We are called to love the church, but also the specific people in the church that he has given us to enjoy closer relationship with. When that gets hard, we need to remember the God dwells among us. We were each saved by the blood of Christ, given faith by the Father, and have been indwelled by the Spirit. This means that even in the darkest of times, even when separation or distance might be called for, that we do so prayerfully and patiently considering God’s call upon our lives to love his people.

Dear Tim,
Thank you so much for your gracious letter, it will come as no shock that your reminder of Jesus’ example of faithful suffering struck my heart. This exhortation has stayed with me ever since I read your letter, “[Jesus] gave us an example of how to suffer, so let’s apprentice ourselves to him in this too.”
Thank you for challenging me to imitate him again.
Here is our passage for today:
“I exhort you all, therefore, to yield obedience to the word of righteousness, and to exercise all patience, such as you have seen before your eyes, not only in the case of the blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus, but also in others among yourselves, and in Paul himself, and the rest of the apostles. [Do this] in the assurance that all these have not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness, and that they are [now] in their due place in the presence of the Lord, with whom also they suffered. For they loved not this present world, but Him who died for us, and for our sakes was raised again by God from the dead.”
“I exhort you all, therefore, to yield obedience to theword of righteousness, and to exercise all patience”
The title in the translator gave to this passage was “Patience Inculcated.” Inculcated isn’t a word that we hear used very much in common parlance, but I think in this case it’s a very poignant one. The has a kind of dual meaning; it evokes a sense of a parent instilling virtues in their children that they’ll indwell for life, but it also has an element of repetition. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, and is therefore something that believers, both young and old, should expect to possess in some measure, however in order for that fruit to grow it needs to be constantly fed and watered.
I have gotten in the habit, when people have come to me for advice during times of particular personal or relational stress, of asking whether they have recently asked God to give them more patience. I have about a 90% hit rate. One of the best ways for us to grow in patience isn’t simply by being told, but rather to have regular “system updates” by meeting difficult people and situations. This inculcates the kind of patience fitting of those obedient to the word of righteousness.
It’s no wonder then that Polycarp’s passage on patience is written within the context of relation, both to the broader family of the saints, but also more specifically to those in our personal spheres. This gives us people to be patient with, and people to patiently imitate.
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If you’re struggling with sin that you feel cannot be excoriated, you have two options: Struggle alone, without the Spirit’s help, and out of the sight of others, or, bring it into the light, trust God to change you above and beyond your own weak strength, and allow others to bear fruit that will nourish your soul too.

I had just sworn—much to my wife’s surprise. What’s worse was I didn’t know why.
Growing up in South London, swearing was regular feature of my life until I’d been convinced and convicted that my careless tongue was to come under God’s reign and rule just like the rest of me. It had been years though, I had slipped up here and there, but always in the most difficult of situations.
This wasn’t one of them.
It was the middle of the day and we were having a regular conversation and suddenly, I’d sworn.
What had changed? I’d just started taking steroids.
I was at the start of a year stuck in bed, and little did I know that along with struggling to walk, or interact with people, or do any kind of meaningful tasks, I would also have to battle my old sin of least resistance all over again as the steroids stripped away my self-control.
Truth be told, there were times we laughed at the vulgar additions to my sentences, but more often than not, it was just upsetting.
I knew I ought not to, and yet, I continued in my sin.
The year dragged on as more medicine was added to an already bitter cocktail, and I had to reckon with the fact that this sin would not go away on its own. I had to come before God and trust him again that he was stronger than my sin, mightier than the medicine, and ever able to fill me with the fruit of the Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 ESV
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It is my desire to, “put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word” even in the face of darkness and evil. As a result of that, I have made a promise to myself—and now to my readers—not to lash out in anger, even when I feel justified in doing so. This has meant sitting on some subjects that I feel strongly about and not speaking out on them, even when I see others doing so.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
James 1:19-21
I wanted to write a short article today about the wisdom of silence.
There’s an awful lot of awful news, which has left the world with fresh scars in recent days, and the responses have been varied. Some of those responses are heartfelt, and yet unwise, some are evil, some are good. I’ve seen pastoral tweets and helpful counsel, some standing in support, others in opposition. These responses beget further responses, and the cycle goes on.
In just a few weeks, another tragedy will strike—though likely not on this scale—and we’ll see a similar explosion.
Then there’ll be another.
And another.
So much of what I see causes me immense grief, as I’m sure it does for many of you reading, and some of what I see brings out anger in me. I wish I was slower to anger in these things, but I’m not. I need to be sanctified further, just as we all do.
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In this sermon, Spurgeon speaks of and to “burden-bearers” of various sorts, comparing them to the Gershonites spoken of and to in the book of Numbers—a family in the tribe of Levi called to bear holy burdens and responsible for the moving of the priestly ornaments. As I’m presently one of these Gershonites—no longer bed-bound, but still in a daily state of suffering—it is not enough to view myself as “not worthless” but rather, to stand as a witness of God’s goodness in and through that suffering. This passage in Numbers 4 starts with the words, “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying…” before going on to describe the service and the life the Gershonites were to live. They were not an afterthought, nor were they they “less than” but, rather, were directly appointed by God for their task.

In my last article, I shared some verses1 that the Lord has repeatedly used to encourage and sanctify me over the past few years. These verses were especially heartening during a prolonged period during which I was housebound, and largely confined to my bed. Lying there, in vast amounts of pain, unable to sleep or even to find a single comfortable position, I struggled against a persistent sense of pointlessness. The enemy would come and remind me of just how frail I was, and how useless I felt. My only visitors were the people who lived with us, and I had no pastoral support at the time.
I felt very alone.
It was not the first time I’d been seriously ill, and, therefore, I knew that the Lord would be perfecting my suffering for his glory and for the good of his people. There were times though—sometimes due to spiritual drought and other times because of the wretched medicine I had to take—that the truth became hard to hold onto.
During this time, I had continued to disciple a number of young men in the church, (albeit on Zoom…and horizontally.) One day, between one call and another, I brought my struggle before the Lord and asked:
“What is the point? What am I good for now?”
After I had prayed, I picked up a book of sermons that sat by my bedside, and I began to read. I’d love to tell you about the sermon I stumbled upon that day, and about how God used it to transform my suffering once more, to change my life, and to renew my mind. In addition though, I wanted as many people as possible to be able to access this sermon, and so, I have recorded the sermon in full so you can listen on YouTube.
Burdens and Bedsides
That day, whilst reading the sermon above, the following words were an answer to prayer and a warm embrace:
There lies, at Dundee, at this present moment, a man who has been confined to his bed, I think it is now fifty-six years. I have his photograph at home, and the friend who sent it to me wrote, “I send you the likeness of the happiest man in Dundee, and one of the most useful, too, for he is a great soul-winner though he cannot raise himself from a constantly prostrate position. He talks so sweetly of Christ and of the upholding power of divine grace, that he leads many to put their trust in Jesus Christ.
I was six months in to what would be almost a year spent mostly in bed—though I didn’t know it yet. In that moment, my prayer railing against my uselessness was replaced by one petitioning God to use my bedridden state; even if it was to last another fifty-six years. The truth is, that often when we’re in states of suffering, we’re the first to declare ourselves a lost cause, even when we would never do such a thing to others.
Spurgeon goes on to say:
All over this land…there are bed-ridden men and women who are the saintliest among the saints. It is an atrocious lie that some have uttered when they have said that the sickness is a consequence of the sufferer’s sin. I could not select, out of heaven, choicer spirits than some whom I know who have not for twenty years left their bed, and they have lived nearer to God than any of us, and have brought to Him more glory than any of us.
It is true that there are some out there who will blame suffering saints for their status, I’ve met some personally.
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Keep making disciples, keep baptising them, keep teaching them; in the power of the Spirit and the name of Jesus. What makes Amillennialism so exciting and encouraging is not that is introduces anything new, but that it encourages us to continue in faith with the work appointed to us. Yes, persecution may come, but Jesus is on the throne, he is ruling, and is our ultimate hope.

I recently bought myself a fountain pen. I’ve had terrible handwriting as long as I can remember—an excellent trait to have as a writer—and I thought it was time I did something about it. I decided on a fountain pen partially because a number of other writers have recommended it, and also because it seems to force one to be more careful. No one suggested it had to be yellow though.
Yellow, I thought, If I’m going to convince myself to use it, it ought to look exciting.
In sales, new recruits are often asked to “sell” a pen to a colleague to exercise their skills. Well, I marketed the pen to myself and I bought my own logic, so I guess I’m one step towards winning salesman of the year in the Ravenhill household. Today I’m facing a similar issue, should I—should we—paint a theological model “yellow” too? Would that make it more attractive? Easier to understand? Less boring?
Important: My guess is that you’re in one of two camps:

You’ve clicked on the name but might not make it past the next couple of paragraphs because they might seem more dense
You’re savvy with the terms and you just wanna get on with the article.

For those in the first camp, I’d love to encourage you that this article isn’t as dense, boring, or aimless as it might seem. There are reasons we need to discuss subjects like this and although “academic” theological terms might be an immediate barrier, getting to know the terms can open up deeper biblical and theological understanding as well as simplifying future reading.
Here are some key terms:
Eschatology is the study and theology of the end times, post-, pre-, and amillennialism are models to help understand the shape that the end times will take and although there are others, these tend to be the most common amongst protestants.Premillennialism (Pre-M)—Things will get worse before they get better. Some time during that period the saints will be raptured—or taken away from the world—then God will judge the earth.Postmillennialism (Post-M)—Things will get better before they get worse, followed by judgement day. The better time will begin by being ushered in by the work of the church.Amillennialism (A-M)—The end times started at pentecost and since then things have been both good (the work of the church) and bad (the persecution of the church) and this will be followed by the coming of Christ, the final judgement, and the new heavens and new earth.
The “good” in each of these is usually referred to as “the reign of Christ”, and the bad is referred to a “tribulation.”
In a recent YouTube video Matthew Everhard, Senior Pastor of Gospel Fellowship PCA, suggested that Amillennialism might be in need of a rebrand1. He’s not the first to suggest this, for instance, in a commentary on Revelation Beale says:
It is better to refer to [“amillennialism”] as “inaugurated millennialism,” since “amillennial” literally means “no millennium.”G. K. Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary, page 420.
In researching for this article I’ve found that it’s quite a common practice for those arguing for the Amillenial position to produce or provide an alternative term, suggesting that the one we currently use is at best confusing—potentially even unfit to carry the weight of the theological implications it carries. Throughout his video, Everhard suggests a number of alternative terms such as:

Nuncmillennial—Nunc meaning “now”
Supramillennial—Supra meaning “over” or “above”
Optimistic Amillennials—As opposed to the pessimistic portrait painted of us by our critics.

Beyond these possible new designations, however, Everhard doesn’t go into much detail as to what the benefits of a rebrand would be. Clarity is certainly an admirable goal, but theological terms are often difficult to understand at first. There seems to be an underlying emphasis that Everhard never quite gets to, but seems to be present throughout his video.
It’s Just So Boring
One of the main reasons, as I see it, that Everhard’s argument came about in the first place is that Amillennialism seems boring. I will come onto why that isn’t actually true, but on the face of it the Amillennial view doesn’t bring an urgency or new “mission” to the table in that same way that the Pre-M and Post-M views do.
This is part of what makes these models so exciting. They often come with particular markers to look out for, or goals to achieve. These include but are not limited to:
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