THE WORD OF MY PATIENCE

Andrew Burr

Revelation 1: 1-3; 3: 8-11; 1 Corinthians 4: 5

We spoke in the reading about the way the Lord presents what He did in John 13 as having a special blessing connected with it (see v.17): and now we have a whole book with a blessing. It says here, “Blessed is he that reads”. It does not say blessed he that understands, but he that keeps it. The Revelation is a magnificent book. I do not suppose anybody could read it without being impressed by it: even the unbeliever would be impressed, I think, by the book. He might dismiss it as a dream. He might not understand that it is a revelation. It has come to us in a very remarkable way. It was given by God to Jesus Christ, to His angel, to His bondman, and so to us. We can trace what we have in this book to God Himself. It is not easy to understand. I do not suppose there are many people – or have ever been many people – who really understand it. But it is much easier to get some impression from it about what God had in His mind from the beginning. The Lord says first that the things “are shortly to take place”. And then he says, “the time is near”. It is not only that the time is soon but also the time is near. I think He uses that word because he wants us to understand how this book helps us now. This book is not just written to tell us what is going to happen. We might say it could have been much clearer if that was what it was about. I suppose men and women are always very curious about what is going to happen. One of the big differences between God and His creature is that He knows what is going to happen next and we do not. But men and women would very much like to know what is going to happen. Of course, the reason they want to know is so that they can change what is going to happen. So the Lord says that if the man had known that thieves were going to dig through into his house, he would not have gone to sleep (see Matt 23: 43). I think it is also true, beloved, that if we knew everything that was going to happen, we would be overwhelmed. If we look back over even our own lives and think of some of the things that have happened, perhaps we might say it is just as well that we did not know that that was going to happen. God gave us grace for it when it happened, but it would have been very difficult to face things if we had known that certain things were going to happen.

This book is not history written in advance in detail, but it tells us something about the God whose revelation it is. It tells us, first of all and simply, that He is in complete control. If we look at this book and see in it an account of things that are about to take place, we might ask who is able to write a book like that? This is not just a forecast. The Person who has given this revelation knows what is going to happen; and He must be Someone who is in complete control. If He did not have complete control, He could not say that this is going to happen, because somebody else could stop it happening, or make something else happen. It is very comforting to us in our weakness that we have God who is in complete control. The world is in fear at the present time. There is a war on. Those who are fighting the war do not know if they will succeed: they hope they will but they do not know; and they do not know what will happen afterwards. The nations say that the peace is sometimes harder to win than the war. And what other problems might this war cause? What other hidden evils might come to the surface? I heard of one who was so afraid about his personal safety that he was worried about coming to work. People said he is worrying too much, but they did not say they were not worrying at all. The believer, beloved, knows he is sheltered by the hand of a God who is in complete control.

Another feature of His control is that He governs the time at which anything is going to happen. He is able to decide exactly what will happen when. He does not have to wait until He is presented with an opportunity to do something. He can choose the time at which He does anything. He says these things “must shortly take place”. You may say they have not, but they could have; and it is His decision that they have not. He has chosen the moment at which everything spoken about in this book is going to happen. And that is another lesson in this book. I think it is a very interesting study how the time of things is prominent in this book. God begins to unfold the events in this book, and we might say, Now You have started, You had better get it over. No God says, We will do this – and then We will wait; and We will do this. You do not get the impression from this book that God is in a hurry, or – as we say – that He is at the mercy of events. There is a very solemn moment in this book when there is silence in heaven for half an hour (see Rev 8: 1). I think heaven recognises that God is able to choose His time. It is not exactly that heaven keeps God waiting, but that solemn, silent, half an hour is recognition that God is completely in control. Then there is the very solemn word later on, that “there should be no longer delay”, Rev 10: 6. The judgment is about to fall, the world’s moment has come, and yet judgment unfolds in stages; first one thing and then another comes under God’s judgment. As I say, you do not need to understand the pictures in this book; you do not need to interpret it. There is a word here for the simplest, that we have to do with a God who has everything in His hands. Then let us remember that what He has told us about the things that are going to happen are things we need to know now. It is not as if we will take this book to heaven with us and then in the time of judgment be able to look up what is going to happen next. But He has given us a certain outline of what is going to happen because we need that outline now; and we need it so that we can learn about the way that God deals with things. After all, it is the way He deals with us. It is also so that we should have confidence in God. The Lord Jesus says to His own, “Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God”, John 14: 1. Beloved, I say to myself, what does my belief actually do for me? It gives me peace about the day of judgment; it has given me faith in the death of Christ and His precious blood; and it has given me a hope and prospect for the future. It has taken away from me the fear of death. Well then, God says, why do you not trust me more about your life? Why when there are things that I bring into your life do you keep forgetting Me? Why do you keep doing things as if I could not help you? You almost seem to behave sometimes as if I was not here. And to attract me, to bring Him in, He has given me this book and promised me a blessing from keeping it.

I read in chapter 3 because there is an interesting contrast in what the Lord says. I was thinking especially of verse 10; the Lord refers to an hour of trial. It is about to come He says, upon the whole habitable world. There will not be a nation on earth that escapes this hour of trial. No one is going to get caught up in this by accident. The hour of trial is to try them that dwell upon the earth. It is quite deliberate on God’s part. It is before the judgment itself. It will be a time of terrible trouble. It will be especially so for Israel, but this is not limited to Israel – it is the whole world. The scripture speaks about Jacob’s trouble (see Jer. 30: 7), because Israel was in a special relationship with God and did not recognise His Son. They chose that a man that was a murderer should be granted to them (see Acts 3: 14). God says, if that is your choice, I cannot own you. And so, when trouble falls on the world, Israel suffers especially. But the whole world made that choice. People worry about terrorists and so on who are hiding in our communities. We do not know who they are and we do not know where to find them. The world has asked that a man who was a murderer should be granted to them. He is out there and he makes the world afraid, but the world does not repent of its choice and turn to the Man who it crucified.

So there is to be an hour of trial for the world. It is very interesting that it is an hour. It does not exactly say that this is going on indefinitely. It is very wonderful in relation to Israel that at the very point where the trouble gets unbearable, when even the remnant wonders who will be saved, and they must think they cannot go on a day longer; in that very day the heavens light up like lightning and the Lord they crucified appears as their Saviour. That is not an emergency for God; the moment of the Lord’s intervention for His earthly people is already a decided matter. They do not understand that, because they do not understand the prophecy that refers to Him coming as a lowly Servant; but their unbelief does not change God. He has not re-written His timetable because Israel has not believed. As it happens, it is at the moment of their worst extremity that the Messiah they are looking for appears. What a solemn thing this is that although the world seems easy about its attitude to the future, I have not detected any turning to God after the outrages of recent times. The world goes on to trial and judgment. Beloved, let me say this with complete certainty to every believer – you will not be there. You say, Why will that be? Because the Lord loves you. The world may not know that the Lord loves you, but in that day it will know. It might then say, Why is so-and-so not here? The Lord loved them. It says here, “shall know that I have loved thee”. Of course, it is not that the believer only finds out then that the Lord loves him. I trust everybody here understands that the Lord loves them. I say for myself that I do not know how much He loves me. I would like to, but I am sure He loves me. He does not say that they will know how much I love you: so whatever you may feel as to measure, think of that fact. One thing I know – Jesus loves me. And one of the consequences of that is that all this trouble that I have spoken of will not involve you. The One who is in complete control is also entitled to make promises. You see, I might make a promise – for example to my daughter – and then something may come in and I might not be able to keep it. It was not that I did not mean to, but I was unable to. But the One who has made this promise is the One who is in complete control: “I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial”.

While that is true, there is another trial, and it is the trial we pass through in the present day. It is not for long. It might be over today. We have to keep the word of His patience. Perhaps I am not so good at this as others, but that is a real trial. To have my patience tested is a great trial. I am not suggesting that it is anything like the trouble that the world is going to be in, but I just want to bring out this, that the present time is a day in which we are under test, and it is extended for that reason. The thief on the cross was quite expressly excused this. He spoke to the Lord about the coming day and the kingdom, and the Lord said to him – Today. You see, there is no waiting, there was no thought of patience on the part of the thief. He was promised something today. Well, we know that not everything happens today and we have to wait. The Lord Jesus says here, “thou hast kept the word of my patience”.

I would like to say a simple word in the light of what I have said about the word of His patience. The patience of Jesus was not something that was seen only in big tests, but it marked the whole of His life. I think it is right to say as to Jesus that He had a will of His own. In the garden, He speaks of “my will” (Luke 22: 42), but He did not assert it. I might say, if I want to what is right, is that not all right? But that is not the word of His patience. He waited day by day on God for what He should do. It has been remarked that, when there was nothing from the Father for Him to do, He went to sleep. He was Somebody who was willing at every turn on every day to wait for the will of Another. I might speak of the time when Lazarus was ill. It is very beautiful from the sisters’ point of view. Jesus had disappeared from the public eye, but the sisters knew where to find Him. I trust we all know where we could find Him. They sent Him a message – “He whom thou lovest is sick”, John 11: 3. There is no need to give his name. I wonder something about how we pray; our prayers may be just a list of names, and really from the Lord’s point of view it not necessarily required to give the names. Of course, the Lord likes us to mention one another’s names. It might have been said to the sisters, That does not make things very clear, because the Lord will say, Which of many are you referring to? No, the sisters knew that the Lord would know exactly who they meant. And they appeal to His love. I trust we had an impression of His love in the reading, and as we have noticed in Revelation 3, He speaks of His love to Philadelphia. We might have said, the message to the Lord, appealing to His love, will be enough to make Him act. Surely, I only have to touch the Lord’s heart and He will do something? Well, the messengers came back, and the sisters might have said – What did He say? He did not say anything. Did He say He would come? – No. Do you think He is coming? – We do not know. The Lord waited: He waited for a word from the Father. We know that His deep feelings were stirred by this illness. He knew that by the time He arrived Lazarus would be in the grave, and that the one He loved would stink. It might have been said, Lord here is an occasion surely when you ought to hurry. No, He says, this is for the glory of God. He says that He did not come for His own glory but the glory of Him that sent Him (see John 8: 50). Even His deepest, firmest feelings for me give way to the will of God. We may think that on many other occasions the Lord’s actions seems to be spontaneous, and immediate, but the fact is that there was no act that was not fully in accord with the present mind of God, understood by His communion with the Father. I believe, we would say that it was only in that spirit that the Lord Jesus was prepared for what the cross and the grave were going to mean. We cannot imagine someone like us, who has become accustomed to doing our own will, submitting so fully and freely to the will of God in that extreme hour. Many of us would have said, “Let this cup pass from me” – but who of us could have said in that same breath, “But not as I will, but as thou wilt”, Matt 26: 39? What a thing, beloved, the patience of the Christ is. He does not ask us to pass through the depths through which He has gone: He speaks of the word of His patience. It is as if He would teach us – do it this way. Beloved, we can taken account of the brethren in this local meeting in Bethany and they were doing things this way.

I just conclude with a word that brings in what I have read in Corinthians. The Lord present Himself throughout Scripture as the Coming One. He says, “I come quickly”. Notice, not soon but quickly. So that He is never far away. He presents Himself in these addresses to the assemblies as the One who is coming. That would give some of them something to worry about. Take for example Sardis: He says I am coming as a thief. He treats the professing church as if it is like the world. He is going to come upon the world like a thief. In other words, the world will be caught unawares. What a sorrow it is that the profession will not be ready either. He also says to Philadelphia, “I come quickly”. It impresses me especially that He presents Himself to Laodicea as having come. He does not say, I am coming to Laodicea but, “I stand at the door”, Rev 3: 20. Everything seems to have failed in Laodicea – what is going to be done? It seems as if everything has gone to ruin and the love of the many has grown cold (see Matt 24: 12). The Lord says, I am right here at the door. I trust we feel this, that the more difficult and acute things seem to be the nearer the Lord really is. If one was in Laodicea, one might say, If you are here, Lord, you deal with this. I would want to be faithful in the absence of Christ; I would want to do what I could, but here is something with which the Lord only is able to deal. The Lord knows what is too much for us, and here He knocks at the door. The Laodiceans were not going to give Him much of a welcome, but He had come with everything they needed. There was been so much failure that we might think we can enjoy only a little of what is left from the beginning, but the Lord says to the overcomer, You sit on the throne! How wonderful that is. So, Paul says in Corinthians, do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord shall come. This brings together some of the things I have said. He refers there to the Lord, the One who is in control and he speaks of Him as One who is in control especially of the time. He sees not only what is right but He sees what is wrong; especially He sees things that are hidden. It is not possible for us to deal with anything if something is hidden: if we could see it, it might change our whole view of the matter, and of course we do not know if something is hidden or not. But the Lord knows. In the day He chooses to judge any matter, then the secret and open things will be dealt with together. One might say, Well I never realised that was part of this matter. But the Lord has dealt with it; and is it not wonderful, beloved, that He will manifest the counsels of hearts; I do not think that is simply to expose people who have been acting bad motives. I think the Lord is very careful to credit people who have approached any matter relating to His interests with right desire. He will make that obvious and then He will distribute the rewards. Could you think of the greatest reward you could have? Could anyone think of a greater reward than praise from God? That is the reward that Jesus Himself has received; and He promises it, beloved, to those who wait for His time.

Beloved I trust that these Scriptures will be a blessing to us; that they will serve to renew our confidence in the God we know; and bring to our spirits a sense of rest about all His interests here. The world is very occupied with itself. It is really insignificant to God. The nations, it says, are like dust in the scales (see Isa 40: 15). That is, they do not affect the weight at all. God’s chief interest on earth is His saints, and anything that affects them is of even greater interest to Him than the whole course of politics in this world. He has been pleased to make our needs His chief interest. Peter refers to the mighty hand of God. He says, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God … cast all your care upon him, for he cares about you”, 1 Peter 5: 6. I trust that we might seek an opportunity to prove this. I was going to say, choose a matter and bring it to Him, and learn from God how great and wonderful He is. May He bless the Word.

Bad Endbach

March 2003