I Thessalonians 2:14 “For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: 15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: 16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”
It is a very sad, but consistent fact that while the simple and plain “word of truth” (Ephesians 1:13), concerning Jesus Christ, brings great joy and peace to the hungry hearts of many of God’s Children; there are many who hate it. Among those who hate it, is a large force who do everything in their power to stamp it out. When they can’t stamp it out, they subtly try to amalgamate it and dissolve it with human sensuality and carnal motives. And, they confuse it with distortions and alterations. Even a casual study of the first Judean Christian Churches, which were “in Christ Jesus”, reveal that they were very simple and straight forward in their doctrine and practices. Their objective was to Worship The Lord: they sang, they prayed, they preached, they were bound together in fellowshipped and brotherly love, they gave their first allegiance to the Lord, and they cared for one another. They also strove with all diligence to live according to our Lord’s Commandments for morality, integrity, compassion, and good citizenship. It seems that, in every generation, it is the morality and integrity and first allegiance commitments that moves the ungodly world to so vehemently “hate” the faithful Children of God (John 15:18-19; John 17:14; I John 3:13). Very early, the Jewish authorities realized that they had lost their reverential power over a large number of their people who were giving their allegiance to Jesus Christ. The Jewish authorities tried to stamp it out, but they failed, it only spread. The Church at Thessalonica was under similar persecution, they “also” had “suffered like things of” their “own countrymen”, but they prospered. Paul was complementing them for their faithfulness, even in the very face of peril and persecution. The wicked seeks to have total power over its subjects and allows no critique of its morality or integrity. Faithful Children of God simply will not submit to such hedonism; thus, when unchecked, the wicked will mercilessly persecute the Children of God as they try to either remove their faith in God or drive them away. This is why we are so clearly charged to “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11) “that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13)! Right now, we must, as those faithful First Century Brethren did, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” (I Corinthians 16:13)!