Monday, December 5 (November 222), 2022
1Tim. 5:1-10; Lk. 17:20─25

“As the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in His day”. To these prophetic words the Lord adds: “But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” [Lk. 17:24-25].  From the connection between these two sentences it follows that Lord’s suffering precedes His coming in glory, and the entire period of time until the day of His Second and Glorious Coming is in fact the period of His suffering.

At a certain point in time He suffered personally on the Golgotha; since then He has been taking on the suffering of His faithful ─ of their birth, growing up in faith, resisting visible and invisible enemies, ─ because our union with Him is not only mental and moral: it is a live union, as that of body parts with the Head.

If you think about it, you will realize how much He is suffering.  The worst kind of torments for Him are caused by our grave sins and falling away from the faith; but He is also under continuous assault of our temptations and faltering.  Godless words, written or spoken, are Satan’s fiery arrows.  In our age he has established numerous factories to forge such arrows which ceaselessly pierce the hearts of the faithful and make them ache; together with them suffers the Lord.

Yet on the day of His Glorious Coming the mysteries of darkness will be revealed and His faithful will rejoice together with the Lord.  Until that time, however, we ought to endure suffering and keep praying.

Read more about the author