Nevertheless, as Jesus said, they professed the name of Jesus as supreme, and they did not deny the faith. Antipas, mentioned in this commendation as Jesus' faithful witness, was martyred. Even his martyrdom did not dissuade the believers at Pergamum from worshiping and serving Jesus.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois They either tried to serve or appease them. The modern person doesn't have multitudinous deities, but in his outlook and conduct he caters to numerous whims. Conversely, Antipas was a single-minded, resolved, determined believer, a witness with the total implication of the word. From the hour he committed all to Jesus Christ and that in the foremost pagan city of his time, he purposed to be his Lord's witness at the place of Satan's throne and to be faithful to his Lord at all costs.
His heart-cry was like that of the Psalmist: "Who do I have in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you" Psalm Reassurance was extended from heaven: "He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" Psalm Christian and Faithful arrived at Vanity Fair.
Previously, Evangelist had told them that one or both must seal their testimony with blood. Life's pilgrimage is arduous, demanding faithful men like Antipas. Vanity Fair was no fair for the single-minded pilgrims. The Prince of princes Himself went through this town to His own country," writes Bunyan. As soon as they entered Vanity Fair, all attention zeroed in on them. Their clothing was different from that of the rest, their speech could not be understood, they ignored the offers and provisions of the Fair.
They were only interested in bringing the truth. Their very presence disturbed the artificial tranquillity of the people in Vanity Fair. The Great One of the Fair was informed about these strange passengers. Interrogation began. They did not hesitate to tell the interrogators that they were travelling to their own country, the heavenly Jerusalem.
The inquisitors did not believe a word of it. They thought the two were mad, or had come to spoil the Fair. They beat them, besmeared them with dirt and put them in a cage.
Christian and Faithful were made objects of derision in Vanity Fair, the Great One of the city being among the chief mockers. Irons were hung upon them, and they were led up and down the Fair. Their noble, non-retaliating conduct and immovable resolve won a few to their conviction. This infuriated the rest and they cast their decision for their death. Both recalled the foretelling of their friend Evangelist, that death was to be expected. The judge who conducted their trial was Lord Hate-good.
Faithful defied the king they talked about, and all his angels, as the enemy of his Lord. Three witnesses were brought against them, Envy, Superstition and Pickthank Sycophant. At the suggestion of the jury, the verdict was swift. Faithful had to be executed in the cruelest death that could be imagined. First they scourged him, then they battered him, then they lanced his flesh with knives; stoned him, pricked him with their swords and at the end they burned him.
Faithful died the death of the faithful, just as Antipas did, and so many other millions especially in our time. John Bunyan puts this song into Christian's mouth, who escaped from the prison of Vanity Fair:. Unto thy Lord, with whom thou shalt be blest,. When faithless ones, with all their vain delights,. Are crying out under their hellish plights. Sing, Faithful, sing, and let thy name survive;. For, though they killed thee, thou art yet alive.
What are the motivating compulsions which caused Antipas and all other faithful men and women to count all human aspirations as loss and lay down their lives in total commitment to Jesus Christ?
Ours is an increasingly syncretistic epoch, demonstrated in every realm of human existence. Christ's pre-eminence has been completely sacrificed at a multitude of altars of appeasement and conciliation. Conciliar church groupings abound. Christ's absolute claim on His uniqueness, "I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me" John , has been jettisoned in favor of rival vagaries.
All around we see a series of distressing departures from the age-long devotion to Christ and his unassailable uniqueness. The Lord Jesus Christ commented, "Antipas, my witness. In the period and setting to which Antipas belonged, witnessing boldly of the uniqueness and pre-eminence of Jesus Christ meant martyrdom.
As Faithful knew what to anticipate at Vanity Fair, Antipas foresaw the impending trial of fire awaiting him in Pergamum. Observing the manner of life and trend of belief into which a certain segment of the congregation was drifting, Antipas became aware of the ignoble development leading to their spiritual death. In the light of the downward spiral of some, death for his Savior was gain Philippians God's seething pronouncement on those who forsook Him in favor of an adverse teaching was fresh in his mind: "When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel; but he incurred guilt through Baal and died" Hosea King David lamented the death of his newly-gained asinine general by crying, "Should Abner die as a fool dies?
While Antipas was dying under the Sword of Rome, or through some other vicious design, a whole church assembly not far from Pergamum was undergoing the pangs of a very infamous, ungratifying death.
Jesus Christ spoke to the angel of the church of Sardis: "I know your works; you have a name of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death Alexander Whyte describes the messenger of the Sardian church as a prince of an orator. Christ however is addressing him in a censorious manner,.
Of the fledgling church in Jerusalem Luke gives an arresting account in Acts "None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem". The sense they put into the ordinary mind was one of fearful respect and awful comment, "Don't ever dare to join them; there is extraordinary power and authority in that body: It can kill you!
Its sinful surroundings were mortifying the congregation. Antipas the martyr generated fear and trepidation in those around him although he died in apparent helplessness, just as his Savior had undergone. Becoming a martyr for Christ was the highest order of defiance against those who disregarded his redeemer.
In the Church calendar, Christmas Day is followed by St. Stephen's Day. A life born to save other lives was faithfully emulated by one committed to Him to the end. Thomas S. The writer skilfully reactivates this historic injustice by ascribing to the Archbishop the following last sermon, which is among the classics in the annals of church history and martyrology. We do not think of him simply as a good Christian who has been elevated to the company of the Saints; for that would be simply to rejoice; and neither our mourning nor our rejoicing is as the world's is.
A Christian martyrdom is never an accident, for Saints are not made by accident. Still less is a Christian martyrdom the effect of a man's will to become a Saint, as a man by willing and contriving may become a ruler of men.
A martyrdom is always the design of God, for His love of men, to warn them and to lead them, to bring them back to His ways. It is never the design of man; for the true martyr is he who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, and who no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of being a martyr.
So thus as on earth the Church mourns and rejoices at once, in a fashion that the world cannot understand; so in Heaven the Saints are most high, having made themselves most low, and are seen, not as we see them, but in the light of the Godhead, from which they draw their being. This leads our thoughts to the sequel of being an unshakeable witness:.
The Lord Jesus Christ commended him with the words, "Antipas my faithful one. In the beginning of Revelation, the Lord presents Himself in this manner, "And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness" the witness, the faithful Revelation The writer of Hebrews in talking about Jesus says, "He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses also was faithful 'in all God's house'" Hebrews ; cf.
See Us. The Faithful Witness The Martyr. Revelation 2, Verse
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