In Revelation 1:9, John describes for us exactly what the Christian life is like. Flipsis, “tribulation.”
This is the word for being squashed.
He was doing what he was supposed to do, preaching the word of God like he was called to, and because of that, he was in trouble. Flipsis, squashed, can’t hold up the weight any longer.
John’s readers were going through the exact same thing.
They were meeting in secret to avoid being fed to lions. They were suffering for their faith.
They were constantly surrounded by so much immorality that they faced temptation just walking down the street. , and they, with us, and with John, need what God is about to unwrap for them.
When John uses the word “patience” in verse 9, he’s using the word for God telling us to hold on even when it hurts.
Paul described the Christian life as sunagonizumai, “with agony.”
Christians are, according to Paul, “with agonizers.”
We struggle together, we are squashed, and God calls us to hold on even when it hurts.
When God gave the book of Revelation to John, He was speaking to suffering people.
And when God comes to squashed, agonizing people who are barely holding on, we see His gift to us in one glorious moment, when God Himself rips away the wrapping paper and we get to see the real, present-day Jesus Christ.
The reality of our new life in Christ is that it is a struggle. When Paul wrote to Titus, he had already described himself as a fellow struggler through this world (Romans 15:30; 1Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7). Paul calls born-again believers under the guidance of the Spirit of God sunagonidzomai or in English “fellow-strugglers”.
