John 16:1-4
These things I have spoken to you that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. And these things they will do, because they have not known the Father, or Me. But these things I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them.
The history of religious persecution clearly portrays the fulfillment of this prophesy. To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed, so Jesus is telling us that people who are not true Christians will think that killing will "cleanse" the society of those who don't agree with their beliefs, their morals, or their life philosophies. In every age this has been true, even when it was the "christian" church doing the persecuting (hence, the Reformation). There are more Christian martyrs today than at any other age in history.
Because we know these things, we need to make sure our salvation is secure, and to strengthen ourselves emotionally and spiritually to withstand the rejection and persecution, even when it comes from our own families and friends.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
