"Teaching the
things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK
TO THE THRONE
Part 40
THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA
(continued)
“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold,
the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye
shall have tribulation ten days” (Rev. 2:10).
I know a place where the sun shines everyday! Perhaps you are
interested in finding it, too. It is a narrow area in the deserts of northern
Chile, between the high Andes and the Pacific Ocean. Rain so seldom falls that
one can truly say, “It never rains here; the sun always shines.” Morning after
morning the sun rises brilliantly over the towering peaks to the east; each noon
it shines brightly down from overhead; evening brings a picturesque sunset.
Although storms are often seen raging high in the mountains, and heavy fog banks
are observed far out over the sea, the sun continues to shine down on this
favored and protected strip of land. One would imagine this area to be an
earthly paradise; but it is not. Instead, it is a sterile and desolate desert!
There are no streams of water, and nothing grows there.
Too often the Lord’s people long for total sunshine
and joy and victory in this journey into the kingdom of God. We have wished to
be rid of the troubles, pressures, tribulations, and infirmities ordained for
our processing. But like the sunny, infertile part of Chile, our spiritual life
without the trials and testings would not be creative, productive, or
transforming! We must have sunshine and storms for the development of
wisdom, strength, and maturity!
We need the clouds, the dark days, the storms, the rain, the
winds, just as much as we need the sunshine, and God who is molding our lives,
making us into the image of our Lord Jesus the Christ, is the One who knows what
is best for us if we would be a part of HIS PURPOSE in the earth. In this
connection we hear Job saying, “He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath
tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). Notice that Job does not
say, “I know the way that HE takes,” but rather, “He knoweth the way that
I take.”
We would like to know what God is doing! We would
like to pull aside the veil and see the end from the beginning! We would like
to know the way that He is taking us, but if we did, and if we could see, we
would not need faith to believe and accept GOD’S WAY. So Job, in the midst of
all his deep afflictions, found comfort, not in the fact that he knew the reason
and the answer for all of God’s dealings with him, but he took encouragement in
the truth that GOD KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING! “He knoweth the way that I take,” he
said confidently, and then his faith leaped over every barrier, and as he looked
into the distant future, he cried, “When He hath tried — tested and proved —
me, I shall come forth as gold!” What a testimony, and truly it is ours
too!
Let me share with you a favorite story of mine. It
clearly illustrates the sentiment of Job when he said, “He knoweth the way that
I take.” The story is centered around a Chinese man. This man had everything
going for him. He had all the material things he needed. He had a beloved son,
and prized horse. But one day his horse broke out of the corral and ran to the
mountains. Since all his assets were tied up in this valuable horse, he lost in
one brief, fleeting moment, all of his life’s savings. All his neighbors,
hearing that his horse was gone to the hills forever, came to offer their
sympathy. They all said to him, “Your horse is gone. Oh, what bad luck.” Then
they cried and they tried to console and comfort him. But he said, “How do you
know it’s bad luck?”
Sure enough, a few days later, the horse, being
well-domesticated, came back to where he could be sure there would be water and
food. In the process he brought back twelve wild stallions with him. They were
all quickly captured and ushered into the corral. Now when all the town heard
the news, they came and they applauded and said, “Oh, thirteen horses, what good
luck!” And the wise, old Chinese man said, “How do you know it’s good luck?”
The townspeople remembered his words the next day when his son, his only
child, tried to break one of the wild stallions. In the process, he was thrown
off, he broke his leg and was left with a limp forever. When the neighbors
heard about that, they came to him again and said, “Your son, forever a
cripple. What bad luck.” But the wise, old man said, “How do you know that’s
bad luck?”
Sure enough, about a year later, a Chinese warlord
came through town, conscripted every able-bodied young man, and took them off to
battle. They lost the battle. In fact, every young warrior was killed. The
only young man left in the village was the maimed son of the wise Chinese man,
for he had never been conscripted, thanks to his limp. The moral of this story
is that we do not know the way that God is taking us, or the “why” of the
happenings in our lives, seemingly good or bad, but OUR FATHER KNOWS THE WAY
THAT WE TAKE AND THERE IS DIVINE PURPOSE IN ALL THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN GOOD AND
EVIL IN OUR LIVES!
Don’t be afraid of suffering! For “I will be with
you,” saith the Lord. One of the amazing knowledges of God appearing in the
scriptures is, “I will be with you — through water, through fire, through
everything!” The Lord told the church at Smyrna that the devil would be
permitted to cast some of them “into prison” that they might be tried, and they
would be afflicted “ten days.” In the spirit, prison represents a state of
bondage, restriction, and limitation in which the afflicted one has lost his
liberty. He is no longer in control of what is happening to him, nor is he free
to decide for himself about the things that touch his life. Again and again
Paul classified himself as a “prisoner of the Lord.”
The condition that builds character in the life of a
son, that matures us, perfects us, and makes us strong is that God surrounds us,
hedges us in, and shuts us up to His dealings and His will. We love to be free
and blessed, but on the pathway to sonship we lose our freedom! God will let
you run free if all you want to do is be blessed and go to heaven when you die.
But like Joseph of old, if you are destined for the throne, you will be thrown
into a pit and cast into prison! Perfection demands suffering, trial, testing,
tribulation, and proving. Sonship requires the dealings of God by which we are
conformed to the image and likeness of Christ who was, Himself, perfected
through the things He suffered. Character is formed through discipline and
hardship! Growth, development, and maturity in God come through the chastenings
of the Father!
There have been those precious folk who have said to
me, “Brother Eby, I don’t understand. Since I came into this walk of sonship
things have gotten worse — all hell has broken loose!” That is just what you
need — IF YOU WOULD BE A KING-PRIEST AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK! Have you
not known some beautiful saints to whom you naturally betake yourself in time
of trial and trouble? They always seem to speak the right word, to give the
wise counsel you are longing for; you do not realize, however, the cost which
they had to pay ere they became so skillful in perceiving the true nature of
things and giving the word of wisdom! If you were to investigate their past
history, I doubt not that you would find that they have suffered more than
most. They have been caught up in the vortex of cruel crisis, they have gone
through experiences in which the golden bowl of joy was dashed at their feet,
and the contents spilt. They have stood by ebbing tides, and drooping gourds,
and noon sunsets; but all this has been necessary to mature them in wisdom and
understanding, in discernment and judgment, and fill them with mercy,
compassion, and the love of God.
To every son the Father says, “I am going to limit
you here, put you through pressure there, subject you to suffering, teach you
obedience, hedge you in and compass you about with infirmity, break your fleshly
will and subdue your carnal mind, make you humble and pure, not because you have
no sonship rights, but that it will work compassion, grace, understanding,
tenderness, love, faithfulness, goodness, strength — work divine nature and
character in you so that out of you will flow a river of love, forgiveness,
reconciliation, redemption; and then a flow of power, enabling, and divine
ability.
Oh! May God’s consuming fire consume all the
self-pity which may be left in some of us. Some could have made better
progress, but just at the time God was perfecting them in the sonship nature
they began to feel sorry for themselves. Like children in school they think
they have a hard time, till they become teachers themselves and find that it is
harder on the teacher. Many young people, instead of getting their school-work
done, complain, and then they fail and wonder what is wrong. When God’s
consuming fire begins to work in us and the trials and pressures overtake us, if
we then feel sorry for ourselves and drown in a pool of self-pity, we are
disqualified.
Oh, my brother, my sister, how often we desire
omnipotent power to change the world apart from the grace, wisdom, compassion
and understanding by which the power must work! If God were to deliver us from
all our troubles we would never help anybody, never understand the other
fellow’s dilemma; and that is why God keeps us the way we are and plagues us and
puts us under pressure, not because we are not sons, not that we will despair or
faint, but that we say, “Lord, let it work in us that divine grace and
longsuffering and compassion that will then flow out and minister to creation.”
When the suffering is completed, the lessons learnt, and we are perfected in the
nature of the Christ, then we can walk in the fullness of our inheritance and
His glory shall be revealed through us to set creation free! Sonship is more
than power — it is a nature!
There are no arm-chair kings in the kingdom of God!
There are no country-club-elite sons! There are no honorary priests! There are
no theoretical, self-appointed rulers on Christ’s throne! Oh, yes! The devil
shall cast some of you into the prison of confinement, limitation, breaking,
purging, suffering, patience, and endurance that you may be tried; and you
shall have tribulation “ten days.” Then the Lord says, “Be thou faithful unto
death, and I will give you a crown of life.” “Faithful unto death” means more
than just “toughing it out” until your heart stops beating! Be thou faithful
unto death — He doesn’t say be faithful until death, but unto
death — unto the death of your carnal mind, unto the death of your human
consciousness, unto the death of your natural reasoning, unto the death of your
own will and way, unto the death of your fleshly aims, dreams, hopes, plans, and
purposes, unto the death of every one of your religious traditions, activities,
exercises, and entanglements — and God the almighty will then CROWN YOU WITH
LIFE, even the incorruptible life of God’s glorious Christ!
“The devil shall cast some of you into prison, that
ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days” (Rev. 2:10).
Those “ten days!” Let me explain to you what those
ten days mean. Ten is the number in scripture that refers to personal
testing. The number ten, the last of the scale of numbers, each of which
has a mystic meaning of its own, is naturally, in the symbolism of numbers, the
representative of completeness, and here, therefore, of trial and testing
carried to its full extent, and lacking nothing that could make it thorough and
perfect, as a test. It comes as the climax of the whole picture of the
sufferings to which the typical church of Smyrna was to be exposed. It is,
furthermore, a full number, denoting that which is complete, yet of
limited duration.
Let us explore this meaning a little further. Ten is
a number which is very frequently employed in scripture, and it often occurs in
the book of Revelation. The antediluvian world was comprised of the lifetime of
ten patriarchs. Before the heart of the Pharaoh of Egypt was inclined to let
the children of Israel go to serve their God, ten plagues were sent upon the
land. The whole of the law of God was summed up in ten commandments. The Lord
Jesus in His parables spoke of ten virgins having ten lamps, and of servants
entrusted with ten pounds whom He will place over ten cities. In the book of
Revelation we read of the ten horns of the great red dragon, of the ten horns of
the beast, of his ten royal diadems, and of the ten kings who shall hate the
whore with whom they have committed fornication. Now if we consider all these
applications of the number ten, and more besides, there can be no question of
the fact that it is a round number, that whatever other number is multiplied by
it, must also be a round number. As such it beautifully serves as a symbol of
completeness and fullness!
When we consider the passages in which the number ten
is used we find that the idea that lies at the basis of its employment seems to
be that of a fullness, completion, and totality of the measure of whatever it is
connected to. Ten horns are the fullness of power. Ten plagues are the
fullness of judgment. Ten commandments are the fullness of divine law. Ten
virgins are the fullness of a realm of purity. Ten cities are the fullness of
divine government in the kingdom of God. Ten kings are the fullness of power
that smites and judges the religious harlot. And therefore, in our text it
denotes the fullness of tribulation! It does not indicate that the time
will be either long or short, but it indicates that a certain definite period is
allotted to the devil to test and try and prove the called and chosen elect of
God! This period is not determined by the devil, for the devil possesses no
power of himself, but by the will and counsel of the Lord. The time is both
limited and meted out to him by God. We see a beautiful picture of this in the
life of Job!
It is the Lord saying to each of His sons, “You are not in a
position to know how long your trials will last, but I know, and I can assure
you that they will not last a day longer than is necessary for you. If the very
hairs of your head are all numbered, and I take note of every sparrow that falls
to the ground, you may rest assured that the minutest details of those trials
and testings are being carefully weighed in my loving and omnipotent hands, and
you will not be tempted above that you are able to bear. And even if the length
of your tribulation and trouble were to cover the whole of your lifetime, that
will be but ten short days in the unfolding of my magnificent plan for you in
the age and the ages to come!”
Look up, dear
one; no storm can last
Beyond the limits God hath set.
When its
appointed work is past,
In
joy thou shalt thy grief forget.
Where sorrow’s
plowshare hath swept through,
Thy
fairest flowers of life shall spring,
For God shall
grant thee life anew,
And
all thy wastes shall laugh and sing.
Hope thou in Him,
His plan for thee
Shall
end in triumph and release.
Fear not, for
thou shalt fully see
His
afterward of peace.
“Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into
prison, that ye may be tried.” The plot of most melodramas involves a
complication in which the hero, or protagonist, is opposed by a second
character, the villain, or antagonist. The antagonist is a creature of
contrast, a character necessary to define the hero. Often the protagonist, or
hero, goes through a reversal, a period in which he loses power to the villain,
or antagonist. If the hero regains power, the story is known as a triumph.
If the hero doesn’t regain power, the story is a tragedy. The Greatest
Drama of the Ages is not a tragedy!
The protagonist and antagonist in the drama of the
kingdom of God are clearly defined in the words of Jesus: “The thief
cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10).
Out of God’s own mouth proceeds the assertion, “I have created the waster
to destroy” (Isa. 54:16). We gather from this passage the principle that
teaches us that the devil is a created entity with a definite purpose. The
purpose is revealed in the opening statement of the above quoted verse, “I have
created the smith (the devil) that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that
bringeth forth an instrument for his work.” The “smith” that “bloweth upon
the fire” is also the one who heats the furnace seven times hotter! “Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you,
as though some strange thing had happened unto you” (I Pet. 4:12).
Our trials and testings are associated in the
scriptures with the ministry of Satan. You never thought of Satan having a
ministry? “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted (tested) of the Devil. And when the Tempter came to Him,
he said, If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread”
(Mat. 4:1-3). “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have
you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy
faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Lk.
22:31-32).
One has written, “God is constructing a temple, made
of living stones, through which to manifest Himself throughout the ages to come,
and Satan was created as a chisel and hammer to be used in the construction of
this building. The living stones that are even now being placed in this temple
have been chosen, says the Lord, in the furnace of affliction (Isa.
48:10). God, however, is mercy; God is love; God is compassion. He is a
healer, not a destroyer. It was, nonetheless, necessary that an oven be heated
in which to purify the gold — a furnace in which the wood, hay, and stubble were
to be burned. But God, in His nature of love, could not perform the necessary
affliction! It was for this reason that He created an instrument that
was capable of performing this essential action in the lives of men, for in
Satan God literally created a chastening rod. If we can realize that
behind the acts of Satan is the mighty hand of God working to bring forth gold
from these earthen vessels, we can rejoice, as David, in our afflictions and
trials and exclaim with him, ‘It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that
I might learn Thy statutes’ (Ps. 119:7). Praise God! When we begin to see the
good that comes from the assaults of Satan on our lives, we are able to
appreciate all the more the greatness of our God and the depth of the wisdom of
His great mind. He is truly a God of might and power, and all things are
in His hand — even this adversary whom we call Satan!” — end quote.
One of the fundamental laws of creation is that an
OPPOSING FORCE is necessary for growth, and to produce strength, stamina, and
endurance. Any living thing that grows up without any opposition is weak and
powerless. God’s NEW CREATION MAN must be strong and powerful, and anything
that desires to be strong, or anyone, must wrestle with a force that is contrary
to him! Any man who wants to develop muscular power to be strong, must spend
weeks and months and years in vigorous training doing strenuous exercises,
lifting heavy weights, using the opposing force of gravity to develop
his strength. A man who wants to be a wrestler, doesn’t just wrestle when
he is in the ring. At his training center he has his wrestling partners with
whom he wrestles by the hour. If he didn’t do this he would be weak and
powerless in the ring! A boxer has his punching bags and sparring partners,
with whom he spends hours every day.
Those opposing forces are indispensable to
develop strength and technique. A plant that grows in a greenhouse sheltered
from the winds and rains, pampered day after day, may grow large, but is
inherently weak, and if suddenly exposed to the elements will wither and die.
But a plant that is constantly exposed to the fierce winds and pounding rains,
burning heat and chilling cold, is strong and not easily destroyed. What
purpose, then, is revealed in God’s wonderful provision for us as explained by
the apostle Peter: “Be sober, be vigilant; for your adversary (opposing force)
the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom
resist (as a sparring partner) steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same
afflictions are accomplished in your brethren” (I Pet. 5:8-9).
I heard a story the other day of a king. This king was so
insecure he built a high fortress on an island, which he surrounded with a moat,
filled with fierce crocodiles. He thought he was safe, but he didn’t know if he
could trust the strength or the loyalty of the chief of the guards. He decided
to hire the most loyal, strongest, young man to be the chief of the guards. He
announced that there would be a contest and all who wanted to compete could do
so. They would meet on the edge of his palace. They would have to swim the
moat, through the foaming crocodiles. The young man who won would be offered
the position of chief of the guards, a purse filled with golden coins, as well
as the hand of the kings’s most beautiful daughter.
The day arrived. A host of these strong young men
gathered on the edge of the moat, waiting for the bugle call to announce the
commencement. Hardly had the bugle call sounded when one young man plunged into
the water ahead of everybody else. He managed to escape the crocodiles and
reached the other side in record time. The king came and said, “You were
wonderful! Do you have anything you wish to say to the people?” The young
warrior said, “Yes! I want to know who pushed me!”
This is a humorous little story, but it illustrates
the wonderful truth that sometimes God pushes us! I really believe that
the testings of God’s sons come in that manner. It takes guts to leave the
lowlands of Adamic life and the ruts of man-made religion and scale the dizzy
heights of God and search His awesome depths. Sometimes we all need a divine
shove!
Things don’t just
happen to the children of God,
When some dread
accident strikes you a blow,
Have you been
dropped from a place of power?
At last, all alone, bewildered, forlorn,
You look, and He smiles: “This is planned.”
—
Chuck Tober
This corresponds with what we know about all of life. Testing is
a necessity of living! We test wood, steel, and stone in order to find out what
they are capable of supporting. We test our ability to read, to run, and to
think, but no one therefore calls them evil. We find out something about
ourselves, even if that something is not always complimentary. Everything in
life is tested in some manner! In this way “temptation” has a good sense as
well as a bad; for example, God is said to have tempted, that is, proved Abraham
in the matter of offering up Isaac. So Jesus is said to have tempted, that is,
proved Philip in the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. “Jesus therefore
lifting up His eyes, and seeing that a great multitude cometh unto Him, saith
unto Philip, Whence are we to buy bread that these may eat? And He said this to
tempt (prove) Philip, for He Himself knew what He would do.” To prove
Philip, to test him, see what he would answer and what was in his mind — but the
word is tempt!
Every parent understands that the very worst thing
that could happen to any child would be to escape all the pain of discipline,
all the irksomeness of education, all the difficulty of work and experience, and
be allowed in all things to please himself without any restraint. Such
treatment would infallibly produce an ignorant, selfish, rebellious,
irresponsible and wicked son or daughter. Just as feeding a child on cakes and
sweets alone would ensure the ruin of its health. Now and again some father who
has himself known hard sledding decides to make easy for his children the way of
life. “I don’t want them to suffer the way I had to suffer,” he says. So they
are not required, as he was, to get up early in the morning. They are not made,
as he was, to get a job and earn their way at an early age. They are not
deprived, as he was, of all the things young people want. They are placed in
conditions that are wholly favorable and that make no difficult demands.
And now and then some human father who has made easy for his
children the way of life finds himself wondering why they have made so little of
themselves! He has given them every opportunity, and it fails him to understand
why they are lacking in most of the qualities of ambition, discipline,
dependability, thriftiness, and vision he had hoped to find in them. But has he
given them every possible opportunity? Not at all! He has denied them the
supreme opportunity that a rough road affords for the development of strength
and character! And this is what happens spiritually in the lives of all those
starry-eyed faith and positive thinking people who want only
blessings and instant deliverance out of all their troubles!
There are no evils lurking in the carnal mind and
fleshly nature of us all for which there is no deliverance except through the
crucible of suffering and pain and discipline; even as the dross found mixed
with pure gold in the ore can only be separated and eradicated through the fiery
furnace. The more we are exposed to adverse circumstances, the more we
have to wrestle with our environment, the more we are challenged
by the world around us, the stronger we become! Saints, IF WE WOULD BE SONS OF
THE MOST HIGH, WE MUST BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN THE POWER OF HIS
MIGHT!
Our Father wants us to be strong! The Father of
spirits did not look forward to a distant day, at the time of His begetting,
expecting that a multitude of babies in diapers or grown up ninnies and dummies
would stand before Him. Oh, no! How many of those who read these lines want
their children to grow up one hundred percent innocent, ignorant,
and privileged, never having experienced the slightest temptation,
struggle, or adversity in any form? This is precisely why God placed the
serpent in Eden with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil —
that man through the experience of the opposites might in the experience
be led to OVERCOME all things and to stand before the Son of man in the strength
of character, perception of mind, and quality of life of God Himself. It is all
part of our Father’s wise and magnificent plan!
As someone has written, “Man shrinks from tests for
they call for the best that is within one. A school teacher does not give her
pupils a test so that she may have the satisfaction of failing them, but rather
that she may be delighted by their display of knowledge. Automobile
manufacturers do not put test cars through rugged workouts to wreck them, but
rather to improve their product and find how to strengthen their points of
weakness. Even so it is when the Lord sends temptation into our spiritual
lives. It is not intended to wreck us, though at times that may appear
to be the result, but it is intended for our good! They are to make us strong!
They are to do for us what the sculptor does for the rude block of marble. They
are to do for us what the lathe does for the rough and coarse cylinder of
steel. Thus it was that Job said, ‘When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as
gold!’”
“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery
trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but
rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His
glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (I Pet.
4:12-13).
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation
(testing): for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the
Lord hath promised to them that love Him” (James 1:12).
“When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into
your lives, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as
friends! Realize that they come to test your faith, and to produce in you the
quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully
developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character, men of
integrity with no weak spots” (James 1:2-4, Phillips).
When the Father through His matchless grace reveals to the child
of God that it is His Master Plan for the ages to come to effect a universal
reconciliation, restitution, and restoration through the agency of a royal race
of kings and priests who through trial, suffering, and fierce tribulation have
come to the image of Jesus Christ, to reign and work with Him in the plenitude
of His wisdom, the fullness of His understanding, the perfection of His
holiness, the infiniteness of His love, the beauty of His justice, and the
omnipotence of His power, every son having the mind of God, discerning all
things, knowing all things and having the perfect nature, character, and ability
to carry out the intricate and infinite will of God — then all our tribulation
is freighted with vital significance!
Among that perfect, omnipotent order of kings and
priests there will be no carnal minds, no fleshly actions, no selfish desires,
no self-serving, no weakness, no limitation, no character flaws, no mistakes, no
dissensions, no disobedience; but with justice and wisdom and righteousness and
compassion and love and power shall they rule the nations, and ultimately the
vastnesses of the unbounded heavens until all things everywhere are subdued unto
Christ, and Christ shall present a perfect kingdom to the Father. Aren’t you
glad!
Now since such glories are in store for the sons of
God, can any man longer question why our all-wise heavenly Father should take
such pains to bring His sons to perfection? None knows better than He exactly
what is needed to transform His sons from corrupt and carnal creatures of the
dust to beings of divine understanding and heavenly glory. I have often said
that I have strong confidence in the ability of my heavenly Father to bring me
to perfection and maturity as a son of God. My Father is a great son-raiser!
What a colossal success He was with His firstborn! Anyone who can raise a son
like Jesus knows exactly what He is doing and can surely handle you and me, my
precious brother and sister.
“We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the
grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to
make the captain of their salvation perfect THROUGH SUFFERINGS…wherefore God
also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name:
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth” (Heb. 2:9-10; Phil. 2:9-10).
Beholding the glory of Jesus Christ we can understand
why the Father takes such infinite care to bring all His sons to perfection!
Would you dare to imagine that any of the presidents, prime ministers, kings, or
dictators of this present world system would be found fit candidates to
straighten out the mess this world is in? Do you think for one moment that any
of the world’s past or present rulers possess either the wisdom or ability to
bring an end to war, terrorism, strife, bigotry, crime, poverty, ignorance,
fear, deceit, greed, broken homes and hearts, sickness, pain, sorrow, and death,
restoring all into perfection again? Ah — apart from many sons brought to
glory there is no hope for mankind! The ages to come will be given into the
hands of God’s choicest sons — saints fully developed, perfected through
suffering, matured through trial, proven through testing, far beyond the reach
of corruption and decay, far above the realm of greed, selfishness, deception,
or any such thing. Isn’t it wonderful!
I am reminded of the boy who wanted to help the
butterfly out of its pupa. He saw that it struggled hard to get loose. Only a
few strands held it back. So the boy clipped these off. The butterfly was
free! And the boy was very happy, both about the butterfly and about the little
operation he had performed. But so much greater did his sorrow become when he
discovered what a well-intended but destructive labor of love he had
performed. The butterfly could not fly and could not learn to fly. The
exertions by which it was to have worked itself out of the pupa were what would
have strengthened it and enabled it to fly!
I mentioned earlier the words of David wherein he
said, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy
statutes” (Ps. 119:71). You may wonder as I have — what kind of theology is
this? How could my present distresses work in me the qualifications necessary
to be a king-priest! The Hebrew word for affliction here means,
“browbeaten, troubled, abased, chastened, defiled, hurt, humbled, weakened,
depressed.” When you put this meaning into the verse, suddenly it reads, “It is
good for me to have been browbeaten, troubled, abased, chastened, defiled, hurt,
humbled, weakened, and depressed. And it all has been for one purpose — so that
I could learn the Lord’s statutes!” The word statutes in this verse
means “engraved law.” The Psalmist is saying, “It’s good that I went through
all these troubles — because in the process God was engraving His laws, ways,
and nature in my heart!”
We’ve
prayed to reign with Jesus
But
we’ve not known what we asked.
Our
eyes have been unenlightened
As
disciples in the past
Who
came with this same prayer
(Although phrased a different way)
“Lord, let us sit beside you
In
the coming kingdom Day.
One
upon the left, dear Lord,
And
one upon the right.”
And
then He said to them, as us,
“Can
you endure the night?
Can
you endure the anguish
Of a
death upon the cross?
And
are you able,” asks the Lord,
“To
suffer that great loss
Of a
horror of such darkness
That
God’s face is hid from view?
And can you bear exposure
Before men and angels, too?
The
cup I drink is better;
Its
wine is mixed with gall.
The
crown I wear is made of thorns;
My
royal robe’s a pall.
The
throne you ask to share with me
Is
raised ‘twixt earth and sky
And
the glory of the reign from there
Is
hid from human eye.
Are
you able now to drink
The
cup my Father gives,
And
can you see that he who dies
Is
one who truly lives?
That
he who rules is he who stoops
To
wash another’s feet;
And
that the cross is God’s own throne
Where
He and sinners meet?”
These
are the questions put to me
As I
bowed down in prayer;
And
still the questions that He asks
Of
all those who would share
The
glory of His kingdom,
The
greatness of His power,
The
resurrection life He brings
In
this world’s final hour.
For
there’s no life until there’s death,
No
glory without shame,
And
we must truly learn to die
If we
would wear the name
That’s given those who overcome
And
share His glorious throne
When
Christ descends and brings reward
To
those He calls His own!
— Author unknown
When the hour arrives for God to move us toward
overcoming, spiritual maturity, perfection, and sonship He brings undeserved
trials into our life. When these experiences arrive, we don’t like them at
all! Our first thought is disbelief; our first inclination is to ask what we
have done to deserve this! Then we question God’s goodness, faithfulness, and
sovereignty. If I am a son of God, why does God allow this to happen? But each
crisis is actually a precisely orchestrated opportunity to bring about our
spiritual perfection! The afflictions of life are God’s ingenious instrument to
crucify our carnal mind, and mature our spirit.
Elwin Roach expressed it this way: “Very often
people’s problems come when they find themselves in hardships of refinement.
Straightway they reject it! They ask, ‘Why would God let me go through
something so terrible when He could prevent it?’ The answer is simple — He is
not ‘letting’ you go through it — He is ‘making’ you go through
it! He is driving you through it as surely as an unbroken horse is driven into
a corral and broken by its owner. If the horse learns obedience, forsaking its
own will, it can then be used throughout the man’s kingdom. If not, it will be
sold for dog food and soap. If your will is not broken during this time, and
you insist on maintaining your self-expression, I doubt that you will
wind up as dog food and soap; but you will be of little value in the kingdom of
God. Think about it!”
It is the elect of the Lord who have been
specifically selected by the Father to partake of the sufferings of Christ
through the trials and tribulations which He brings into our lives. It was the
plan and purpose of God that each son of God should be tested and tried to
prepare us for the glory of His kingdom we are destined to receive. Don’t think
that you have to suffer great things like martyrdom or twenty years in a
rat-infested prison in order for God to accomplish His work. Oh, no! There is
a vast variety of events in our everyday lives uniquely designed to test every
area the Lord would put His hand on. Each of us has had a unique set of tests
and trials to go through to build the character of Christ in our life. Your
trials have not been harder than mine, just different. We are distinct members
of the Christ body, and the Lord’s processings for each one varies according to
His purpose in us and the place we shall fill.
Though we shall all ultimately be joined in union
with Christ as one complete corporate man, each of us will be a unique
expression of the fullness of Himself, in a way that only we can express Him.
The Lord has a sovereign purpose to fulfill in each of our tests and trials,
and He watches over it. To know that the Father has a sovereign purpose in all
that we experience and endure may not make the trials any easier to go through.
But it gives us understanding, purpose, and hope of the glory that shall be
revealed in us when it is finished.
God does not lead all His chosen in the same path or
deal with them in the same way. He is not pouring every son into the same
mold. He does not want assembly-line believers. He is not making Fords, He is
transforming people! And so the experience will be different for each one. Not
even two fingerprints are alike. God made us that way, for we are different.
We are all human, but each of us is a unique expression of that humanity. All
of us physically are from that first man, Adam; yet none of us is alike. It is
amazing what God can do with two ears, two eyes, one nose, and one mouth. He
sure comes up with some funny designs! If you don’t believe it, look around
you. All are human, but no two are alike. One is a plumber, another a race-car
driver, another a teacher. One is tall, another short, with every shade between
black and white, fat and thin, beautiful and ugly, and no two in any category
look alike! How different! And yet — how alike! God makes everyone
different. Do not expect Him to deal with you as He dealt with someone else,
even though you both be sons. He is conforming all His elect to the image and
likeness of Christ, but every member of the Christ body is a unique expression
of His nature and glory!
The Scripture states that Jesus was “led up of the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil.” It is abundantly
evident, since Christ is the Pattern Son, the firstborn among many brethren,
that all who follow Him unto sonship shall also be led of the Spirit into their
own wilderness experience to be tested by the devil. Sonship is not a doctrine
to be received with the assumption that because we believe it and embrace its
truths, we are therefore qualified to be the manifest sons of God. Not at all!
The process by which we must all qualify for sonship has already been
demonstrated in the life of Jesus. As He was LED OF THE SPIRIT into the
wilderness to be tested by the devil, even so must we also be LED OF THE SPIRIT
into our own personal wilderness, to be tested by the devil. Not every child of
God is tested in this way! Is that not why the church in Smyrna was told,
“Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be
tried.” SOME of you! Not ALL of you! Not all will be overcomers!
Others are content to live in lesser realms. They will not be chastised as
sons! Unless we are tried and proven in the wilderness, we have no claim to
sonship. The Holy Spirit is most explicit in this regard, for we read, “But if
ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and
not sons” (Heb. 12:8). We should therefore welcome the tests that come our
way, for the Father is testing and proving us to determine the qualities of His
life within us. We should submit to these tests and allow the Lord to work His
righteousness within us. Then we shall be released from those tests and trials
and will be declared righteous.
The apostle Peter tells us that we should not think
it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try us, as though some strange
thing had happened unto us (I Pet. 4:12-13). The fiery trial itself is
difficult enough to endure, but when there is added to the suffering an
uncertainty as to why it is necessary, or what the cause might be, then it
becomes more difficult to bear. This frequently is the case with the people of
God; when visited by afflictions of one sort or another they wonder why
this is happening to them! It is this that Peter is explaining to us! “Think
it not strange,” he says, “as though some strange thing happened unto you.”
The King James translation does not give us the full depth of
thought expressed by Peter. Basically, the Greek word here translated “strange”
is one that suggests the relationship between a host and a guest; that is, those
who are not members of the same family. What does it mean to be a host? A host
or hostess entertains those who come to the home, makes them feel
comfortable, and ministers to their every need and want. So what Peter is
saying is, when this fiery trial comes to your door and knocks, then you are to
be a host to that trial. Bring it in and entertain it! Do not act as though it
were a stranger that has come whom you would like to get rid of if you could.
This is, indeed, a strange word to the natural man! But that is really what
Peter is saying. “Be a host to this trial, bring it in and let it have its full
work in you.” It is a similar word used by Paul in his reference to the
experience of Abraham when visited by three angels. Paul wrote, “Be not
forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained
angels unawares” (Heb. 13:1).
Confirming this viewpoint of our trials is the Greek
word used in this passage, and translated “happened,” in the expression, “as
though some strange thing happened unto you.” Its literal meaning is “to walk
together.” The thought is that when trials visit us, and even walk together
with us, we are not to think of them as strangers, or aliens, but to accept such
experiences as though they were our friends, or even members of our family!
Peter explains that the reason we should not think of our trials as being
strange, or alien to us, is that in experiencing them we are partakers of
Christ’s sufferings, or, as the Greek text indicates, we are “partners” in
Christ’s sufferings. HE WAS PERFECTED THROUGH THE THINGS HE SUFFERED!
In other words, in our trials we are sharing the common experience of all whom
our heavenly Father has called to sonship to share in the glory and power of His
kingdom!
Since trials and testings are so closely related to
our hope of glory, we should not consider them as strange, but should welcome
them into our lives just as we would welcome a beloved member of our family, get
acquainted with them, and learn well the lessons which they alone are able to
teach us. Just think of the blessing Abraham derived from being host to the
three strangers who visited him! Instead of resenting the fact that they had
called, he treated them as members of his family, and became involved thereby in
the salvation of Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Most Christians today do not particularly care for
this sort of scripture. That is the proof that they are not the called out
elect of the Lord! Most feel that when they have believed in the Lord, and have
obeyed the Lord, they should be BLESSED! They should not suffer. They should
have the very best of everything, financial, material, and physical blessings
galore. Can you envision Paul in the Philippian jail expressing those
sentiments? Can you hear him in any way questioning his confinement because He
was a man of faith and power and had preached the gospel and obeyed the Lord?
Is it possible to hear Paul complain about his suffering because he had such
great power with God and had done the will of God? He was not in jail because
of any evil He had done! He knew the ways of God, and he gladly shared in the
sufferings of Christ that he, too, might be perfected! James, too, understood
this great principle when he said, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall
into divers temptations (testings); knowing this, that the trying of your faith
worketh patience” (James 1:2-3).
To be continued… J. PRESTON EBY