Tribulation, Part 4
August 2, 2019
It has been a pleasure, thus far, to see the responses of readers
who’ve taken this series to heart – especially those who’ve been through a lot,
not really understanding what it is all about.
So many folks have been programmed with the religious mentality of the
so-called “Great Tribulation,” believing that it is something the Lord is going
to snatch them out of so they don’t have to suffer.
I’ve said it before, and I keep saying it. Most of the current doctrines regarding
Tribulation are based in The Fear of Death, which is demonic. Satan wants Christians to believe that any
suffering they experience is death-dealing, and that God – being a loving God –
would NEVER allow them to suffer.
Is there tribulation? Is there
affliction? Is there trials and
persecution?
Absitively, Posilutely! [And no,
my tang is not tongled up! Grin!]
We
finished our last discussion talking about how God is giving President Trump
victory after victory after victory in the face of enormous opposition, attack
and an onslaught of persecution the likes of which no President in U.S. history
has ever had to go through. It is my
honest conviction that all of the accusations and persistent attacks are
already backfiring and are going to see the socialist leftists go down to one
of the greatest defeats ever seen in this country in the next election
cycle. Just watch!
OK. Let’s take a look at another aspect of
tribulation and why it is so much a part of our lives and the economy of the
Kingdom of God, and what it produces in us.
II Corinthians 1:3-6: Blessed be
God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the
God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our
tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any
trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation
also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be
afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual
in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be
comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
Paul
is making it clear to us that the endurance of the sufferings produces the
ability to comfort those with whom we have contact and fellowship, who are,
themselves, in the same trials and afflictions.
This is because the Lord comforts us in the midst of our pressures and
troubles, and that comfort is very real!
It is a comfort that produces a peace and a rest in our spirits such
that, even in the midst of physical pain or misery, we are able to rejoice,
knowing that there is an end to it.
Paul
continues his same discourse in his second letter to the Ekklesia in Corinth.
II Corinthians 1:7-11: And
our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as
ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the
consolation.
For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble
which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength,
insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in
ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in
whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; Ye also helping together by
prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many
persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
You
see the context, don’t you, of the situation in which Paul is writing
this? He admits to even coming to a
place of emotional despair, knowing that he may very well not survive the
situation he is in at the time. Paul and
his company of believers had reached a physical, emotional and mental breaking
point, being under the sentence of death by his persecutors.
Nonetheless,
he was able to say, ...we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead...
THAT, folks, is the kind of faith that develops in us
when we are at our very end and the Lord delivers us!
I
don’t need to repeat all the stories I’ve shared with you over the months and
years of all the times I faced death in auto accidents, being on fire, having
would-be assassins attempt to take me out with sniper fire, and the Lord
delivered me. And that only scratches
the surface! That deliverance produced a
boldness and a fearlessness for which there is no adequate description. I have a trust in the Lord that knows no
bounds!
Those
experiences have no doubt contributed to the revelation I’ve shared with you of
the end of the curse of death, and the fact that Jesus took our appointment
with death upon Himself and canceled our appointment.
And
Paul’s stories of comfort in the midst of trial and tribulation continue:
II Corinthians 7:4-7: Great
is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you:
I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
5For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest,
but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings,
within were fears.
Nevertheless God, that comforteth
those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus; And not by his
coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he
told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so
that I rejoiced the more.
Notice
how Paul expresses himself. He is not
exceeding joyful for the tribulation: he is joyful in the midst of it! None of us are happy to be in the midst of
the Valley of the Shadow of Death. None
of us are happy or joyful to be experiencing the pressures and afflictions we
are going through. But we can
be joyful in the midst of it.
Joy
is a whole lot different than happiness.
Happiness is a state of mind. Joy
is a state of our spirits, and that is a state that produces that “peace that
passes understanding” and a rest that allows to to
press forward — no matter what the circumstances.
Consider
now what Paul writes to the Ekklesia in Thessalonica.
I Thessalonians 3:4-10: For verily, when we
were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it
came to pass, and ye know. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I
sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you,
and our labour be in vain.
But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us
good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance
of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you:
Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and
distress by your faith:
For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks
can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your
sakes before our God; Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see
your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?
Two
more things are described here that develop in the midst of tribulation: Faith
and Love (Charity). Paul was keenly
aware of the fact that tribulation, testing, trials, afflictions — the
crucible, if you will — produces faith and a depth of love that no other
testing process can produce. Our faith
in the Lord grows by leaps and bounds because of what we experience in the midst
of these afflictions. Our love for the
Lord — and consequently, our ability to show love to those who seem not to
deserve it — grows exponentially.
This
is key to what the Lord is out to develop in us. Let’s not forget that Jesus — our Bridegroom
— is coming to receive for Himself a Bride who is His true Counterpart, His
“Other Self” — someone who is just like Him.
That means that we have to have and demonstrate the kind of love that
Jesus showed to us and continues to shower us with. That means that we have to have qualitative
faith — the kind of faith that moves mountains, heals the sick, raises the
dead, performs miracles without a second thought, casts out demons and
exercises His authority in the midst of every situation!
The
Lord evelops all of that in those who will overcome,
those who will conquer every obstacle, listening to Him when He speaks and
doing exactly what He says — not what our natural minds tell us to do.
Remember
what David wrote in Psalm 23 — and we’ve already talked about it today — “He
prepareth a table before me in the presence of mine enemies”? Look at what Paul writes in his second letter
to the Ekklesia in Thessalonica.
II Thessalonians 1:3-10: We
are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that
your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of
every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves
glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your
persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
Which is a manifest token of the
righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God,
for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to
recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ:
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to
be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because
our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
You
see the continuing accent on the faith and love that are produced in the midst
of trials and afflictions! Paul now
makes clear the fact that there is a day in store for those who have troubled
us — a day when God will “recompense judgment” with destruction, and return
tribulation upon all those who don’t know the Lord, who don’t obey the Word of
the Lord! You think God doesn’t see what
the Enemy is trying to do? You think God
is going to let the Enemy torment and afflict the righteous and not return His
vengeance on those who have participated in bringing us tribulation?
Take a look at a prophecy from Isaiah.
Isaiah 59:16-21: And he saw that there
was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore
his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a
breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the
garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury
to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay
recompense. So shall they
fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the
sun.
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the
LORD shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and
unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD;
My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth,
shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of
the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and forever.
Does
that look in any way as though the Lord will not execute judgment on those
enemies who attack and persecute His people?
The attacks are going to come.
The persecution is going to come.
David
describes it like this.
Psalm 34:15-22: The eyes of the LORD are
upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the LORD is against them
that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the LORD
heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
The
LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is
broken.
Evil
shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants:
and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
Are you seeing the
theme? It repeats hundreds and hundreds
of times in the Word. “Many are the
afflictions of the righteous….”
Do you see all the
different terms to describe tribulation?
Start counting. You’ll run out of
time!
“The
righteous cry…”
“…a broken heart…”
“..afflictions of the righteous..”
“…all their troubles…”
“..persecutions and tribulation..”
“..afflictions and distress…”
“..the tempter have tempted you…”
“..without were fightings, within were
fears..”
“…all your mourning..”
Got
it? “In the world, you
shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
I
will try to wrap up this series next week and move on to a different discussion
on Covenant.
In case you are
missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday
worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:30AM
Pacific. That conference number is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#. We are now making these gatherings
available on video using ZOOM. If you wish
to participate by video on ZOOM, our login ID is 835-926-513. If you miss the live voice-only call, you can
dial (712) 770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in
later. The video call, of course, is not
recorded – not yet, anyway.
Blessings
on you!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504
Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com
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