Conclusion: Why We Suffer, Why We Endure
Chapter twelve
Conclusion: Overcomers
Suffering in Christ is not meaningless. This world’s sufferings are birth pangs of the coming world, and we endure in hope. Christ’s victory over death has established our future, making our expectation firm. The promised future is more than worth every affliction we endure in the present.
The Spirit’s Birth Pangs: Resurrection Power in the Already/Not Yet
For we know that the entire creation is groaning and experiencing birth pangs even till now. And not only creation, but also we ourselves who already have the first fruits of the Spirit. We too groan within ourselves as we wait expectantly for adoption as God’s children—the liberation of our bodies. . . . Likewise, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray the way that we need to, but the same Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. (Rom. 8:22–23, 26)
God performs signs of the coming kingdom, but until Christ returns suffering continues to characterize the present age. The overlap of future glory and present suffering creates a tension that will be resolved fully only at Christ’s return.
As all of us recognize and mothers attest personally, birth pangs are excruciating. The Bible often uses this image of pain presaging something important. Jesus’s death was like that: agony for him and his disciples, yet followed by joy at his resurrection (John 16:20–22). Paul spoke of being in fresh labor over the Galatians, until Christ would be formed in them more enduringly (Gal. 4:19). His experience of birth pangs mirrored a much wider one for all creation.
The Groaning of Creation, Believers, and the Spirit
Describing the present world’s sufferings, Paul speaks of a threefold groaning. He declares that all creation “groans and travails,” like a mother preparing to give birth (Rom. 8:22). Not only that, he emphasizes that we who have the Spirit also groan (8:23). Moreover, the Spirit himself groans (8:26), no less eager than we for the transformation of the world at Christ’s return.
Here is the fuller context of Paul’s claim. As God’s children, we suffer with God’s Son so we may share his glory (Rom. 8:17). Our present sufferings can’t even begin to be compared with the glory that awaits (8:18). Indeed, our glory will transform the world, delivering it from the devastation we humans have inflicted on it in our sin (8:19–21). It awaits freedom from its current slavery (8:21). That’s why the world groans in childbirth now (8:22), ready to bring forth a new world when Jesus returns.
We too groan, awaiting our full experience of adoption at the redemption—that is, the liberation—of our bodies (Rom. 8:23). In Egypt, Israel cried out for generations because of their slavery, but God heard their groaning and redeemed them (Exod. 2:23). In the same way, God will set us free from all the death and decay of this age when he resurrects our bodies. We already have the guarantee of that future, because the Spirit who will raise us already lives in us (Rom. 8:10–13). That is why Paul says we have the “first fruits of the Spirit” (8:23).
First fruits (aparchē ) was the biblical expression for the actual beginning of the harvest (Exod. 23:16, 19; 34:22, 26; Lev. 23:10–20), and its meaning is very similar to the term (arrhabōn) Paul elsewhere calls the “pledge” (nasb, Douay-Rheims) or “guarantee” (esv, niv, nrsv) of the Spirit (2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14). Ancient business documents used that term for the “down payment,” the first installment paid down on what is to come. We know that we have the promised future in the Spirit because we already experience the Spirit now (e.g., 2 Cor. 5:1, 5; Gal. 5:5; 1 John 3:24). As Paul says elsewhere, our eyes and ears cannot reveal what God has prepared for those who love him, but God’s Spirit gives us a foretaste of them (1 Cor. 2:9–10).
Finally, Paul declares that the Spirit also groans within us (Rom. 8:26). Paul speaks elsewhere of praying in tongues with his spirit and praying in his own language with the understanding (in context, the interpretation of the tongue; 1 Cor. 14:13–15). Many scholars also believe that he refers to tongues in Romans 8:26, and possibly some of the less articulate tongues today might be more like Romans 8:26 than full-fledged tongues. But I believe that here Paul speaks of an even deeper prayer, one too deep for us to articulate in words—in any language. When the struggle of still living in the present age is too painful for us to even know how to pray about it, the Spirit intercedes for us with “inarticulate groanings” (8:26). I had been praying two hours a day before my first wife left me. Afterward I could do no more than utter the name of Jesus over and over. I had no strength to pray or to exercise faith—yet God was graciously still there. God hears his Spirit interceding within us (8:27), just as he hears Christ interceding for us at his own right hand (8:34). This is the context where Paul also explains that God works all things for our good (8:28).
More Than Conquerors
Paul ultimately concludes Romans 8 with a rousing call to victory. The God who gave his own Son for us has an entire future world prepared for us; no one can keep that from us (8:31–34). None of this means that we will not face testing in this world. In this very context, Paul is explicit otherwise! But none of these tests can ultimately affect what matters most. Nothing can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ.
Far more than a dollar pales in comparison to a trillion dollars, no short-term suffering compares with a destiny that lasts forever.
In the end, and forever, followers of Jesus overwhelmingly win no matter what we face in the short run (Rom. 8:35–39 niv):
A Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
B Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
C No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
B′ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
A′ will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yet our suffering qualifies us for greater glory, which testifies to the God who works in us. We suffer now that we may reign with him:
From the Vantage Point of Eternity
And I tell you that you’re Peter [“Rocky”], and on this rock I will build my holy community, and the gates of death will not overcome it. (Matt. 16:18)
In the context of discussing his and his followers’ martyrdom (Matt. 16:21, 24–26), Jesus promises that the gates of hades (a common term in the Old Testament and other ancient sources for the realm of the dead) will not prevail against Jesus’s church (16:18). God’s kingdom does not rise or fall on any one of us, and when we have served his purpose in our generation (Acts 13:36), his work will continue without our labors until his return. Death is not the end for us individually, and our individual deaths are not the end for his church, which will prevail.
Before famous Russian dissident Alexei Navalny died in government custody in February 2024, he authored an engaging memoir published in October of the same year. He earlier regarded the amusement of others when he would make the sign of the cross as “my own pared-down version of suffering for the faith,” since it did not require martyrdom.2 In time he contemplated the likelihood of dying in prison because of his political stand,3 but the book concludes with the hope that comforted him: “Are you a disciple of the religion whose founder sacrificed himself for others, paying the price for their sins? Do you believe in the immortality of the soul . . . ? If you can honestly answer yes, what is there left for you to worry about?” He appeals then to the Sermon on the Mount, which he had been memorizing:4 “Don’t worry about the morrow. . . . My job is to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and leave” the rest to the Lord.5 As the psalmist celebrated, “Even when I walk in the darkest valley, I won’t be afraid of being harmed, because you’re with me. Your rod and staff comfort me!” (Ps. 23:4).
After recounting the dangers she survived in Communist Romania, Virginia Prodan concludes, “God displayed his protection, timing, and grace. . . . It is easy to look back now and see it. But while it was happening, it took faith to step up and to go on.”6 We can often recognize his grace in hindsight in this life, and we will certainly see it in eternity. The final vantage point is God’s eternal one, and it will put everything in the right perspective.
Suffering is temporary, but Scripture promises that the reward for the faithful is eternal. Recall again:
The sufferings of the present time are not worthy to even be compared with the coming glory to be revealed in [or to] us. (Rom. 8:18)
For our momentary minor affliction is effecting for us an eternal weight of glory that is incomparably greater, watching not visible matters but invisible ones; for the visible ones are transitory, but the invisible ones eternal. (2 Cor. 4:17–18)
It will be well for anyone who endures testing, because after proving faithful in the test they will receive the award of life that God promised to those who love him. (James 1:12)
Now may the God of all grace himself, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered for a little while, restore, strengthen, fortify and establish you. (1 Pet. 5:10, emphasis mine)
After Hindu extremists beat Nepali pastor Salindra, he forgave them and exhorted the local Christians, “The life here [on earth] is very short,” but “even if we have to die, we’ll die [willingly] because we’ll have a long life [in eternity with Christ].”7
This long-range perspective helps us to persevere during short-term trouble or confusion. The psalmist laments that the wicked prosper (Ps. 73:2–14, 21–22) until he considers the longer-range divine perspective (73:15–20, 23–28; 92:7–9). Elsewhere the psalmist feels forsaken (Ps. 77:1–10), but experiences consolation by considering the longer-range perspective of God’s acts in history (77:5–6, 11–20).
A book should not be needed to encourage Christians that suffering is a normal part of the Christian life, but here is one just in case you need it.
We don’t face suffering with resigned despair, but with trust in a God who delivers, one way (in this life) or another (in the coming life). Psalms even provide examples of what we might call “positive confessions” of faith (e.g., Ps. 44:5), though at the same time they are equally honest about feelings of abandonment (e.g., Ps. 44:9). Reaffirming our trust in God is good to counter our human pessimism with faith. But we confess our need (Ps. 3:2, 7a) as well as our confidence in the one who can meet it (3:3–6, 7b–8). We can take joyful refuge in the Lord (Ps. 5:11) even if we groan in distress (5:1).
The Book of Revelation: What the Spirit Is Saying to the Churches
Whoever has an ear, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (Rev. 2:7)
The book of Revelation describes itself as a prophecy (Rev. 1:3; 22:7, 10, 18–19). In this prophetic book, the Spirit spoke to each of the seven churches of Asia Minor (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).
Each Church Must Overcome
Some of the seven churches were being tempted to compromise with the values of the world (Rev. 2:14, 20). Others had lost their first love (2:4). Two churches faced outright persecution (2:10; 3:8–9), with another having lost a member to martyrdom (2:13). But whatever their specific trials, the Spirit was calling each of the churches to overcome (2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21).
Church
What or How to Overcome
Promise
Ephesus (2:1–7)
Loss of first love (2:4)
Tree of life in paradise (2:7)
Smyrna (2:8–11)
Be faithful to death (2:10)
Unhurt by the second death (2:11)
Pergamum (2:12–17)
Condoning false teaching allowing idolatrous practice and sex outside marriage (2:14)
Hidden manna and a new name inscribed on stone (2:17)
Thyatira (2:18–29)
Condoning false teaching allowing idolatrous practice and sex outside marriage (2:20); must persevere (2:25)
Authority over the nations plus the morning star (2:26–28)
Sardis (3:1–6)
Must awaken, hold fast, and repent (3:1–3)
White garments, name remains in book of life, name confessed in heaven (3:5)
Philadelphia (3:7–13)
Keep persevering (3:11)
Home in God’s temple, identified by God and his holy city (3:12)
Laodicea (3:14–22)
Repent of self-sufficiency (3:17–19)
Enthroned with Christ (3:21)
Whether individually, as churches, or as the church in various regions, we each have our own tests. We don’t get to choose our tests, saying, “I’d rather have their test” or “I’m so glad I don’t have their test.” But whatever our respective tests, all of us are called to overcome. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by our witness for Jesus, and by not shrinking even from death for his honor (Rev. 12:11). The Spirit specifically promises rest to those who die in the Lord (14:13). The Spirit inspires us to speak prophetically for the Lord (19:10), so that those who witness for Christ in Revelation are called his prophets (11:18; 16:6; 18:20, 24; 22:9); those who compromise his message, by contrast, are false prophets (2:20).
From the world’s vantage point, this way of overcoming might look like evil has conquered us (Rev. 11:7; 13:7), but from God’s true standpoint “we are more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37 NIV). (The word translated “overcome” can mean “conquer” or “be victorious.”) Just as Nebuchadnezzar expected everyone to bow down to his image or die (Dan. 3:1–6), so evil in the world demands conformity, bowing down to its image (Rev. 13:15). Similarly, unlike thousands around her, Korean Christian Ahn E. Sook refused to bow to Japanese shrines during World War II,8 risking execution and later enduring six years in prison. There she led many others to Christ.9 Turkish Christian Semse, widow of a martyr, understood this well: “We want to be faithful unto death. . . . We are not victims. . . . We are victorious in Jesus.”10
The Beast and the Lamb, Babylon and New Jerusalem
From the world’s vantage point, the beast is the conqueror, against which a lamb—especially a slain lamb—is helpless. But from the divine viewpoint—the true perspective—the Lamb by his very death conquered death and the beast (Rev. 5:5–6). We who stay true to Jesus are the ones who overcome (15:2; 21:7). Jesus teaches, “In this world you have trouble; but be courageous! I have vanquished the world” (John 16:33). Evil remains in the world, but we overcome because the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4; 5:4–5).
Studying Revelation, Romanian Christian Joseph Ton discovered “how God always conquers by a love that is self-giving and self-sacrificing. It was there that I understood God’s method of sending His Lamb into the world, followed by many thousands of other lambs, to overcome the world by proclaiming the love of God and by dying for the sake of their proclamation.”11
When Jesus addresses the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation, he reproves most of them for various failures. The only two churches he does not reprove at all are the suffering churches. To one, the church in Philadelphia, he promises,
Because you have kept my message about endurance, I’ll also keep you from the hour of testing. (Rev. 3:10)
The Greek wording might mean that Jesus would preserve them in the midst of testing rather than preventing them from going through it (compare the identical construction in John 17:15), but whatever the particulars, it sounds like things would get better for the church in Philadelphia. But the other suffering church was the one in Smyrna. To that church, Jesus urges,
Don’t fear the things you’re about to suffer. . . . Be faithful to the point of death, and I’ll give you the crown of life. (Rev. 2:10)
Whereas God rescued Peter, James died (Acts 12:2); whereas Corrie ten Boom survived Ravensbrück, Betsie died. The outcomes may differ in the short run; what matters eternally is that we overcome.
Two worlds vie for humanity’s attention, and these worlds are in conflict. Revelation depicts the ultimate expression of this world as Babylon the prostitute (Rev. 17:5), but our hope is in the world to come, as new Jerusalem the bride (21:2). Only those with faith to await the future world resist the allure of the prostitute; but we who do so have the privilege of being Christ’s bride. The “great city” Babylon is decked with gold and pearls (17:4), but the much greater new Jerusalem is built of gold, and its gates are pearls (21:18, 21). For those ready to trust God’s message, the future is well worth our wait.
It’s not true hope or expectation if we already see it, Paul explains; but if our hope, our expectation, is for what we can’t yet see, then through endurance we eagerly await it (Rom. 8:24–25). Indeed, God’s Spirit within us groans eagerly for that day when we shall see our Lord (8:23, 26). God’s Spirit keeps us faithful.
Conclusion: Why We Suffer, Why We Endure
We experience suffering:
In the face of suffering, we hold firm because:
This world’s sufferings are birth pangs heralding the world to come. The biblical message is not that we can avoid all sufferings. The biblical message tells us rather that our sufferings cannot begin to compare with the reward that awaits us when we see Jesus. God’s loving plan is better for us than sparing us from all suffering; it is conforming us to the image of his Son—the crucified and risen one.
1 Although writing in Greek, Paul knows that the Hebrew term that can be rendered “glory” also means “heaviness.”
2 Navalny, Patriot, 408. He did it, he said, not from superstition but as a public way of confessing his faith.
3 Navalny, Patriot, 475–78, practiced the exercise of imagining and then accepting the worst-case scenario, before (on 478–79) also finding encouragement in his faith.
4 On memorizing it, see Navalny, Patriot, 409. Shortly thereafter he took encouragement from that being the same reading in church (410–11).
5 Navalny, Patriot, 479, also cited in GCR Red List, 23–24. Even if one does not believe in biblical accounts of prediluvian longevity or the parting of the sea, he urges, one can trust in Jesus (Navalny, Patriot, 479).
6 Prodan, Saving My Assassin, 298.
7 Nettleton, When Faith Is Forbidden, 112.
8 Kim, If I Perish, 14–16. Elsewhere in Korea, many others refused to bow and had to go into hiding to avoid arrest (Kim, If I Perish, 52). During a later threat (218), the repressive governors perished when their plane was shot down, ending the immediate threat (234–35). After the war, others revered their stance (257).
9 See Kim, If I Perish.
10 Voice of Martyrs, Hearts of Fire 2, 57.
11 Ton, Suffering, xi.