All the Saints (Revelation 6:9-11) - The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

    To see the full message, scroll to the bottom.

When I was looking at scriptures that are relevant to talking about our brothers and sisters around the world who are dealing with a kind of oppression and a kind of persecution and a kind of suffering that we do not know, Revelation 6:9-11 jumped out at me.  

The book of Revelation is complicated. It has a lot of different layers of meaning and I am not going to try to explain that scripture passage this morning.  What I will do is ask us to consider the picture that is painted there.  

John was lost in a vision, trying to describe things that he was seeing. He doesn’t always seem to find the words to really express what it is that he saw. In this scene, what we do see, is God acknowledging suffering, God seeing suffering and pain, God hearing the voices of those who have suffered and who have gone through hard times because of their faith in Jesus. God hearing their empathetic prayers on behalf of other people coming after them, going through the same kind of suffering. God extending a hand of comfort to people who were lamenting and grieving and afraid on behalf of those who still had to suffer. God telling them, “It's going to be a little bit longer. There's going to be more. It's not over yet, but when it is over, it will be wonderful.”  

That is the picture John paints for us: that God sees us, hears us, knows our pain, knows our suffering. I want us to start off with that image in our minds before I say anything else. Hear what God has to say about suffering, hear what God has to say about persecution of believers, of people who call themselves by His name and walk faithfully in the world.  

______ 

I have a sort of a mental list of people who make me think, “That’s who I want to be when I grow up.”  

One of those people is Jim Henson. I want to be Jim Henson when I grow up. He was creative. He was brilliant. He was loved. He was gracious. He was the driving force behind an amazing, wonderful thing that has been so meaningful to our culture: The Muppets. When I grow up, I want to be Jim Henson.  

There's a woman on my list. Her name is Hilda and she, to me, exemplifies loving service, gracious giving and humility. When I grow up, I want to be Hilda.  

And when I grow up I want to be Pastor Wang Yi. Pastor Wang Yi is the senior Pastor of Early Rain church, a successful unregistered or “underground” church in the state of Chengdu, China. They were meeting in an unused office building each Sunday morning. 

On Sunday, December 9th, 2018, police started raiding the homes of church members overnight, continuing on into the next day. Over 100 members of Early Rain church were arrested. Including Pastor Wang Yi and his wife Jiang Rong.  

He was sentenced to nine years in prison. He had all of his personal assets confiscated by the state because he was found guilty of “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operations.” Jiang Rong was arrested and then released on bail. Since then—since 2018—she has been under surveillance. Her movements have been controlled, and her first chance to visit her husband in jail was three years into his sentence. I couldn't find anything that suggested that she had been able to visit him since. 

Other church members lost their jobs, were evicted from their homes, and some were forcibly relocated to other cities. (As a side note, if the government of China had actually read the book of Acts, they would probably maybe sort of think that wasn't such a good idea. Not the best way to shut down the Gospel). These people were left afraid for themselves, worried for those they love, having to be courageous... But absolutely not surprised. 

Part of the reason why they were not surprised was that Pastor Wang Yi had written a letter a couple of months before he was arrested. He instructed his church to release it if he were arrested and then held in custody for more than 48 hours, because he figured at that point he probably wasn't coming back anytime soon.  

He wrote this amazing statement of his understanding of who he was and who his church was and who the government was. It's quite a bit longer than what I'm going to share here, but these are the parts of this letter that make me want to be Pastor Wang Yi when I grow up: 

    “On the basis of the teachings of the Bible and the mission of the Gospel, I respect the authorities God has established in China. For God deposes kings and raises up kings.  

    “...At the same time, I believe that this communist regime’s persecution against the church is a greatly wicked, unlawful action. As a Pastor of a Christian church... the calling that I have received requires me to use non-violent methods to disobey those human laws that disobey the Bible and God. 

    “As a Pastor, my disobedience is one part of the Gospel Commission. Christ’s Great Commission requires of us great disobedience. The goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world. 

    “If God decides to use the persecution of this communist regime against the church to help more Chinese people to despair of their futures, to lead them through a wilderness of spiritual disillusionment and through this to make them know Jesus; if through this He continues disciplining and building up His church, then I am joyfully willing to submit to God’s plans, for His plans are always benevolent and good. 

    “...Even though I am often weak, I firmly believe this is the promise of the Gospel.  

    “...I also understand that this happens to be the very reason why the communist regime is filled with fear at a church that is no longer afraid of it. 

    “Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family – the authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no one in this world can force me to renounce my faith; no one can make me change my life; and no one can raise me from the dead.    

    “Jesus is the Christ, Son of the eternal, living God. He died for sinners and rose to life for us. He is my king and the king of the whole earth yesterday, today, and forever. I am His servant, and I am imprisoned because of this. I will resist in meekness those who resist God, and I will joyfully violate all laws that violate God’s laws.” 

_______ 

In North Korea, our sister sits behind bars, awaiting a sentence of life in prison, or of death. 

She sits in the dark, waiting for the door to open, waiting for the guards to come in. As she waits, she speaks to herself God’s faithfulness: 

He will swallow up death forever. 

The LORD God will wipe away the tears from every face 

And remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. 

For the LORD has spoken...  (Isaiah 25:8-9) 

For our sister, we pray. 

___

In Russia, our brother sits at a desk in an office building, with guards standing behind him. He's looking down at a piece of paper. “Just sign it. Then you can go home to your family.” He sits in that chair, at that desk, a pen waiting for him to pick it up. He speaks to himself God’s call: 

If anyone wants to come after me, they must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will save it.  (Luke 9:23-24) 

For our brother, we pray. 

___

In the nation of Algeria, in a desert city, the streets dusted with sand, our sister walks down the street with her neighbour, knowing that her neighbour does not know Jesus. Knowing that she herself does. Should she take the risk, and speak? She remembers God’s encouragement: 

Remember... Those days, you endured a great conflict in the face of suffering. [Remember the ridicule, the imprisonment, the confiscation of your property. Remember that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession.]   So do not throw away your boldness, openness; it holds a great reward. (Hebrews 10:32-36)

For our sister, we pray. 

___

In China, in India, in Nigeria, our brother stands in the ashes of his church building, or the ashes of his home, torched by religious nationalists or idealogues. He speaks to himself Jesus’ comfort, God’s hope: 

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: 

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’  and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”  

And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. The one who overcomes will inherit all things...” (Revelation 21:3-7)

______ 

Let's pray for Pastor Wang Yi, for Jiang Roon. For so many whose names we have never heard, but who are our family. 

Father, Son and Spirit, just as You are with us in our worship spaces with the doors open and the windows bright, You are with Pastor Wang Yi in his prison, wherever he is. You are with his wife Jiang Rong and their son wherever they are. You are with the scattered members of that church who were sent across the country of China carrying with them Your Gospel, Your good news about Jesus.  

God, we pray for them. We lift them up. We thank you for their example. We thank you for their courage. We thank you for their shining light.  

We pray that You will bring, through their struggle, Your hope to the people around them.  

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. 

  To hear the full message: