Why did the Abrahamic covenant exist? It existed so that Abraham could exemplify divine blessing, so God could be glorified. This is the covenant under which Israel went into Egypt, and it is also the covenant fulfilled by Jesus through His church, with the message of the Gospel as the mark of that covenant. Therefore, even before the Mosaic covenant that came at Sinai, what was Israel’s responsibility? It was to be a light to all peoples, to reveal the glory of their God, which would be done through the demonstration of divine blessings that would come from their living as God’s covenant people. After the exodus, they would show forth this covenant by keeping God’s Sabbaths, reverencing His sanctuary, and not worshiping idols. Through this, God would show Himself, through Israel, as the Lord of all creation.
This could engender hate in two ways, and this is where we shift from history to philosophy, attempting to make an appropriate application of these words. The first way that could engender hate would be based on the fact that humanity, beginning with Adam, has been rebellious, not wanting to submit to God, and certainly not wanting to have their self-erected gods dismissed. Therefore hate is directed towards those that reveal a God that rules over all and demands unswerving allegiance. The second potential reason for being hated is their presentation of themselves as God’s chosen people, through covenant, and then not living in a way that reflected that idea and which did not honor the blessing---by engaging in idolatry or by turning inward so as to keep God’s blessing only for themselves and excluding those that they felt were unworthy of the covenant. The second reason is quite compelling. Can this be applied to the words that Jesus directed towards His disciples, which His disciples, in turn, purposefully directed towards His church? Perhaps.
What is the fundamental obligation of the person that claims to be in Christ? Is it to judge people, to regulate their lives, and tell them how to live? No. A thousand times no! Unfortunately, this is what usually generates hatred; but is hatred that stems from doing that which Jesus has not obligated us to do really the hatred of which Jesus speaks? Probably not. Beyond that, are people going to hate us, or would they have so fiercely hated and persecuted the early followers of Jesus if all they spoke about was escaping off to a heavenly island of peace and bliss following death? Again, probably not. So why would there be hate? Well, as it was for Israel, so it would be for the new covenant people of Christ’s church, as such people went and go about the business of their primary obligation to proclaim that Jesus is the Lord of all, and that all are subject to Him and to His rule, without exception. Quite naturally, this can produce hatred, as it attacks the root of mankind’s problem, which is the mis-use of the divine image, as that divine image bearing is turned into self-worship and a thirst for power rather than being exercised in the reflection of God’s glory into His world.
Secondly, hate comes when Christians proclaim Jesus as their Lord and God and are thereby charged to exemplify divine blessing, subsequently presenting themselves as a chosen and rescued and delivered people, but then denying the blessings associated with that confession by not living their proclamation into the world. If we name the name of Jesus, and revel in being the chosen people of God, but then turn our backs on this world to dismiss this creation in a way that Jesus never did, or if we hold what we claim to be the transformative power of the Gospel to ourselves within the walls of our church without taking it out to give cups of cold water and food and clothing (exemplifying divine blessing), then the world has every right to express hatred. Is this what happened to Israel in Egypt? Is this the type of actions, or lack thereof, that caused God’s fruitful people to be hated? Is this what Jesus had in mind?
Is it possible that we are hated when we proclaim allegiance to the name of Jesus, but then we do not live accordingly? Should we be hated when we live as if this world does not matter, looking to a rapture or a far-off realm, turning God’s blessing into that which is merely personal and spiritual under the cloak of a cultivation of personal holiness in supposed service to Jesus, and thereby showing contempt for the world in a way that we do not find with Jesus? With a historical grounding for the language of Jesus that is rooted in the experience of Egypt and the exodus, this appears to be highly plausible.
Finally, with Jesus’ speaking to enduring to the end and being saved, we are reminded that we are in this world, but at the same time, we are a part of the kingdom of God that was being proclaimed by Jesus, and which was inaugurated at the Resurrection. We live in anticipation of the age to come, which is already present with the power of the Gospel that began to be shed abroad by the Resurrection of Jesus, but which we still await the coming in fullness. Like Israel in Egypt following their enslavement to an oppressive power, we know we are a people of promise, and we know that we are people of the covenant, yet we still toil in bondage to the eventual coming of death, waiting for our final deliverance that has been promised, while compassionately sympathizing with a suffering world as did our Lord. Though they were oppressed in Egypt, Israel knew that they had a promise that had been given to Abraham, that a deliverer, bringing salvation, would come after a certain period of time. That hope was never lost. We hold on to that hope as well. It sustained them even as they served the Egyptians, which they were forced to do unwillingly, through hatred, rather than joyfully with divine blessing. Though they experienced the effects of hatred at the hands of the Egyptians, for whatever reason that hatred came, those that endured were saved, and they were led out into God’s land of promise.
If we are to be hated, let us be hated for the right reasons. Let us be hated because we proclaim the Lordship and the supreme rule of Jesus over all of mankind and over all of this creation as we await our resurrected entrance into God’s restored creation. Thus we will be hated for a cause, as the redeeming, resurrecting power of the Gospel is brought to bear.
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