By experiencing the dispensing of the processed Triune God, the believers can accept with joy the plundering of their possessions. Hebrews 10:34 speaks of those who accepted with joy the plundering of their possessions, knowing that they themselves had a better possession, and an abiding one. This better and abiding possession is “the eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15) and the “inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, kept in the heavens” (1 Pet. 1:4). Under the old covenant, the Jewish people inherited earthly things as their possession, but under the new covenant the believers inherit the heavenly riches as their possession. This better and abiding possession is a great incentive to the believers to suffer the loss of earthly things and even to accept this loss with joy.
Through the divine dispensing the believers also share the kingdom of Jesus in His tribulation and endurance for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 1:9). The believers share the kingdom of Jesus in His tribulation and endurance. Eventually, in the coming age, they will be rewarded by sharing the Lord’s kingdom in glory and enjoyment. Today we share the kingdom in tribulation and endurance. At His coming we shall share the kingdom in glory and enjoyment as a reward.
The believers’ sharing the kingdom of Jesus in tribulation and endurance is for the purpose of ministering the word of God and giving the testimony of Jesus. Whatever we do today must be for the purpose of ministering the word of God and giving the testimony of Jesus. If we do these two things, we shall surely be in the kingdom. Furthermore, for this purpose we shall suffer tribulation, and we shall need to exercise our endurance.
Revelation 1:9 says, “I John, your brother and joint partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” The phrase “in Jesus” governs the words “tribulation,” “kingdom,” and “endurance.” When we talk about salvation, grace, enjoyment, and all the other good things, we say that we are “in Christ,” for this phrase refers to everything on the positive side of God’s salvation. But to say that we are partakers in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance in Jesus means that we are suffering. According to the facts of the Lord’s life on earth, His name, Jesus, denotes a suffering person, a man of sorrows (Isa. 53:3). Hence, when we say that we are in Christ, this means that we are saved, are enjoying God’s blessing, have peace with God, and are under God’s blessing. But when we say that we are joint partakers in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance in Jesus, this means that we are suffering and are being persecuted as we follow Jesus the Nazarene.
If we are joint partakers in the tribulation in Jesus, then we are joint partakers in the kingdom. To partake of the persecution in Jesus is to partake of the kingdom. If we do not know what persecution is, then we do not know what the kingdom is. To be in the kingdom in Jesus today is not a glory. When the kingdom in Jesus becomes the kingdom in Christ, that will be the time for glory. Today, the kingdom in Jesus is a kingdom of suffering. In Matthew 5:10-12 the Lord said that His believers suffer persecution for the sake of the kingdom. The more we are in the kingdom, the more we shall suffer and be persecuted. But this suffering is a strong sign that we are in the kingdom. Being in the kingdom today is a matter of being in the suffering of Jesus.
Revelation 1:9 also speaks of being a joint partaker in the endurance in Jesus. For both the tribulation and the kingdom we need endurance. Many have heard of the power of Jesus, the love of Jesus, the holiness of Jesus, and the righteousness of Jesus but not of the endurance of Jesus. As we live in Christ, we partake not only of His life and holiness but also of His endurance. As we abide in Christ, we partake of His endurance and have the endurance to bear suffering and opposition for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who endures trial, because having become approved, he will receive the crown of life, which He promised to those who love Him.” James 1:2-12 deals with trials. Trials come from the believers’ environment to prove their faith (vv. 2-3) through suffering (vv. 9-11). The believers should endure the trials with all joy (v. 2) because of their love for the Lord that they may receive the blessing of the crown of life. In verse 12 the word “approved” refers to the approving of the believers’ faith (v. 3).
The crown of life is the glory, the expression, of life. The believers endure the trials by the divine life, and this will become their glory, their expression, the crown of life, as a reward to them at the Lord’s appearing for their enjoyment in the coming kingdom (James 2:5). James 1:12 says that the crown of life is promised to those who love the Lord. To believe in the Lord is to receive the divine life for our salvation. To love the Lord is to grow in the divine life for maturity that we may be qualified for a reward-the crown of life-to enjoy the glory of the divine life in the kingdom.
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