Dive deep into the topic of Christian persecution from a biblical perspective. Using Luke 21:12-19 to shed light on the reality that every Christian will face persecution in the future when they stand firm in faith. Learn how persecution can serve as an opportunity for witnessing, the importance of remaining steadfast when facing opposition, and how God’s sovereignty covers us through trials.

https://youtu.be/3CWlqoBvZfc

Dive deep into Christian persecution from a biblical perspective using Luke 21:12-19 to show every Christian will face persecution.

Table of contentsChristian Persecution Is an Opportunity to WitnessPeter and Stephen's ExamplesWilliam Tyndale and John Huss's ExamplesBlessings from Paul's ImprisonmentA Positive ConnotationWe Don’t Have to Worry About What to Say When PersecutedFear of Public SpeakingGod's Grace Will Be Sufficient for UsChristian Persecution Will Come from Family and FriendsSuffering Persecution for Christ Is a PrivilegeGod Is Sovereign Over Our Christian PersecutionEnduring Christian Persecution Is Evidence of SalvationPerseverance of the SaintsBlessings of Christian PersecutionFootnotes

Open Doors is a ministry serving persecuted Christians in over 70 countries. The World Watch List is their annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. Here are some statistics from their 2024 report:

More than 365 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith

4,998 Christians were killed for their faith, which is almost 14 per day. About every one and a half hours, a Christian is killed

One in seven Christians are persecuted worldwide

One in five Christians are persecuted in Africa

Two in five Christians are persecuted in Asia

14,766 churches and Christian properties were attacked

4,125 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, or imprisoned 

3,906 Christians were abducted

More than 3,200 Christians were raped, sexually harassed, or forced to marry non-Christians

Almost 300,000 Christians were forced to leave their homes, go into hiding, or flee their country of origin. 

Preaching a sermon about Christian persecution wouldn’t be difficult in any countries Open Doors supports. They would be glad for the encouragement. But it’s a tough sermon to preach in the United States, where most of us have never been persecuted for our faith, and saying otherwise is insulting to Christians experiencing genuine persecution.

But based on Jesus’s prophesies in these verses, persecution is coming, perhaps in our lifetimes or the lifetimes of our children or their children. So, we need to be prepared to experience persecution ourselves or equip our children to do so. And we have reached one of the most instructive passages to do so.

We are at Luke 21:12, in the middle of the Olivet Discourse. Here's the context. In Luke 21:8-11, Jesus describes the judgments at the beginning of Daniel's 70th Week (the Tribulation), known as the birth pains that precede His Second Coming. We also looked at these birth pains in Revelation 6, where the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse picture them. The verse introducing Christian persecution:

Luke 21:12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.

The phrase “But before all this…” means Jesus is describing events before the birth pains, or before the Tribulation, in the previous verses What’s before the Tribulation? The church age. Jesus will be teaching us much about persecution during the church age.

Christian Persecution Is an Opportunity to Witness

Luke 21:13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness. 

What a refreshing way to view persecution! We should all desire opportunities to testify about Christ, and that’s exactly what persecution provides.