Read: Acts 7:54-60; Revelation 2:12-13
Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you. (Rev. 2:13)
There is often a high cost for being “not ashamed of the gospel.” On a visit to a small Bible college in a rural district of India, I heard the story of Navin Doman. The students at the college were from the Kuruk people and Navin was the first Kuruk Christian, converted through the witness of German Lutheran missionaries in the 19th century. When Navin accepted Christ and was baptized in 1850, the tribal elders seized him, bound him, and told him he would be killed on the spot if he did not renounce Christ. Navin replied, “I will not deny my faith. If you kill me, from each drop of my blood a thousand Christians will spring.” The Kuruk leaders were so impressed with Navin’s courage they allowed him to go free. He became an evangelist, and spent the rest of his life bearing witness to Christ.
The Greek word for “witness” is martyr. It is because so many of the early Christian witnesses were faithful to the death—like Stephen at the beginning of the New Testament and Antipas at the end—that martyr gained its modern meaning. The African church father Tertullian famously said that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. In God’s providence Navin Doman was not called to seal his testimony with his life’s blood. But his prophecy has come true in other times and places. From every drop of martyr’s blood, a thousand Christians have sprung.
As you pray, ask God to give you the strength to be a faithful witness.
About the Author
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
