In this message we need to consider 1:9, which says, “I John, your brother and joint partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” The book of Revelation is composed in a marvelous way. It is quite significant that this verse comes shortly after the mention of the Lord’s coming in 1:7. This indicates that if we would be those who are watchfully waiting for the Lord’s coming back, we must be those who are joint partakers, not in outward blessing, but in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance in Jesus.
The phrase in Jesus governs the words tribulation, kingdom, and endurance, and we must pay close attention to it. This phrase very rarely occurs in the New Testament. The phrase in Christ or in Christ Jesus, on the contrary, is used many times. In the New Testament, the truth is mainly in Christ, but here the phrase in Jesus is employed. This tells us that if we would be those who are waiting for the Lord’s coming back, we must be those who are joint partakers in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance “in Jesus.” When we talk about salvation, grace, enjoyment, and all the other good things, we say that we are “in Christ,” for this phrase refers to everything on the positive side of God’s salvation. But to say that we are partakers of the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance in Jesus means that we are suffering. When Jesus lived on earth as a man, He suffered constantly. According to the facts of His life, His name, Jesus, denotes a suffering person, a man of sorrows (Isa. 53:3). Hence, when we say that we are in Christ, this means that we are saved, are enjoying God’s grace, have peace with God, and are under God’s blessing. But when we say that we are joint partakers of the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance “in Jesus,” this means that we are suffering and are being persecuted as we follow Jesus the Nazarene. In the book of Revelation, the in Christ is not used. In Ephesians, on the contrary, the term in Christ or in Him is used repeatedly, being found in every chapter of that epistle. The book of Revelation is for those who are suffering tribulation “in Jesus.” This means that those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus must be people who suffer tribulation in Jesus. In other words, those who wait for the Lord’s coming back are the suffering ones. In the eyes of God, we are the followers of Christ, but in the eyes of people, especially religion, we are the followers of Jesus.
While Jesus was on earth, He was persecuted by the Jewish religion (John 5:16; 15:20). He was not persecuted by a heathen, pagan religion, but by the typical religion formed according to God’s oracles. Religion is greatly utilized by God’s enemy. Religion is versus Christ, and Christ is versus religion. John 5:16 reveals that the Jews persecuted Jesus because He broke their Sabbath. Religious people cannot tolerate the breaking of their regulations. Any violation of their religious regulations will stir up persecution against the violators. The Jewish religion was established on three pillars, one of which was the Sabbath; the other two are circumcision and dietary regulations. When Jesus broke the Sabbath, He tore down one of the three pillars of the Jewish religion. Hence, they persecuted Him and even sought to kill Him. Eventually, religion succeeded and actually killed the Lord Jesus, sentencing Him to death according to their Scriptures. However, under the sovereignty of God, the Jews at that time did not have the right to kill anyone. Thus, they delivered Jesus over to the Roman government and the Roman government, using its method of executing criminals, crucified the Lord Jesus on the cross.
Just as religion persecuted Jesus, it will also persecute the followers of Jesus. We know from the book of Acts that the Jews in the synagogues in every city stirred up opposition against the apostles, and Paul suffered this type of persecution very much. John, the writer of the book of Revelation, also underwent this kind of persecution. When John received the revelation of this book, he was on the island of Patmos, having been exiled there for “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” In writing the book, he was encouraging the saints to wait for the Lord’s coming back, telling them that he was their brother and joint partaker, not in grace, life, peace, and light, but in the suffering, the affliction, in Jesus.
As we have seen, when Jesus was on earth, He suffered at the hands of religion. The Roman Empire paid very little attention to Him. It was the Jewish religion that asked the Roman government to execute judgment upon Him. Thus, the persecution against Him did not originate with the secular world but with the religious world. In the book of Acts we see that it was the same with the apostles. The opposition did not come mainly from the Gentiles but from the Jewish religion. The Jews followed Paul wherever he went, perhaps even picketing him. In like manner, a great many martyrs suffered persecution by the so-called Roman Catholic Church. As Foxe points out in his history of martyrs, the Roman Catholic Church killed more saints than the Roman Empire did. Who imprisoned Madame Guyon? The Roman Catholic Church. Who imprisoned John Bunyan? The Church of England. Religion always persecutes the genuine followers of Jesus.
Now it is our turn to undergo this persecution. During the years I was with Brother Nee in China, I saw how much he was persecuted by religion. The rumors, opposition, and condemnation came, not from the Gentiles, but from Christianity, even from some missionaries. The Devil is subtle. The secular world does not oppose us as much as the so-called religious people do. Many Christians think of religion as a good thing, but actually it is something used by the Devil. If you read the book of Galatians, you will see how intensely Paul persecuted the church when he was in the Jewish religion. Gal. 1 reveals that religion is against Christ and that Christ is versus religion. If we cooperate with religion, there will be a type of compromising peace. But how can we go along with religion? It is so subtle and false; it is a counterfeit of God’s economy. Anyone who sees that religion is a counterfeit of God’s economy will condemn it.
Because we do not cooperate with religion, it persecutes us. The persecution that we are suffering today is the persecution in Jesus. He is now suffering persecution with His followers (Acts 9:4-5). As we are suffering today, He is suffering in and with us. When Saul of Tarsus was traveling to Damascus with the intention of arresting all those who called on the name of Jesus, the Lord Jesus knocked him down to the earth, saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (v. 4). When Saul said, “Who are You, Lord?” Jesus answered, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (v. 5). Saul never thought that he was persecuting Jesus. He thought Jesus was in the grave and that he was persecuting Stephen and other followers of Jesus. But according to the Lord Jesus, Saul was persecuting Him, because, at that time, He was in Stephen, Peter, John, and all His other members and was one with them. The same is true today. When the religious people persecute us, they are actually persecuting Jesus because Jesus is in us and is one with us. We may be comforted to realize that the suffering we are experiencing is the persecution in Jesus. We are joint partakers of tribulation in Jesus.
The followers of Jesus are also persecuted in this age, bearing His reproach (Rev. 2:10; John 16:2, 33; Acts 14:22; Heb. 13:13). Hebrews 13:13 says, “Let us therefore go forth unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He suffered reproach from religion. Now, as His followers, we must bear His reproach, suffering reproach from religion. This is to be a joint partaker of tribulation in Jesus.
Some sufferings, however, may not be caused by our following Jesus, but by our foolishness. This suffering cannot properly be called the suffering in Jesus. None of us should cause trouble by acting foolishly. But we must be honest and faithful to the Lord’s testimony. If our honesty and faithfulness bring us suffering and persecution, that is the persecution in Jesus, and that is Jesus’ suffering with us.
It is impossible to avoid the persecution of religion. We cannot escape it because the enemy is utilizing religion more than ever before. Nothing is more frustrating to God’s economy than religion. Nothing blinds, covers, and veils people from seeing God’s economy more than religion does. Millions have been blinded by it. Throughout the whole world, religion is blinding and veiling people’s eyes from seeing God’s economy. Because of this, a warfare is raging. In this warfare, we must sound our trumpet, saying, “Get out of religion, tear away the religious veils from your eyes, and forsake your religious concepts.” Whenever we do this, opposition is aroused. Some good friends have come to me advising me to compromise a little. But we will never compromise. Those who wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus must partake of His suffering. Do not simply say, “Lord Jesus, I love You. Come quickly.” If you say this, the Lord will reply, “I want you to suffer for and with Me.” Do not try to avoid persecution. If we employ our cleverness to avoid persecution, then we are not good waiters of the coming of the Lord. If you mean business to wait for His coming back, the religious persecution will be stirred up against you. But we should not arouse persecution by acting foolishly. In this matter, we must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matt. 10:16).
If we are joint partakers in the tribulation in Jesus, then we are joint partakers in the kingdom. To partake of the persecution in Jesus is to partake of the kingdom. If you do not know what persecution is, then you do not know what the kingdom is.
Many Christians have a mistaken concept of the kingdom. Some say that the kingdom has already come, but that it has been rejected and suspended. Those who hold this concept say that the kingdom came, that it was rejected and suspended, and that it will come down in the future. According to this teaching, when the Lord Jesus comes back, He will bring this suspended kingdom with Him. This is merely vain doctrine. The kingdom was with Jesus when He was on earth. The Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; Nor will they say, Look, here! Or, There! For behold, the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:20-21). In this portion of the Word, we see that the kingdom was wherever Jesus was. In Matthew 12:28, the Lord said, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God is come upon you.” This means that the kingdom was with the Lord while He was on earth.
The believers of Jesus have been born into the kingdom. John 3:5 proves this. In this verse, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” We were regenerated into the kingdom. How could we have entered into the kingdom by regeneration if the kingdom had been suspended? Into what, then, were we born again? As John 3 states clearly, we have been reborn into the kingdom.
In Matthew 16:18 and 19 the Lord said to Peter, “On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens.” This shows that, in a proper sense, the church is the kingdom. Rom. 14:17 also indicates that we in the church are in the kingdom. The proper church life is the kingdom life.
What is the kingdom? It is the heavenly rule in the divine nature. We all have been regenerated with the divine life. In this life there is the divine nature, and with this divine nature there is a ruling, a reigning, a governing. This governing is both divine and heavenly. We, the regenerated ones, are under this reign today; we are under this government and control. We need to exercise this rule over ourselves. If you still need someone else to rule over you, it means that you are fallen. We must be under the heavenly rule in everything we do. In a previous message we spoke about being the fighting army of Christ. But if you are not under the ruling of the divine life, you will never be selected to be in His army. Being chosen to be in this army depends upon obeying the heavenly rule in the divine nature. The divine life brings us into the divine kingdom. The kingdom into which we are reborn in John 3:5 is the very kingdom mentioned by John in Rev. 1:9. How could we ever be joint partakers in the kingdom if we had not been reborn into it? After we have been reborn into the kingdom, we should remain in it. If you still argue with your wife or husband, it means that you are an escapee from the kingdom. If you remain in the kingdom and live in it, you will never fight with your husband, your wife, or anyone else. Although the enemy may tempt you to fight, the ruling of the heavenly kingdom will restrain you.
To be in the kingdom in Jesus today is not a glory. When the kingdom in Jesus becomes the kingdom in Christ, that will be the time for glory. Today, the kingdom in Jesus is a kingdom of suffering. In Matt. 5:10-12 the Lord said that His believers suffer persecution for the sake of the kingdom. If we are suffering for righteousness’ sake, then we are in the kingdom. There are certain things which we cannot do because they are unrighteous. All of humanity today is unrighteous. If we agree with this unrighteousness, people will welcome us. But if we stand for righteousness, people will oppose and persecute us. Suffering persecution for the kingdom proves that we are in the kingdom of God today. Do not think that it is a glory to be in the kingdom today. No, to be in the kingdom now is to bear shame and to suffer persecution. The more we are in the kingdom, the more we shall suffer and be persecuted. But praise the Lord this suffering is a strong sign that we are in the kingdom.
Being in the kingdom today is a matter of being in the suffering in Jesus. Although we are joint partakers in the kingdom in Jesus, we are not yet the co-kings in Christ. When He comes back, we shall be His co-kings in the kingdom in Christ. At that time, we shall no longer suffer. Do not say to others, “You must honor me. I am a partner in the heavenly kingdom, and one day I’ll be a co-king with Christ in the kingdom.” The more you say this, the more you will be persecuted. Today is not a reigning day but a suffering day. Now we are not in the reigning kingdom but in the suffering kingdom. This is the reason that Paul said that we must enter into the kingdom of God through much tribulation (Acts 14:22). The way to enter into the ruling kingdom is through suffering. The tribulation Paul referred to in Acts 14:22 was mainly the persecution at the hands of the Jewish religion. All believers in Christ undergo this kind of persecution. Paul seemed to be saying, “You Christians, the believers of Jesus, must suffer persecution from the Jewish religion.” In principle, it is the same today. If there were no religion in the world today, we would not suffer as much persecution. As we have already pointed out, most of the troubles, persecutions, rumors, and oppositions can be traced to one source — religion. While we are suffering today, we are in the kingdom where we are being exercised, trained, prepared, and qualified to be Christ’s army and to reign in His kingdom as His co-kings.
In Rev. 1:9, John also said that he was a joint partaker in the endurance in Jesus. For both the tribulation and the kingdom we need endurance. Many saints, even among us in the Lord’s recovery, lack endurance. Some have suffered persecution from their relatives, friends, and neighbors, but eventually they exhausted their supply of endurance. While they were able to withstand the persecution for a certain time, they lacked the endurance to bear it for a longer time. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He endured persecution (Heb. 12:2-3), and He is still enduring men’s opposition and reproach today. Consider how much, even today, people oppose and mock the Lord Jesus. On the one hand, He is sitting in the heavens; on the other hand, He is still being mocked, opposed, and persecuted. Many of us might expect the Lord Jesus to say to His mockers, “Repent or I will send a great earthquake to destroy you.” The Lord Jesus has been mocked for nearly twenty centuries, but He has not fought back. Rather, He has continuously suffered all these attacks. Some may say, “Jesus, I hate You,” but there is no response from Him. This is the endurance of Jesus.
Not many of us have heard of the endurance of Jesus. We have heard of the power of Jesus, the love of Jesus, the holiness of Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus, but not of the endurance of Jesus. Nevertheless, as we live in Christ, we not only partake of His life and holiness, but also of His endurance. When we abide in Christ, we partake of His endurance and have the endurance to bear suffering and opposition. The Lord’s word is even called the word of endurance (Rev. 3:10). Today the whole world is opposing and rejecting Him, but He does not fight back. He simply endures it all. Now as we have fellowship with Him and abide in Him, we partake of His endurance. As His followers, we must follow Him on the same pathway with endurance (Heb. 12:1). In this way we also can endure persecution, rumors, rejection, and opposition. This is a strong proof that we are those who are waiting for the Lord’s coming back. As we wait for His coming back by being a joint partaker in His tribulation, kingdom, and endurance, we are being disciplined, trained, prepared, and qualified to be His fighting army. Are you waiting for the Lord Jesus to come back? If you are, then you also must be a joint partaker in His tribulation, kingdom, and endurance.
