke’s words. The Revised Version substitutes for the imperative ‘possess’ the promise ‘ye shall possess,’ and with that variation the two sayings are brought a good deal nearer each other. In both endurance is laid down as the condition, which in both is followed by a promise. Then, finally, there need be no difficulty in seeing that ‘possessing,’ or, more literally, ‘gaining your souls,’ is an exact equivalent of the other expression, ‘ye shall be saved.’ One cannot but remember our Lord’s solemn antithetical phrase about a man ‘losing his own soul.’ To ‘win one’s soul’ is to be saved; to be saved is to win one’s soul.
So I think I have made out my thesis that the two sayings are substantially one. They carry a great weight of warning, of exhortation, and of encouragement to us all. Let us try now to reap some of that harvest.
I. First, then, notice the view of our condition which underlies these sayings.
It is a sad and a somewhat stern one, but it is one to which, I think, most men’s hearts will respond, if they give themselves leisure to think; and if they ‘see life steadily, and see it whole.’ For howsoever many days are bright, and howsoever all days are good, yet, on the whole, ‘man is a soldier, and life is a fight.’ For some of us it is simple endurance; for all of us it has sometimes been agony; for all of us, always, it presents resistance to every kind of high and noble career, and especially to the Christian one. Easy-going optimists try to skim over these facts, but they are not to be so lightly set aside. You have only to look at the faces that you meet in the street to be very sure that it is always a grave and sometimes a bitter thing to live. And so our two texts presuppose that life on the whole demands endurance, whatever may be included in that great word.
Think of the inward resistance and outward hindrances to every lofty life. The scholar, the man of culture, the philanthropist-all who would live for anything else than the present, the low, and the sensual-find that there is a banded conspiracy, as it were, against them, and that they have to fight their way by continual antagonism, by continual persistence, as well as by continual endurance. Within, weakness, torpor, weariness, levity, inconstant wills, bright purposes clouding over, and all the cowardice and animalism of our nature war continually against the better, higher self. And without, there is a down-dragging, as persistent as the force of gravity, coming from the whole assemblage of external things that solicit, and would fain seduce us. The old legends used to tell us how, whensoever a knight set out upon any great and lofty quest, his path was beset on either side by voices, sometimes whispering seductions, and sometimes shrieking maledictions, but always seeking to withdraw him from his resolute march onwards to his goal. And every one of us, if we have taken on us the orders of any lofty chivalry, and especially if we have sworn ourselves knights of the Cross, have to meet the same antagonism. Then, too, there are golden apples rolled upon our path, seeking to draw us away from our steadfast endurance.
Besides the hindrances in every noble path, the hindrances within and the hindrances without, the weight of self and the drawing of earth, there come to us all-in various degrees no doubt, and in various shapes-but to all of us there come the burdens of sorrows and cares, and anxieties and trials. Wherever two or three are gathered together, even if they gather for a feast, there will be some of them who carry a sorrow which they know well will never be lifted off their shoulders and their hearts, until they lay down all their burdens at the grave’s mouth; and it is weary work to plod on the path of life with a weight that cannot be shifted, with a wound that can never be stanched.
Oh, brethren, rosy-coloured optimism is all a dream. The recognition of the good that is in the evil is the devout man’s talisman, but there is always need for the resistance and endurance which my texts prescribe. And the youngest of us, the gladdest of us, the least experienced of us, the most frivolous of us, if we will question our own hearts, will hear their Amen to the stern, sad view of the facts of earthly life which underlies this text.
Though it has many other aspects, the world seems to me sometimes to be like that pool at Jerusalem in the five porches of which lay, groaning under various diseases, but none of them without an ache, a great multitude of impotent folk, halt and blind. Astronomers tell us that one, at any rate, of the planets rolls on its orbit swathed in clouds and moisture. The world moves wrapped in a mist of tears. God only knows them all, but each heart knows its own bitterness and responds to the words, ‘Ye have need of patience.’
II. Now, secondly, mark the victorious temper.
That is referred to in the one saying by ‘he that endureth,’ and in the other ‘in your endurance.’ Now, it is very necessary for the understanding of many places in Scripture to remember that the notion either of patience or of endurance by no means exhausts the power of this noble Christian word. For these are passive virtues, and however excellent and needful they may be, they by no means sum up our duty in regard to the hindrances and sorrows, the burdens and weights, of which I have been trying to speak. For you know it is only ‘what cannot be cured’ that ‘must be endured,’ and even incurable things are not merely to be endured, but they ought to be utilised. It is not enough that we should build up a dam to keep the floods of sorrow and trial from overflowing our fields; we must turn the turbid waters into our sluices, and get them to drive our mills. It is not enough that we should screw ourselves up to lie unresistingly under the surgeon’s knife; though God knows that it is as much as we can manage sometimes, and we have to do as convicts under the lash do, get a bit of lead or a bullet into our mouths, and bite at it to keep ourselves from crying out. But that is not all our duty in regard to our trials and difficulties. There is required something more than passive endurance.
This noble word of my texts does mean a great deal more than that. It means active persistence as well as patient submission. It is not enough that we should stand and bear the pelting of the pitiless storm, unmurmuring and unbowed by it; but we are bound to go on our course, bearing up and steering right onwards. Persistent perseverance in the path that is marked out for us is especially the virtue that our Lord here enjoins. It is well to sit still unmurmuring; it is better to march on undiverted and unchecked. And when we are able to keep straight on in the path which is marked out for us, and especially in the path that leads us to God, notwithstanding all opposing voices, and all inward hindrances and reluctances; when we are able to go to our tasks of whatever sort they are and to do them, though our hearts are beating like sledge-hammers; when we say to ourselves, ‘It does not matter a bit whether I am sad or glad, fresh or wearied, helped or hindered by circumstances, this one thing I do,’ then we have come to understand and to practise the grace that our Master here enjoins. The endurance which wins the soul, and leads to salvation, is no mere passive submission, excellent and hard to attain as that often is; but it is brave perseverance in the face of all difficulties, and in spite of all enemies.
Mark how emphatically our Lord here makes the space within which that virtue has to be exercised conterminous with the whole duration of our lives. I need not discuss what ‘the end’ was in the original application of the words; that would take us too far afield. But this I desire to insist upon, that right on to the very close of life we are to expect the necessity of putting forth the exercise of the very same persistence by which the earlier stages of any noble career must necessarily be marked. In other departments of life there may be relaxation, as a man goes on through the years; but in the culture of our characters, and in the deepening of our faith, and in the drawing near to our God, there must be no cessation or diminution of earnestness and of effort right up to the close.
There are plenty of people, and I dare say that I address some of them now, who began their Christian career full of vigour and with a heat that was too hot to last. But, alas, in a year or two all the fervency was past, and they settled down into the average, easygoing, unprogressive Christian, who is a wet blanket to the devotion and work of a Christian church. I wonder how many of us would scarcely know our own former selves if we could see them. Christian people, to how many of us should the word be rung in our ears: ‘Ye did run well; what did hinder you’? The answer is-Myself.
But may I say that this emphatic ‘to the end’ has a special lesson for us older people, who, as natural strength abates and enthusiasm cools down, are apt to be but the shadows of our old selves in many things? But there should be fire within the mountain, though there may be snow on its crest. Many a ship has been lost on the harbour bar; and there is no excuse for the captain leaving the bridge, or the engineer coming up from the engine-room, stormy as the one position and stifling as the other may be, until the anchor is down, and the vessel is moored and quiet in the desired haven. The desert, with its wild beasts and its Bedouin, reaches right up to the city gates, and until we are within these we need to keep our hands on our sword-hilts and be ready for conflict. ‘He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.’
III. Lastly, note the crown which endurance wins.
Now, I need not spend or waste your time in mere verbal criticism, but I wish to point out that that word ‘soul’ in one of our two texts means both the soul and the life of which it is the seat; and also to remark that the being saved and the winning of the life or the soul has distinct application, in our Lord’s words, primarily to corporeal safety and preservation in the midst of dangers; and, still further, to note the emphatic ‘in your patience,’ as suggesting not only a future but a present acquisition of one’s own soul, or life, as the result of such persevering endurance and enduring perseverance. All which things being kept in view, I may expand the great promise that lies in my text, as follows:- First, by such persevering persistence in the Christian path, we gain ourselves. Self-surrender is self-possession. We never own ourselves till we have given up owning ourselves, and yielded ourselves to that Lord who gives us back saints to ourselves. Self-control is self-possession. We do not own ourselves as long as it is possible for any weakness in flesh, sense, or spirit to gain dominion over us and hinder us from doing what we know to be right. We are not our own masters then. ‘Whilst they promise them liberty, they themselves are the bond-slaves of corruption.’ It is only when we have the bit well into the jaws of the brutes, and the reins tight in our hands, so that a finger-touch can check or divert the course, that we are truly lords of the chariot in which we ride and of the animals that impel it.
And such self-control which is the winning of ourselves is, as I believe, thoroughly realised only when, by self-surrender of ourselves to Jesus Christ, we get His help to govern ourselves and so become lords of ourselves. Some little petty Rajah, up in the hills, in a quasi-independent State in India, is troubled by mutineers whom he cannot subdue; what does he do? He sends a message down to Lahore or Calcutta, and up come English troops that consolidate his dominion, and he rules securely, when he has consented to become a feudatory, and recognise his overlord. And so you and I, by continual repetition, in the face of self and sin, of our acts of self-surrender, bring Christ into the field; and then, when we have said, ‘Lord, take me; I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me’; and when we daily, in spite of hindrances, stand to the surrender and repeat the consecration, then ‘in our perseverance we acquire our souls.’
Again, such persistence wins even the bodily life, whether it preserves it or loses it. I have said that the words of our texts have an application to bodily preservation in the midst of the dreadful dangers of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. But so regarded they are a paradox. For hear how the Master introduces them: ‘Some of you shall they cause to be put to death, but there shall not a hair of your heads perish. In your perseverance ye shall win your lives.’ ‘Some of you they will put to death,’ but ye ‘shall win your lives,’-a paradox which can only be solved by experience. Whether this bodily life be preserved or lost, it is gained when it is used as a means of attaining the higher life of union with God. Many a martyr had the promise, ‘Not a hair of your head shall perish,’ fulfilled at the very moment when the falling axe shore his locks in twain, and severed his head from his body.
Finally, full salvation, the true possession of himself, and the acquisition of the life which really is life, comes to a man who perseveres to the end, and thus passes to the land where he will receive the recompense of the reward. The one moment the runner, with flushed cheek and forward swaying body, hot, with panting breath, and every muscle strained, is straining to the winning-post; and the next moment, in utter calm, he is wearing the crown.
‘To the end,’ and what a contrast the next moment will be! Brethren, may it be true of you and of me that ‘we are not of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the winning of their souls!’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v12 Earlier signs:
Earlier signs:
v. 12. But before all these they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.
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v. 13. And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
v. 14. Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what ye shall answer;
v. 15. for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
v. 16. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
v. 17. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake.
v. 18. But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
v. 19. In your patience possess ye your souls.
Here are some of the signs which concern the disciples of Christ in the interval between His ascension and the destruction of Jerusalem in particular, but which find their application to the treatment and fate of the believers of all times. The enemies would lay their hands upon them and persecute them, as was done to the apostles almost from the beginning, James being the first one out of their midst to suffer martyrdom; and Stephen had been stoned even before that. They would be delivered to the councils of the synagogues for judgment, whose sentence would commit them to prison, as in the persecution in which the unconverted Paul was so active. They would use the legal machinery to have the confessors of Christ hauled before kings and rulers on account of the name of Christ which they confessed, Paul himself experiencing this several times, before Felix, before Festus, before Agrippa and Bernice, before Nero. The history of the early Church is full of stories which fully substantiate every word of the prophecy of the Lord. And that the hearts of the enemies of the Gospel today are no different than at that time has been shown during recent developments, where attacks were not directed against a language, but against the confession of faith. But Christ’s comfort stands today as it did then. All these things turn out for a testimony in favor of the believers and the truth which they profess. Not only do they receive credit and honor for their fearless confession of Christ, but their testimony has the effect which the proclamation of the Word of God always has: it influences the hearts and minds of men. To His disciples the Lord therefore gave instructions not to premeditate, to work out carefully in advance, their apology or defense. The best and highest efforts of mere human wisdom and skill will avail nothing unless the Lord Himself opens the mouth of His confessors and believers and gives them the proper wisdom from on high. Jesus and His Spirit, the Spirit of the Father, they are the invincible allies of all true believers, with whose aid they can cheerfully take up the apparently unequal battle against the powers of darkness in the persons of the enemies and detractors of the pure Gospel. More than once, as the example of John and Peter, of Paul, of Polycarp, of Luther, and of others show, the enemies have not been able either to withstand. or to contradict the testimony of the servants of Christ. All that make it their aim to oppose the preaching of the Gospel-truth may be overcome and silenced by a simple and unequivocal confession of the truth of the Gospel as it is contained in the Word of God. The disciples should therefore not be deterred or discouraged even by the fact that there will be dissension in families, that the bonds of both relationship and the nearest friendship will be torn asunder by questions concerning the Gospel. Parents, brothers and sisters, near relatives friends: they all will forget the duties and obligations of their station in their hatred of the Word of Salvation; they will deliver the Christians into the hands of their enemies, and in some cases they will not rest until they have caused them to be put to death. The believers will, in fact, be continually hated of all men on account of their confession of Christ’s name. This is the cross of the Christians, the prospect which they must face. There is neither compromise nor mitigation. And yet, in the midst of these prophecies which might well make the stoutest heart quail, the Lord promises His disciples that not a hair of their heads should perish without His will, Mat 10:30. So long as the Christians are necessary for the service of the Lord, their bodies. are inviolable, the enemies dare not touch them. They may, therefore, in their patience possess their souls. By faithful perseverance, by undaunted continuance in the confession of Christ’s Word and doctrine, they will preserve their souls. Even if they should lose the life of their mortal body, they will save their true life, that of the soul, by such faithfulness to the end. Their soul, and the eternal life of their soul, will then be for them a glorious prize or treasure, which they will carry off for eternal enjoyment in heaven.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 14, 16 these things
these things
This refers to the terrible things that Jesus has said will happen.
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they will lay their hands on you
"they will grab you." This expression refers to people exercising authority over the disciples. AT: "they will arrest you" (See: Metonymy)
they will
"people will" or "enemies will"
you
Jesus was talking to his disciples. The word "you" is plural. (See: Forms of You)
delivering you over to the synagogues
"giving you over to the leaders of the synagogues"
and prisons
"and delivering you over to the prisons" or "and putting you in prisons"
because of my name
The word "name" is here used to refer to Jesus himself. AT: "because of me" or "because you follow me" (See: Metonymy)
for your testimony
"for you to tell them your testimony about me"
translationWords
persecute
deliver
synagogue
prison
king
govern
testimony
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 15, 16, 18 21:12-19 a time of great persecution: Jesus described the…
21:12-19 a time of great persecution: Jesus described the persecution that his followers would experience (see also Matt 10:17-22; Mark 13:9). The Jewish literature of Jesus’ day similarly described a time of great tribulation prior to the arrival of God’s final salvation.
21:12 dragged into synagogues: Jesus and his early followers were Jewish, and the earliest conflicts were with fellow Jews who did not accept Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus’ followers were sometimes tried in the synagogue before a Jewish tribunal (cp. 2 Cor 11:24).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.