Page 39 - The Gate and the Way

when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name
as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day, and leap for joy, for
behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same way their fathers used to treat
the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.
Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh
now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for
in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.”

Christ is revealing to those who will follow Him that they are going to have a very
different experience from those who are full and satisfied, those who are comfortable and
full of happiness. If you surrender to follow Christ, you will know lack where others know
plenty. You will be reproached when others are honored. You will face difficulty when
others are at ease.
Joseph, the son of Jacob, is a type of those who are forerunners in suffering. Joseph
knew suffering and reproach when his brothers were living lives of ease as the sons of a
wealthy father. Yahweh must have some sons who will embrace suffering that He might
bestow promotion upon them. At this hour, many are being called to surrender their lives
to follow Christ wherever He would lead. A desire to obey their heavenly Father will lead
these sons and daughters into Egypt where they must undergo the furnace of afflictions. For
a season they will be separated from their brethren. All natural affection toward them will
appear to have disappeared. Great is the reward that awaits those who endure to the end.
The point I want to address in this chapter is that the source of your suffering will very
often be people. It is rarely some nameless circumstance that leads to our suffering. There
is usually a human hand behind it. When we encounter reproaches and persecution from
human sources there is a temptation to enter into striving with man. In counseling with
others I have frequently encountered a wrong focus. Many of Christ’s disciples seek to
deliver themselves from suffering by contending with those they view as their persecutors.
It is never the will of God that we strive with man.
Consider the example of Joseph. After he had matured through many years of
suffering in Egypt, this man of God came to understand Yahweh’s purposes in his suffering.
Although his brothers had acted with evil intent toward him, Joseph perceived that God had
ordained all of his experiences of suffering with good intent. Speaking to his brothers,
Joseph declared:

Genesis 50:20
And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to
bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

If you surrender your life to follow Christ wherever He would lead, you will find
yourself brought into experiences of suffering. Those who you counted as brothers will treat
you as their enemy. Some will act with great hatred, seeking to cause you much harm. The
reflex of the natural man is to defend oneself, and to strike back. Those who are spiritual
must not do so. We have Christ as our pattern.

Acts 8:32
“He was led as a sheep to slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He
does not open His mouth.”