03.10.2017 – New Testament: Mark 13.12–13

To read the Bible in a year, read Mark 13.1–13 on March 10, In the year of our Lord 2017

By Don Ruhl

As Jesus spoke to the disciples of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, He warned them ahead of time,

“Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Mark 13.12–13). 

Although He said it would happen, and it did happen in the first century, we still think today that persecution should not come to us. When it does, we wonder what we did wrong.

However, even as our brethren received persecution in the first century, so we will in this century also, and even in nations, such as America, that were once friendly to Christianity. In spite of that, Jesus encouraged the first century saints, and He encourages us also to endure to the end.

Questions:

• How have you responded to persecution?
• Have you persecuted anyone?