By John Buttrey II

Tucked away in the pages of the book of Revelation (pages which many of us find intimidating and thus shy away from) is a saint too long forgotten and ignored. His name is Antipas. Have you ever heard of him? I would venture to say that most have not; which is a shame. Antipas presents us with quite an impressive lesson on possessing a courageous type of faith. His name only appears in one verse of scripture, yet that one verse speaks volumes. Take a look at it. Jesus is here addressing the church at Pergamum. 

I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

                                    Revelation 2:13 

        What a testimony! Jesus Himself referred to Antipas as “My witness” “My faithful one.” Is there any of us who would not want the Lord to speak such of us? More literally in the Greek Antipas was called the witness of Me, the faithful one. In other words, all the saints in Pergamum knew of Antipas and his courageous faith and testimony.

        At a time of great persecution, when it would have been easy to lie or to deny his faith; to safe his life and perhaps the life of his brethren; Antipas stood strong. Even at the cost of his own life, Antipas did not deny the Lord.

         Such faith is inspiring… challenging… encouraging. And not to take anything away from Antipas, but he is certainly not alone in the demonstration of such faith. Throughout the centuries many faithful men and women have stood strong against persecution, risking their own lives as they refused to deny the Lord; becoming martyrs for the cause of Christ.

          John Fox in his well-known book of Christian martyrs writes of some of the extreme persecution and suffering the early Christians were subjected to under the rule of emperor Nero. 

…the barbarities exercised on the Christians were such as even excited the commiseration of the Romans themselves. Nero even refined upon cruelty, and contrived all manner of punishments for the Christians that the most infernal imagination could design. In particular he had some sewed up in skins of wild beasts, and then worried by dogs until they expired; and others dressed in shirts made stiff with wax, fixed to axletrees, and set on fire in his gardens, in order to illuminate them. This persecution was general throughout the whole Roman Empire, but it rather increased than diminished the spirit of Christianity. 

          That last line is most interesting. Rather than bringing an end to Christianity, the persecution of the Christians and the courageous demonstration of their faith only inspired others in their own faith. We read of the same taking place in the New Testament. 

1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.

3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.

Acts 8:1-4 

        Once again, rather than the persecution of Christians bringing about an end to the faith, it only increased it… such inspired others. In this way, Jim McGuiggan writes: 

     Some years ago during one of the many Boxer rebellions in China a mission compound was taken. One hundred girls lived and learned there. The rebels took down the cross from the top of the central building and laid it in the gateway leading out of the mission compound. They lined the one hundred girls up and gave them the offer of freedom if they would walk on the cross on their way out of the compound. Seven young ladies choose the way of “freedom.” Number eight not only wouldn’t walk on the symbol of her faith, she got on her knees before it and prayed. They shot her dead on the spot. Listen… they had to shoot the remaining 92 girls.[1] 

Courageous faith is very inspiring to others. It challenges each to be stronger and more dedicated to the cause.

         I cannot help but wonder how we today would react under such pressure. What would happen if our faith was really put to the test… I mean at the risk of our life. Unfortunately, the only accurate answer we could get for such questions is if it were to actually occur. It is one thing for us to speculate as to how we might react living in the comforts and conveniences of America in 2001; but, it might be a totally different story to find ourselves at the other end of gun, or the recipient of intense scourging, or whatever the torture might be.

      Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul wrote these familiar words.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Romans 1:16

       In many respects it all comes down to this: are we ashamed of the gospel? If we are not ashamed of the gospel, what then will do in order to defend the truth? What will we say in the fight for truth? How far are we willing to go in our stand for truth? 

1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-3