When The Worst Comes
The worst does come. In life, things do not go according to plan. Catastrophic
circumstances, tumultuous times, and perilous predicaments arrest our attention as they
zigzag across the landscape of our national and individual horizons.
The worst does come. There are bumps in the road. There are detours up ahead. There are problems to go through. There is trouble to go through and there is a death to die.
Not only Christ but His apostles appeared to have the worst come.
Matthew. Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
Mark. Died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets.
Luke. Was hanged in Greece because of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
John. Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death.
John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
Peter. He was crucified upside down on an x shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
James. The leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
James the Son of Zebedee was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was beheaded in Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James was amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
Bartholomew. Also known as Nathaniel. He was a missionary to Asia He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was flayed to death by a whip.
Andrew. He was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers, they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words, "I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it". He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.
Thomas. He was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the Subcontinent.
Jude. He was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
Matthias. The apostle was chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot. He was stoned and then beheaded.
Paul. He was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero in Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational Doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.
God is no stranger to deaths and crises of these magnitudes. The same God who moved in history is involved in this present hour. God is able to handle the “worst” that you are experiencing.
The apostles, who died terrible physical deaths, did not focus on their temporal situations but stayed focused on eternity with Christ. For three years they traveled with Jesus and then witnessed His death on the cross. They lived with the promise that they too will live again in resurrected bodies just like their resurrected Lord. We need to have the same eternal resurrection mindset when the worst comes. We need to stay conscious of the fact that this world is not all there is.
Second Corinthians 4:17–18 says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
We must intentionally redirect our thoughts toward that which is eternal, judging the essence of today’s “worst” based on its eternal significance. Colossians 3:1–3 says, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
Having an eternal perspective is in many ways the key to living a true Christ-following life.
