As our Master was hated without a cause, so let it be with us so far as possible, that the hatred, malice, envy and murder which may be poured out against us may be wholly unmerited by us—that our lives shall be as nearly pure as possible; that so far as we are able, our thoughts and words and deeds may show forth the praises of our Lord, and speak of our love for all men, especially for the household of faith. By and by, when the new dispensation is fully inaugurated, those who hate us now, largely because they are blinded by the Adversary and misled, will bow before the Lord's Anointed, and we shall have the great pleasure of lifting them up, blessing them, encouraging them and forgiving them, and assisting them back to the full image and likeness of God.
The word world is in the Scriptures used in various senses, i.e., the universe, the earth, a dispensational order of affairs, the people in harmony with it, and the entire human race. Evidently the whole human race did not hate our Lord; for the few heathen with whom He came in contact honored Him. Rather, the Jewish religious leaders and those influenced by them hated Him. They hated Him because His teachings refuted their errors; His example disparaged their hypocrisy; His exposures injured their prestige; His reforms endangered their ambitions; His religion subverted their sects; and His influence diminished their power. Because "the darkness hateth the light," God's faithful people during the Gospel Age have been hated by the nominal people of God—even for the same reasons as Jesus was hated. It will be so even to the end.
Psa. 41:9; John 15:17, 19-25; Isa. 53:1-3; Matt. 10:16-39; 24:9; Mark 13:13; Luke 21:17; 19:14; John 16:2, 3; 17:14; 1 John 3:1, 13.
