You will be my Martyrs

In Acts 1:8 Jesus gave the disciples instructions to follow after the coming of the Holy Spirit: “You will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” Those words are familiar to most churchgoers, but what might not be as familiar is the history of the word witnesses. 

The word that Jesus used has become our English word for martyr. Although martyrs have become synonymous with those who die for their faith, the word originally just meant witness; but when so many of those witnesses began to die for their faith in Jesus, the word took on new meaning. As Alec Ryrie puts it in his book Protestants, martyrs are “believers who bear witness to their faith in the most vivid and unanswerable way, by choosing to die rather than to renounce it (p.85).”  

Martyrdom became such a badge of honor throughout the Medieval Period that Martin Luther once wondered if God was displeased with him because he had not been executed for his faith. Being put to death for their Christianity meant that they were worthy to die in a manner similar to their Lord.  It was during this time that John Foxe wrote his book that would later become known as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.

Unfortunately Christian persecution and martyrdom still occur in many countries. I don’t want to minimize that, but the majority of Christians around the world and throughout history will not be killed for their faith; in America Christian martyrdom is virtually unheard of. I certainly hope I will never die as a martyr, but I have been called to be one. The Greek word martyr, translated witness, means, “one who bears witness of the truth.” It is a legal term for those who have been compelled to state what they saw.

In other words, we have been served a subpoena by Jesus, called to bear witness of the truth. Let’s be His martyrs and tell the unsaved world the truth about Jesus.