Revelation 1:9; Kingdom of Jesus Christ

Revelation 1:9 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.

John was a prisoner for the cause of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And Lenski observed well here, “Between “affliction or tribulation” and “endurance or patience” John places “kingdom.” Strange combination! Yet not strange. When the affliction sets in, the kingdom produces the endurance. Even the order of the three words is illuminating. Were it not for the kingdom, which the world opposes, there would be no affliction for the partakers of the kingdom; were it not for the powers of the kingdom, its partakers could not endure.”

The word “companion” means “partaker, one who takes part in something along with another fellow participant or partner.” He was a prisoner as a result of allegiance and faith in Jesus Christ, God’s kingdom. He refused to acknowledge the Roman emperor, Domitian, as lord and god. He tells his readers, “I am one with you in experiencing persecution for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Jesus is King and Lord, the only true God. He will not bow to any other.

I recall going to the Holy Land in 1998, and was at the ancient city of Ephesus where our guide pointed in the distant the island of Patmos where John was imprisoned, where he wrote this Book of Revelation. We were shown a code that Jesus’ disciples used to identify themselves amidst the persecution.

Swindoll in his research observed, “Rome had established a penal colony on this unpleasant, tiny, remote island. According to the earliest records of the ancient church, John was exiled to Patmos for eighteen months, beginning in AD 95.”¹

Just like Daniel who was thrown into the lion’s den for his faith in the God of Israel, the Apostle John was imprisoned because he believed in the one living and true God Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel that has come. Though an old man, the last of the surviving Apostles. His steadfast faith was, no doubt, an encourgement to the believers throughout the Roman world to the truth concerning the faith. He was willing to lay his life to attest to the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Not too long ago, he encouraged the believers with these words.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Amen.

¹Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary – Revelation.