Day 297 - Luke 7-9 (Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen to Christians?)
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20When the men had come to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" ... 28For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." ... And he went and beheaded him (John the Baptist) in prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother." (Luke 7:20, 28; Mark 6:27-28)
Every believer in Christ, at one point or another, has asked the question: Why does God allow bad things to happen to Christians? I think we can learn a lot about the answer to this age-old question by looking at the horrible fate of the greatest believer who ever lived: John the Baptist.
Jesus testified, in our text above, that "among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist;" yet we also read in the gospel of Mark that John suffered one of the most gruesome deaths - that of beheading.
One fact about John that many do not know is that he doubted whether Jesus was indeed the Christ. Our text above records John instructing his followers to ask Jesus if He was the Christ or if they should look for another!
Why did John doubt Jesus whom he baptized in the Jordan river and whom he witnessed the Holy Spirit descend upon Him like a dove and of whom God's own voice was heard by him saying about Jesus, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mark 1:10-11)"?
The answer is simple; John, like any other believer would have in his place, questioned why Christ would allow him to be put in jail when He was there in the same city with him! Surely, Jesus could have commanded the prison gates to be opened so John could have escaped.
As we know, Jesus did not do that and the thing is we are not told in the Bible why. Jesus allowed a very bad thing thing to happen to John (imprisoned and his head put on a silver plate at the request of a girl) when He, no doubt, could have easily rescued John.
The same puzzle appplied to the first apostle who was killed after Jesus resurrected from the dead. James, the brother of John, was one of the three who were part of the inner core of Jesus while He lived with His discples.
James, John, and Peter many times were the only ones allowed by Jesus to be with Him on very special occasions such as when He raised to life the daughter of Jairus and at the transfuguration on the mount when He appeared with Moses and Elijah.
The lesson we can learn from our study today is this: God allows bad things to happen to the greatest of Christians and He does owe us any explanation. What we do know clearly from God's Word, the Bible is that those who suffer for the sake of Christ are called blessed by God:
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:10-11)
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