ENDURANCE
[p. 180] ENDURANCE
I have read this verse, dear brethren, having in mind the pressure and strain that is upon the people of God universally. Indeed, there has always been more or less pressure upon the people of God, but it is certainly so in a special way at the present time; therefore it is most important for us to understand what is the purpose of God in allowing such a state of things.
I believe the secret comes out in the verse I have read, and in other verses that I may read, my thought being mainly to bring several scriptures before us, rather than to say much about them. We find here that blessedness is attached to the thought of endurance, “Behold, we call them blessed who have endured”. We may be sure that is not the judgment of nature, but it is nevertheless a true judgment. It is true, in the first place, because those who have endured have exhibited a certain very precious feature of Christ. Nothing could be more attractive to us as born of God than that we should have opportunity to display features of Christ. Indeed, it is the only thing worth living for, or, if need be, worth dying for. One great feature which God is seeking to develop at the present moment is this feature of endurance.
Let us turn to 2 Thessalonians 3: 5: “But the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of the Christ”. It is very striking that these two things should be put together, as the two things the Lord is especially engaged in directing our hearts into. Being directed into the love of God sets us in the most happy relations with Him. There is really nothing greater; there is nothing greater or better in eternity. But the same One who directs us into the love of God directs us also into the patience or endurance of the Christ, and that furnishes us with divine capability to stand in the presence of everything that is adverse, and divine [p. 181] power comes out in that way. It is the peculiar feature that divine power takes on at the present time; it gives capacity in the saints for endurance.
Let us read Colossians 1: 11: “Strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory unto all endurance and long-suffering with joy”. We are apt to think of power as displayed in some wonderful exploit; but it works to bring out this beautiful feature that was seen so perfectly in Christ Himself.
Another verse says “Looking stedfastly on Jesus the leader and completer of faith: who, in view of the joy lying before him, endured the cross, having despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider well him who endured so great contradiction from sinners against himself, that ye be not weary, fainting in your minds” (Hebrews 12: 2, 3). We are to consider well that blessed One, who was marked all through His pathway here, and particularly at the end of it, by endurance. It was especially so at the cross, which was the extreme limit of it. There was ability to endure, and if it had not been so, it would have been woe for us! There was the copper there of which the altar was made; there was capacity to endure the utmost testing. In answer to it Christ has taken up His place at the right hand of the throne of God, and He now has the assembly as the first-fruits of His endurance of suffering.
It is very suitable that His saints should take on this feature too. If we cannot, we are of little value. It has been evidenced all down the ages. James refers to Job who was one of the earliest saints. He does not mention his sayings, but he speaks of his endurance. It was a feature of Christ coming out in that ancient saint and it justified the ways of God with him. All our pressure will eventually be seen to have qualified us for the end which the Lord had in view for each one of us.
We often speak of reigning with Christ, but do we think of it as a great reality? Think of the great dignity attached to [p. 182] it! I believe we should behave ourselves wonderfully if we thought we were going to reign with Christ. If we understood it we should want to qualify for it. The condition is, “If we endure, we shall also reign together” (2 Timothy 2: 12). This is the end of the Lord.
Meanwhile there is tender compassion and pitifulness in the Lord. He feels for His saints when they are under pressure; He enters into all that it means for them, but He greatly values their endurance in it. This feature is very attractive to the Lord; one wonders whether we take in the attractiveness of the assembly to Christ as having it. Of Philadelphia, which is the brightest spot in the assemblies under the Lord’s eye, He says, “Thou hast kept the word of my patience” (Revelation 3: 10). That is, the assembly cherishes the testimony of Christ’s endurance, and carries it on. This does not lie in what we say, but in the expression of the thing itself in answer to it.
The Lord says, “I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial”. We are qualified to be kept out of the coming time of trial by keeping the word of His patience. So if reproach comes, the saints endure it; if actual suffering comes, they endure it. I believe this feature is being developed in secret at the present time; it does not appear publicly, but the Lord values it.
He will value it also in the saints that follow up in a later day. “Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints” (Revelation 13: 10). How He values this feature of Himself in His saints. His bride will be developed by it. Pressure works to bring this about (see Romans 5: 3). If we know little of it, we cannot look to be great in the reigning time. But those who pass through severe pressure in true exercise of heart with God, and so are developed in endurance, will shine there.
Endurance came out in Christ here in presence of the contradiction of sinners, and we are to ponder it. “Consider well him”, or ‘weigh so as to judge its value’, as the marginal note gives it. Now, have we given ourselves to consider [p. 183] seriously and affectionately the endurance of Christ? There is opportunity to do so in this present time of pressure just preceding our translation. Nothing more rejoices the heart of Christ than that this feature should come out in the members of His body. May God encourage our hearts to take it up!