“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ…“ Revelations 1:9
There has always been something about the recurring theme of the sufferings of the Body of Christ that has eluded me. It is written throughout Scripture, but it is not something that is sought after very much. It’s almost like huge boulders in our path that we acknowledge are there, but try our best to find a way around them.
What is it about this theme of suffering that weaves though the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, that is so elemental to the Christian experience? No one wants pain (at least those of us who are sane), so we are naturally drawn to a more peaceful picture of the Gospel. Peace, blessings, love, prosperity – these are good things, and the promise of them stand out in the Bible as the rewards to those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
But follow where? Jesus went to the Cross, and commanded us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. That’s not exactly what I would consider a favorite vacation destination (let’s bring the kids and take lots of pictures!), and yet it stands out as a strong beacon to those who would follow Christ.
In America, we do not suffer the level of persecution for the Gospel that we read about in the New Testament, neither have we experienced the depths of suffering that our forefathers went through to establish the religious freedoms we enjoy. We have resistance, to be sure, but nothing like what we read about in times past.
There are places around the world today where real Christians endure unspeakable persecution and suffering. The stories that come to us from these places are hard to believe and impossible to get a real grasp on. None of us would willingly trade places with those in such desperate pain. We feel horrible for what they have to go through, even angst, and we wish their lives were as good as ours.
And yet, they often feel sorry for us because we do not know Christ through suffering. That’s the part that always gets me.
Just recently, a pastor in China was pardoned from serving a long sentence of torture because he was winning too many souls in prison. He refused the offer for an early release, and demanded his right to serve out the rest of his sentence so he could continue to minister.
Another pastor in Africa was attacked in the middle of services by armed soldiers who grabbed his baby boy and crushed him right in front of the whole church. His response to a visitor who expressed how sorry they felt for him was that he felt sorry for us because we do not know persecution.
I have spoken to men of God who have suffered like things, and their responses are almost always the same. They glorify God for the honor of suffering for His name’s sake. How do you answer something like that?
When you read the introductions in each of the Epistles, you can feel the intense fervor and passion that the Apostles had for the Lord and His church. That passion and intensity comes only through suffering.
Could it be that we in the West are missing something? In our prosperity and relative peace, is it too hard for us to perceive an aspect of the Grace of God that defies carnal understanding? I know there will be those who will answer me that we are supposed to live under the blessings of God, but there is something more to the path of the Cross than easy living.
Richard Wurmbrand, the author of Tortured for Christ, once said that those who have not suffered such persecution can never understand the glories of the grace of God that these martyrs have experienced.
Perhaps we should re-evaluate what our faith is based on and see from a very different perspective than what we are used to, so that we can understand with a new clarity the desperate war between Light and Darkness and the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ.
It might change our view of our own Christianity.
“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; … That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;”
(Phillipians 1:29, 3:10)
Dalen Garris
dale@revivalfire.org