John the Baptist had a six-month ministry and then was beheaded for telling a king that what he did was “unlawful”. Jesus preached the truth for 3.5 years and was crucified by the world, being hated by it because “He declared to it that its deeds are evil” (John 7:7).
Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, rebuked the hard hearted religious leaders for never listening to the Holy Spirit, and was thrown outside and stoned to death, (the following Passover from the death of our Lord). As Stephen was dying, being pelted with rocks, he prayed that the Father would forgive his murderers. Following the death of Stephen, about 2,000 Christians were also martyred in the persecution that arose.
Ten years after Stephens death (44 AD) we see James the Great, the brother of John, being beheaded by King Herod Agrippa. So courageous and resolute was James as he went to go die that his accuser asked for his forgiveness, confessed himself a Christian, and joined James in being beheaded himself.
In 54 AD, Philip, after laboring diligently for the gospel in upper Asia, was scourged, thrown into prison and then crucified. In 60 AD Matthew, who we all know and love, after writing the gospel in Hebrew and preaching to the people of Parthia and Ethiopia, was later killed with a halberd (a spear like weapon) in the city of Nadabah.
Next we have James the Less, who wrote the epistle of James, and was the brother of Jude. James was martyred at the age of 94! He was beaten and stoned by the Jews, and then had his brains smashed out with a fuller’s club. Then we have Matthias, who was elected to take the place of Judas Iscariot. Matthias was stoned in Jerusalem and afterwards beheaded.
Then we see Andrew, who brought his brother Peter to Jesus, and later brought the good news to many Asiatic countries. When he got to Edessa, they took him and crucified him on an X shaped cross. Let’s look at Mark, of whom we get the book of Mark in the New Testament. This was originally written in Greek and was an account of the apostle Peters eye witness. Marks body was dragged to pieces by the idolatrous people of Alexandria.
Now to Peter, one of the pillars of the Church. Peter walked with Jesus for 3 years, then saw Him betrayed, saw Him beaten and verified that He had been crucified, yet Peter proclaimed the gospel until he was crucified upside down during the reign of emperor Nero.
Paul, that great apostle, who planted Churches all over the known world, suffered much for the name of Jesus, but continued to preach the gospel and make disciples until he was behead in Rome, also under the edict of Nero.
The author of Jude was also the brother of James the Less, and often called Thaddeus. He was crucified at Edessa, in 72 AD. Bartholomew, one of the 12, preached the gospel in a number of countries and also translated Matthews gospel into Indian, spreading the good news of Jesus there. Upon this happening, some idolaters brutally beat him and then crucified him there.
Tomas, who was also called Didymus, preached about Jesus in India and Parthia, and upon doing so, was impaled with a spear by angry pagan priests. The beloved Luke who worked closely with Paul was said to have been hung on an olive tree by Grecian pagan priests. Barnabas was supposedly put to death in 73 AD.
Simon the zealot preached the gospel in Africa, Mauritania, and also Britain, in which country he was later crucified in 74 AD. The beloved John founded many Churches in different places, and while he was in Ephesus he was called to Rome, where they attempted to boil him in oil. Supernaturally John was not affected by the oil, so Domitian of Rome banished him to the island of Patmos. John was the only apostle who did not die a violent death. While on the island he received and wrote the book of Revelations, and was later brought off the island by Domitian’s successor, Nerva.
In 67 AD there was a first great persecution of the Church, under the rule of Nero. He was so wicked that he lit Rome on fire, caused thousands of casualties, and then he blamed it on the Christians. Nero was so vile, and did whatever his evil imagination could conjure up: to some he would sow into animal skins and have them mauled to death by wild beasts, while others he would clothe in wax and light on fire in his garden, which is where we get the term “Roman Candle” from. This caused the Church to grow rather than diminish, as persecution fanned the flame of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of God’s people.
The second wave of persecution on a large scale was during the reign of emperor Domitian in 81 AD. Domitian was very cruel, and set out to destroy the line of David and all Christians. When they were brought to court, the trials were rigged as to ensure that those who professed Christ would be put to death.
Although it keeps going, I will end with the death of Timothy, the beloved disciple and protégé of the apostle Paul. Timothy was a faithful, humble, sincere believer and minister of the gospel. He continued the work of governing the Church of Ephesus until 97AD when he interrupted a pagan celebration of idolatry in the streets, and severely reproved the people to turn from their sins. Like expected, they were so angry that they laid hold of him and beat him with clubs so that he died within two days. Now I must say, If you are still reading this, that much of the modern Church today would accuse Timothy of being “unloving” in his approach to those celebrating sin in the streets, and these same professing Christians might be found at gay parades, condoning with their smiles the vile passions of the world, all in the name of “love”. The Scriptures beg to differ. We see the life of Timothy was completely devoted to Jesus, and helping people to know the way to eternal life. He traveled the world with Paul to share the gospel, spent time in jail for the name of Christ, and exemplified the love of God and man through his sacrificial life.
On and on, our Christian heritage is soaked in blood; in the blood of the saints. Not only is it their blood, but their willful sacrifice to die for the truth. Almost all, if not all of them, had a chance to deny their faith and be free of suffering in this life, but they refused. WHY? Why do we see such passion, such urgency, such sacrifice for the mission that Jesus left the Church? Why especially do we see that all of those who saw Jesus in the flesh dedicate the rest of their lives to spread the good news to the end of the world, to the point of great suffering and brutal deaths? History attests to these facts. No one in their right mind would surrender to such ruthless murder for a lie. Surely, These witnesses saw something that changed them forever… the resurrected Lord.
And that is the purpose of this paper, to compel Christians into a deeper walk with Jesus, that we would be stirred with an urgency, a calling from God, to further lay down our lives for Jesus sake and the gospel. Nothing else matters. We must be ready when He returns, and we must help others to be ready also.
Jude 1:14b, 15
“Behold the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Martyrs of the 1st Century
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