“I John, your brother and partaker with you in the
tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus . . .” Revelation 1:9
In Revelation 6:10 we hear the cry “How long?” Those who
utter this plaint are finding it difficult to exercise patience any more. They
cry for vengeance, for the execution of judgment. Surely if impatience is
justified in any, it is justified in the dead saints rather than the living, for
they have waited so much longer. Even so, they are told that the time of
patience has not yet expired.
It is significant that John calls himself a partaker in
the patience of Jesus at the outset of a book which deals so much with
judgment. As seen as judgment is carried out, there will be no mere need for
patience. John, about to write on the subject of judgment, declares that he is
still living in the realm of patience. When God pours out his wrath upon the
earth, then the time of patience will be over. Meanwhile, he calls upon his
people to share with him in it.
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