The Lamb Amid Oppression

The righteous often labor under resistance. Jerusalem’s builders are hindered by adversaries, the poor are crushed by those with power, and the Preacher sees tears with no comforter on earth. This is not strange. From the beginning, the people of God have built while opposed, worked while slandered, and waited while the proud seemed strong. As Julius Africanus says, “some of them under the leadership of Jesus she high priest and Zorobabel, and others after these under the leadership of Esdra, returned, but were prevented at first from building the temple, and from surrounding the city with a wall, on the plea that that had not been commanded.”

Yet the Lord does not abandon His city. He measures Jerusalem because He claims it. He promises to dwell in her midst and to be a wall of fire around her. Therefore the church must not seek safety by mixture with adversaries, nor sink into the idleness of despair. If oppression tempts one man to envy, another to isolation, and another to folded hands, all three paths end badly. Better is the patient labor that fears God, keeps company with the brethren, and continues the work given.

How can such endurance stand? Not by human strength. John saw that history is shut until the worthy one appears: “For I saw in the midst of the throne, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.” The world’s books are opened not by the oppressor, but by the slain Lamb. Therefore build, pray, and endure. Your tears are seen, your labor is not forgotten, and the city of God will not remain unfinished.