Eventually, the crown of life shall be given to the believers for their suffering, trial, and tribulation. Revelation 2:10 says, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the Devil is about to cast some of you into prison that you may be tried, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” To the church in Ephesus the Lord promises to give the overcomers to eat of Himself as the tree of life (Rev. 2:7). This is the divine life. To the church in Smyrna He promises to give the overcomers the crown of life. The eating of the tree of life is inward for supply, and the crown of life is outward for glory. Both promises are wrapped up with the divine life. This life must first be our food, and then it will be our expression and our glorification as the crown of life.
A crown in New Testament usage always denotes a prize in addition to salvation (Rev. 3:11; James 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet. 5:4; 1 Cor. 9:25). Eventually, life will become a crown; it will be the glory of the victorious martyrs. The crown of life as a prize to those who are faithful unto death in overcoming persecution denotes the overcoming strength which is the power of the resurrection life (Phil. 3:10). It also signifies that these overcomers have attained to “the out-resurrection from among the dead” (Phil. 3:11), that is, the outstanding resurrection.
Under God’s sovereign arrangement, many trials, troubles, tribulations, and sufferings have been assigned to us. We may wonder why God assigns so many trials. Sometimes trials come one after another like waves in the ocean. However, we should not doubt. Rather, we should believe that our Father in the heavens is sovereign. All things, great and small, and all persons and matters are used sovereignly by God for our good. Although we are not able to see at present how this is so, we know from our reading and searching of the Word that, in principle, everything that happens to us is an assignment from our Father. We all need to believe this. We do not know what is best for us, and we do not know what is coming. Therefore, we must believe in God’s sovereignty and leave our future with Him.
It is a basic principle that we should not try to escape trouble. Of course, we should not be foolish in dealing with people and in handling matters. On the contrary, we should be wise. Nevertheless, no matter how wise we may be, we still need to believe that our Father in the heavens is sovereign. He manages everything, and He assigns to us our portion.
The portion of sufferings assigned to us by God is for our maturity. Just as certain trees grow through the hardship of cold weather, we Christians grow through hardship. For this purpose God assigns to us certain circumstances and a particular kind of environment. He knows that we need these hardships in order to grow.
Furthermore, sufferings afford us the best opportunity to enjoy the dispensing of the divine Trinity. God assigns sufferings to us, and these sufferings are needed for our growth. However, this growth will take place only as we remain under the divine dispensing. Therefore, we need to contact the processed Triune God all the time. Our contact with Him should be a continuous matter in our Christian life. It should be as continuous as our breathing and as the circulation of blood in our bodies. We need to keep ourselves always in the divine fellowship.
Furthermore, in our fellowship with the Lord we should be very fine, not rough. All those who grow to maturity in the divine life are fine. We need to receive and absorb the dispensing of the processed Triune God in a way that is fine. The Lord’s dispensing is a fine matter, and we must learn to be fine in our fellowship with the Lord. Then we shall continually receive the divine dispensing from the Triune God deep within us. Actually, this dispensing comes from the heavens. By the nourishment we receive through this dispensing we shall grow.
The believers grow through trials, troubles, and sufferings. The Christian life does not grow without trouble. All the spiritual growth in the divine life is carried out through suffering. Without suffering the growth in the divine life is impossible.
A basic lesson that we all need to learn is that everything in our circumstances and environments depends not on us but on the sovereign Lord. Therefore, I would encourage you to be at peace and not to worry or be anxious. Your worry and anxiety does not help you at all. If you worry or are anxious, you simply waste yourself. Do not worry but simply be at peace, believing that you are not in your own hand but in the Lord’s hand. Actually, you are not only in the Lord’s hand but in the Lord Himself. He is the place in which we should remain, and He is also our destiny. He will accomplish whatever He desires, for our destiny is up to Him. Day by day we should simply remain in His dispensing to have the direct enjoyment of the divine supply of the processed Triune God in His embodiment, which is Christ, and through His ultimate consummation, which is the life-giving Spirit.
Home | First | Prev | Next