"...the whole world lies
under the sway of the wicked one."
1 John 5:19
"What do you conspire
against the Lord?
He will make an utter end of it....
From you comes forth one who plots evil against the Lord,
A wicked counselor."
Nahum 1:9, 11
Conspiracy against
Jesus:
plots, partnerships,
trickery, betrayal and false accusations
"...the Pharisees went
out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him,
how they might destroy Him."
Mark 3:6
...the chief priests,
the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace
of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to
take Jesus by trickery and kill Him. But they said, 'Not
during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.'”
Matthew
26:3-5
"...the Pharisees began
to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many
things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in
something He might say, that they might accuse Him."
Luke 11:53-54
Jesus warned that
His faithful followers would face similar persecution
"If you were of the
world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the
world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates
you.... If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you...
because they do not know Him who sent Me. "
John 15:18-21
"...they will deliver you
up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations
for My name’s sake."
Matthew 24:9
"I have given them Your
word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the
world, just as I am not of the world.... Sanctify them by Your
truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also
have sent them into the world."
John 17:14-18
"...brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child;
and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put
to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he
who endures to the end shall be saved."
Mark 13:10-12
Conspiracies
against faithful Christians
"Peter and the other
apostles answered and said: 'We ought to obey God rather than men.
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by
hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to
be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and
forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and
so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey
Him.' When they heard this, they were furious
and plotted to kill them."
Acts 5:29-33
"Saul [apostle Paul]
increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who
dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. Now after
many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot
became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to
kill him. "
Acts 9:22-24
"...some of the Jews
banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they
would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. Now there
were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy."
Acts 23:12-13
"...we should no
longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every
wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning
craftiness of deceitful plotting..."
Ephesians 4:14-15
Old Testament
Conspiracies
"[Jacob]
said to him [Joseph], 'Please go and see if it is well with
your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to
me.'
So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem....
"Now a certain man found him, and there he was,
wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, 'What are you
seeking?'
"So he said, 'I am seeking my brothers.
Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.'
"And the man said, 'They have
departed from here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.’
So Joseph went after his brothers....
"Now when they saw him afar off,
even before he came near them, they conspired against him to
kill him. Then they said to one another, 'Look, this dreamer
is coming! Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into
some pit; and we shall say, 'Some wild beast has devoured him. We
shall see what will become of his dreams!'”
Genesis 37:13-20
"Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar,
conspired against him.... Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah,
and reigned in his place."
1 Kings 15:27-29
"Elah the son of
Baasha became king over Israel.... Now his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired
against him as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house
of Arza.... And Zimri went
in and struck him and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa
king of Judah, and reigned in his place. Then it came to
pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his
throne, that he killed all the household of Baasha; he did not leave
him one male, neither of his relatives nor of his friends. Thus
Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, according to the word
of the Lord, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, for
all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, by which they
had sinned and by which they had made Israel sin, in provoking the
Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols."
1 Kings 16:8-13
"Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi,
conspired against
Joram."
2 Kings 9:14
"...they
formed a conspiracy against [Amaziah] in Jerusalem."
2 Kings
14:19
"Pekahiah... became king over Israel in Samaria, and
reigned two years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord;
he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam.... Then Pekah... an officer of
his, conspired against him and killed him in
Samaria.... He killed him and reigned in his
place." 2 Kings 15:23-24
"And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea.... Therefore the king of
Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison."
2 Kings 17:4-5
"Then the servants of Amon conspired against him, and killed
the king in his own house. But the people of the land
executed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the
people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place."
2 Kings
21:23-24
"The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the
priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, 'Thus says
God: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so
that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He
also has forsaken you.’ ' So they conspired against him, and
at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the
court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king did not
remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him,
but killed his son; and as he died, he said, 'The Lord look on it,
and repay!'”
2 Chronicles
24:20-22
"...the army of Syria came up against him; and they came to Judah and
Jerusalem, and destroyed all the leaders of the people from among
the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.
For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of
men; but the Lord delivered a very great army into their hand,
because [Joash and his army] had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they
executed judgment against Joash. And when they had withdrawn
from him (for they left him severely wounded), his own servants
conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada
the priest, and killed him on his bed." 2 Chronicles
24:23-25
"Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned
two years in Jerusalem. But he did evil in the sight of the
Lord, as his father Manasseh had done; for Amon sacrificed to all
the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and served
them. And he did not humble himself before the Lord, as his
father Manasseh had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and
more. Then his servants conspired against him...."
2 Chronicles
33:21-24
"Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the
Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were
being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that
they became very angry, and all of them conspired together to
come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.
Nevertheless we
made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch
against them day and night."
Nehemiah 4:7-9
"...they have consulted together with one consent. They form a confederacy against You: the tents of
Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria
also has joined with them."
Psalm 83:5-8
"What do you conspire against the Lord?
He will make an utter end of it."
Nahum 1:9
"All the men in your
confederacy .. shall deceive you and prevail against you.
Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you."
Obadiah 7
"In You,
O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed;
Deliver me in Your righteousness.....
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;
My eye wastes away with grief....
I am like a broken vessel.
For I hear the slander of many; fear is on every side;
While they take counsel together against me,
They scheme to take away my life.
But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;
I say, 'You are my God.
My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
And from those who persecute me....'
Oh, how great is Your goodness,
Which You have laid up for those who fear You...
You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence
From the plots of man;
You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
Blessed be the Lord, for He has shown me His marvelous kindness..."
Psalm 31:1-21