His Perfect Love

Matt VanderVen: Today on His Perfect Love, be encouraged by a man who endured severe persecution and crushing in an admirable way.

Host (Male): Thanks for joining us for His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt VanderVen. We'll be spotlighting Revelation chapter 1 and verses 9 and 10 today. The Apostle John went through intense crushing and persecution, and yet he endured it all by the grace of God with patience and focus.

Maybe you're going through a crushing experience today. Allow this to encourage you. God will never leave you nor forsake you in the midst of it all. Here is Pastor Matt with today's message.

Matt VanderVen: It is interesting to me because he says, "I, John, both your brother and synkoinonos, your partaker of the thlipsis of this tribulation, this pressing, this heaviness, right? And kingdom, interesting, and patience." There is our next Greek word. How many have heard the word hupomeo or hupomone? Some of you have heard that term. It is actually hupomone in the Greek.

But that word "patience" isn't the word we would think of for patience. If I said, "Have some patience," you would say, "Okay, pastor," and you kind of wait around a couple minutes or seconds. John is not telling us here that he is just trying to be patient during the tribulation, during this pressing, this heaviness that he is describing. He's not describing that he needs to have more patience.

The word actually means steadfast endurance. What it is telling us here in the Greek is that John, through this great pressure—through this great pressure like an olive being crushed—he is enduring this pressure. He is not removing himself. Wouldn't it be great if John just said, "Man, I am all about the escape plan, and I am going to get out of here. I can leave Jerusalem. I can leave this whole area. I can leave Patmos. I can create an exit strategy, and I don't have to worry about the oppression, affliction, and even worse, the thlipsis, the tribulation."

Again, the word tribulation as I was mentioning earlier, it is the same word that we would use when we say the Great Tribulation. I want to be clear in the Greek here. I don't want anybody to get confused by this. Certainly, we hear even from some of the other New Testament writers, they would talk about tribulation. Jesus talked about tribulation. It is how you prefix it.

For instance, if I use a prefix of "great" for the Greek—the word great—"Great Tribulation," I'm specifically talking about even more of an enormity of pressing or pressure putting down on me. If I put the definite article in front of it, which is "the," "The Great Tribulation," now I am describing a unique and specific event that will only occur one time in all of humanity that will last seven years, particularly the latter half of the seven years, the three and a half years. I am describing what we are going to read in chapter four—well, really chapter six through chapter 19: The Great Tribulation.

But this word is still the same word. It is still thlipsis. It is just I am prefixing it by "great," and then I am using the definite article "the." The Great Tribulation. Because it is a kind of devastation and a judgment that this earth has never seen, nor will ever see again. If we think this idea of a picture of pressing down of the olive is bad to the point of where there is literally nothing left, it is less than a pulp, that picture pales in comparison to the judgment when Jesus says, "The Great Tribulation."

Do we even have a picture of that, of what that can be like, other than what we're told as we're going to read? I don't have a way to even explain that in a pictorial way, in an image. How can you press between a rock anything harder? God's judgment will be. It will be more than that. Again, not for the believer in Christ. He doesn't beat the bride. But for the unbeliever that has rejected Him.

John is telling us during this very time of oppression, specifically this persecution, he is not bailing. He is actually on an island called Patmos. But literally, it's important because this word "patience" means sharply focused, determined, unwavering in commitment, and continuing despite an unimaginable amount of difficulty and crushing. That is what John is saying.

John is saying that literally, he endured this crushing with a sharp focus, a determination, an unwavering commitment, and a continuation despite unimaginable difficulty and crushing. Most of us here have no idea about what he's describing to the extent because we didn't live at the time of Emperor worship, whether it was Nero or Domitian at the time of John.

We weren't 80 years old and trying to go through these difficult things as men and women and children were being ripped from parents and husbands from wives and then put through just the thlipsis, this tribulation and difficulty. He is telling us that the way he processed this wasn't to run from it. It wasn't to try to escape it. It wasn't to go to a different state or country.

That wasn't John's answer. He could have done that. He could have had the wherewithal to do that. But instead, he dug in. How do I know that? Because he chose to use the word hupomone. He chose to use the word for patience. That means that endurance, and he is trying to tell you and I that unless we are sharply focused, unless we are determined, unless we are unwavering in our commitment and continuing despite unimaginable difficulty and crushing, we're not going to make it.

Lest we forget that our scripture also says that in the last days—and oh, friends, we're living in the last days—there's going to be a great falling away. You know why? Because people aren't looking for it. People aren't expecting it. What right would it be if I grabbed one of you and said, "Hey, I'm enlisting you in the military right now. Come on, come with me and go get them, tiger."

Are you emotionally ready for that? Are you spiritually ready for that? Are you, let alone, physically ready for that? That would be very unfair and unwise for me to do, especially if I'm a military leader, to do something like that, knowing that it's going to be tons of carnage because you're not even mentally ready. That is not what is happening here. Jesus is making clear.

John is helping us to see who this man is because when John sees Jesus, he is going to see Jesus as the glorified King. Look at all he's already been through. You would think John is weathered. He has seen storms. Why should John be so affected? Because John is seeing something that even the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus was glorified in the Shekinah glory and seen as He truly is—even more so, we get a New Testament depiction as we just read here this morning.

But we need to be enduring. That means that church isn't about being comfortable. Being a Christian isn't about being comfortable. It's about Jesus. It's about living for Him, for His purpose and plan. I would fail you as a pastor, as an under-shepherd. I stand before you not as one who's arrived, but as one that is hand-in-hand with you, saying, "Pray for me. I'm praying for you."

The last thing I want to do, because I will answer for your souls—I will answer to Jesus. It's in the scriptures on the account that I shared in the Word of God that I shared before you on whether it was easier for me to say, "Man, this is heavy stuff. Let's just skip over some of this," or stand before you and say, "No, I will teach what I have no right to add and no right to take away from your unveiling, Jesus."

You want Your people to know these things. And what they do with that is up to them. That is between them and the Holy Spirit. But I want to be faithful because I don't want to lose, as Jesus said, not one would be lost from His hand. "My Father has given them to Me." I don't want one of you—as it gets heavier and deeper over these next few years here and as the Lord should tarry—I don't want one of you going off or something to happen that way.

It literally crushes me. I don't think many of you even know that. You say, "Oh, he doesn't really know me. He just sees me by face." You have no idea how I pray for you. Even if I've seen you one time, the Lord brings you to my heart and I pray. Not because I'm holy or anything like that. Because I love you and I'm committed, because I am literally sharply focused, determined, unwavering in commitment, continuing despite whatever difficulty I will face.

Because John is telling me that is what needs to be. I want you to join me. I want you to get to the place where you've laid everything else down and you're like, "You know what? I don't want to play Christian anymore." I want my life... maybe some of us ought to think real hard before we pray this: I want my life to be like Pastor John's, Apostle John.

Let me be poured out as a drink offering, crushed, if it means people will come to Jesus Christ. Is it not worth one soul? This is what we're talking about. Tribulation, kingdom, and patience again all speak and describe a difficult crushing that was happening to the Christians during this time of his writing in AD 95. Please look further at verse nine.

He said then, after "patience of Jesus Christ," was on the island called Patmos. He tells us the reason he was on that island: "for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." What is a one word that I can use, or a single word I can use to describe when he says, "for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ"? What do we call that? The gospel. Maybe two words. Forgive me, the definite article. Gospel would have been one word.

Patmos. We're going to camp out there for a few minutes. Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is mentioned only once in scripture. I want to show you something. Bring up the map of the seven churches, please. I want you to see how closely coupled these seven churches are. This is in Asia, what we know as modern-day Turkey.

Please look at this with me. You have Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Smyrna, Ephesus, Laodicea. We see all seven right there. What you don't see is part of the Aegean Sea on that side. You don't see this small little tiny dot, literally a dot, in the middle of the ocean called Patmos. The interesting thing about it is it's only mentioned once in all of scripture.

The Apostle John relates that he was writing this book, the Book of Revelation, from the Isle of Patmos. He said because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Why was he there to begin with? John was exiled there by the Roman government because of his proclamation of the gospel. And that is happening all around the world right now—not so much the exile to Patmos, obviously.

You and I can tour there. We can go there today, actually. But it's happening in China. It's happening in the Middle East where Christians are going with their Bibles and the gospel, and guess what? They're being either put in prison or they're being martyred for their faith. Just because it is not happening in the United States of America yet doesn't mean it is not happening around the rest of the world. It is.

Because of the Roman government. Why? What does that mean? Well, Domitian. What was he doing? He couldn't beat Jesus. He tried to put Jesus on trial because he wanted to be worshipped as Lord. So because he couldn't beat Jesus, he says, "Well, then I'll beat John, one of the only living apostles that was alive. You know what I'll do? I'll put him in a vat of oil and I'll boil him alive, and then all the Christians will see."

The only problem was he didn't burn and he didn't die. You think most of us would stop and go, "Wait a minute. How do you explain that?" It's like what I've always said: when you're in the will of God, you're invincible. You can put me in a vat of oil all you want. Tell them, "Go ahead, shave some carrots and onions. Let's get this thing on," because you are not going to die.

I know that sounds like, "Come on, pastor." I am telling you that is what we can go extra-biblically and read. That is exactly what happened. He didn't die. So you know what the next best thing you would do from a military or a strategic standpoint? "If I can't destroy him, I'll exile him." Because if I do that, then the people will forget.

Once they start forgetting about him—communion, "Do this, this do in remembrance of Me"—once people start forgetting what's going on, it's amazing how short-term our memories are as humans. So let's put him on this island. That is exactly what they order. It was an island in Patmos that John received this message from Jesus to the churches in visions related to the end times.

In the days of the apostle and Pastor John, if you prefer, Patmos was a designation for criminals and for political prisoners. Convicts were allowed to have a relative freedom. They could roam the small island, but they had to provide their own food and their own shelter. I think sometimes people think Patmos was this great island like when Paul was in Roman imprisonment, he had a house to live in. Oh no.

No, they didn't provide any provisions, Rome, for you. When you were sent to Patmos and you were exiled there, you didn't have any food. You didn't have any shelter. It was up to you or the people you knew to provide for you. Otherwise, you died. And they would place Roman soldiers all around the skirts of where the Aegean Sea would be.

Even if you were like, "Man, this is too heavy. I can't endure this. I'm going to go jump in the water and try to take my life," which would be, again, terrible, wrong, sinful. Guess what? They put Roman soldiers there so that someone who tried to do that would get grabbed and brought back into the middle of the island because death was too good for someone that was supposed to be exiled.

They wanted torment and torture to make everybody look at you and go, "I don't want that to happen to me." It was the way that the government kept people in line. I know we don't know anything about that anymore. Just think. I know we don't know anything about that coming to a city near you. Their own food and shelter, and they were guarded by Roman soldiers against leaving.

Again, many died by exposure to the elements—just the weather. Some were violent attacks by other convicts. Simply, some just starved and died. Tradition is that Pastor John beloved from Ephesus sent food and other supplies to John on the island, and that is how he survived. I think this is incredibly interesting in light of the stern condemnation that was given the church by Jesus Christ that John was to write as commanded by our Lord.

You want to talk about awkward. Here he is on the island of Patmos. Who's providing for his very sustenance? Ephesus. What's one of the first churches that Jesus tells him, "You write these things down to the seven churches"? One of the first churches is the church of Ephesus. Not only that, this is a church that Paul was at three years, a church that Timothy stayed at for a minimum of seven years.

Pastor John or the Apostle John was in and out of there for 14-plus years or more pastoring. This is not a church that didn't have strong leadership or pastorship. What happened is very clear, and we read it in chapters two and three: this is a church that left their first love. Do you know how difficult that would be? You're sitting there, you're writing a letter, you're good with everything in chapter one.

"Yes, Jesus, this is awesome. You're showing all of us who You are. Oh yes, Lord, You're the Alpha and the Omega. This is heavy. Oh, how do I even explain it? I don't have words and terms in human language to describe the sword out of the mouth. What? That is the best I can use to describe it. I am limited by this finite mind." John is thinking there.

Then he gets to chapter two. "Oh, write this down. This is for the seven churches. By the way, I want you to start with that church, Ephesus." "You mean the church I pastored? You mean the church I spent a lot of time at? You mean the very church that weekly they are bringing me supplies and food, and that my sustenance is dependent upon?

And that without that church providing those things, I am done. I am going to die of starvation, or I am going to die of the elements or the weather, or any of the above." "Yeah, I want you to write to them and I want you to write this stern rebuke." "Jesus." "Write these things, John. You are not there to be a respecter of persons.

You're Mine. I've called you to be an under-shepherd of God. It's not a popularity contest. It doesn't matter what people are going to think about you. You are My vessel and you will speak the truth, regardless of how the people want to hear it." Because I've got a feeling that when that letter came out and it was read openly at the church of Ephesus, I've got a feeling that they weren't feeling so good.

"Wait a minute. This guy is writing this letter of Revelation from God and he's knocking us, telling us what? What are you talking about, we don't know Jesus or we left our first love? Didn't we just send our offerings, our supplies, all these things to him to care for him?" You know what real love is? Real love is giving truth that we need, not just the truth we want to hear.

I'm heavily convicted about that because in human terms, it's so easy for a pastor to stand up here and try to navigate around anything instead of just sticking to the word and not having an opinion one way or the other. I think this had to be awkward for John, but necessary because of his love for that church, his love for the people.

They left their first love. They were busy. They were doing all these other things. Man, church was booming. They had events all the time. Great things going on. It was happening at Ephesus. It was a large city. It was a major trade route. "Did you hear about what's going on at the newest Calvary in Ephesus? Oh man, the worship there is unbelievable. It's like a rock concert. I walk out of there, I feel really good.

And when I go and the Bible's open and we talk a little bit about Jesus, when we get to the hard parts, it is so cool. The pastor is so tender that he just skips over those because he knows it would hurt our hearts and hurt our minds. What a good, loving pastor he is." No, that is not who John was. John turned around and wrote this and sent this, and the people had to be so convicted.

It was Jesus' words because all Jesus wanted them to do was to make Him the priority. Instead of all the things that are vying for our attention in this life, He says, "Make Me the priority. Don't leave your first love. The whole reason you came to this place, that you even came to gather together, was because of your love for Me and your desire to learn more about Me.

But you have become and made it a den of thieves. You have turned around and made it a social club. You have turned around and made it all these other things except the very thing I wanted it to be: a place where My bride could gather, equip saints for the work of the ministry, encourage one another who are lacking in faith, pray for those that need boldness and encouragement, meet the needs one to another to provide and care for, and be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

And most importantly, to worship Jesus with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength more than anyone or anything else in this earth. That's all I ever wanted this to be. That is all I ever designed it to be." And Patmos... you know why it is significant? It is the only place written right here in verse nine in the Bible. Patmos. Because it is insignificant.

Patmos had nothing in itself that would draw the attention of the Lord except that His servant John was there. Did you see that? It's because His servant John was there. And though Patmos was but a dot in the ocean, God saw John there and entrusted him with the important prophecies that you and I have this morning.

John was exiled by the world, but he was not forsaken by Jesus Christ. You and I probably would not entrust such a precious revelation to a man that is a prisoner on an island. He could easily die because of the elements or maybe even murdered by another convict, another prisoner. Again, the island was the size of a dot in the middle of an ocean. Why?

Human intellect, first of all. Because we know that it's not prudent or efficient. So many things could go wrong, and this revelation would remain lost. But isn't that the perfect scenario for God to move? Patmos is another example of what we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 27 through 29. Please hold your finger here and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 27 through 29.

I feel the need to say this before you in full transparency. I'm sitting out there with you in this. Please understand, as I am reading this, this very thing, I'm incredibly convicted by God as I read these things when I think about John and his endurance and his focus and his self-determination. I certainly don't feel like I belong up here. I certainly don't even feel like I probably belong out there with you. I probably belong out by the trash heap. And I'm not saying that to be pious. I'm being really, really honest and transparent with you this morning as I cover these passages.

Host (Male): Pastor Matt VanderVen on His Perfect Love. Thanks for taking part in today's study of Revelation, a book that comes with a blessing attached to those that read and study it. If you were blessed and encouraged by the Lord, we'd like to know. Email us while it's fresh on your mind there at our website, HisPerfectLove.org.

Also at our website, you'll find an archive of these studies in Revelation, making it easy to replay a message you enjoyed or catch what you missed on the radio. Again, we're at HisPerfectLove.org and now at 1Place.com as well.

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