Luke 21:16-19

And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. V. 17. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake. V. 18. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. V. 19. In your patience possess ye your souls.

The disciples should therefore not be deterred or discouraged even by the fact that there will be dissension in families, that the bonds of both relationship and the nearest friendship will be torn asunder by questions concerning the Gospel. Parents, brothers and sisters, near relatives, friends: they all will forget the duties and obligations of their station in their hatred of the Word of Salvation; they will deliver the Christians into the hands of their enemies, and in some cases they will not rest until they have caused them to be put to death.

The believers will, in fact, be continually hated of all men on account of their confession of Christ's name. This is the cross of the Christians, the prospect which they must face. There is neither compromise nor mitigation.

And yet, in the midst of these prophecies which might well make the stoutest heart quail, the Lord promises His disciples that not a hair of their heads should perish without His will, Matt. 10, 30. So long as the Christians are necessary for the service of the Lord, their bodies. are inviolable, the enemies dare not touch them.

They may, therefore, in their patience possess their souls. By faithful perseverance, by undaunted continuance in the confession of Christ's Word and doctrine, they will preserve their souls. Even if they should lose the life of their mortal body, they will save their true life, that of the soul, by such faithfulness to the end. Their soul, and the eternal life of their soul, will then be for them a glorious prize or treasure, which they will carry off for eternal enjoyment in heaven.