Perhaps there is no better description of the trials of the followers of Christ in the latter part of the first century than that which is given in Hebrews 11, verses 35 -38 In the first half of the century, perhaps a little beyond the first half, the early church had prospered after the persecutions by Saul of Tarsus had ceased.
Although there was a common bond of love and faith among brothers and sisters that was born of being members in a community with Christ as its head, there were also many trials There were, of course, those trials that came in a sharp antithesis between two ways of life, one of which must be decided upon in a momentous decision. But some of the difficulties found their first expression in what may at first appear to be inconsequential things, such as one’s reading habits, and often a lack of mutual trust and love on the part of brothers and sisters in their dealings with each other.
Strangely enough, these trials were overcome by a state of mind that found expression even in the songs they sang This is not unusual or unique, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth not only speaketh, but many times it singeth However, more of this later on.
What trails accomplish
The trials enumerated in Hebrews 11, which were of a physical nature, did one of two things it made those subjected to such persecutions faithful to death (as many of them were, of whom the world was not worthy), or it caused them to renounce their faith, and “crucify the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame ‘ This was the sad climax of some In this way a separation was made between the two classes, so there was no doubt as to those who were followers of the Nazarene and those who had renounced Him as their Savior.
What was it that had transformed these badly frightened and demoralized disciples so that they not only boldly proclaimed the fact that Israel had crucified the Prince of Life, but gladly suffered imprisonment, persecution and death for His Name’s sake? If we can discover this dominant, driving force, we will, no doubt, find that it is the same force that governs those of us who are living today, 1900 years later We trust that we will not find ourselves centuries removed from those who lived in the exciting years following Christ’s death and resurrection We hope that, by reading of them in the pages of the Bible, and endeavoring to follow in their steps, we will become acquainted with them and ultimately be drawn close in bonds of faith and love Our final hope is, of course, to be found worthy to some day meet these saints face to face in Christ’s kingdom.
The first century believers were called ‘Nazarenes” by those who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Of course the term was, in their eyes, one of derision, for they thought and said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Unlike Nathaniel, they failed to “come and see” Among themselves, Christ’s followers referred to the movement to which they belonged as The Way ‘ It is not by chance that the followers of the lowly Galilean 1900 years later refer to the same movement as the Way of Life”, or “The Truth’ Thus the bond is united across the centuries to Him who said “I am the way, the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father, but by me’ (John 14 6) The Truth finds those of every age living and dying in expectation of the fulfillment of the words of Paul as he wrote and reminded the Ecclesia at Colosse “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory’ (Col 3 3,4).
Our brethren and sisters of the first century lived at the end of an era Peter reminded them that “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat’ (2 Peter 3 10) It was the same warning that Jesus was so careful to give His followers when He was with them We, who stand at the end of another era, expect the day of the Lord to come upon a world in much the same condition morally and spiritually as when Peter spoke these words, and are looking for a new heavens and new earth soon to be established.
Again let us ask, what was the driving force of the new community that trans formed the followers of Jesus? It was not so much the finding of the empty tomb as it was the state of mind revealed by the two on the way to Emmanus (Luke 24 21 24).
The answer to our question then is that the driving force was the assurance that Jesus had conquered the grave, and that this had been established without doubt in the fact that he had appeared to them as they were assembled five hundred strong Jesus had made a special visit to his own brother James, who prior to this did not believe that He was the Messiah, for it is written that neither did His brethren believe in Him It changed the entire life of James and caused him to write the letter that bears his name, calling himself the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ , his own brother in the flesh It is quite certain that Jude, Christ s other brother, was converted either by James telling him that their brother who, to their way of thinking, had died a disgraceful death, cursed under the law, was in very truth the Messiah, or else that Jude had seen Jesus for himself Undoubtedly it was the risen Christ that electrified the disciples and caused them to suffer all things and count them as loss that they might win Christ and be made conformable unto His death, so that by any means they might attain unto the resurrection (Phil 3 8 10).
The power of the Resurrection
It is no less true today The power of the resurrection has changed our lives, and we see Jesus through the eye of faith just as clearly as they saw Him in the spirit body after His resurrection The question is, do we, like them, count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, our Lord? Would we suffer for Him as they did or has the passing of the years dimmed the enthusiasm that we had when we first became His followers? Let us be true to ourselves, examine our own hearts, and commence a deep inward mental therapy to see if, by any chance, we may find ourselves weighed in the balances and found wanting.
The first century brethren were a mixed company, called from all walks of life We could spend much time profitably in consideration of many of them There was Manaen, high up in court circles, thought by some to be related to Herod Antipas, and prominent in the Ecclesia at Antioch There was also Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue at Corinth, who believed and was one of the few personally baptized by Paul It was Crispus who followed Paul as he walked out of the synagogue after telling the blaspheming and threatening Jews that their blood was upon their own heads, and that from henceforth he would go to the Gentiles It took a great deal of courage for Crispus to do this (Acts 18 4 8 His successor, Sosthenes, who was beaten before the judgment seat of Gallio without interference from him was probably the same Sosthenes spoken of in 1 Cor 1 1 (See also Acts 18 12 17) So it is evident that he, too, came to recognize Christ as the Messiah Erastus, the city treasurer at Corinth, was converted to Christianity, and several more could be mentioned, but generally it was true then, as it is today, that not many mighty, not many noble are called, but the poor who are rich in faith.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One