As believers, we have been appointed for afflictions. To suffer afflictions is our destiny because this is God’s ordination. In 1 Thessalonians 3:3 Paul encourages the believers not to be “shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed for this.” If we are established in the faith, afflictions will do good for us according to God’s purpose in His appointment.
In Matthew 10:28 the Lord Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” God is the only One who is able to destroy both the soul and the body in Gehenna. If we are sent by the Lord and fail to endure persecution, we will be disciplined by God. This will take place at the Lord’s return (2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 22:12). We should not fear man’s persecution. Matthew 10:29-31 says that not one sparrow will fall to the earth without our Father’s permission, but even the hairs of our head are all numbered by our Father; therefore, we should not fear, because we are of more value than many sparrows.
By experiencing the dispensing of the processed Triune God, the believers in affliction enjoy the peace of Christ who has overcome the world. The Lord Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have affliction, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). In this world there are only trouble and persecution. But the Lord died and resurrected so that we can have peace in Him. No matter how much this world troubles and persecutes us, we do not need to worry, nor do we need to fear, because the Lord has overcome the world. The Lord is the peace that we enjoy in affliction.
Peter says that the suffering we experience will usher us into perfection today and into glory in the future. “The God of all grace, He who has called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you” (1 Pet. 5:10). We like to have perfection and receive glory without suffering. However, God knows how much suffering we need. Therefore, He arranges everything sovereignly so that we may suffer in order to be perfected in this age and glorified in the coming age.
God is the God of all grace. In His economy and according to the many steps of the divine operation on us and within us, He ministers to us the riches of the bountiful supply of the divine life in many aspects. The initial step is to call us, and the consummate step is to glorify us. Between these two steps are God’s loving care while He is disciplining us and His perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and grounding work within us. If we are persecuted, the God of grace will perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us after we suffer a little while. Therefore, in the persecution we should be encouraged by this fact, because our God is the God of all grace. He has called us into eternal glory, a glory that is unlimited in both space and time. Furthermore, in this verse Peter also says that our sufferings are only for a little while, but God’s glory is eternal. Through suffering persecution, we are perfected, and we will eventually be ushered into glory.
As believers, day by day we encounter many environments and face many persons, matters, and things. According to God’s design and arrangement, all these persons, matters, and things are used by God to work together for good to those who love Him, that is, to those who have been called by Him so that He may fulfill His purpose, which is to conform us to the image of His Son that He may be the Firstborn among many brothers. No person, matter, or thing can separate us from the love of God—the love of Christ. God’s love is the fountain, the root, and the source. Hence, God’s love is the security of our salvation. In all things we more than conquer through Him who loved us. We should not be put to shame in anything; rather, Christ should be magnified in our body, whether through life or through death. When we experience the dispensing of the processed Triune God, Christ will be magnified in our body.
The Lord said that those who are being persecuted for the sake of righteousness are blessed, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Those who are reproached, persecuted, and evil spoken of are blessed because their reward is great in the heavens. If we are reproached in the name of Christ, we are blessed because the Spirit of glory, that is, the Spirit of God, rests upon us. We rejoice that we are counted worthy to be dishonored on behalf of the name of Jesus. It is a real honor to be dishonored on behalf of the name of the man-dishonored but God-honored Jesus. Through the experience of the divine dispensing of the Triune God, we can also boast in tribulations because grace often visits us in the form of tribulation. If because of a consciousness of God we bear sorrows by suffering unjustly, this is grace. If we endure sufferings for doing good, this is grace with God. We were called to suffer because Christ also suffered on our behalf, leaving us a model so that we may follow in His steps. As believers, we have been appointed for afflictions. Therefore, we should not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, because we are of more value than many sparrows and our hairs are all numbered by our Father. By experiencing the dispensing of the processed Triune God, we can enjoy the peace of Christ in sufferings because He has overcome the world. Moreover, the sufferings we experience will usher us into perfection today and into glory in the future.