Unto Death: Martyrdom, Missions, and the Maturity of the Church

Unto Death: Martyrdom, Missions, and the Maturity of the Church by Thomas, Dalton. paperback edition. ISBN: 9781723825927.

Throughout the three and a half years of His earthly ministry, Jesus consistently called His disciples to expect and embrace suffering, persecution, and martyrdom, exhorting them with such words as, “hate your life,” “pick up your cross,” and “deny yourself.” He assured us that we are “blessed” when we are “reviled” and “persecuted,” and cursed if “all men speak well of us.” He made promises like, “You will have trouble,” “they will put you to death,” and “you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.”Though not every believer is called to give a martyr-witness, every believer is called to embrace a martyr-mentality, every Church a martyr-mandate, and every minister a martyr-theology. Whether we live or die is ultimately in the hands of our Master, and if we have not entrusted Him with that decision, we may be deluding ourselves into assuming we are His bondservants when in fact we are not.Unto Death explores the implications of the resurrection, the imperatives of costly discipleship, and invites those who love and confess the Lordship of Jesus to invest their limited life in this age for an abundant life in the next—driven by the apostolic “blessed hope” befitting those who worship a crucified King and a slain Lamb.