For
the past couple of weeks I have taken a detour from my journey through the
Revelation Museum to consider the soul-rest we experience when we come to Jesus.[1] I am always intrigued by what God does with these interludes, and
become very watchful for how one set of Scriptures will help me to understand
another.
This
morning I returned to Revelation 7 and the picture of the “great multitude that no one could number.”[2] As I began to pray about how to take Jesus’ yoke upon me and learn
from him,[3] I found myself feeling the weight of some painful experiences I
have gone through. However, before any cloud of depression was able to “steal, kill, and destroy,” I entered
into another example of Jesus’ purpose that I “may have life and have it abundantly.”[4]
What
I realized was that the glorious picture of the great multitude in heaven encourages
us to bear with the suffering and persecution we experience on earth. In
particular, the witness of that great multitude of Revelation 7 helps us to
take to heart Jesus’ exhortations about persecution as presented in the
beatitudes.[5] Here are some thoughts from my meditation on Jesus’ focus of the blessing
that is upon those who “are persecuted
for righteousness' sake.”[6]
10 “Blessed
are those… 11 “Blessed are you…”
The
first phrase of this pair is part of the continuation of the statement of the
beatitudes in their general form, describing how certain people are blessed. Anyone
who fits the description is included. The second phrase is personal, speaking
to the disciples about how this applies to them. We can listen to the
beatitudes as Jesus’ description of the people who are blessed, and then apply
them to ourselves as we see the way these qualities show up in our lives.
- We are blessed when God’s Spirit leads us into poverty of spirit,[7] because those who humble themselves before God are lifted up.[8]
- We are blessed when God’s Spirit leads us to mourn,[9] because, when we mourn the true condition of our souls, we… HEAR JESUS CALLING US TO HIMSELF FOR SOUL-REST, AND HE GIVES US REST FOR OUR SOULS![10] In that rest for our souls we are comforted.
- We are blessed when God’s Spirit brings us into the experience of meekness that knows it cannot fix ourselves, because we are the ones who inherit the earth.[11] While those who are busy fixing themselves, and making their own ways through life,[12] often seem to experience the earthly victories,[13] it is the meek ones, those who put no trust in their own abilities, who conquer.[14] “The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,”[15] so Jesus, by whom and through whom all things were created,[16] tells his disciples that the earth belongs to them. It does not belong to the Romans, not to the Greeks, not to the Jewish religious elite, but to the prostitutes, tax collectors, drunks, and sinners of all descriptions, who enter the kingdom of heaven through repentance and faith.[17]
- We are blessed when God’s Spirit awakens within us a hunger and thirst for righteousness,[18] because it is the hunger and thirst of the poor in spirit that is satisfied by the righteousness that is by faith.[19] At the same time, the religious elite will never rest from their impossible goal of making themselves righteous by works,[20] and so they remain under the curse of their sin.[21]
- We are blessed when God’s Spirit leads us into such an experience of mercy,[22] that we become “the merciful” who live in a constant state of God’s mercy.[23]At the same time, religious zealots, conquering armies, and deceiving philosophers, all imposing their demands on the world around them, live in a constant state of condemnation for their sin.[24]
- We are blessed when God’s Spirit leads us into the maturing experience of purity of heart, because the pure-heartedness of the poor in spirit shows that we are the ones who see God.[25] On the other hand, those who are “double-minded,” meaning they are trying to live by faith plus works, or faith plus doubts, or faith plus flesh, are against God,[26] and simply do not see him as he is.
- We are blessed when God’s Spirit leads us to live as peacemakers, because our likeness to the Prince of Peace[27] shows that we have received the adoption of sons that is promised to us through the gospel.[28] We have come to experience “peace with God,”[29] and live in the constant “readiness given by the gospel of peace.”[30]
- We are blessed when God’s Spirit makes us so free in our peacemaking that we are “persecuted for righteousness' sake”.[31] As we proclaim the gospel of peace, that people come to have peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ, the world that hates God will also hate us who are his sons.[32] However, it is the sons of God who receive the kingdom of heaven,[33] no matter how empires, philosophies, and religions appear to conquer the earth.
By
the time we get to the end of the Beatitudes, culminating with the grand
crescendo of blessing when we are persecuted because of our experience of the
righteousness that is by faith, we see a life that should produce one gracious,
unexpected reaction, and that is that we, “Rejoice
and be glad.”[34]
There
are two things that move us to rejoice and be glad in any present experience of
persecution. The first is pointed in the direction of our hope for the future,
and the second is pointed in the direction of our examples from the past.
Our
hope in future reward is stated as, “for
your reward is great in heaven.” This brings me back to where I started,
that the imagery of the great multitude in Revelation 7 is to remind us of the
great reward that is waiting for those who endure until the end.[35]
This
also reminds me of the way Jesus related to his suffering. We are told to look,
“to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”[36] Jesus was looking to “the joy
that was set before him,” when he endured his persecution, and all the
suffering that came to him through the cross. He now sets an example for
believers who are to look to the joy that is set before us as our encouragement
to rejoice in persecution. We have a great reward waiting for us in heaven, as
revealed to us through the picture of the great heavenly multitude, and that
joy set before us keeps us looking to our Savior, and enduring our suffering for
him as he endured his suffering for us.
Our
encouragement from the past is that, “for
so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” In other words, those
who are persecuted because of the righteousness of the kingdom of God now, are
not the first to experience such things. It isn’t personal. We can take
encouragement from Jesus’ association of prophets with his disciples. Those who
are righteous by faith in Jesus Christ, who live as peacemakers who proclaim
God’s word to the world, will be persecuted.
The
many prophets from the past, and the great multitude of witnesses waiting for
us in heaven, keep our minds focused on the joy set before us. Their example
encourages us to endure our cross now, waiting for our resurrection later. With
these witnesses cheering us on, we deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and
follow Jesus Christ wherever he leads, no matter how much persecution we face.[37]
All
of this set the stage for me to consider how to turn the reviling I have
experienced, including people uttering “all
kinds of evil against you falsely on my account,”[38] into reasons to rejoice. The great multitude of Revelation 7 is
obviously having such a good time in the throne room of God that I might as
well let them encourage me to “rejoice in
our sufferings” now,[39]and hunger and thirst for the righteousness of counting it, “all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials
of various kinds.”[40]
After
all, every trial, every persecution, every experience of gossip, slander, or
reviling of any kind, transforms us more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ
our Lord.[41] The great multitude in heaven knows what that feels like more than
we can presently imagine. We might as well let them encourage us to endure all
things until life ends, or Jesus returns.
If
it is true of me that “my desire is to
depart and be with Christ, for that is far better,”[42] I must let those who have already experienced this reality keep
building up my faith so that I am faithful to the very end, even when the day
begins with reminders of how difficult and painful it can sometimes be.
“Rejoice and be glad,” says the one I am
yoked to. That is clearly one more thing I can learn from him.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
Matthew 11:25-30 (see my blogposts from the couple of weeks previous to this
entry)
[2]
Revelation 7:9-17
[3]
Matthew 11:29
[4]
John 10:10 (that, after all, is one of his aims in leading us to take his yoke
upon us, and learn from him, so that we can find rest for our souls)
[5]
Matthew 5:1-12
[6]
Matthew 5:10
[7]
Matthew 5:3
[8]
Psalm 147:6; Matthew 23:12; Luke 18:14; James 4:10; I Peter 5:6
[9]
Matthew 5:4
[10]
Matthew 11:28-30 (Sorry about the capitalization, but it was a sudden discovery
of another connection between Scriptures!)
[11]
Matthew 5:5
[12]
In Jesus’ day this would have included the Romans who had conquered so many
other nations, the Greeks whose culture was invading the world, and the Jewish
religious leaders who were willing to murder their Messiah in order to hold on
to the prestige of their idolatrous positions.
[13]
The Romans conquered nations through military might, the Greeks through
philosophical prowess, and the religious leaders through such a deluge of rules
of conduct that the common people could not withstand their control of the
religious culture.
[14]
Romans 8:37; Revelation 6:1-2
[15]
Palm 24:1
[16]
John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16
[17]
Matthew 4:17; Matthew 21:28-32; I John 5:4
[18]
Matthew 5:6
[19]
Romans 1:17, 4:5, 4:13, 4:22; Philippians 3:9 (our hunger and thirst for righteousness
could never be satisfied through any kind of good works)
[20]
Ephesians 2:8-9
[21]
Galatians 3:10
[22]
As described by the first four Beatitudes already discussed.
[23]
Matthew 5:7
[24]
John 3:18,36
[25]
Matthew 5:8.
[26]
Psalm 119:113 speaks of David’s hatred of the double-minded. James 1:6-8
describes the one who prays and doubts as double-minded, indicating that those
who are pure in heart are those who live by faith and faith alone. James 4:8
calls the church to “purify your hearts,
you double-minded,” in reference to believers trying to be friends with God
and the world at the same time. The pure in heart are friends with God, through
faith in Jesus Christ, no doubt or works mixed in. Galatians 1:6-9 is Paul’s
very clear declaration that adding works to faith is “a different gospel,” which means no gospel at all.
[27]
Isaiah 9:6
[28]
Matthew 5:9; Romans 8:15, 23; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:5
[29]
Romans 5:1
[30]
Ephesians 6:15
[31]
Matthew 5:10
[32]
John 15:18-21
[33]
Matthew 5:44-45
[34]
Matthew 5:12
[35]
Matthew 10:22; 24:13; Mark 13:13
[36]
Hebrews 12:2
[37]
Luke 9:23
[38]
Matthew 5:11
[39]
Romans 5:3
[40]
James 1:2
[41]
Romans 5:1-5; James 1:2-4
[42]
Philippians 1:23
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