It is written that the Word of God is a double-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). It is said to be alive and active, it cuts right through even in between both the soul and the spirit of man thereby discerning the mind and intention of the heart. Meaning that it is sweet music to the ear of the righteous yet for the wicked, it is a great offense and something to be abhorred since the Word has the ability to tell the true nature of the man's heart.

Matthew 10:34 - "Do not think that I come to bring peace on the earth, I did not come to bring peace but a SWORD."

Messiah did not come to bring peace but a sword. His word is a mirror that men should use to look at themselves and see their inability to live according to the written precepts. The word shows how wretched and frail man is and why he is unable to keep the written precepts on his own effort, hence he needs God’s help. Yet many people are scared to look at themselves in the mirror because they do not want to accept their frailty.

James 1:23-25 - For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Yahshua Messiah said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever walks with me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. “(John 8:12) He also said that men did not want to come to the light because their deeds are evil and the light of Messiah would expose their evil intent and deeds. But the righteous walk in the truth of Messiah and they come to the light because their works are righteous. This is the condition of humanity in this moribund world.

John 3:19-20 - And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Messiah also said explicitly that to follow him, one will have to sacrifice even blood relations for his greater cause. He challenged those who would compromise his discipleship mission even for something as noble as family relations.

Matthew 10:35-39 - For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me isn’t worthy of me. He who seeks his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

He cautioned those that wanted to follow him that their own kinsmen will be their enemies. One will have to choose the Messiah over any other thing, no matter good and noble it may seem to be.

At one point he told a man who wanted to bury his father to let the dead bury the dead (Luke 9:60). Such statements made our savior sound very controversial and insensitive. That's the reason the Pharisees and the Judaism of the day as a whole never understood him. In that statement, he meant that we ought to sacrifice man's commandments for the sake of God and not sacrifice God's commandments for the sake of man. We should be devoted to God first. Following Messiah is an honor and has great reward both in this world and in the world to come. Yet, God requires our total allegiance to his cause of preaching the gospel.

I once heard the following statement "If they do not hate you, then you must be doing something wrong", thereby implying that once you start doing the right thing you'll be hated by people, even by the ones that you love and are very close to. Such is the life of the righteous, we have to live in the reality of being hated by the world since we are not of the world, the world can only love its own (John 15:19).

If one wants to prove whether their faith is the right one, then persecution is a consequence that is supposed to follow them. Messiah said ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours (John 15:20). That’s the nature of the word.

He also forewarned that the opposite is also true. Luke 6:26 - Woe, when men speak well of you, for their fathers did the same thing to the false prophets.

The true faith is evidenced by persecution from the enemy of our souls. If some faith doesn’t suffer persecution, then there is a need to weigh whether it is the true one.

Therefore, we are assured that we will suffer persecution because we keep the commandments and the testimony of Yahshua. Let us not waver and be resilient like our savior was.

2 Timothy 3:12 - Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Messiah Yahshua will be persecuted, Revelation 14:12 – Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Yahshua.