What kind of suffering are we talking about now. We are not talking about sickness. We are talking about the great tribulation. This is the tribulation of the church. It is the trial of the church by fire. It is the passion of the church—the suffering of the church.

There are many pieces to this picture. I hope to put them together for you here. Clarity comes when you see the whole picture for what it is. The church of John’s day was suffering when they received the message of this book. They needed to understand why they were suffering and what God was going to do about their suffering. Never once in this book does God promise deliverance from suffering. That is important for us to understand. Now we have come to the part of the book that helps explain the reason for their suffering—the background of their suffering—and how they will be delivered from their suffering.