THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERINGS
By John Gavazzoni
As we are being prepared to rule and reign with Him, we are often reminded by scripture that we shall reign with Him if we suffer WITH Him (II Tim. 2:12), that is, in the Spirit of Christ, we suffer in the way that He suffered, willingly and obediently, permitting the attack knowing that it is the way to the throne. How quick we are to call upon the God of power and authority to come and deliver us from our hardships. We do not pause to consider that there is a season of whatever duration where Christ in us will, with majestic sovereignty, yield to the hardship awaiting in faith the precise moment of the Father's choosing to deliver us. This is the kingdom in action. It's action does not begin with deliverance, it is in force even before the deliverance. This dimension of our walk with God plays itself out not only in the very obvious high-profile times of testing but also in the everyday relationships with those around us and particularly those closest to us. We are often the object of the anger that issues forth from the hurt of those with whom we rub elbows everyday as they give vent to their frustration that God has left them with unfilled hearts. We are always dealing with one another out of a need to have our needs met and we either passively or aggressively take out our resentments toward God on one another.
Recently, as I became aware once again of this syndrome, I suddenly understood the marvelous opportunity in all of those instances of human interplay, to not refuse the violence directed at me but to patiently endure it with Christ and bear, with Him, the sin that is a result of alienation from His love. You know, dear saint, that you are called upon to bear the sins of others in union with Him and that this is the kingdom of God in action. In each of the moments that seem to be the antithesis of kingdom ruling we are actually being prepared to enter the next level of ruling with Him.
"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence .....". From its annunciation to its manifestation, it is the nature of the kingdom and the nature of those who make up that kingdom to permit assault. The verse goes on to say, "....and violent men take it by force." We, with violence in our hearts, take matters into our own hands because it seems obvious to us that things are out of control and we must act to save the situation. And though we do it in the guise of prayer and affirmations of kingdom authority we are actually seizing the kingdom by force for our purposes and to make God do our bidding. Those who would be co-deliverers with Christ will know both how to yield and how to attack. We must yield to the Father as it pleases Him to bruise us and when we are perfected by the things that we suffer we will be able to go to the attack mode in our perfected priesthood and exercise the kind of authority and power against which the gates of hell shall not prevail and to declare deliverance to the captives of sin and Hades.
The sister passage in Lk 16:16 tells us that "everyone is forcing his way into it" (the kingdom). God's way into His kingdom is by rebirth and that by grace, but in the same sense that Jesus spoke of the thief and robber who enters the sheepfold, not through the door as the true shepherd does, but by climbing up some other way (interesting choice of words by the Lord, "climbing up," self exertion and assertion for it's own purposes of theft). So there is a sense in which, paradoxically, though one can only truly enter the kingdom by being born from above there are those who enter the kingdom in its present appearance by their own force and for their own thieving gain.
Historically, in the Church's expression of the kingdom, we have the classic example of Emperor Constantine forcing his way into the kingdom, in spite of what some may claim, to seize it for His own purposes and to mix it with heathen religion so as to give himself a firmer base of rule by attempting to unite two forces; the spiritual power of the early church and the superstitious needs of pagan subjects of the Roman Empire. In so forcing himself into the kingdom, to the degree that he was successful, the organism ceased really to be the kingdom and became the spiritual hybrid that still exists today in Christianity. The high priest who asserted the necessity of crucifying Christ did so in order to save the Jewish nation and did so with prophecy on his lips (Jn. 11:50-51). Judas forced his way into the kingdom for his own purposes by arranging for our Lord's capture (doing the work of the kingdom at each step) and in all, the kingdom of God ruled and does rule today even as it permitted and permits such acts of perfidy.
May the Lord bless us with the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death.
Excerpts from SEIZING THE KINGDOM