NOTES ON ENDURANCE: A DREAM OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF JOB AND THE PROPHETS AS TEMPLATE FOR THE TIMES OF DARKNESS. – (WITH VIDEO)

1. THEOLOGY

SCRIPTURE. “So wait patiently, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord … As an example, brothers and sisters, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord [as His messengers and representatives]. You know we call those blessed [happy, spiritually prosperous, favored by God] who were steadfast and endured [difficult circumstances]. You have heard of the patient endurance of Job and you have seen the Lord’s outcome [how He richly blessed Job]. The Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.” – JAMES 5:7, 10-11, AMP

KEY TERM: “WAIT PATIENTLY.” ‘Makrathumeó’ [Μακροθυμήσατε]: “‘To be long-spirited, forbearing, long-suffering;’ also, to persevere bravely, enduring misfortunes, troubles and afllictions;  being slow to anger or punish.” NOTE: The verb μακροθυμέω conveys the idea of being patient or long-suffering, particularly in the face of provocation or difficulty. It implies a deliberate restraint of anger and a willingness to endure hardship without retaliation. This patience is often associated with a godly character, reflecting the patience of God Himself towards humanity.”

QUOTATION. “At times God permits His children to experience Darkness on a dead-end street where they don’t know which way to turn. When this happens, wait for the Lord to give you light in His own time. Don’t try to manufacture your own light or to borrow light from others. Follow the wise counsel of Isaiah: “Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely upon his God” (Isaiah 50:10 NKJV). ― WARREN W. WIERSBE, Be Patient (Job): Waiting on God in Difficult Times, 2009; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘Take the Prophets’ — Once persecuted like you, even ‘for speaking in the name of the Lord’ — The very men that gloried in having the Prophets, yet could not bear their message. Nor did either the holiness or the high commission of these messengers of God screen them from suffering; ‘for an example of suffering affliction’ — Or persecution from the persons to whom they brought divine revelations; ‘and of patience’ — In suffering. ‘Behold, we count them happy’— We commend them, and believe them to be the beloved children of God; ‘who endure’ — Bear their sufferings with patience, meekness, and a contented mind.

The Apostle’s mentioning this immediately after he had proposed the Prophets as an example of patience in suffering, shows that he herein alludes to Christ’s Words, (Matthew 5:11,) ‘Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, &c., for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you. Ye have heard of the patience of Job’ — Under His peculiarly heavy sufferings; ‘and have seen the end of the Lord’ — Ye have seen, in the history of that Good Man, what a happy issue the Lord gave to His sufferings; or how much to his honour and comfort his various and heavy afflictions concluded; ‘that the Lord is very pitiful,’ &c. — And that it is with the bowels of an affectionate Father that He corrects his beloved children, and not for His own gratification, but with a view to their Eternal advantage.” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

 II. TEACHING

THE DREAM (3:00-5:00 am, Thursday February 27, 2025). “I was making a journey of some kind, along with a close female associate, friend, or relative (but not my wife Suzette). We traveled by air to some sort of major conference but became separated by the time we were checking into our hotel rooms. Things became increasingly confusing as I was unable to find out the meeting place in this strange, large city.

Then The Dream moved me to our airline departure day, and I was left without any clothing, cell phone, credit cards or information about the flight arrangements. I frantically made my way to the airport wearing only a long overcoat, snuck into a boarding area where an ethnic airline employee stopped me to ask for my ticket, and I explained honestly that I was looking for my companions to get my stuff back and fly home. He softened, and with his two little children, kindly escorted me through many back walkways to the ticket counters where I was told my companion had flown home early for some reason, leaving me stranded. But the airline employees were very helpful, and The Dream ended with me being taken care of, though I cannot recall the details.” DK

While I dare not interpret The Dream in any detail since that is not my gifting (though you may give it a shot in the Thread if you wish), I can derive at least THREE SIMPLE LESSONS from it for our consideration in relation to the Days Ahead.

• MISSION. We are all of us, “On Mission 24/7,” on call as it were as if we were stationed by a military commander for a set of particular strategic objectives. The United States Army Doctrine Definition: “Mission command is the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations” (Army Doctrine Publication 6-0: Mission Command, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C., 2012, p. 1). DK: ‘Rigorous Discipline shall be the Order of the Day.’

• MAYHEM. Though the circumstances in The Dream were not perilous per se, they were challenging. They were confusing. They were in some ways, daunting and more than a little fearful. There was the central element of Great Uncertainty (new large city, lost companionship, or possibly abandonment, few resources). Thus, I use this term “Mayhem” to describe the conditions I had to face: “Mayhem is a noun that means a violent and chaotic situation, often caused by a sudden event or violent behavior. Synonyms for mayhem: Chaos, trouble, violence, and disorder.” DK: ‘Disorder shall increasingly be the norm in the days ahead, not the exception.’

• MANUMISSION. Here is the very best part, beloved. In 1828, Webster’s classical Dictionary defined “Manumitting” as: “The act of freeing someone from personal bondage. Manumission is the act of freeing a slave, while emancipation is when a government frees a slave.” DK. ‘This means that God shall ever be with us in the tight and dangerous places.’ MOSES:“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

“THE THREE FAITHS OF JOB.” This is the title of an excellent essay penned, once again, by DR. J.D. GREAR (Aug. 22, 2022; edited). He is Pastor of The Summit Church, in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, author of several excellent books on sound doctrine, and holds the Ph.D. in Theology from Southeast Baptist Theological Seminary.

I have referenced him once before in a previous Commentary, but when one finds a clear stream of living water from a man’s pen, you do not hesitate to go to his well often. So hare his THREE MAIN THOUGHTS from his superb analysis of the life and struggles, and the final triumph of Job as both instruction and encouragement to us all.

OPEN. “I recently read Dallas Willard’s Life Without Lack [2018], his last book, written posthumously based on a series of lectures he gave just before he died. In these lectures, he compares the language of Psalm 23 with the experience of Job, explaining that throughout his life, ‘Job had to learn three different kinds of faith.’ It’sbrilliant!”

1. FAITH OF OBEDIENCE. “(Note: Willard calls this the ‘Faith of Propriety,’ but as he explained it, I struggled to see how the word ‘propriety’ fit. It seems more like ‘obedience’ in my reading). This is what we see at the very beginning of Job. He did what was right, and God blessed him for it. Job is described by the Book’s writer as the most righteous man living at his time. He served God with all his heart and God was pleased with Job’s life and blessed him for it. God blesses the faith of obedience because he likes to bless people … Then God allowed everything to be stripped from Job. Job didn’t change any of his behavior, but everything fell apart for him. Job said, ‘The thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me’ (Job 3:25). ‘What do you fear most?’ What would be the worst thing to happen to you? Imagine whatever you fear most coming to pass. Like Job, you might be forced to develop another kind of faith—the ‘Faith of Desperation.’”
2. FAITH OF DESPERATION. “Job expresses this faith in Job 13:15, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I [still] trust Him.’ In other words, he says, ‘God, I can’t understand what you’re doing but I know You’re good, and so even though everything around me is falling apart, I’m still going to trust that You are working out Your Good Plan. Though You slay me, yet will I trust You.’ Many [most!] people never make it to this stage. They live on the Faith of Obedience, making them not only shallow but also judgmental. When something goes wrong in someone else’s life, they think, ‘Well, I wonder what they did wrong?’ They think that way because they only know the Faith of Obedience. But then God sends them through a ‘Job Chapter.’ And some people, when this happens, fall away from the Faith. But others go on to develop the ‘Faith of Desperation’ that strips them of their judgmentalism, causing them to say, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him’ … ‘Is this where you are?’ Have you ever been forced to develop this kind of Faith?”
3. THE FAITH OF SUFFICIENCY. “Believe it or not, there was another type of Faith for Job—the ‘Faith of Sufficiency.’ It’s the ‘Faith that Rejoices,’ sitting silently and calmly in the presence of the Shepherd. Throughout the Book of Job, Job protests his situation before God. ‘God, I did it all right! I obeyed You! I put You first and look what happened! When are You going to come through for me?’ All while desiring to see God and talk with Him face to face. And at the end of the Book, God grants him that audience. Job had always believed the right things about God in his head but had never felt them in his heart until now. At this point in the Book, Job stopped pressing his case. ‘He rested.’ He saw with his eyes the goodness of God and knew he could trust Him in all things. He could finally say, ‘I know You are good, and I have nothing left to say.’ Job’s Vision of God was so full and so satisfying that whatever happened to him from this point on didn’t matter. He could trust in the goodness of God; he was content just to be in the presence of the Shepherd where goodness and mercy surrounded him and followed him and satisfied him. ‘That is the Faith of Sufficiency.’”

CLOSE. ‘A lot of us are where Job was.’ We’ve heard about all these things with the hearing of our ears, but our eyes have never seen them and our souls have yet to feel them. ‘Friend, ask God to give you the Faith of Sufficiency’—the Faith that rests in God’s goodness and trusts that his presence is enough.” DK: Especially these days, beloved, as we find ourselves on:

‘The very Cusp of the Great Tribulation just down the road a piece,’ as we like to say it out West.

III. LAST THOUGHTS: FINISHING STRONG

I have shared with you before that my Template for my Christian Journey is THE GREAT APOSTLE. For many reasons, notwithstanding that Jesus is such a high bar, I am more comfortable, to be honest, with a ‘Human Role Model!’

Of particular relevance to todays’ Teaching is when he declared this toward the end of his life: “I have fought the good (worthy, honorable, and noble) fight, I have finished the race, I have kept (firmly held) the faith” (2 TIMOTHY 4:7, AMPC).

PERSEVERANCE. This discipline is absolutely fundamental to our own ‘Finishing Well,’ beloved. QUICK STORY. Around 1986 while serving as Founding Director of Regent University’s graduate program in Public Affairs Journalism, a rather astounding thing happened to this relatively newly minted Christian. After stepping out of the shower while preparing for work, I saw literally written in steam on the mirror a single, unmistakable word.

“Endure!”

Later that morning, my Editor in Chief of our monthly tabloid, The Standard, Mark O’Keefe, visited my office to tell me he had also heard a Word from the Lord that day. When I asked what it was, he fairly shouted:

“Persevere!”

At first not realizing they were the same revelation, we opened my Concordance and found this Word for both terms: ‘HUPOMONÉ [ὑπομονή]:’ “Constancy, continuance while suffering for and waiting upon the Lord.” So it was, nearly 40 years ago, that God was Prophesying to me that this would become possibly the Core Discipline in both surviving and mastering the Last Days. Selah.

FOUR ESSENTIALS FOR FINISHING WELL. To conclude our conversation then, I happily turn once more to the wise counsel that comes from Dr. wise counsels that come out of Dr. John Piper’s Desiring God ministry and online journal. This time from author and Bible expositor JERRY BRIDGES in his article of the same name as the subhead (Sep. 29, 2007; edited).

1. DAILY TIME OF FOCUSED COMMUNION WITH GOD. “The First essential is a daily time of focused personal communion with God. Many readers are familiar with the old classic ‘Practicing the Presence of God,’ and that is an excellent habit to cultivate. But the foundation of that has to be a time of focused personal communion with God, and it needs to be daily. Demas didn’t just wake up one day and make a 90-degree turn. That doesn’t happen. Demas drifted little by little toward the attractions of the world. And if you and I do not practice this daily focused time of communion with God, we will find ourselves also drifting in the wrong direction.”
2. DAILY APPROPRIATION OF THE GOSPEL. “The Second essential is a daily appropriation of the gospel. I have put personal communion with God first to highlight its priority because that’s the absolute basic essential. But in actual practice I put my daily appropriation of the gospel first. That is, I begin my time with God by reviewing and appropriating to myself the Gospel. Since the Gospel is only for sinners, I come to Christ as a still practicing sinner. In fact, I usually use the words of that tax collector in the temple when he cried out, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner’ (Luke 18:13). God has been merciful, and I’m quick to acknowledge his mercy in my life, but I say to Him that I come in the attitude of that tax collector. ‘I need Your mercy. I am still a practicing sinner. Even my very best deeds are sinful in Your sight, and I am an object of Your mercy and your grace.’”
3. DAILY COMMITMENT TO GOD AS A LIVING SACRIFICE. “The Third essential is a daily commitment to God as a living sacrifice. And for that I direct your attention to (Romans 12:1): ‘I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” As we daily reflect on the Gospel and what God has done for us in Christ, this should lead us to present ourselves as daily, living sacrifices.
4. FIRM BELIEF IN THE LOVE AND SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. “The Fourth essential is a firm belief in the sovereignty and love of God. This essential doesn’t have the word daily in it, but it must be practiced continually. Years ago M. Scott Peck wrote a book (The Road Less Traveled,1988) that began with a three-word sentence: ‘Life is difficult.’ Most people would agree with that. If you’ve lived very long you realize life is difficult, or at least it’s often difficult, and sometimes it’s even painful. And over time you will experience both difficulties and pain. ‘So if you want to ‘Endure to the End,’ if you want to stand firm in the face of life’s difficulties and pain, then you must have a Firm Belief in the Sovereignty and the Love of God.”

CODA. My friends, I do not believe Christians get a free ride by simply saying a prayer and then ‘keeping our nose clean’ as we used to say it back in the day. No! No! He is worth vastly more than that Minimalist Effort. OSWALD CHAMBERS perhaps said it best in the very title of his classic book:

‘My Utmost for His Highest!’

As JESUS CHRIST clearly spoke it to all of us called to these Last Days in unmistakable, perfectly prophetic Instruction.

“At that time many will be offended and repelled [by their association with Me] and will fall away [from the One whom they should trust] and will betray one another [handing over believers to their persecutors] and will hate one another. Many false prophets will appear and mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, the love of most people will grow cold.

But [ONLY] the one who endures and bears up [under suffering] to the end will be saved.” – MATTHEW 24:10-13, AMP

It is not just up to Him, beloved, though all the power and enablement comes from Above to be sure. BOTTOM LINE: ‘We must Choose Daily to serve and to sacrifice in order to secure out place in the Eternal Kingdom of God.’

Selah. Selah.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DoRjxyAkDMQ