I anticipate some hairs might stand on end in reaction to the title of this article. To anyone who may be inclined to warn me against rewriting Scripture, I assure you I am emphatically uninterested in and unworthy to change anything bestowed to us by the Holy Spirit through the inspired prophets. Instead of redefining, maybe it is more accurate to say I will be rephrasing, or at least reexamining, the profile of the patience of the saints from alternative angles.
The Patience of a Saint?
There is a circumstantial reason for my thoughts going in this direction. When I phased out of standard employment and into freelance editing and writing, I knew one of the issues with which I needed to wrestle was medical insurance. However, I grossly underestimated how much of a hassle it would be. In short, I am thankful that everything was resolved, though it was not before a four-plus-hour phone call with an agent from a particular carrier and, one by one, a multitude of agents from the Marketplace.
It was the latter that roused my ire. The Marketplace kept swapping agents until someone was finally competent enough to figure out my “unique” situation, as if I were the only one who ever made this kind of career transition. It was a completely different matter with the carrier agent. He was a gem of a man and a consummate professional throughout this phone call, prior phone calls, and follow-up phone calls. We had a mutual respect, which he confirmed about halfway through our mini marathon by thanking me for having “the patience of a saint.” This was possibly the most mind-stirring compliment I ever received.
On the outside, I simply thanked him for the kind sentiment. On the inside, it was a different story; not completely different, for I did genuinely appreciate what he said, though I disagreed with it. As composed as I may have seemed, I was silently boiling. I had so many better things I could do with that much time besides frittering it away with a phone glued to my ear. I definitely did not regard myself as a patient saint.
With that said, beyond thinking, Thanks, man, but you are so wrong, I did process his comment on another level. I was convinced that this was not an accident but instead an unexpected opportunity for Jesus to teach me a lesson. Perhaps it is time that I—we—devote more prayerful consideration to unpacking the full extent of the meaning of Revelation 14:12, rather than just systematically inserting it into our Bible studies and evangelistic seminars.
Fruits of the Spirit
As we know, one of the identifying factors of the end-time saints is that they keep the commandments of God. This is indispensable. In many ways this brief code, which the Lord wrote with His own finger, covers the gamut of what it means to embody and reflect the holiness He originally intended for and labors to achieve in His followers. However, the Bibles we possess do not consist of just Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. We have 66 books by approximately three dozen inspired writers, which seems to suggest our heavenly Father deemed it necessary to supply a more expanded blueprint for how we are to live according to His will, especially in these last days.
Along a particular vein, I recommend thinking of the Ten Commandments and the fruits of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22, 23) as happy marriage partners. Love is the first fruit, and Jesus made it clear that this principle, the essence of His character and identity, is the bedrock from which the two tables of stone were carved (see Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30, 31; Luke 10:26-28). Joy is second on the list. Psalm 1:2 is one of the verses that hinges this fruit to the commandments. James 1:2 also comes to mind.
When we extrapolate the connections we have made so far to Revelation 14:12 and the context in which it is set, it is difficult not to conclude that the end-time saints will, through faith in and the faithfulness of Christ, and with a lot of practice, cultivate a pedigree of counting all things joy.
The tumult that is about to unfold will be unparalleled by any other event from this planet’s historical record. Two ghastly beasts will soon team up to use economical fetters and the threat of death to coerce us into betraying our Savior.
We will need divine vision to see the silver linings that trace those dark clouds. We will need patience, another fruit of the Spirit, which will specifically define those who are sealed instead of marked, to endure the heavy onslaught of the enemy of our souls. More broadly than this, we will need a supernatural supply of agape love flowing from our hearts. The saints will keep the commandments of God because they love God (see John 14:15).
The Great Controversy Motif
Scholars and laypeople have generally agreed that chapters 12-14 constitute the apex of Revelation, for literary and thematic reasons. This passage contains a high concentration of the great controversy motif. Within these short chapters we see a snapshot of the very beginning of this cosmic conflict between Michael and the dragon, as well as the end of the conflict, when their respective followers are unmistakably delineated once and for all.
We had a mutual respect, which he confirmed about halfway through our mini marathon by thanking me for having “the patience of a saint.” This was possibly the most mind-stirring compliment I ever received.
Something the Holy Spirit has helped me recognize over the years is the sometimes overwhelming ubiquity of the great controversy. It is this backdrop that incorporates every facet of our lives. Though it by no means compares to what will transpire upon the fulfillment of the prophecies of Revelation 13, that four-hour phone call I described earlier was a spiritual mini battle.
If anything, that realization humbles me in a solemn way. That insurance agent’s kind, sincere compliment may be even more inaccurate than I initially thought. Will I stand the most titanic test of faith any human has ever encountered if I had so much difficulty putting up with the perceived incompetence of some bureaucratic administrators?
Part of me prefers forgetting that episode because my internally flustered response makes me uncomfortable, but looking back on where we fell short is perhaps our best education. Many positives came from the experience. On a basic level, we sorted out the confusion, and I obtained a really good policy, which is a gift from God. More than that, He taught me some valuable principles I can carry with me moving forward. He also provided what is obviously the springboard for this article, which I pray will benefit my brothers and sisters as they traverse the turbulent yet worthwhile path of faith and strive to reach Eden restored.
There is a reality, related to the pervasiveness of the great controversy, that must continually keep us on our toes. Whether a life event is the size of Pluto the dwarf planet, Pluto the animated dog, or one of his fleas, the devil will use anything, and I mean anything, to derail our progress. That insurance call could have been a more significant barrier to my eternal welfare if I had not allowed the Lord to utilize it as a means of fiery refinement. I am as guilty as anyone else is of treating sin in a casual way, though I am grateful that He has quickened my response to its serious import. A snowflake has a minuscule bearing on its own, but an avalanche is a conglomeration of individual flakes that clung to one another before the sun could melt them.
The Importance of Everyday Choices
Please allow me to go back to a phrase I just used a moment ago: “on our toes.” Let’s quickly reference Judges 7. We will not dissect the whole account, but ponder only one specific detail. God commanded Gideon to reduce the size of his army twice: from 32,000 to 10,000 to 300. He achieved the second reduction through an odd test—drinking water from a brook.
One can ask, “Is there really any significance, moral or otherwise, to lying down in a pond?” In a vacuum, no. However, my foundational argument is that for the Christian, there might not be anything that exists in a vacuum. This account did not occur in a vacuum. These 10,000 soldiers were on the brink of war, and only 300 of them kept themselves in a posture of readiness, while the rest unwittingly placed themselves in a position of unnecessary vulnerability and defeat, thus disqualifying themselves from continuing the march. It behooves us to follow the example of the 300, especially since we are embroiled in a more crucial war than were Gideon and his fellow Israelites. When we are on our bellies and faces, Satan will pounce, but when we are on our knees, he will retreat.
At the outset of this article, I indicated that I was not going to actually rewrite Revelation 14:12. However, I need to honestly assess the times I may have done so in the past, and I challenge readers to do the same. It is possible that many of us have, subconsciously at least, formulated our own versions. “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that” x, y, or z.
It is imperative that we consistently respect one another, understanding that different people reach different convictions, especially lifestyle-related, at different times. With that said, it is just as imperative that we (personally and, within reasonable boundaries, collectively) do not underestimate the ramifications that our choices in day-to-day domains have on our preparation for the final scenes of earth’s history and subsequent translation to God’s magnificent abode.
Ezekiel 36:26 and Romans 12:2 are a couple examples of the biblical evidence that highlight the fact that God’s objective is to change us from the inside out. Since He never makes a mistake, this is certainly the best method. However, it does undergird why, when I do reflect on that phone call or other related incidents, I am prone to focus more on how I did not emulate His character than on how I did. The carrier agent expressed appreciation for my poise, and that’s fine, but how much does that external display matter if the internal reality did not correspond?
Experiencing Victory
Without mentioning names or critiquing every nuance, I own a recording of and have listened to a revival series crafted by a well-respected preacher. He has delivered it countless times across the United States and internationally. I have derived quite a bit of spiritual benefit from it. One of his theological pillars is shaped by 1 John 3:4 and the linguistic and conceptual leaning toward sin as “lawlessness” rather than “the transgression of the law,” thus emphasizing that sin and sinfulness are just as much, if not more, matters of condition than of behavior. I would conclude this is reasonable.
However, I became concerned with how far this preacher would sometimes take this premise. During the series he recounted the testimony of a man who, along his voyage to making Jesus his Savior and Lord and signifying it by baptism, labored to put smoking behind him. When conversing with a friend, he stated it had been many months since he last puffed a cigarette, but only about 20 minutes since he wanted one. The preacher deduced that this man had not yet attained victory.
Being a believer in the inside-out dynamic, God does want to take us to the stage where our weaknesses and sinful propensities no longer hold any sway over us. On the other hand, I also believe that that man was experiencing victory as he, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, said no to those cancer sticks, even when his cravings screamed yes.
Over the years I have concluded that the Bible has threads of paradox running through it. Jesus is fully human yet fully divine. Not by design, but because of the sin problem, death “begets” life, which is typified in the corn kernel and exemplified on Calvary. Perhaps that is what we are witnessing here. As God is performing His long-term work of transforming us, there is evidence that He is simultaneously executing some short-term work as well.
Leaning on Christ
As I gain more practice in facing situations similar to or much worse than that four-hour phone call, I must lean on Christ and let Him reproduce His nature in the entire me—mind, heart, eyes, ears, mouth, hands, and feet. As mad as I got with those Marketplace agents and their convoluted protocol, the calmness I maintained is still a feather in our High Priest’s miter, for I know I would not have been as calm when I was younger. I still need a lot of work, but His work is working.
We must press forward toward the goal of assimilating the profile of Revelation 14:12, and to do so, we must develop a more comprehensive perspective of this profile. That includes not taking the otherwise mundane aspects of daily existence for granted. Let us earnestly pray that the Lord will use all our decisions, reactions, and interactions to mold and shape us into the beautiful vessels He desires us to be; and let us commit to not getting in His way.