“Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.” (Acts 12:1-2)
I’m answering the question: “Why does God allow His servants to be killed?”
And I’m doing it this way:
Before the first apostle (James) was martyred (see verses above), there came Stephen. (Acts 7:58-60)
As Stephen was being stoned to death, a young man named Saul stood by applauding the event. (Acts 22:20)
This same Saul would later convert and become Paul, who would write, “‘For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’” (Romans 8:36)
He was quoting Psalm 44:22 to a church that was about to undergo tremendous suffering. (Luke 21:12-24)
The psalmist couldn’t understand why Israel had been defeated despite her faithfulness to God.
The truth is Israel was suffering because of her faithfulness to God.
And if we are found to be “as sheep for the slaughter” ourselves (face martyrdom), it is not because Jesus has withdrawn His love from us. (Romans 8:35-39)
Quite to the contrary.
It is because we are His! (Job 1:8)
“The Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die.” (Psalm 116:15; NLT)
(Stoning of Saint Stephen by Paolo Uccello is in the public domain: click here.)
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