The Lord identifies so closely with the members of his church that he sees their sufferings as his own. He has gone to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, but he is far from being indifferent to their sorrows and follows them with the deepest sympathy. Even the least of those who has trusted in him is regarded with fatherly concern. He knows that in the world they have no one to turn to and that they can expect no compassion at the hands of their enemies. They look to the Lord for their every need and it moves his heart deeply that they cry to him in their trials. So when the time comes for him to act, there can be no doubt what he will do. ‘And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily (Luke 18:7-8)’ It is as if he is longing to do so.
The real attitude of the wicked towards Christ cannot be hidden. Not every unbeliever is a persecutor of the church, but every one of them has an antagonism towards Christ which expresses itself in opposition to the gospel. That message and those who preach it are nothing to an unbelieving world. But if those who neglect his people are guilty, how much worse are those who actively oppress them? What momentous scenes will play out on that day. With what anguish the wicked will cry out to the Lord to change his mind, and their cries will only be silenced by their awareness of the finality his reply to them.