Jump Start # 374

Revelation 2:10 “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

  Our passage for today is found in the introductory section of Revelation where a personal message is addressed to each of the seven churches. The context of our verse is about the church at Smyrna. The Lord knew what was going on there, as He does in all churches. They were suffering. Unlike most of the other churches, the address concerns what is coming. It is not so much a warning, so they could avoid it, but rather an encouragement to remain true. 

  What is alarming to us as we read passages like this, is the notice of coming trouble. This is found many times in the N.T. Peter warned about the fiery trial and the suffering that the Christians would endure. We operate with the premise that when alarms go off, take cover. When severe storms are in the area and the weather folks are telling us to take cover, tornado sirens sound, we head to basements. We don’t stay and endure, we run. That’s the way we think.

  Here, God was telling this church in advance, that trouble was coming. Some would be thrown into prison and they would suffer. Fleeing wasn’t an option. They were to remain, endure and be faithful, even to the point of death. This passage is often presented with the idea of someone being a Christian until he dies in his nineties of old age. That’s not the thought here. God knew some would be put to death. He told them this was coming. He allowed it to happen. Now that thought is even more puzzling to us. As parents, we try to shelter our children from trouble. You can imagine all the prayers these saints were offering to God for help, for relief, for safety, for deliverance. In God’s plan of things, He allowed His people to suffer.

  This has been a theme throughout the Bible. God’s people have suffered. They did in Egypt before God delivered them. The story of the three Jewish boys and the fiery furnace, or Daniel in the lion’s den or Joseph and his pitiful brothers, or the mother’s whose babies were killed by Herod in the days of Jesus, or the death of John the Baptist, or the death of the apostle James, or even in this chapter of Revelation, “Antipas, my witness, my faithful one, was killed among you” – this is a constant theme in the pages of the Bible.

  We pray that God will remove us from the problem. We want isolation. God wants us to endure the problem. He insulates us. There is a difference. Trials and suffering has a way of making us sure what we believe. They have a way of making us stronger. Metal is placed in fire and then the blacksmith can hammer it into the shape he wants. God places us in the fire of trials so we can be shaped the way He wants.

  This is a difficult lesson to understand. It seems prayers are not answered. It seems God has abandon His people. It seems that all is wrong. It’s not. Behind the storms come sunny days once again. Trials affect us. They leave scars on us. They make us look upward and draw a strength that only God can provide.

  The suffering Savior understands. Let’s not forget what Jesus endured. He could have stopped it but He didn’t. There was a purpose. There was an end in sight. The suffering saint draws lessons from the suffering Savior. Peter tells us that He left us an example to follow.

  Be faithful until the end. Finish what you started. Don’t quit because the journey becomes difficult. Tough times is when faith really matters.

Roger