Read: John 16:1-11
Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. (vv. 2-3)
This chapter begins with Jesus’s dire warnings about impending persecution. Throughout history, many horrible injustices have been committed against believers in Jesus because of the dangerous assumption by the perpetrators that they were “doing God a favor” (v. 2 The Message)—at times, people even claim that they’re acting on “Christian” principles, but their actions are contrary to God’s commands. The problem, Jesus says, is that they don’t really know the Father, nor himself.
Saul (later known as Paul) was convinced that capturing and killing Jesus’s followers was the righteous thing to do. But through his dramatic conviction of wrongdoing by the Spirit, he literally “saw the light” (read Acts 7-9). A personal encounter changed the direction of his life. Instead of arresting Jesus’s followers, he himself became a target for persecution.
Jesus warns his disciples because he doesn’t want them to stray and he promises that the Holy Spirit will come to guide and convict. The Spirit does the work of leading us into light and truth if we humbly open our hearts to him. A personal relationship and desire to truly know the Father and the Son will prepare us to endure persecution as well as prevent us from being the ones who persecute.
As you pray, ask the Holy Spirit to convict you of truth and prepare you to endure.
About the Author
Denise Vredevoogd
Denise Vredevoogd is a private piano teacher who lives near Grand Rapids, Michigan. She enjoys reading, writing, gardening, and spending time in nature with her adult sons and daughters.
