Patiently Awaiting the Appearing of Christ
A second step to the resurrection from the dead has to do with our suffering and our willingness to await with patience the rest and joy that will come to us at the appearing of Christ in the power of His Kingdom.
We must be made worthy of the first resurrection and of the Kingdom of God, and suffering persecution and tribulation is a necessary part of the program.
Which is [the persecutions and tribulations that the saints in Thessalonica were enduring patiently] a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (II Thessalonians 1:5)
Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. (Revelation 3:4)
The believer who is unwilling to accept the tribulations that come to him or her, who continually is looking for a way to escape unpleasantness, who refuses to carry his cross patiently, who is attempting to enjoy the world while serving Christ, cannot attain to the first resurrection from the dead, the resurrection that will take place when the Lord returns.
The true Christian life is one of patient perseverance throughout the numerous tribulations by which we enter the Kingdom of God. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. It is by prolonged testings and refining fires that we are prepared to be coheirs with Christ; that we are made ready for our position of power and authority over the nations of the earth.
If we suffer we will reign. The cross and the crown go together. The Christian is a stranger and a pilgrim in the world. He is seeking a city that has foundations. He is not of the world, of its systems of solving problems apart from God’s wisdom, of its fierce desire to acquire wealth in order to become independent of the Lord’s help.
The true Christian will be persecuted and will suffer in the world. But his hope is in the coming of Christ who will punish all those who have harmed the Lord’s witnesses. This is the true Christian hope, the proper attitude to hold if one desires to attain to the first resurrection from the dead.
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: (II Thessalonians 1:7,8)