By John Thiel, mp3

Scripture reading: Hebrews 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. ³⁷ For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

We are preparing for entrance into the heavenly Canaan, and we are now looking at a preparation that many people don’t seem to take into account. It is written in Revelation 14:12-14. A people who are going to be standing just prior to the coming of Jesus are here identified:

Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed [are] the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. 14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud [one] sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

Verse 14 is the coming of Jesus, and just prior to that is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. To stand there and be such a people, does patience have something to do with preparation to be among those people? Do I have to prepare myself in the area of patience? Who only is eligible to enter into the Promised Land?

Those Who Are Eligible to Enter

Revelation 22:14 Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 15 For without [are] dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

To have the right to enter there we need to be among the people of Rev. 14:12. We need to be a people that do and keep His commandments so that we may have a right to enter there. Any person who enters there must be un-defiling.

Revelation 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or [maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

The only ones that are eligible to enter there are those who will not defile that place. Therefore as it was in the story of the children of Israel, they were to sanctify themselves as they were at the border to cross. To sanctify ourselves we need to have patience so that we can be sanctified and without sin. To have a pure, undefiled and un-defiling life, patience is required.

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Are we reading a perfection message? To be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, to gain that so that we may have right to enter into the heavenly Canaan, requires patience having her perfect work. To develop patience has to do with the trying of your faith which worketh patience. That word entire is a very broad-ranging word; there is nothing it hasn’t achieved. To be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, is a goal that you and I must pursue to be able to enter the heavenly Canaan.

Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

To be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect. To be perfect means to be ready to have a right to enter the heavenly Canaan.

When God gave His Son to the world, He made it possible for men and women to be perfect by the use of every capability of their beings to the glory of God. In Christ He gave to them the riches of His grace, and a knowledge of His will. As they would empty themselves of self, and learn to walk in humility, leaning on God for guidance, men would be enabled to fulfill God’s high purpose for them. {AG 230.2}

He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life, because through Jesus it is made possible for men and women to be made perfect. Active, patient application is necessary; there must be a patient absorption of the things that God is prepared to give us through Jesus Christ, patience. God will render to us according to our deeds:

Romans 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

God will give eternal life to whom? To those who by patient continuance in well doing seek to enter that glory. Patient continuance. These are very salient words. We can all start well, can’t we? We get a wonderful thrill of God’s love and we go for it, but then we start petering out. We are called to patient continuance in pursuing that which we have launched out to pursue. It requires a patience such as is described here:

Wrongs cannot be righted, nor can reformations in character be made, by a few feeble, intermittent efforts. Sanctification is the work, not of a day, or of a year, but of a lifetime. {8T 312.5}

There must be a patient continuance.

The struggle for conquest over self, for holiness and heaven, is a lifelong struggle. Without continual effort and constant activity there can be no advancement in the divine life, no attainment of the victor’s crown. {8T 312.5}

The strongest evidence of man’s fall from a higher state is the fact that it costs so much to return. {8T 313.1}

It cost Jesus everything. And for me? Doesn’t it cost me anything?

The way of return can be gained only by hard fighting, inch by inch, every hour. By a momentary act of will, one may place himself in the power of evil; but it requires more than a momentary act of will to break these fetters and attain to a higher, holier life. The purpose may be formed, the work begun; but its accomplishment will require toil, time, and perseverance, patience and sacrifice. {8T 313.1}

How patient are you? Do you easily become weary and say, I can’t anymore? Is my patience running thin? Then I need to understand this activity so that I will not become weary and impatient with myself, or with others. It is the ministry of the servants of God to appeal for us to pursue this. The apostle says:

Hebrews 6:11 And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: 12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

‘We desire that every one of you show diligence, because your diligence of application to the hope that we are looking for, to enter into the Promised Land, must continue to the end.’ We must not be slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. So there are actually people that are doing this. Here are they, here is the patience of the saints. It is your choice whether you will prepare your patience to stand there. This is the appeal of the ministry. What do we have need of?

Hebrews 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

The promise is that we are going to cross the border when Jesus comes. We have need of patience, that after we have done the will of God, by turning to Him, we continue to do it, so we can have a right to enter there. Don’t give up hope. Prepare by developing patience.

Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for [it].

I hope to be perfect. I hope to be pure and sanctified. I hope to be able to enter the Promised Land, but I can’t see it yet. I can’t see that I am perfect yet, but I will patiently persevere. I will patiently reach out and persevere. We will actively engage in inch-by-inch warfare to overcome the things that want to overcome us.

Let us explore how patience is an engaging activity to prepare me to enter, and how I must prepare myself by engaging in a preparation of patience. I need to develop it. Here is where Jesus is the answer to us. He launches our thoughts in His words in Revelation chap. 3.

The People of Philadelphia

Here is the church that enters when He says, I have set before you an open door, the entrance into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. Jesus says, You people need to keep something:

Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

Here is what should trigger your mind. I must have patience? ‘You have kept the word of My patience.’ What is in essence “the word of His patience”? What is it? When Jesus presents His word, when He started preaching, it was the word of His patience. Here Jesus commenced the word of His patience:

Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

What was He preaching? He was preaching the gospel of His kingdom, the kingdom of grace, the kingdom of His saving activities. This is what we are to keep – the word of His patience. Here lies the answer. In the following scripture of Revelation you actually see the connection between

The Gospel and Patience

Trials work patience.

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.

The gospel of the kingdom, the patience of Jesus Christ – that is what John is a companion in with us. The gospel = the word of His patience. Without the gospel, without the word of His patience, His coming will prove to be a terrible catastrophe. If we haven’t got the word of His patience operating in us the coming of Jesus will be nothing to look forward to.

2 Thessalonians 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

The gospel needs to be obeyed; it is the word of His patience.

2 Thessalonians 1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

To believe the gospel, the word of His patience, is what is going to make the coming Jesus such that it will not be a destruction, whereas to the others it will be a destruction, an everlasting destruction. He is going to come to be glorified in His saints, in those that believe. It is imperative that we understand this subject of preparation for that time by preparation in patience, in obedience to the gospel. The word of His patience, the gospel of Christ, is an activity of preparation. We must obey as a preparation. This is beautifully illustrated in Ephesians. We are to be soldiers with armour on. Here is one of the items of the armour:

Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Do you see a preparation here? The preparation of the gospel? To be prepared for the coming of Jesus we must shoe our feet with the preparation of the gospel. We must run with our feet in the warfare, and if the word of His patience is the gospel, has patience to do with running? Getting your feet shod with the word of His patience? It says, The word of His patience. It is the patience of Jesus Christ. Let us go directly to His experience to discover

His Patience and the Gospel of His Patience

Here is the word of His patience, the gospel in action. This is an all-comprehensive picture of both the death of the cross and His life on earth:

Hebrews 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

This is the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the word of His patience because He had to learn obedience and be made perfect. Jesus says, ‘Obey the gospel, the word of My patience. Obey the process that I went through. I became the Author of this process. Heed the word of My patience. I cried to the Lord, and He saved Me. I depended on Him, I persevered through day in and day out. I did not stop; I was patient until my Lord redeemed Me. He saved Me.’ This is an anomaly to the ministers that I have ministered with. When I highlighted this point, that Jesus would cry unto Him who could save Him, some said, Jesus didn’t need a saviour, He was our Saviour! And I said, But it is written, He cried unto him who could save Him. He placed Himself in a position where He depended upon someone who could save Him. Jesus says, ‘Keep the word of My patience, you need to exercise what I exercised, a patient continuance in well-doing, relying on My Father in heaven every step of the way, and persevering, putting My whole self in it. Learning obedience by the things which I suffered I was made perfect; I sanctified Myself so that we both He that sanctifieth and those who are sanctified are all one.’ That requires patience.

The Authorship of Your and My Salvation

We are being watched and we want to give God the glory.

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Our feet are to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I am running, I need my feet shod, I need patience as I am running, doing what?

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Looking unto Jesus. He learnt obedience by the things which He suffered. We are to look to Jesus and learn obedience by the things which we suffer with Him. For the joy that was set before Him He practised patience and endured the cross.

Hebrews 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Do you ever feel you have to endure your brother, your sister, your husband or your wife, and you say, ‘It’s too much to endure, I can’t tolerate this’? Jesus endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself. Consider Him lest you become impatient and give up. We need to be patient with ourselves and with one another. Do you practise that? If you don’t you are not ready for Jesus to come. Here is the patience of the saints. We are to prepare ourselves to be patient as Jesus was. Endure patiently.

Hebrews 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

It doesn’t matter what the person does, all that matters is what you do. If you are acting in a sinful way, you can’t blame the other one as Adam blamed Eve, because we are all accountable to God first off. Our responsibility is to be patient as Jesus was.

Hebrews 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Was Jesus chastened? He learnt obedience by the things which He suffered. If you keep the word of My patience, said Jesus, I will take care of you. Our feet are to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace – with patience. You and I today are living in the most dreadful time of earth’s history. Iniquity abounds around us and what does Jesus say? Because iniquity abounds the love of many is growing cold. It abounds, and it’s just not fair. The mentality is, I can’t anymore, because iniquity abounds. Perilous times are with us. We read of them in 2 Timothy 3. What is involved in these perilous times? We usually read it so glibly. ‘Yes, disobedient to parents, yes, yes, having a form of godliness.’ But what is involved if you are going to follow the word of Christ’s patience? This is the peril for us. It is extremely stressful if we don’t rest in the Lord as Jesus did in learning this development of patience. The Scriptures say, In your patience possess ye your souls. (Lk. 21:19)

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 

What is the peril?

2 Timothy 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves,

If everyone loves their own self, where does it leave you? Unloved. Isn’t that exactly what we hear people cry? ‘No one loves me!’

2 Timothy 3:2 …covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,

Parents, do you know what this feels like? Those little children drive you up the wall. You correct them, and they just don’t care. That is the condition we are living in. There is no respect. What do you do when that happens? Do you lose your temper?

2 Timothy 3:2 …unthankful, unholy,

They are also unthankful and unholy. There is not a spark of the beauty of godliness there.

2 Timothy 3:3 Without natural affection,

Even their natural affection is not there anymore. Don’t you see it in the society around you today? The children don’t even have natural affection to their parents; they would wipe them off if they could.

2 Timothy 3:3 …trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,

Incontinent – they can’t control themselves. Have you lived with someone who can’t control themselves? How do you handle them?

2 Timothy 3:3 …fierce, despisers of those that are good,

You become a prey if you do what is good (cf. Isa. 59:15).

2 Timothy 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

There is no love of God in the world anymore.

2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

They go to church and claim that Jesus is their Saviour. Look at the situation, there is a universal violation of God’s beautiful laws all around and they are still talking about Jesus? It is very difficult to put your head around that. They deny the power of godliness. What are we called upon to do with them? From such turn away. Does that mean we are to turn away from each other because we make mistakes? No. God’s people make mistakes, but they are not deliberately doing anything like that which is described here. But the people described in this scripture are deliberately doing these sorts of things, and if you step in their way they will push you right over the cliff to get you out of the way. You have to act very wisely.

Amos 5:13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it [is] an evil time.

You won’t open your mouth to rile them at all because they are uncontrollable. Are you uncontrollable? Can we be continent, or are we incontinent? As we meet this dreadful drama of the ages now, we are called upon to develop a patience that loves people but leaves them alone. We need to keep the word of His patience. Jesus was confronted by everything that you and I are confronted by today. When we are in these terrible times and people are the way they are, we have to put up with this:

1 Peter 2:19 For this [is] thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory [is it], if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer [for it], ye take it patiently, this [is] acceptable with God. 21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

When He was surrounded by that and He was suffering wrongfully, what happened?

1 Peter 2:22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed [himself] to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Here is the word of His patience. This is something to ponder upon. The Lord Jesus is appealing to us, ‘Understand what the word of My patience is, and be prepared with the preparation of the gospel of peace so that you can survive and come through victorious, without sin and righteous, no matter what you are bombarded with in today’s circumstances.’ It is all hard-going today. I tell you, brethren and sisters, don’t expect it to get any better. You have need of patience to persevere through it. When I see people petering out here and there, it’s just like Gideon’s army. They started out with energy, but then they petered out, and only a few men were left, three hundred men. How could Gideon fight the warfare with so few people? We are left in the same dilemma today. What can be done with a tiny little remnant? This is exactly what the ministers of the Adventist church have said to me, You few little people, what can you do? You want to evangelise the world, how can you ever do that? This is how they speak. The word of His patience. It’s hard, but we are enlisted in the army. We will be found at our post of duty, we will be at the meetings and in the responsibilities that are ours; and I will continue to persevere though the heavens fall! This is the word of His patience. Let not our love grow cold under the extremities of trials of these perilous times; we are called upon to endure unto the end, to endure in love to the end. What is love that doesn’t grow cold?

1 Corinthians 13:7 [Love] beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 [Love] never faileth:

In the time when iniquity abounds the love of many is growing cold. What is happening? They can’t endure anymore, their love is growing cold. But the love of God, if it is embraced with all the valour of the beauty of Jesus and the application of Himself to me, and mine to Him, there will be a love that will see through the most murky and hopeless conditions, and will continue to hang on to the help that comes from God, as Jesus did. With Him love never failed, it endured all things. This trial in these last days is a preparation to develop patience, so that when Jesus comes patience will have her perfect work.

Romans 5:3 And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

O God give us grace to embrace this and to let the tribulations flow as strongly as they will. We will glory in tribulation because the tribulation is helping me to prepare. It is helping me to have patience, which is going to have her perfect work, experience, hope, assurance of entering the promised Canaan land. The faith of Jesus which is kept by these people is inseparable from the patience and the keeping of the commandments. “Here is the patience of the saints” because they have and keep the faith of Jesus. They keep it under the most trying circumstances; therefore they have patience; and therefore they keep the commandments of God. It is a combined situation. Here are they, and are you enduring to be numbered among those?

Hebrews 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. 

If we do this, then we are the household of God.

Hebrews 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

This is the assurance we have, that we are able to enter the Promised Land. We can get it by the beauty of Christ’s authorship of our directive, the authorship of our life. Let us embrace this together. Embrace with me the words of His patience. Embrace them and hold onto them.

Hebrews 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.  38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if [any man] draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.  39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

May this be our determination.

Amen.