Revelation 1:9-11 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ… I. TO MAKE IT TRULY SYMPATHETIC. "I John, who also am your brother." II. TO MAKE IT INTENSELY SAD. "And companion in tribulation." Not even aged apostles are exempt from sorrow. But while in this solitude, St. John was not wholly occupied with his own suffering; he remembered that of his fellow Christians. The companionship of pain will merge into the companionship of praise. III. TO MAKE IT SUPREMELY GODLY. "And in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." IV. TO MAKE IT DEEPLY CONSCIOUS OF ITS INNOCENCE. "For the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." A consciousness of rectitude is always a soul-sustaining influence in periods of trial. V. TO MAKE IT SUBSERVE THE DIVINE PURPOSE. "What thou seest write in a book." God can make the wrath of persecutors, the tribulations of saints, to praise Him. Lessons: 1. That wicked men have a strange power of rendering sad the lives of the good. 2. That loneliness may augment the efficiency of ministerial work. 3. That the common sufferings of the Christian life should have a uniting tendency. 4. That God gives bright visions to tried saints. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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