Overcoming Persecution: Trust Jesus to Speak through You
(Luke 21:12-15 EMTV) “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and they will persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers on account of My name. (13) But it shall turn out for you for a testimony. (14) Put it then in your hearts not to practice (premeditate) beforehand giving your defense; (15) for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict nor to withstand.”
In this passage, Jesus is speaking about the plight of his followers just prior to his return. He describes what will happen to [some of] his disciples at that time; it includes persecution. However, here his instruction is specific to those whose persecution includes arrest, and/or [courtroom] trials. Obviously, when we are arrested, the option to flee is not possible, so what does he say to do in this case?
Jesus’s fourth strategy is not to worry or to try to figure out in advance what to say in court when someone brings legal action against you as a persecution. He says he will intervene personally; He will seize this opportunity to testify to those present. Jesus will supernaturally put overcoming words in your mouth, which his enemies cannot “contradict,” or “withstand.”
Astonishing! Jesus takes this type of persecution so personally that he will speak through you—with his words that “rule them with a rod of iron” (Rev. 2:27, 12:5, 19:15). THE JUDGE will give his ruling in the courtroom that day; and what he says is final. In the eternal future, Jesus’s followers who went through this experience may look back on it as having been a great privilege.
We note that when Saul of Tarsus was persecuting early Christians, Jesus took it personally, saying, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
(Acts 9:4-5 EMTV) And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (5) And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
So, if this happens to you—if you are caught in persecution in a situation from which you cannot flee—Jesus will step in and take over. He will manifest his Spirit on you and put powerful overcoming words in your mouth.
Below is another New Testament example of Jesus doing this very thing against Stephen’s persecutors:
(Acts 6:10 NKJV) And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. (See also: Acts 7)
Jesus gave Stephen the Spirit they couldn’t resist along with powerful, convicting words. This was Jesus himself speaking through Stephen directly to them. Sadly, their response was the same as it was to him when he was present with them personally: they killed him. However, in Stephen’s case, Jesus had already removed the sting of death (1 Cor. 15:55):
(Act 6:15 NKJV) And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him (Stephen), saw his face as the face of an angel.
(Acts 7:1-53 NKJV) Then the high priest said, "Are these things so?" (2) And he said, "Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, …”
(Act 7:54-60 NKJV) When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with [their] teeth. {55} But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, {56} and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” {57} Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; {58} and they cast [him] out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. {59} And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” {60} Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen was the first Martyr. Yes, he followed Jesus instruction to not practice a defense, but to trust that Jesus would speak through him. He did. Nevertheless, Jesus’s murderers also murdered Stephen. But don’t think of this as a loss, or as the waste of a life; being martyred for Jesus, like this, is truly a great privilege; forever, you would wear the martyr’s crown and enjoy the rewards:
(Revelation 20:4 NKJV) … Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Today, if you are caught in a circumstance of persecution from which you cannot flee, you can still rejoice and pray for your persecutors. What’s more, you can trust Jesus to speak through you under the anointing of a Spirit whose bold power and wisdom they will not be able to contradict or withstand. So whether it’s a family situation, a workplace persecution, or literal arrest and courtroom trial; trust that when they corner you and force you to give a defense, Jesus will take over and speak through you, which is the ultimate privilege. After that, even if they kill you for what he says through you, you win eternally.