10-21-18 Pastor Brunson Set Free
Today the wonderful news hit American headlines that American pastor Andrew Brunson was allowed to return to the US after two years in a Turkish prison and multiple court hearings. This is a moment for praise and thanksgiving to God. In a country where the government is not necessarily friendly to Christianity, this pastor’s release is a huge gift from God. It serves to remind us that governments and authorities are not above God’s authority. When he wishes to deliver his people, he does so, working providentially even through those who are God’s enemies.
I am reminded of how Paul was able to use his Roman citizenship to protect himself from an unjust beating (Acts 22:22-23). God providentially provided for Paul, even before he became an apostle, to preserve his life and health at a particular time and place. God’s guiding hand is also at work for Pastor Brunson whose American citizenship, as Paul’s Roman citizenship, God used to preserve his life.
But as much as this day is a day to praise God for his goodness and sovereignty, it is also a day to remember those who have not been delivered from prison and whose courts have ruled against them, even to the point of taking their lives. As I think about what it must be like for those who suffer persecution from their own governments and people, I am reminded that their comfort comes from the same God who delivered Andrew Brunson. They are no less children of God than the American pastor and therefore the same God who coordinated and willed the release of Andrew Brunson is in control of these brothers and sisters’ fate.
As Christians, our prayers of praise must be mixed with continued prayers for all other brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who suffer imprisonment and false accusations for the sake of Christ. Many of these brothers and sisters do not have the kind of political protection that Andrew Brunson has. They are our family whose earthly citizenship remains under the authority of governments and institutions who are often openly hostile to God and his kingdom. Christian family members in China, Nigeria, Syria, and North Korea to name only a few places are imprisoned and persecuted for their faith by their governments or groups within their countries and will most likely continue being persecuted with no end in sight.
When will they be delivered? The answer is uncertain, maybe not until Jesus’ comes again. What we do know, however, is that God works both in times of deliverance and times of imprisonment. The same God who provided Paul with the Roman citizenship that kept him from a beating is the same God who allowed Paul to be stoned by his own people, the Jews (Acts 14:19). God uses both suffering and deliverance to spread the gospel to all peoples and bring them into his eternal kingdom.
Those who continue to suffer today are not abandoned by God but rather they share in Christ's own suffering. God's promises are as true for them as they are for Pastor Brunson, regardless of whether they see deliverance in this life. As the Apostle Peter writes,
But rejoice in so far as you share in Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you…Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Therefore, for those of us Christians who are not imprisoned for the name of Christ, let us continue to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world as the author to the Hebrews exhorts “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Heb. 13:3).
And remembering as Paul commands us to:
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for:If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.
Praise God for his salvation that whatever the circumstances of his people, he is faithful to bring them through in deliverance, if not in this age, then in the age to come.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and 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 death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
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