Who Is Happy About Tribulation?

Who glories in tribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More? Most of us would run miles to escape it; however, if we know the graceTo the one who earns something through performance, the reward is not according to grace but according to debt (Rom. 4:4). Grace is a favor that is not given by... More in which we stand, if the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given to us, and if we know the end to be secured by the tribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More, we shall glory in it. The One who loves us has supreme control of all things; and since that is so, what then? Well, we reason, if He permits tribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More it must be for our good and blessingA blessing is something good, in the Old Testament, usually associated with possessions, prosperity, and health, and is usually pronounced over someone. In principle, the lesser is blessed by the... More and because of what is to come. Therefore, we will go through it with Him.

R.C. Trench in his "Study of Words" has a very interesting explanation of the word tribulation. He says, "The word is derived from the Latin tribulum, which was the threshing instrument or roller whereby the farmer separated the corn from the husks; and the tribulatio in its primary significance was the act of separation. But some Latin writer of the Christian church appropriated the word and image for the setting forth of a higher truth; sorrow, distress, and adversity being the appointed means for separating in men of whatever in them is light, trivial, and poor from the solid and the true; the chaff from the wheat."

No figure could be more striking and nothing could be more encouraging for us than the thought that tribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More is to get rid of the chaff that is in us that the wheat may remain. It is evidently necessary, and we need not fear. We shall not be the losers in any way for we are assured that if we are in God’s hands, "yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth" (Amos 9:9).

TribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More tests the metal of the soul, it does more, it tempers it, as steel is tempered, and it worksAnother word for deeds or actions. God's works are perfect (Gen 1:31), men's can be good works (Matt 5:16) or dead (Heb 6:1). On the basis of his works, unbelieving... More endurance in us, and "Blessed is the man that endures temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him" (James 1:12).

TribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More worksAnother word for deeds or actions. God's works are perfect (Gen 1:31), men's can be good works (Matt 5:16) or dead (Heb 6:1). On the basis of his works, unbelieving... More patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. As we endure in tribulation we come to an experimental knowledge of ourselves, and of God’s way with us, and in subjection to His holy will we have the compensating grace that He pours into our souls. Moreover, we begin to see the end He has in view. We are not like Job was, since he went through his tribulation without knowing the "why" of it; but we, who have heard of his patience, have also seen the end of the Lord. He has not kept us in ignorance as to our destiny. He has predestined us to be "conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the First-born among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).

TribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More purges the soul from earthly-mindedness; and unseen, eternal things become more real to us; hope becomes strong. Our hope will not disappoint us, for we know the love that has promised and prepared the glory yet to come. We are assured of this by the indwelling Spirit, who is the EarnestAn earnest is a kind of down payment that someone makes in order actually to become the owner of something later. One such "pledge" is the Holy Spirit (2 Cor... More of the glory, and who makes the love of God real to us now in tribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More.

Hope lies behind this rejoicing in tribulation: the ultimate, the goal, becomes great before our eyes and we measure the immediate in the light of it. It was this that Paul meant when he wrote, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worksAnother word for deeds or actions. God's works are perfect (Gen 1:31), men's can be good works (Matt 5:16) or dead (Heb 6:1). On the basis of his works, unbelieving... More for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). If the hope that faith awakens in the heart was not in a man he could not rejoice in tribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More; to be in tribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More without hope would be a miserable experience. Faith and hope and love go together and they grow and develop in the soul as we go through tribulationIn the Bible, tribulation stands for oppression and persecution, such as the first Christians had to go through (2 Thes 1:4) and in particular the earthly people of God, Israel,... More with God.

This hope that makes not ashamed and carries the Christian triumphantly through all his tribulation is not like the "hope that springs eternal in the human breast" and that withers and perishes at the breath of death; it is directed towards God and His Word, it is sure and certain, with a sure anchorage. The word has taken on the meaning of uncertainty in human language, for as likely as not, the best hopes in this life end in disappointment. But the Christian hope is something guaranteed to him by the immutable Word of God, which he does not yet possess. He is a child of God, an heir of God, and a joint heir with ChristA title of the Lord Jesus, which is also used as an epithet; Messiah (Hebrew) and Christ (Greek) mean "anointed one". The title refers to the fact that Jesus is... More Jesus, and the heirs must come into the inheritance; meanwhile, he knows that all things – every stroke of the tribulum – work together in God’s ways with him for good. Just as surely as he will be conformed to the image of God’s Son, so now all these things, while he waits for that glorious consummation, are working toward a moral conformity to Christ now, they are removing the chaff that the pure grain may abide. Or to use the figure from the sculptor’s studio, "As the stone wastes the image appears."

Let us think more about the coming glories, and sing about them more, and turn the attention of our brethren in the Lord towards them, and more continually "look sunward, and with faces golden, speak to each other softly of our hope."