Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John and the bishop of Smyrna, replied to the proconsul before whom he stood and who had commanded him to “swear the oath, and I will release you; revile Christ”:
For eighty-six years I have been His servant, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?[1]
He was subsequently burned at the stake, but his body could not be consumed. They finally pierced him through with a spear. Polycarp’s reply is worth sitting before for a time, allowing it to soak deep into our bones, don’t you think? Polycarp was not the only martyr (witness) at the time, but he was an old man and revered, even before his martyrdom, for his deep godliness and love for the people he shepherded. He was directly linked to the original apostles through John. It is what he said about his relationship with Jesus that is so fascinating and deeply challenging – “For eighty-six years I have been His servant, and He has done me no wrong”.
John, the discipler of Polycarp wrote,
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning… I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning…[2]
There is something solid, peaceful, and unwavering in his statement, “I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning…” Fathers, you know Him. You know the One who is the Ancient of Days. You know Him who is from the beginning. Something of profound depth needs to happen between the flush of first-love excitement in knowing the Father who forgives our sins for His name’s sake and knowing Him who is from the beginning. Between these two stages of discipleship there is a wilderness that needs to be traversed and there are many deaths for us to die.
John also addressed the stage in between:
I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one… I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.[3]
This stage is the season of our testing where our trust in Jesus and His Word is proven as to whether it is genuine or not.[4] Our journey and battle through this present age is a fight for faith, a battle against unbelief. Moses recounted Israel’s 40 years in the desert this way:
And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.[5]
Polycarp described his relationship with “He who is from the beginning” as one in which “He has done me no wrong.” Intellectually we may affirm that “God does no evil and he doesn’t tempt anyone to evil.”[6] But what is our actual heart and bodily response to a God who does not live up to our expectations? Israel had collectively professed that they would do all that the Lord commanded[7] yet in the wilderness they were continually offended by God’s way of doing things and continually resisted. And we, if we are honest and have truly read the scriptures for what they say, find ourselves offended by a God who does not live up to our expectations.
Some think that John the apostle was possibly referring to Polycarp as the angel or messenger of Smyrna when he wrote in Revelation:
“And to the angel (or messenger) of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’”[8]
Why does Jesus do this to His people? Why the tribulation and the poverty? Why the slander and the prison? Why the testing and death? Why all of this to follow Him? Why the cross? Why do I need to pick mine up and carry it? Why do I have to be crucified with Him, so to speak? Why die to live? Why is He the Truth and I can’t make up my own? Why does He get to define what love is instead of me? What kind of God is He who will judge and condemn to hell? My gosh! Why does He flood the earth and destroy everyone but eight people? And we can go on and on. Why does He get to be infinite and know the end from the beginning and I know nothing (though I think I’m wise enough to counsel Him on how to run the universe)?
Polycarp did not believe that the Jesus he had known had done him any wrong though He said that His people in Smyrna would suffer and die for Him. No, he had traveled long and deep with Jesus and found no offense in Him – “Blessed is he who is not offended by Me.”[9] He knew Him who was from the beginning, and He was good. By the grace of God, he had learned to submit fully to the Word of God, to let it abide in him richly, to obey it joyfully, and to overcome the evil one by trusting it even when he might not have understood. He had put the promises to the test and had come to love them and the One who made them.[10]
There is a song by David Wilcox, and in it he has the line, “in the years it takes to make one man wise a young man dies.”[11] In the years it takes to go from children who know the Father to fathers and mothers who know Him who is from the beginning, a young man or woman will learn to die and to overcome by yielding to and wielding the weapon of the Word. For all who will yield to the discipline of the One who is the Word, such yieldedness will produce the peaceful fruit of righteousness[12] and a profound stillness[13] that testifies to a deep knowledge of Him who is from the beginning. Jesus alluded to this children-to-fathers development of a disciple during his walk with Peter along Galilee’s shore:
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go…” And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”[14]
There is a sense that we are to travel the same path. The farther we travel with Him the less free we will be as we become a “servant of all.”[15] We may be taken where we would not choose to go. Yet He bids us still, “follow me,” and as we come to know “He who is from the beginning” in our following, may it be reported of us that our testimony was “I have served him this many years and He has done me no wrong. How could I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Most of us will likely think that we are woefully some distance from arriving at this stage of maturity. Take heart, as the apostle Pauls says “I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way…”[16] He who is from the beginning awaits us.
Jim Bloom and his wife Raquel are members of InnerCHANGE (an apostolic order among the poor), and have been serving in Minneapolis, MN for the past 26 years. He has served in the roles of team leader and US Director and now serves on the InnerCHANGE Horizons team, which is focused on new team starts and mentoring new team leaders. Find out more about InnerCHANGE here.
[1] The Martyrdom of Polycarp
[2] 1 John 2:12-14
[3] 1 John 2:13-14
[4] 1 Peter 1:6-7
[5] Deuteronomy 8:2-3
[6] James 1:13
[7] Exodus 24:3
[8] Revelation 2:8-11
[9] Luke 7:23
[10] Psalm 119:140
[11] “A Young Man Dies”
[12] Hebrews 12:11
[13] Psalm 46:10
[14] John 21:18-19
[15] Mark 9:35
[16] Philippians 3:12-15
