To Encourage You

John 19:38-42 “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.  Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.”

Are you a “secret” believer?  You honestly love Jesus and have given your life to Him, but no one else knows it.  Maybe you’re afraid of the consequences.  Maybe you’ve not learned to pray for boldness or known that you need to.  Maybe you’re very new in your faith, and just don’t yet know much about what the Christian life is all about.  Whatever the reason, you should know that you have company.  In the account above, both Joseph of Arimathea, one of the Sanhedrin (the group who had a significant role in condemning Jesus to death) and Nicodemus, a Pharisee (another infamous group), who we are told in John 3 “came to Jesus by night,” were secret believers.  While they were each part of a notorious group of people and perhaps no one would have suspected them to be believers, they indeed were believers, as proven by the account in John 19. They each had a very significant role in the crucifixion story, but unlike everyone else who had played a role up to that point, they honored the body of Christ, rather than desecrate and abuse it.  

So, what are some things we may be able to take away from this story?  For one, although many believers are weak in their faith, timid, and perhaps secretive about it, there is still hope that God can use them, and indeed wants to use them in very significant ways. He is a very patient, longsuffering God.  He loves us, even the timid ones, and wants us to glorify Him with our lives.  So, if that moment comes, and God gives you the courage, then do what He says. And at the same time, as you wait, pray, and ask others to pray that God will give you boldness, just as the early church did, e.g., in Acts 4:29.  

Another lesson: we all need to be very careful in judging others by their associations.   As believers, we can be very quick to judge others when we know only a little bit about them.  We may assume they could never be a true believer because of the political party, religious affiliation, or nationality they are a part of.  In Jesus’ day, because many of the Sanhedrin were wicked, it would seem so unlikely that there would be a Joseph of Arimathea among them.  Like Nicodemus, the apostle Paul was a Pharisee.  And once Jesus transformed his life, many of the Christians of that day were very hesitant to welcome him into their fellowship (Acts 9:26).  None of us knows the heart of any other person.  We don’t know if that person, regardless of their affiliation, may be a new believer, a very timid believer, or both.  

One place we are reminded of this in the Bible was when the prophet Elijah, at the time of wicked Queen Jezebel, believed that he was the only person who still followed God in all of Israel.  To this God replied “I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18).  And today, how many secret believers are there in China, or North Korea, or Saudi Arabia; lands dominated by atheistic communists and Muslims?  Yet, there are certainly many thousands of believers in these places, where to follow Jesus can mean estrangement from family and society, imprisonment, or even death.  

God has placed His precious “wheat among the tares” in some places, and it can be difficult for any one of us to distinguish between them.   Yet, for any person who truly knows Christ, God is working to mature them, to strengthen them, and to use them to bring Him glory.  As with Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and Paul, we can say “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). 

May God give us the wisdom to not be so quick to judge others who we don’t really know, and to show just a small measure of the patience toward them that the God Who loves us constantly demonstrates toward each and every one of us.  And may we, if our faith is new, or perhaps among those who struggle with timidity, sometimes hiding the fact of who we really are, pray for the boldness to confess Christ to a world that needs more than anything else to know about Him. Who knows but that you, like another secret believer, Queen Esther, “have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).