The Thin Place during Persecution

The Thin Place during Persecution.

“ The thin place is where the veil between this world and the next is so sheer that it is easy to step through.” (Barbara Brown Taylor, Home By Another Way).

This term from an ancient Celtic tradition has stood the test of time. The idea of a thin place between heaven and earth has captured our imaginations, and yet is not just a metaphor.  Thin places are literal as well.

The traditional thin place as the Irish understood it has been described in many ways:  where the veil between heaven and earth is so thin as to be porous, permeable, practically transparent; where the space between the diviner and the human has narrowed; where eternity and time intersect; where the boundary between heaven and earth has collapsed; where the wall between heaven and earth have become indistinguishable; where the doors between heaven and earth have cracked open enough to walk through, if only temporarily; the place where eternity and time seem to join together.

Those descriptions of thin places have recently been expanded to include… wherever God has chosen to reveal Himself and make Himself known with unusual intimacy; wherever the sacred interaction with God’s presence is more pronounced and accessible; wherever the Holy Spirit is released in a particularly powerful way; a physical space where one can more directly and intensely experience God’s presence. I like to think of a thin place as when the Spirit of God opens the skylight of the earth’s roof and helps us climb through it into the cellar of heaven.

Transparent, if not Porous. The Veil between heaven and earth can be thin as paper when someone is being persecuted for Christ, the boundary between divine space and earthly space being so transparent that one could see clear through to the other side, or at least experience some heavenly traffic between these two realities. Perhaps the thin place during persecution is simply a grace of God, offering encouragement and hope in a time of desperation. Maybe the thin place while suffering is God’s way of saying, “Cheer up! You are not forgotten! Look what’s ahead for you! Here is a taste of heaven now to remind you of what’s coming down the road!” Or perhaps God is saying in this thin place that He has more for you to do. In some cases, God Himself appears in this thin place and has a special message for the victim, or wants the victim to communicate something special to the world. Only God knows why so many Christian believers have experienced a thin place during a time of suffering and persecution. We will look at three biblical heroes who experienced a thin place while in a time of persecution: St. Peter in the bowels of a prison, St. John on a desolate penal island, and St. Stephen as he is being martyred.

St. Peter’s Angel Steps from Heaven into a Prison. (Acts 12:1-19). “It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. ² He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. ³ When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. ⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. ⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. ⁹ Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish leaders were hoping would happen.” ¹² When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ¹³ Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

¹⁵ “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” ¹⁶ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷ Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. ¹⁸ In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.”

St. John and Jesus on the Prison Island. “I was worshipping in union with the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice sounding like a trumpet… I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and I fell down at His feet as if I were dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, ‘Fear not! Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One. I died, but look – I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.’” (Revelation 1: 17-18).

Later in life, St. John found himself in solitary imprisonment, exiled on the lonely island of Patmos. This small, rocky island, roughly ten miles long and five miles wide, was a Roman penal colony during the persecution of Christians led by emperor Domitian. The island is mostly comprised of rocks, caves, and barren land, and is aptly named Patmos, which means “my crushing.” Patmos was fifty miles offshore from John’s home and center of  ministry in Ephesus. John was banished to Patmos because he wouldn’t stop preaching the Good News and leading many new Christian churches in that area. In John’s words, “I was exiled on the island of Patmos because of the ministry of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” (Rev. 1:9).

John was privately “worshiping in the Spirit” on the Lord’s Day, and it seemed he was in some type of supernatural trance with a clear vision into God’s world. Other translations report that John was in the spiritual realm, or that he became in union with the Spirit. In any case, John was primed to receive a special vision of the heavenly Jesus and whatever would follow from that unique revelation. While worshiping, John heard a voice behind him, and when he turned to see whose voice it was, he saw the glory and splendor of the risen Christ. It seems true sometimes that we have to turn around, we have to turn our heads and redirect our attention to see Jesus and His message for us. Sometimes we move too fast and need to turn around to see what’s behind us. John’s vision was unforgettable and shocking, and later he wrote it down in detail. We tend to think that the book of Revelation is merely about the Apocalypse, about future events and prophetic messages. But first this book is a revealing of Jesus. Jesus revealed Himself before He revealed anything else. That should be what we want to see first, the Person of Christ, before anything else.

First in John’s vision was seven golden menorahs, seven golden lampstands, and standing in the middle of the lampstands was the Son of Man. John is saying something profound here. He is noting that Jesus was the fulfillment of Daniel’s ancient vison during which Daniel saw, “the Ancient One sat down to judge. His clothing was as white as snow, his hair like purest wool.” (Dan. 7:9). Daniel’s vision continued with Daniel seeing “someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into His presence. He was given authority, honor and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey Him. His rule is eternal – it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.” (Dan. 7:13-14).

John’s vision of Jesus is strikingly similar to Daniel’s vision of the special Messenger from Heaven, a pre-incarnate Christophany, in Daniel 10: “I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people.” (Daniel 10:5-6).

John turns and sees the risen Christ, the heavenly Jesus that is fearsome and practically unexplainable.. “He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across His chest. His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And His eyes were like flames of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. He held seven stars in His right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came forth from His mouth. And His face was like the sun in all its brilliance.” (Rev. 1:13-16). John reacted to his other-worldly vision the same way that Daniel reacted to his… he fainted dead away, flat on his face. Who wouldn’t?

John’s vision of Jesus brought to the surface many symbols of Christ’s attributes. John’s description in many ways represents eternal truths about the glorified person of Christ, who seems to reveal Himself best in metaphor and symbol and imagery. Christ’s white hair represents His eternal wisdom and purity, His status as the divine Elder who commands universal respect. His robe that reached to His feet points out His priesthood, as does His gold sash. Jesus appears, then, as the High Priest who boldly walks into God’s presence and obtains forgiveness for His people. Christ’s eyes of flame symbolize His eternal knowledge, able to judge rightly, able to probe and peer into the hearts and minds of each person. His blazing eyes know impurity when He sees it. In noting Christ’s voice, John was trying to describe the indescribable. At first, John reported that His voice sounded like a trumpet, a blast from the shofar to get John’s attention. But then His voice became so pervasive and continuous and unrelenting, it was like the sound of a waterfall, or maybe ocean waves, which signify in Scripture the sound of multitudes of voices speaking at the same time. The voice of Jesus was a sublime mystery… somehow His voice was understandable, yet it was in heavenly surround-sound. Christ’s feet were like polished and refined bronze, representing His ability to stand firm beautifully and permanently. The face of Christ has absorbed the uncreated Light of glory for all eternity, and so, like in His transfiguration, Jesus’ brilliant countenance shot forth dazzling sunbeams, too bright to stare at, like the pulsing brightness of the noonday sun at its height. His right hand held seven stars, representing the seven pastors or shepherds of the churches in question, and they stand for the human messengers of each church as shining lights. Jesus is seen by John as standing, perhaps walking, in the midst of seven golden menorahs, seven lampstands. They represent the seven churches in Asia that will soon be addressed by Jesus. Each lampstand is kept lit by oil, by the Holy Spirit, in order to bring light to a dark world. And there is Jesus, then as now, in the midst of the churches, present wherever believers gather in His name. Immanuel, God-with-us.

The two-edged sword coming out of the mouth of Jesus represents the Word of God and the power of His message, a sword that can do heart surgery when skillfully wielded by the soul’s surgeon, Jesus Christ. “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (Hebrews 4:12). After witnessing this mind-boggling appearance of the risen Christ, this is the moment when John fainted, and Jesus’ right hand helped John regain his consciousness. The first words Jesus says to John are, “Don’t be afraid.”

If ever there was a fulfillment of God’s word to Isaiah in Is. 3o:2021, this particular thin place with John on Patmos is it:  “When the Lord has given you the bread of suffering and the water of distress, He who is your teacher will hide no longer, and you will see your Teacher with your own eyes. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.'” 

St. Stephen and the Heavenly Vision at His Death. “And Stephen told them, ‘Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!’ As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ He fell to his knees, shouting, ‘Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!’ And with that, he died.”  (Acts 7:56, 59, 60).

There is a dramatic prelude to Stephen’s ministry and heroic execution. The Holy Spirit had descended in Jerusalem at Pentecost, and the early Christian church grew exponentially as a result. All of a sudden, the Christian community developed into a rather large contingent of believers. The community morphed into something that needed to be managed. This huge spiritual revival meant that the community was no longer ad hoc, come what may. What with all the preaching, teaching, worshiping, living together, and caring for the poor in their midst, the Apostles were overwhelmed. There soon came a complaint from the Greek-speaking Jews. They stated that their widows were being ignored in the food distribution. The Hebrew-speaking Jews were for some reason getting first priority. This wasn’t fair and the problem needed to be addressed.

The original Twelve, the leaders of the community, agreed that this indeed needed to be fixed. But they believed they were called to keep their preaching, teaching and prayer ministry, and not get caught up in the daily details of feeding the poor. So they came up with a solution. Let us choose seven men, they said, believers who have solid reputations, were full of the wisdom of God, and demonstrated a life full of the Holy Spirit. These men can manage this whole food distribution project, and then we can concentrate on what we are called to do in the community. So they carefully selected seven Greek-speaking Jews to manage the food for the poor. They are acknowledged as spiritual leaders, too, so they could no doubt minister to the community in other ways as well. One of the seven leaders chosen was Stephen, a man who was full of the Spirit of Jesus, and walked with great power, faith and grace. Stephen’s ministry was much wider than food distribution, though. He evidently performed many miracles among the Christians, what the early Christians called signs and wonders. Judging from his extended speech to the Jewish High Council (Acts 7), Stephen was also a biblical historian and a budding theologian.

Stephen found himself standing in front of the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem because there were false testimonies about Stephen circulating amongst the scribes and scholars and priests. They demanded that Stephen give an account of these charges, and provide answers to the witnesses against him. The High Council wanted Stephen to defend himself. So Stephen gave the longest sermon in the Book of Acts, and it wasn’t even a self-defense. Stephen decided to assertively highlight the very spotty spiritual history of Israel. He summarized Israel’s relationship with God, starting with Abraham and the Patriarchs, continuing with Moses and the Exodus, and he offered observations about the wilderness events and the Tabernacle. Stephen made it clear that believers worshiped God long before there was a Tabernacle or a Temple. God is not limited to a physical building, He is not contained in one structure like the Temple. Stephen underlined the obvious resistance of Israel to things of God, their historical rebellion to following Him and His ways. And Jesus’ death was just another example of Israel’s rejection of God. Stephen must have realized how the Council would react, but he nonetheless called the Jews stubborn, stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart! Stephen made the claim in his speech that the Jews betrayed the Just One, the long-awaited Messiah.

Well, of course, these were fighting words. Stephen’s speech was like signing his own death certificate. The Council was furious at the apparent disrespect, disloyalty, and blasphemy. The Council turned into a lynch mob as they dragged Stephen outside the city walls, without a trial, and proceeded to stone Stephen to death. According to Mosaic Law, the punishment for blasphemy was stoning (Lev. 24:16). Stephen’s martyrdom was the first in the Christian community, and it was the beginning of the first widespread persecution of the Christian Church. But as Tertullian once said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” As the Christians escaped persecution by fleeing to areas distant from Jerusalem, the believers took that opportunity to spread the Faith and start new churches all over that part of the world.

While Stephen was being stoned by the mob, he experienced first-hand a thin place, he had a vision in which he saw the majesty and splendor of God, with Jesus standing at God’s right hand. Stephen witnessed the glorified Jesus welcoming him into His presence. This vision was the ultimate blasphemy, of course, and the stoning continued. As he lay sprawled on the ground and stones were rained upon him, Stephen echoed the words of Jesus on the cross. Stephen entrusted his spirit into the hands of Christ, which itself is a quote from Psalms 31:5. And then in his dying breaths he shouted his last request. Please God, forgive them, forgive all those who are stoning him. The dying moments of Stephen were exactly parallel to those of his Savior, Jesus Christ. Stephen was indeed full of the Holy Spirit, right to the end which was also the beginning.

The Thin Place at Martyrdom. There are innumerable reports of martyrs experiencing a thin place at their death, seeing through the earthly veil into their destiny in heaven with God. A couple of inspiring examples include:

Ignatius of Antioch – “My desires are crucified, the warmth of my body is gone. A stream flows whispering inside me: Deep within me it says, Come to the Father. Near to the sword, I am near to God. In the company of wild beasts, I am in company with God. Only let all that happens be in the name of Jesus Christ, so that we may suffer with him. I can endure all things if he enables me. I am God’s wheat. May I be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts until I become the fine white bread that belongs to Christ.” (2^nd Century).

Hippolytus of Rome – “Christ is risen: The world below lies desolate. Christ is risen: The spirits of evil are fallen. Christ is risen: The angels of God are rejoicing. Christ is risen: The tombs of the dead are empty. Christ is risen indeed from the dead, the first of the sleepers. Glory and power are his forever and ever. Amen.”(3^rd Century).

Shenoufe of Egypt – “I bless you, Jesus. To you belong all blessings. I bless you, Jesus. You are the only begotten of the Father. I bless you, Jesus. You are the true vine, the crown upon the throne of the Father. I bless you, Jesus. You walked upon the water, and your feet remained dry. I bless you, Jesus. You made the bitter waters sweet. I bless you, Jesus. You are the unmovable rock. I bless you, Jesus. You command the angels. I bless you, Jesus, and your good Father, in whose hands is our breath, and who gives us life. For yours is the power and the glory, forever. Amen.” (4^th Century).

Saba the Goth – “Blessed are you Lord, and may your Son’s name be blessed forevermore. I can see what those who persecute me cannot; On the other side of this river there is a multitude waiting to receive my soul and carry it to glory.” (4^th Century).

Hildegard of Bingen: De Spiritu Sancto (Holy Spirit, The Quickener Of Life) (youtube.com)