(Persecution: Jewish or Roman?)

It is evident that these Jews in Asia Minor were powerful and continued their persecution of Christians.

            When Trajan annexed the Nabataean kingdom, [AD 98-117], it diverted some of the lucrative trade routes.  The Jews of Palestine, Alexandria and Babylon joined to rebel.  Their cruelty is exhibited by the fact that “wherever they obtained the ascendancy they massacred the Gentile population indiscriminately” (Cary & Scullard, 440).

The statement of Dio Cassius (68.32) that the Jews killed 220,000 persons in Cyrenaica, and 240,000 in Cyprus, is self-evident exaggeration.  But those figures suggest that the Jews aimed at nothing less than the extermination of the Greek or hellenised population (ibid., 645 n. 7).

      These uprisings continued sporadically until about AD 134 when the Jewish revolt under Bar Cochbar [or Bar Cochaba] was met with extermination of about 580,000 men besides those who died of famine and pestilence.

     The surviving Jews were forbidden to visit Jerusalem except once in a year…. under Antoninus the attack which Hadrian had made upon the Jewish law was called off.  Though the ban upon proselytising was upheld, those born within the Jewish faith were no longer molested in the exercise of their worship, and synagogues and schools were allowed to keep alive the national traditions.  At this stage a modus vivendi between Jews and Romans was at last established” (ibid., 440-1).

            What do the New Testament and the book of Revelation actually say about persecution of Christians?  The theme of tribulation is first sounded in Revelation 1:9:

I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.[1]

     Further allusions or references in the book of Revelation to persecution or tribulation are: Revelation 2:9-13; 2:22; 3:9-10; 6:9-11; 7:14; 11:7-10; 12:4, 11, 13, 15, 17; 13:7;, 15-17; 14:8-11; 16:5-6; 17:2, 4, 6, 14; 18: 3-4, 6, 9, 20, 24; 19:2; 20:4; 21:4; 22:15.[2]  Of these, 2:9-13 and 3:9 clearly refer directly to Jewish persecution.  In addition to these, references to the martyrdom of Christ might also be seen as references to Jewish persecution.  References to Christ’s martyrdom are as follows: 1:5, 7, 18; 2:8; 5:6, 9. The question remains as to whether or not the remaining references pertain to Roman persecution.

            References to persecution in the book of Acts reveal Jewish, not Roman, persecution.  The book of Acts was probably written after Paul‘s imprisonment at Rome, probably 62-68 A.D, but not later than the destruction of the Temple in AD 70.  It is probable that both Peter and Paul were victims of Nero‘s persecution of Christians in Rome after the fire of 64.  However, Acts must have been written before that time as Paul’s death is not mentioned.  If the book of Revelation were written in this same era then Acts should make a relevant document for comparison of the theme of persecution.  The source of persecution of the saints would most likely be the same in both books. 

            References to persecution in Acts are as follows:  Acts 4:3, 18, 21, 29, arrests and trials; 5:17-18, 33, 40, arrests, trials, beatings; 6:9-14, 54, 57-8:1, martyrdom of Stephen and persecution of the Church; 8:3, the Church ravaged and Christians imprisoned; 9:1-2, 13-14, 21, 23, Saul/Paul‘s acts of persecution; 12:1-11; 13:45, 50; 14:5 (Jews with Gentiles), 19, 22; 15:26; 17:5-9, 13, 17; 18:6, 12; 19:9, 13=14, 33; 20:3, 19; 21:11, 27-35; 22:4, 22-25, 30; 23:12-35; 24:1-9, 24, 27; 25:2, 7-9, 15, 24; 26:9-11, 21; 28:19.  (See above also for the list of references to the crucifixion of Christ.  Since the crucifixion of Christ was attributed to “the Jews”.  See also Acts 2:23, 36; 3:13-15; 4:10-11, 26-28; 5:30; 6:52; 13:27-29),

            As Harold Lindsell has pointed out:

The author [of Acts] is careful to point out that the Christians were not enemies of the Empire: every time the missionaries were brought before Roman authorities they were absolved of all charges of sedition or insurrection.[3]

            If there had been severe persecution from Rome, surely there would have been some mention of it here.   But instead we find that in every case the persecution is from “the Jews” or by their instigation.  Since the persecution in the book of Acts is from the Jews, not the Romans, why should we attribute that of the book of Revelation to the Romans?

            The book of 1 Peter was also written in this same era, [AD 63-67] and has a strong theme of persecution.  The addressees are Christians in northern Asia Minor, (see below), just as the book of Revelation is addressed to the seven Churches in southern Asia Minor.  Since the dates are similar and the addressees are similar, the source of persecution would very likely be the same.  References to persecution in 1 Peter. are as follows:  1:6; 3:9, 13-18; 4:1-2, 12-19.  Was this persecution from Rome?  It hardly seems so from the admonition in 2:13-15:

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14  Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Here Roman authorities are seen to be friends of Christianity.

            It should be noted that 1 Peter is addressed to the “exiles of the Dispersion” specifically those in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, that is, northern Asia Minor.  The term “exiles of the Dispersion” is used specifically of Jews who have left Judea to live in another land.  The affairs in Judea at this particular time were such that many who were Christians fled from the political anarchy, religious persecution, and economic deprivation.  Pontus and Asia are specifically named in Acts 2:9 as places from which Jews had come to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost.  It is therefore likely that those who later fled from Judea went to areas where Jews already lived. 

            Indeed, we know from Paul‘s missionary journeys that there were Jewish synagogues throughout the Roman world.  Many of these colonies in the Dispersion were more populous than in Judea itself.  There were especially large colonies in Babylon and Alexandria.  It is therefore evident that the persecutions in all the far-flung nations of the Roman world could have been by the Jews or at their instigation.  (See Acts 2:5-11; 6:9; of Christian Jews 8:1, 4-5; 11:19.)

            Peter is expecting the “end“, that is, the end of the times predicted by Daniel for the destruction of the nation of Israel and its Temple: “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer,” (1 Peter 4:7).  In the same way the book of Revelation is about that “appointed time” of the end, (Rev. 1:1).

            First Peter speaks specifically of the “Revelation of Jesus Christ“: in salvation, (1:5, 7, 13); and in glory, (5:1).  He believed this “Revelation” was “at hand.”  With Jeremiah 25:19 in view Peter says:

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, (i.e. the Jews,) what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)

            Peter addresses these Jewish Christians in the Dispersion as those who are living among Gentiles:

For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: 4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you.(4:3)

To paraphrase: “You used to act like Gentiles, but ‘they’ are Gentiles and you are not.”

            The reproach they bore was “for the name of Christ“, [4:14].  It was only the Jews who distinguished between “Jews who bore the Name of Christ” and “those who did not”; to the Romans this was an internal Jewish argument.  These people were suffering “as a Christian“, therefore, from the hands of the Jews.  Indeed, the Jews had enjoyed a certain degree of immunity for the practice of their religion.  Claudius granted freedom of worship to the Jews.  This applied to Christians who were born in the Jewish faith.  It was only when they denied the Jewish faith and took the Name of Christ that they lost that immunity to Roman prosecution, (Cary and Scullard, 357).[4]  Indeed, the Romans did not distinguish between Jews and Christians until the time of Nero.  It is clear that they who bore reproach “for the name of Christ” were from the Jewish traditions:

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (1 Peter 1:18)

     They need no longer glory in their natural birth as Jews, for they had been “born again,” [1:23].  Since Jesus, that Living Stone, had been rejected by men, namely Jews, the Christians were now Living Stones making up the Spiritual House and the Holy Priesthood, the Chosen People, [2:4-10].  As “alien residents” in the Dispersion, they were therefore to walk blameless before the Gentiles also, [2:11-12].

            Indeed, if we take the New Testament as the primary historical document, we must all agree that the source of persecution of Christianity was “the Jews.”  In the book of Revelation, we see that there were “synagogue(s) of satan” in Smyrna.  These so-called Jews blasphemed when they called themselves by that name.  Since ‘satan’ = the ‘devil’, we know that these so-called “Jews” were the ones who would cast Christians into prison, where they would have tribulation, (2:10).  This “synagogue of satan” was also in Philadelphia, (3:9).  And it seems that in Pergamos also satan had a “seat” and dwelt there, (2:13).

            The word thronos, translated ‘seat’ in KJV, and ‘throne’ in RSV means ‘the place of the residence of power’.  In these three cities, we see that the synagogue was a place from which satan ruled.  In chapter 12 we see the great red dragon, who is definitely identified as the devil and satan, (12:9).  Then we see that this dragon gave power and a seat, and great authority to the beast out of the sea, (13:2).  This seems clearly to indicate that this sea-beast was driven by the satan of the synagogue.  Then there was a beast out of the earth, (13:11), which caused people to worship the first beast.  This close alliance of purpose between the earth-beast and the dragon indicate that he, too, was driven by the satan who was enthroned in the synagogue, that is, the religion of Judaism.

            If the sea-beast can be identified with Rome, then it should be clear that the Roman persecution of Christians is motivated, instigated and driven by the wrath of satan as revealed in the Jewish religion.  The earth-beast is out of the ‘land’ [equally translatable as earth or land], representing the Roman appointed Jewish rulers of Judea whose military power resided in Rome and whose religious power resided in Judaism.  They were ‘beasts’, Gentiles not Jews, but they appeared to be ‘lambs’, i.e., Jews.

            Thus the source of the tribulation that Christians of the first century endured was ultimately satan himself, but he worked through his henchmen, the Roman Empire and its stooges, the appointed Kings and Priests of Judea.