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In this lesson we will continue from the previous lesson to see other aspects of the believers’ being profited by all things in their circumstances by their experience of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
Once a person turns to God, Satan will instigate others to persecute him. Since Satan opposes God continually in every possible way, and since the entire world lies in him (1 John 5:19), Paul says that the believers in Christ are appointed to suffer persecution (Phil. 1:29). When James speaks of the practical Christian perfection in his Epistle, there is an aspect concerning the enduring of trials (1:2-3).
Persecutions are a suffering. However, trials are not merely a suffering, for trials are a suffering that serves the purpose of trying and proving. Just as examinations are good for students, so the various trials that we face as Christians profit us. Our heavenly Father allows such trials for the purpose of trying, testing, and proving us. Trials not only help us in the matters of our spiritual education and the experience of life; they also help us with our character and our behavior in our daily living. It is only through trials that God can perfect us in a practical way in our Christian life. If we realize this, we will thank God for perfecting us through trials.
James encourages us, saying, “Count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you fall into various trials” (v. 2). We can count it a joy when we fall into trials, because we see that the trials will perfect us. James speaks of various trials, indicating that we should not count just certain trials a joy but should count all trials a joy. Perhaps we do not like trials, opposition, and persecution, but we should count it all joy when we experience them, because God, through the divine dispensing, uses them to perfect us.
In 2 Corinthians 4:8-18 Paul speaks of how the ministers of the new covenant lived and how they experienced the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in their living. By such a dispensing they were capable of living a crucified life in resurrection and of living out the resurrection life under the killing of the cross for the carrying out of their ministry. Paul says, “We are pressed on every side but not constricted; unable to find a way out but not utterly without a way out; persecuted but not abandoned; cast down but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (vv. 8-10). For us to experience the putting to death is to experience the working of the cross, which the Lord Jesus suffered and endured. When the Lord was on earth, He was daily under the killing. We also should experience this. As we experience this killing work, the life of Jesus will be manifested in our body. This daily killing is to release the divine life in resurrection, and it results in the manifestation of the resurrection life.
“Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (v. 16). The outer man is our body and our soul, with the body as its organ and the soul as its life and person. The inner man is our regenerated spirit with our renewed soul. The regenerated spirit is the life and person of the inner man, and the renewed soul is its organ. As our mortal body, our outer man, is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inner man, that is, our regenerated spirit with the inward parts of our being (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 7:22, 25), is being metabolically renewed day by day with the supply of resurrection life. We are able to live a life of not losing heart, because we believe that our momentary lightness of affliction will work out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17).
By experiencing the dispensing of the processed Triune God, the believers can accept with joy the plundering of their possessions, knowing that they have a better possession and an abiding one (Heb. 10:34). 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 “the eternal inheritance” (9:15) and the “inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, kept in the heavens for you” (1 Pet. 1:4). This better and abiding possession is a great incentive for us 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). Being fellow partakers in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance in Jesus means that we suffer and are persecuted as we follow Jesus the Nazarene. 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).
If we are fellow partakers in the tribulation in Jesus, then we are fellow partakers in the kingdom. To be in the kingdom in Jesus today is not a glory, because the kingdom in Jesus is a kingdom of suffering. The more we are in the kingdom, and the more we are for the kingdom of the heavens, the more we shall suffer and be persecuted (Matt. 5:10-12). Being in the suffering of Jesus is a strong sign that we are in the kingdom. Moreover, we are also fellow partakers in the endurance in Jesus. For both the tribulation and the kingdom we need endurance. As we are in Christ, we partake not only of His life and holiness but also of His endurance. If we are partakers in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance in Jesus, eventually, in the coming age, we will be rewarded by sharing the Lord’s kingdom in glory and enjoyment.
If we love the Lord, we will be under trials. Trials come from the environment and are for God to prove our faith (James 1:2-3) through suffering (vv. 9-11). James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who endures trial, because when he has become approved by testing, he will receive the crown of life, which He promised to those who love Him.” The crown of life is the glory, the expression, of life. We endure trials by the divine life, and this will become our glory and expression, our crown of life, as a reward given to us by the Lord at His appearing for our enjoyment in the coming kingdom (2:5). This 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 unto maturity so that we may be qualified for a reward—the crown of life—to enjoy the glory of the divine life in the kingdom.
Peter considered the trials that the believers suffer to be a fiery ordeal (1 Pet. 4:12), just like the burning of a smelting furnace for the purification of gold and silver (Prov. 27:21; Psa. 66:10). The burning furnace used by God to purify our life is God’s way to deal with us in the judgment of His governmental administration. The Lord uses persecutions and trials to serve a positive purpose—the purification of our life. We believers can be compared to gold and silver. However, we need to be purified because we still have some amount of dross. Gold and silver are purified through burning, and we also need to be purified in this way.
Therefore, Peter tells us not to regard the fiery ordeal as strange. We need to realize that fiery ordeals are common. Persecutions and trials are the common experience of Christians, for we have been appointed to such ordeals. The world rises up against us because we believe in Christ, love Christ, live Christ, and bear testimony to Christ, witnessing of Him in this age. This age is under the hand of the evil one, and for this reason, unbelieving ones persecute those who believe in Christ and witness of Him. In the sight of God this kind of suffering is regarded as the sufferings of Christ. Christ lived a life of suffering. Now we are His partners (Heb. 3:14), living the same kind of life. Whatever Christ suffered, we also suffer. We cooperate with Him in living a life of suffering and follow Him along the way of suffering. By experiencing such a fiery ordeal, God considers us to be sharing, participating in, the sufferings of Christ. Such trials are due to the fact that we are Christians, men of Christ.
As Christians, followers of Christ, we should be those who undergo the sufferings of Christ. We need to participate not only in the riches of Christ but also in the sufferings of Christ. If we take this view, we will be encouraged whenever we suffer for Christ. Peter even says that we should rejoice as we share in the sufferings of Christ so that we may rejoice exultingly at the revelation of His glory (1 Pet. 4:13). This means that we will not only rejoice inwardly, but we will sound out our joy. At the time of the revelation, the unveiling of the Lord’s glory, we will exult. We will be excited to the uttermost, beside ourselves with joy.
According to Acts 11:26, the believers “were first called Christians in Antioch.” The Greek word rendered “Christian” is Christianos, a word of Latin formation. The ending -ianos, denoting an adherent of someone, was applied to slaves belonging to the great families in the Roman Empire. This name denoted that Christians were adherents of Christ and was used by the outsiders as a nickname, a term of reproach. For this reason, Peter says that if a believer suffers “as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name” (1 Pet. 4:16). This means that if we suffer from persecutors who contemptuously call us a Christian, we should not feel ashamed, but rather, we should glorify God in this name.
Today the term Christian bears a positive significance, that is, a man of Christ, a person who is one with Christ. We not only belong to Him but also have His life and nature in an organic union with Him and live by Him, even living Him, in our daily life. If we suffer for being such a person, we should not feel ashamed, because when we suffer in the name of Christ and as Christians, the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of glory, rests upon us. Instead, we should magnify Christ in our confession by our holy and excellent manner of life to glorify, express, God in this name.
First Peter shows the government of God especially in His dealings with His chosen people. The sufferings that the believers undergo in fiery persecutions are used by Him as a means to judge them so that they may be disciplined, purified, and separated from unbelievers so as not to have the same destiny as unbelievers. Hence, 4:17 says, “It is time for the judgment to begin from the house of God; and if first from us, what will be the end of those who disobey the gospel of God?” In this verse the house refers to the church, composed of the believers (2:5; Heb. 3:6; 1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 2:19). For the establishment of His kingdom, God begins His governmental administration from His own house by His disciplinary judgment over His own children so that He may have a strong ground to judge, in His universal kingdom, those who are disobedient to His gospel and rebellious to His government.
Hence, in this sense, persecutions and sufferings are a kind of judgment. This judgment, however, is not for condemnation to eternal perdition. It is a dispensational discipline to purify our life by removing any dross. The reason believers suffer is that God does not want His own children, His own house, His family, to suffer the end of the ungodly. The unbelievers, who disobey the gospel of God, will undergo a more severe judgment. Temporarily God may let them go, but eventually He will deal with them. Therefore, Peter says, “Let those also who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator” (1 Pet. 4:19). God has appointed us according to His will to suffer for Christ’s sake (3:17; 2:15; 1 Thes. 3:3). We must see that persecution is a suffering in the old creation. God as our Creator can preserve our soul, which He created for us. He has even numbered our hairs (Matt. 10:30). He is loving and faithful. His loving and faithful care accompanies His justice in His governmental administration (1 Pet. 5:7). While He is judging us as His household in His government, in His love He cares for us faithfully. In suffering His just disciplinary judgment in our body, we should commit our souls to Him and to His faithful care.
Romans 8 reveals that suffering with Christ is the condition for being heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. We may not like to suffer, but it is necessary. If we suffer with the Lord, we shall be glorified with Him (vv. 17-18). Suffering is also related to the growth of life. The genuine growth of any kind of life depends on hardship and suffering. Without hardship or suffering it is difficult for any life to grow. We should not expect our life to be free of suffering. The more we suffer, the more we grow and the faster we mature. Therefore, if we expect to grow in life, we should not reject suffering, because suffering helps our growth.
The degree of our suffering determines the degree of our glory. The more suffering we pass through, the more our glory will be intensified. We want to be glorified, but we do not want to experience suffering. However, suffering increases glory. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:41 that “star differs from star in glory,” indicating that some stars shine more brightly than others. We all will shine, and we all will be glorified, but the intensity of our glory will depend on the amount of suffering that we are willing to take. It is certain that the apostle Paul will shine more brightly than all of us. We will be glorified, but the intensity of our glory will differ according to our suffering. Therefore, Paul says that the present suffering means nothing compared with the coming glory.
By the experience of the divine dispensing, we will reign in the coming age with Christ through endurance in this age. In 2 Timothy 2:12 Paul says, “If we endure, we will also reign with Him.” Enduring is related to life in this age, and reigning with Christ is related to the coming age. Endurance is the entrance into the coming reign with Christ. If we would reign as co-kings of Christ, we need to endure sufferings.
Under God’s sovereign arrangement, many trials, troubles, tribulations, and sufferings have been assigned to the believers. They may wonder why trials come one after another like waves in the ocean. However, in principle, everything that happens to them is assigned from their Father for their good. Therefore, it is a basic principle that we should not try to escape sufferings, trials, and tribulations. We must believe in God’s sovereignty. However, 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. Just as certain trees grow through the hardship of cold weather, Christians grow through hardship. Our Father manages everything, and He assigns tribulations to us for our maturity.
Furthermore, sufferings afford us the best opportunity to enjoy the dispensing of the Divine Trinity. God assigns to us the sufferings 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. We need to keep ourselves always in the divine fellowship. Our fellowship with the Lord should be as continuous as our breathing and as the circulation of blood in our bodies. When we fellowship with Him deep within us, we will receive and absorb the dispensing of the processed Triune God in a fine way. This dispensing comes from the heavens. By the nourishment that we receive through this dispensing, we will grow.
Eventually, the crown of life will be given to the believers for their sufferings, trials, and tribulations. Revelation 2:10 says, “Do not fear the things that 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 for ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” To the church in Ephesus, the Lord promised to give the overcomers to eat of Himself as the tree of life (v. 7). To the church in Smyrna, He promised 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 first must be our food, and then it will be our expression and our glorification as the crown of life.
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, we should be at peace and not worry or be anxious. Our worry and anxiety do not help us at all. If we worry or are anxious, we simply waste our energy. We are not only in the Lord’s hand; actually, we are also in the Lord. He is the place in which we should remain, and He is also our destiny. Day by day we should simply remain in His dispensing to have a 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.
The believers in Christ are appointed to suffer persecution. Hence, we should count it all joy when we fall into various trials, because God, through the divine dispensing, uses them to perfect us. We are pressed on every side but not constricted. We do not lose heart, for though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day. The momentary lightness of affliction works out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory. By experiencing the dispensing of the processed Triune God, we can also accept with joy the plundering of our possessions, knowing that we have a better and abiding possession. Through the divine dispensing we can share the kingdom of Jesus in His tribulation and endurance for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. If we love the Lord, we will be under trials. We are blessed if we endure trials, because when we have been approved by testing, we will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love Him.
We should not regard the fiery ordeals that we experience as strange but rather rejoice in sharing the sufferings of Christ. The Lord uses persecutions and trials to serve a positive purpose—the purification of our life. As Christians, followers of Christ, we should be those who undergo the sufferings of Christ. If we suffer from persecutors who contemptuously call us Christians, we should not feel ashamed but should glorify God in this name. The sufferings His chosen ones undergo in fiery persecution are used by Him as a means to judge them so that they may be disciplined, purified, and separated from unbelievers so as not to have the same destiny as unbelievers. While He is judging us as His household in His government, in His love He cares for us faithfully. As heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, we will suffer with Christ. If we suffer with the Lord, we will be glorified with Him. The present sufferings mean nothing compared with the coming glory. By the experience of the divine dispensing, we will reign in the coming age with Christ through endurance in this age. God has assigned to us many trials, troubles, tribulations, and sufferings for our maturity. Sufferings also afford us the best opportunity to receive and absorb the dispensing of the processed Triune God in a fine way through our fellowship with Him. Eventually, the crown of life will be given to us.
