Spoken Against
This child is set…for a sign which shall be spoken against.
Luke 2:34.
As concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against.
Acts 28:22.
Blessed are ye when men shall…say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Matthew 5:11.
The Saviour was spoken against. The Sect of His followers was spoken against. The Saints of any age are spoken against. We share His shame and reproach. They hated Him and they will hate us. The world hath hated us because we are not of the world. But if we be reproached as Christians, let us be happy and not ashamed (I Pt. 4:13-16).
The Beatitude of the Spoken Against has two qualifications. We are blessed not merely because we are spoken against. The charges must be false—sometimes what “they say” is true!—and it must be for Christ’s sake.
The trend today is to try to make the Saviour, the Sect, and the Saints popular. But such is not the Scriptural reputation they bear. When the persecuted become the popular they are powerless. The church prospers in persecution, but pines in prosperity.