"I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus." (John 1:9)
No one likes to be by themselves.
I was helping out with the training for the youth and collegiate staff at Camp Kulaqua (in Gainesville, Florida) for the Southern Union Academy Prayer Conference (a Seventh-day Adventist gathering of high school students for the purpose of learning about prayer and how to be servant leaders in their lives). My parents were there helping out too. We were in a "chalet," while they were in their RV right next to us. One day, I put my young kids down to take a nap. I told them that while they were doing this, I would be going to Gran and Grandpa's RV to get something. I went over, got something to drink, chatted for no more than 5 minutes with them, and headed back. Literally, we were less than 50 feet away. As I approached the chalet, I heard the familiar little voice of my daughter pitifully talking to two high school students they had never met: "Daddy left us here! Will you take care of us?" My son, only about 3 at the time, was crying.
After explaining what was going on to the high schoolers, they laughed and went on their way. The kids calmed down and felt a bit silly for being so upset. But the truth was obvious... they did not want to be alone for even a moment!
Neither do I. I read about what people across the globe are going through for the sake of the gospel... for the sake of Jesus and God's Word... and I shudder. I shudder to consider dads separated from their wives and kids and thrown into jail and tortured for not letting go of Jesus. I shudder as I think of children ripped away from moms and dads. I shudder to consider the heads of Christians being cut off in places where to worship anything other than the local religious deity is punishable by death.
Yet we are not alone.
John wrote as one being persecuted to a church being persecuted. He was in exile, His eyewitness of Jesus and His faith in and adherence to God's Word being seen as a threat to the Jewish religious institution and the Roman Empire. The church was being viciously attacked because of the same, Christians being tortured, burned, thrown to lions, etc.
If I was in a church in the middle of the Empire, several days walk from the next place, and I was being beaten up for my faith, I might feel discouraged and alone. But here comes this message from John, a founding father in The Way. He says they are not alone.
"I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus..."
He calls himself their brother. He is one of them. Not above. Not below. But one of them, of the same lineage. He is part of this "priesthood of all believers" where there are no Jews, Gentiles, slave, free, male, female... no distinction of rank or order... for they are one in Jesus.
He is a participant with them in the same terrible sufferings they were going through. But he is one who suffers with hope. He is one who says, "Press together in the face of this suffering! Put up with it with me, your brother! I've seen Jesus! I know what He can do and Who He is! I know He keeps His promises and that He is Messiah, King of the Universe! This will pass, and something much better... the Kingdom!... is just around the corner!"
I am not alone.
I may suffer insult and condescension from within the church. I am not alone.
I may be unfairly criticized, but I am not alone.
I may have to do things I'd rather not do, confront people I'd rather not confront, but I am not alone.
I may be called old fashioned if I try to be faithful to the sufficiency of God's Word, but I am not alone.
I may one day not be able to buy or sell, but I am not alone.
I may miss out on stuff when Sabbath rolls around and I choose to follow God rather than my own inclinations, but I am not alone.
I may be beaten one day, persecuted, or God-forbid, have my own family snatched away from me because of my faith... but I am not alone.
We cannot think of ourselves as believers on an island (not in the sense that John put it, but doing life and worship by ourselves). We need each other. We need to connect with each other, develop each other and with each other into the transformed people God wants us to be. We need each other if we'll ever last in this faith. The early church proved that to us already.
Don't hesitate to connect with someone today, a fellow believer perhaps. Pray with them. Do something with them to serve others. Read the Bible together and hold each other accountable.
We are not alone. Let's not act as though we are. Let's find each other and connect and pray and serve and study and grow. I'd hate to think that if trouble really comes that we'd ask the wrong people to take care of us.
