Welcome back to Tabernacle Tidbits, and today we are in 2nd Timothy, Chapter 2, and in verse number 12, and we're working through a kind of three-part poem, kind of early Christian hymn that was put together that Paul is using to encourage Timothy in
his walk with the Lord, and to encourage him to remain faithful, even though the circumstances of his life were currently difficult, and in such a way that Paul had to tell him several times throughout this book and the previous letter that he had
written to him to not be afraid, but to trust in God and in God's strength. And I'll read through that hymn one more time, and we'll look at the middle two lines for today. So in verse 11, this saying is trustworthy, for if we died with him, we will
also live with him. Then verse 12, if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. Okay, what do we make of verse number 12?
So first, the line, if we endure, we will also reign with him. This word endure is to stay in a place beyond an expected point of time.
He says, if we stick around, if we maintain our belief or course of action in the face of opposition, if we stand our ground with the Lord, if we remain in faith with Jesus, he says, we will also reign with him.
It is to reign jointly, to rule as king with someone.
And this is something that is talked about often in the New Testament, that as Jesus is going to return and reign on the throne of David, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that all those in his church, all those that are his bride, we will reign
with him as kings. And you can read about this in 1 Corinthians. You can read about it in 1 Peter chapter 2.
That actually will be getting there before too long on our main regular Tabernacle Talk, not the Tabernacle Tidbits we're going through 1 Peter. So I'll probably talk about it a little bit more then.
You can read about it in Revelation 4 and 5 and even some of the later chapters as well, about 19 through 21 or so. That there is a wonderful, marvelous, as yet unknown truth that we are going to reign as royalty during Christ's reign here on earth.
What in the world does that mean? What does it entail? I don't know, but I'm thankful that I don't have to do enough noteworthy actions during my time here on earth in order to warrant reigning with Christ.
Here, what Paul says is, if we endure, we will also reign with him. That there is simply a remaining in Christ, staying in him, one that's, if you will, it's not workspaced.
It's not if you make sure that you say this number of prayers and you attend at least this many services a year and you give at least this percentage of your income to God and you win at least these many people to the Lord during this year, then you
can reign with Christ. No, there's no quotas to fill. It's based on relationship. It's not based on performance.
And what a thought that the reward for our endurance for going through hard times, the reward that we get for simply remaining with Jesus in the face of a world that rejects Him, is that we get to reign with Him.
And what a wonderful promise that that is. And I wonder what that's going to look like one day. We'll complete the end of verse 12 now, quickly running short on time.
But it says, if we deny Him, He will also deny us. This is going to go into more detail in our next episode. But I'll say it this way.
Someone that denies Jesus as Lord has denied the Gospel. And we should never, if you will, superimpose on someone that says, no, I don't believe in Jesus. I don't believe that I should follow God.
I don't believe that I need to obey the Lord or trust in Jesus for salvation. I don't believe that there is life after death. And so I don't believe in Christianity.
I don't believe in the Bible. We should never say that that kind of a person, a person who is currently believing and saying that, we should not say that they are a Christian.
Even if at some point in their past, they had professed to know Jesus, as soon as someone says, no, I don't believe in Jesus. I deny Jesus as Lord. I don't believe the Bible.
Our mindset should switch from, this is a Christian going through a hard time, to this is a person who needs to know Jesus. So, we're encountering them not as a wandering sheep that needs to return back to the shepherd.
We should view this person as someone that needs to enter God's family for the very first time. And so, so much more could be said about that, but we don't have time.
So, our, if you will, encouragement for today is to remain in Jesus, to keep on believing in him, to profess him as Lord.
And as we endure with him, as we stick around through the hard times, we know that at the end, there is coming joy and reward and rain with him and crowns that will be placed on us, not because of our greatness, but because of the greatness of the
God who made it so that we could endure. And let's share the gospel with those that need it. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for the patience with a little longer episode today.
And have a great day.
