Thinking in 3’s - Revelation 2:9 - Opposition

Thinking in 3’s - Revelation 2:9 - Opposition

I wish all of our “3’s” could be uplifting. But I could wish for a whole lot of things, and so could you. But life, like cherries, is full of pits. This one has 3: tribulation; poverty; and slander.

Tribulation is a general word. It can come in a lot of shapes and sizes. The Greek word usually behind our word “tribulation” speaks of a narrowness, as though we are being squeezed. We have the familiar phrase, “between a rock and a hard place.” That is a description of someone experiencing narrowness, or tribulation.

Christians are squeezed when they experience a restriction of religious liberty. The Christians of the first century lived in a time of widespread religious liberty, as long as you were willing to accept the presence of many gods. But just as soon as you say, “No, there is only One,” as did Christians, then your right to express your faith was not tolerated by the Empire.

In fact, there is a strong, political strand to their tribulation. Throughout the Empire, people were expected to say, “Caesar is Lord.” They could believe in a hundred gods, but they needed to say “Caesar is Lord.” But Christians say, “Jesus is Lord.” And when one means by “Lord” one ultimate authority, well, there can only be One Ultimate Authority. And Caesar is not it; Jesus is. And so, tribulation.

One of the most effective ways that government has for exercising control over peoples’ actions is through the economy, whether the levying of penalties and fines, or restricting permits to operate, or just not permitting certain ones to work at all. Thus, poverty is experienced by Christians in this environment. They are being squeezed in ways that hurt on a very practical level.

The third affliction is slander. The slander does not have to come from the government. Slander may come from other religious people whose religion is not exclusive. This would include those who say they are Christian, but deny that Jesus is the only Way of salvation. Their slander of Christians may be partly an attempt to place themselves in another category - to separate “acceptable” religion from that “narrow” religion of Bible-believing Christians.

In America, we have a heritage of religious liberty. We fear that those liberties are in some danger in the days ahead. But let’s be clear, that we have experienced nothing like what Christians of the first century experienced. But I do believe that thinking a bit carefully about this list of three will help us to value what we have, to be on guard against encroachment on our liberties, and to prepare ourselves for when it happens.

John, our Bible writer, includes a helpful reminder in the middle of our verse. When he mentions their poverty, he adds in parentheses: “but you are rich.” And he’s right. We have spiritual riches that the government cannot take away. In addition, we have a “broad place” that cannot be squeezed. Oh yes, we can be squeezed here and now. But we have a broad place prepared for us forever in God’s future. And there will come a day when no one will speak against us, but every day God will speak in our favor. We must remember that tribulation, though real, is described as “this light, momentary affliction.”