“I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and testimony of Jesus.”
– Revelation 1:9
Oh, Revelation is one of my favorite books in the Bible. Just fixing our eyes from the first to the last chapter on Jesus, that’s what this book is about. It’s the revelation of Jesus Christ, it’s the way Verse 1 starts in the very beginning of the chapter, it’s revealing to us who Jesus is and specifically focusing our hearts on him in anticipation of the coming of his kingdom and the consummation of God’s kingdom on the earth and the new heaven and new earth ultimately.
Revelation 1:9 Reminds Us of Persecution
And so we come to Revelation 1:9, when John is telling us that he’s writing from an island called Patmos and he is there exiled, why? On account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, because he has testified to the gospel, because he has proclaimed God’s word, he has been exiled. He’s been persecuted. He says, “I am your brother,” this picture of the family relationship we share as followers of Jesus, we are brothers and sisters and your partner in the tribulation. So this is another picture of followers of Jesus. We are partners together in trial and tribulation and hardship in this world, and we are partners in the kingdom.
This Verse Reminds Us We Follow Everlasting King
Oh, what a picture, we’re fellow citizens of an eternal kingdom. We’re followers of an everlasting king. And then he says, “I am your partner in the patient endurance that is in Jesus,” and this is one of my favorite phrases in the Book of Revelation, patient endurance. And I want to highlight that phrase in particular and pray it over us today because I know there are people listening to this right now walking through a variety of kinds of trials and tribulations in different ways in our lives and we’re praying this month for our brothers and sisters, partners in tribulation in Afghanistan who are walking through things, far beyond what most of us could imagine and yet God has called us to endure these trials and tribulations with patience and that is not easy.
It wasn’t easy for John on the island of Patmos, exiled, and it’s not easy for you right now, for me, for any one of us as we walk through trials. We want them to end, soon, and yet God is calling each of us to patient endurance, in the middle of them, to endure with faith, with trust, that God is working and that one day his kingdom will come, his will be done on Earth as it is in heaven so we can walk through trials with patient endurance and hope of his kingdom as brothers and sisters in Christ and partners together. Citizens of a kingdom that will have no end.
Revelation 1:9 Gives Us Patiently Endurance
So God, I pray this over every single one of us who is walking through some sort of trial right now, in life, in family, in work, in church, in the world, where we find ourselves hurting and we find ourselves struggling and we find ourselves wounded. God, we pray for patient endurance. God, I pray those words over every single person listening right now, that you would give them patient endurance. You would help them to patiently trust you and by your grace that you would guard their faith, help them to endure. Not only endure, but to grow in faith during these days. To draw closer to you, even right now, for them, for us, to know that you are with us and that your word is good.
Here to help us to be faithful to testify to you in the middle of the trial, just as John was doing in Revelation 1:9, as we long together for the coming of your kingdom, as we long together, as brothers and sisters, as your sons and daughters, for the day when we will see your face in a new heaven, a new Earth, and justice and righteousness will reign on the Earth and peace and joy that will never, ever, ever end.
This Leads Us to Ask Jesus to Come Quickly
Oh Lord Jesus, come quickly. Bring it about. We long to see you, revealed in all your glory. We pray that until that day, today, you would help us to patiently endure whatever we are walking through. God, as we pray this for each other, we do, we pray this for our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan. We pray that you would help them to endure through all sorts of challenges. Not just in their faith, but when it comes to the conditions around them. Economically, education, so many physical needs.
God, we pray that you would help our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan to patiently endure. Lord, help us to see you. Help us to draw closer to you during these days. Help us to point more and more people to you amidst those conditions. We pray that more and more people in Afghanistan would find their greatest need met in you, Jesus. They would see you revealed to them. God, we pray all of this according to your word in Revelation 1:9. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
