Patient Endurance

I must say Revelation is not my favourite book of the bible. When I was young in the Lord, I thought I had it all figured out. Then I would read another book or hear someone speak and change my mind. I heard so many telling me who the antichrist was. The EU was the 10-nation confederation, or maybe it is NATO. The date was to be 1987. Guess not!

I finally got so confused and frustrated that I stopped reading it. I settled on being a pan-tribulationist, meaning I believed everything would ‘pan out’ in the end. I, like most believers, was looking at the book of Revelation as a guide map to the future that is to be figured out.

Then I started doing a “through the Bible in a year plan.” This year, so I could finish, I had to read the book of Revelation, but this time it was different. I began to see that Revelation is a book of hope and instruction. We see the hope, even through the tribulation, because our Lord is victorious in the end, and we enjoy the victory with Him forever and ever. The instructions are to patiently endure.

Even today you might be going through your own trials and tribulations. Looking to the future through the lens of the book of Revelation we can have the hope of victory through Christ. So, I think that maybe I should read Revelation more often. In it I will find the faith, hope and strength to patiently endure.