Welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. This is study #33 of Revelation, chapter 1, and we are going to be reading Revelation 1:9-10:

I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

And I will stop reading there. We have been going through verse 9, looking at each phrase, and commenting as we go along. We are at the point where John, who is being moved by God to write these things, says that he is our "brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ."

Last time we looked at the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, and how each one who is saved by God are citizens of that kingdom and, at the point of salvation, we are granted entry into the kingdom of heaven. Yet, we still must wait for conclusion of all things, for God to destroy this world, and re-create a new heaven and new earth, in order for us to enter, in that sense, in our new resurrected body and soul (as one whole personality), and we must wait for God to bring that to pass.

But we have fellowship with all believers; we are partakers, yes, of the tribulation, of the hardships and the difficulties of living the Christian life, but we are also partakers with one another of the glories of the kingdom of heaven: the fact that we have a citizenship, that we have been chosen by God (based on nothing of ourselves, but only by His good pleasure, and according to His graciousness) to receive the kingdom of heaven. And God has given us the down payment, "the earnest" of that, with the Holy Spirit, and He will complete it. He will finish the thing that He has started in the lives of each one of His elect. We are greatly privileged and blessed to be a partaker of the kingdom of heaven.

Notice that John includes in this statement, as the Lord moves him further, that he is a "companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." And this is an interesting way that it is put: to be a "partaker" in the "patience of the Jesus Christ." You know, the Bible makes a statement in Luke 21, and this is a chapter in which the great tribulation and the end of the world, judgment day, is in view, and it says in Luke 21:17-19:

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls.

God is letting us know, and He is revealing to us, that in that time, in this time that we are living, in the time we have just lived through, the great tribulation, and now in these days after the tribulation there will be hatred toward the true believers; "hated of all men," for His name's sake. And, again, remember that the word of God, and Christ, and His name, are all synonymous statements, so if we are hated as a result of adhering closely to the word of God, that is the same as being hated for His name's sake.

But God is really stating, "Do not worry. Do not be anxious. Do not be troubled." That is why He says, "But there shall not an hair of your head perish." He is letting us know that no matter how many hate us, no matter who they are that despise us---whether it be the church, or the world, or a combination of both, or whether it be those that once stood side-by-side with us and, seemingly, in agreement, no matter who they, are or how many there are, "do not worry, because not a hair of your head is going to perish."

They cannot harm, in any sense, the elect people of God. Well, yes, people can do physical harm, and they can persecute and afflict while we are in this world, but can anyone take away our citizenship, our membership, in the kingdom of heaven? Can anyone remove us from that glorious inheritance that God has granted to His people? And the answer is, "No." No matter what kind of attack comes against the child of God, no matter what type of assault there is ,how intense, and for however long, they can never harm the child of God in any real way, because we have eternal life, and that can never be taken from us.

Remember what the Lord says in Romans 8:33-34:

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

And all sorts of people want to lay charges against the believers. "You are a heretic! You are a date setter!" "You are...this and you are....that." And they want to condemn us because we "do not have the true Gospel," and so on, just because things did not turn out exactly as we thought, and God brought a spiritual judgment rather than a physical judgment. All of a sudden, everyone quickly is turning against the true believers, and pointing the finger, and laying charges, and pronouncing their condemnations and their judgments: "You do not have the blessing of God. You do not have God's salvation. You do not have the true gospel."

Alright, you can say that, and you can condemn the child of God all you want, but remember what we read a while back in 1Corinthians 4:3:

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

It is "a very small thing" to experience man's judgment. It is a very small thing. It does not matter at all what man says and, believe me, God is not condemning the child of God. God is not condemning us because we believed His word, and we trusted Him, as we saw the Scriptures come together in an incredible way, and lock in the date of May 21, 2011. God is not condemning any true believer, because, out of love and great concern and a desire that others also hear that they might be saved, that we gave up a great many things, and we endured the scorn of the world and of the church, for a prolonged period of time, to share that message with the world. God is not the one condemning us for that!

I have full confidence, as I know all of God's people do. We do not sense the condemnation of God at all. As a matter of fact, I think God was well pleased, and remains well pleased, that His people did understand these things (remember, "the wise will understand, but none of the wicked will understand"), and did, to some degree, proclaim these things and gave of themselves; they "took up their cross" and they shared these things with the world. No. God is not the one condemning us because of that. The world is, because the world was furious that they had stop the way they were going for a while, and have the prospect of the judgment of God placed right before their eyes; they tried everything in their power and their might to avoid that.

Actually, when you get down to it, the whole undercurrent of world affairs is basically designed to avoid God, and to avoid the message of the Bible. And, so, man is occupied and busy "about a great many things" that are really of no importance at all, and the one important matter is his personal relationship with God, and he does not want to deal with that, except on his terms with his religion and his type of gospel, but not the Gospel of the Bible.

And, so, for a while, for the first time in history, God brought that message, the message of judgment day, to the forefront of the eyes of all in the world. All the nations heard, and they did not like it. So they rejoiced when *nothing* happened, and now they mock and despise. Well, that is the world's condemnation, the world that denies the word of God anyway, the world that mocks at the word of God anyway. They take the opportunity to rejoice and to feel as though they were victorious.

You know, there is an interesting verse in the Book of Job in Job 20:5:

That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

What is interesting about this is that there are several places in the Bible where God seems to liken judgment day---this present period of time we are in----to "a moment." For instance, it says in Isaiah 26:20-21:

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, JEHOVAH cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

So, there, God is indicating that the indignation will be for "a little moment." Also, in Psalm 73, and this is that wonderful Psalm where the child of God was envious at the foolish until, as it says in Psalm 73:17-19:

Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

Again, the end is joined together with that phrase, "a moment," and one other place I will look at in the Psalms, in Psalm 30:5:

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

So God's anger or wrath is but "a moment," and that is what Job 20, verse 5 is saying: "That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment." You see, God has laid a snare, we read in Luke 21, for all the inhabitants of the earth, Isaiah 24 tells us. And what is the snare? Well, He opened up information from His word, and the word locked it in; it confirmed it, as everything fit together so perfectly; God's people realized this has to be truth from the word of God, and so we dared to say, absolutely, judgment day would come on May 21, 2011.

And then the day came, and *nothing* happened, physically. We were wrong---we were incorrect about a great earthquake. But, spiritually, something did happen, just as in the garden of Eden when God had warned Adam and Eve that if they ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree, in that very day they would die; and then Adam and Eve did eat of the fruit of the tree, and then what happened? Well, *nothing*, physically, but they died spiritually. Yet God did not tell them that. God did not explain that. He did not go into detail when He stated that "in the day you eat, you will die." He never said, "You will die spiritually." It had to be known through other Scriptures in other places in the Bible: we read in Ephesians that mankind is "dead in trespasses and sins," and then we understand that God meant that they will die spiritually, but He did not say it.

Likewise, when we learned of judgment day, God held back, intentionally, in order to lay this trap and perfect snare for the world, and in order to bring about a perfect, severe trial and test for those that claimed to be His people; God held back the information that it would be a spiritual judgment, and allowed us to think, "Well, we will see events take place that will be of a physical nature."

And, yet, it was a spiritual judgment of the closing of the door of heaven; no one could ever see when that door was opened; and now that it is closed, no one can see that; just as when God judged the churches and removed the Holy Spirit; no one could ever see the Holy Spirit in the midst of the congregations when He was there; and no one could see the Holy Spirit leave, when He departed from them back in 1988, but He did. And the elect know that, through the word of God, through *seeing* with our understanding, as the Lord teaches us through His word, and confirms these things in the Bible.

And, so, the Lord set that trap of a spiritual judgment, an invisible judgment that no one could *see*. And, of course, the natural-minded people of the world, and the natural-minded people in the churches, and the natural-minded people that once stood side-by-side (with us) as we walked together, seemingly, in the same understanding that judgment day would be May 21, 2011---anyone with a natural mind that cannot see spiritual things---quickly concluded *nothing* happened and, therefore, it was all wrong, and the world rejoiced!

They rejoiced, and the atheist rejoiced, along with the professed Christian in the church. Hand-in-hand, the people of the world rejoiced; and God is letting us know here in Job 20:5, that the "triumphing of the wicked is short." Yes, they apparently have won, if you look at it with physical eyes, and you looked at things with the natural mind.

Yes, nothing happened, obviously, and the world won, and the church won. Did they not say, after all, that "no man knows the day or hour"? They stated that until they were *blue in the face*, "No man knows the day or the hour." Amazingly, incredibly, they were of one accord, and they spoke in unison, even though they have never done that with any other doctrine. It is an absolutely mind-boggling thing, that they had such clarity and such agreement that "no man knows the day or the hour."

And I do not know why that would give anyone comfort. That would almost have to let us know that they would have to be wrong, but the churches are almost never in agreement on anything, but only on this. Of course, we do not know it, based on their agreement, but we know from the Bible that they were wrong. God did reveal the day and hour of judgment, May 21, 2011, a day and hour that came and went, and no one even knew it. It was a judgment of God where He began to pour out His wrath, and He came "as a thief in the night," and the unsaved people of world were caught unaware (and have been caught ever since) and, yet, they believe they have triumphed, and they have great joy.

But God says the joy of the hypocrite is but for "a moment." Now think of that. Here, God likens "a moment" (we saw in a few verses) to judgment day. Why would He say that they are triumphing and the joy of the hypocrite is but for "a moment," or, but for the time period of judgment day? That does not make any sense, if judgment day is to be understood traditionally, with the coming of Christ and "every eye shall see him," and the world knows that it is all over now, and they are through. No one is thinking they are triumphing with that kind of scenario. No one of the unsaved masses would be thinking anything joyful, in that case.

But, in the case (in actuality) as God worked it out, only God could have arranged things so He brings the Day of Judgment, and the world thinks it is a triumph on their part, and the hypocrite is joyful when the Day of Judgment, that "moment," comes. It really is an incredible testimony to the word of God, how harmonious it is, that this verse fits together with everything we have been learning.

Well, let us go back to Luke 21:19:

In your patience possess ye your souls.

That is telling us that in our patience, we possess our souls, or that our salvation is to be found in our *patience*. The fate of our soul---whether we lose our soul, or our soul lives on---is linked to our patience. Oh, my, we never really understood how important patience is. Well, we have to be careful. God is not telling us that our souls are dependent upon the attribute of *patience*, even though that comes into play a little bit.

But, really, He is telling us, "In your patience possess ye your souls," and this is another way of saying that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is *patience*. Remember our verse in Revelation 1:9 says, "the patience of Jesus Christ."

Remember, God identifies Himself with many attributes: God is *love*. Christ is *faith*, and He is *wisdom*, He is *righteousness", He is *patience* Himself. He is the embodiment, the essence, of what *patience* is. And, so, in Him, we have our souls, or "in your patience possess ye your souls." In Christ our souls are possessed, and that is how we have to look at that.

We will discuss this idea of *patience* a little bit more, when we get together in our next Bible study.