John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 1:4-6

The early church faced opposition and problems that make our troubles today look rather small. They appeared to be a small insignificant sect. Yet, they did not see it that way even when the might of Rome turned against them. They saw Jesus as king over all the nations of the earth.

The early Christians were actually model subjects of Rome. They paid their taxes without complaint. Jesus taught them to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.” It was a Roman soldier’s right to conscript anyone to carry his belongings for a mile as he passed through a city. Jesus said that his followers should carry it two. Often a Roman soldier would use a back hand across the face to enforce his will. Christians turned the other cheek. The early believers didn’t raise a hand against Caesar.

However, it was their belief that Jesus was Lord and King got them in trouble with Rome. Rome had declared Caesar was god. They built huge temples to him in almost every nation. The Romans were very crafty people. One way to rule the people was by force. Yet, there is a cheaper and even more effective way. Get the world to believe that Caesar is god! Yet, this tiny sect of Christians had the boldness to stand and say, “No he ain’t!” The crucified carpenter, Jesus, is Lord.

This disagreement came to a head in the second half of the first century when the Emperor Nero came to power. Some Emperors believed their press and actually thought they were gods. Others did not. Nero was so deluded that he thought he was a descendant of the Greek god Apollo. He thought he was a divinely inspired musician, and he would put on performances that would last for hours. Apparently, Nero’s shows were absolutely dreadful, but the penalty for walking out early was death. We have accounts of women giving birth during his recitals and folks faking their own deaths to get out of listening.

Nero thought Rome needed to be rebuilt to reflect his divine inspiration, so he set the city ablaze one night and blamed the Christians. After all, they did not bow to Caesar’s lordship, and it did not hurt that they seemed unable to defend themselves.

Nero had a great Circus Maximus where he had countless Christians killed by wild beasts, crucified, and killed by the sword or fire. He even had them used for human torches to light his gardens at night. Yet, the church stood in the fact that Jesus is Lord though it looked very much like Caesar was in charge.

Who won this great contest between Caesar and Christ? Nero died by his own sword, and a Roman civil war followed. In the center of Nero’s Circus Maximus was a great stone pillar. That great pillar still stands only now it is in the courtyard of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. On it is a inscription chiseled in the stone. Translated it says “Christ is conquering. Christ is reigning. Christ rules over all.”