Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.
When reproach strikes, lift your mind to heaven and behold vast grounds of joy that dispel sadness. The reward promised here is free grace, not wage earned by merit; indeed, no work, however good, deserves reward when God judges it. But mark this: only those persecuted for Christ's sake, not for their own faults, may claim the martyr's crown.
AI summary
Nothing but the consciousness of innocence and the presence of God could have borne the early Christians through these trials. The flames that consumed the martyrs burned brightest as a light to the world, showing the truth and power of the gospel itself.
AI summary
The reward is great not by debt but by grace; there is no proportion between what saints suffer and the glory revealed in them. Your suffering is no strange or new thing, the prophets before you endured the same, and God will be their reward and yours, all in all.
AI summary