John 15:21

All these things will they do unto you for my name's sake.

The name of Christ, so sweet to his followers, is an object of hatred to his enemies. Not many months passed after these words were uttered until those that now heard Christ were under arrest by the Sanhedrim and were asked by the high priest, "By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?" Then Peter answered, "By the name of Jesus Christ, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand before you whole." Then, after. conference, the Sanhedrim "commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus" (Acts, chapter IV). Again, Acts 5:28, "The high priest asked, Did we not straitly charge that you should not teach in this name?" And they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name (verse 41). See also 1 Peter 4:14 and Revelation 3:8. What was true of the first age of persecution has been true of later ages. The Roman emperor, Diocletian, declared that he "would abolish the Christian name from the face of the earth." The infidel Convention of France, at the time of the Reign of Terror, tried to destroy all that would recall his name, and there is nothing that excites the animosity of the haters of Christ more intensely than his name. One ground of the intense hatred of the Jews to "the name" was that Jesus proclaimed himself to be the Christ predicted by the prophets, and the use of this "name" was. constant indictment of them for crucifying the "Holy One" of Israel. They had rejected him because they knew not God, God who had sent Jesus into the world, though they professed to honor him.