THEME: THE CHURCH LIFE IN THE TIMES OF TROUBLES/TRIBULATIONS
LESSON: TWO
TEXT: 1 Thessalonians 3:4, Acts 14:22, James 1:2


INTRODUCTION
In our last lesson, we gave an introduction and projected overview of this series on ‘TRIBULATION, the Life of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In today’s lesson, we’ll be looking at ‘the place of tribulation in the program of the saving of Our soul’ (Acts 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:4).

Understand that Salvation is on a tripartite level, and knowing where particularly ‘tribulation’ is permitted by The Lord Jesus Christ

Man is essentially a spirit (His Person), that has a soul (an organ of the spirit, though a person in itself also) and lives in a body (the house of the spirit and soul) (Genesis 1:27; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12-13). The three men that make the whole MAN experience death in diverse ways as a result of Adam’s disobedience in the beginning.

The spirit died instantly when Adam and his wife ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:15-17). The soul tasted death in a measure when they both ate of the evil tree (Genesis 3:6-7). Also, their bodies and that of the generations till now also began experiencing death (Genesis 3:19). When our Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for man’s freedom and salvation, we now needed to experience salvation in our tripartite persons, spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

For our spirit to be saved, all we needed to do was to believe, the simple faith believing that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and confessing Him as Lord (Romans 10:8-10). There’s no tribulation for the saving of our human spirit (Ephesians 2:4-9).

The Soul: The Man Who Needs Much Tribulations to Enter The Kingdom/God (Acts 14:22)

Man’s spirit is called in scripture THE INNER MAN (Ephesians 3:16); the soul is called THE INWARD MAN, while the Body is called THE OUTWARD MAN (2 Corinthians 4:16). The inner man (spirit) gets born again instantaneously, while the inward man (soul) requires words/preaching/teaching/doctrine/leadings of The Holy Spirit to be saved/born again (1 Peter 1:9; James 1:21).

For the soul to be saved, the soul, according to the wisdom of God in scriptures, needs to be fed with three kinds of food/meals, which are:

1. Milk: The beginning food of the soul (note: it is the soul that needs feeding or growing with meals from God’s word, not the born-again spirit) (1 Corinthians 3:1-2; Hebrews 5:12-13). Milk is the food for spiritual babies/one newly born again/newly come to the Faith. There is no administration of TRIBULATION in the life of a Milk user of the word, even though there are some sufferings which are as a result of the leading of the Spirit of God against the ways of a baby Christian (Acts 2- 6 – The Life of The Early Church). But such sufferings are not and cannot be categorized as tribulations, because WE DON’T ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD THROUGH THE USE OF THE MILK (Acts 14:22).

2. Meat of The Word: This is the first word of the Kingdom that provokes tribulations, trials, oppositions, contradiction etc. (James 1:2; Acts 14:22; Revelation 1:9). This level/type of word specifically deals with the work of Satan and his cohorts in the souls of Believers who are eating and using the meat of the word of God for life and living. The Bible calls the meat of the word THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST (1 Corinthians 3:1-2; Romans 1:16; Romans 10:3-4; 1 Corinthians 10:1-4). While the milk of the word grows a baby to becoming a Child, the meat of the word grows a child into A New Man/Christ in their soul (Ephesians 4:20-23).

3. The Strong Meat of The Word: The strong meat of the word is what grows a soul from just being A New Man to being A Father (1 John 2:12-14). This level of the word provokes divers temptations/tribulations from the enemy, and such is monitored and permitted by God (James 1:2; Hebrews 5:12-14). The strong meat is also called the word of salvation/Everlasting Life (1 Peter 1:9; James 1:21. 2 Peter 1:10-11).

All of the above were painstakingly explained so as to have an unambiguous and easy task in explaining the place of tribulation in Our Christian journey, and at what juncture it comes in.

What is TRIBULATION?

Tribulation(s), like many Bible subjects, has many sided definitions depending on which side the Holy Ghost is emphasizing per time. Below are definitions of Tribulations from scripture:

  1. The Hebrew meaning of Tribulation is narrow/tight/strait/distress/adversary. The Greek meaning of Tribulation is pressing/pressing together/pressure/affliction/distress/persecution/trouble.
  2. Acts 14:22 definition: Tribulations are troubles/pressings/pressures/persecutions/afflictions through which we enter into the kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, scriptures say we need MUCH TRIBULATIONS to enter God’s Kingdom.
  3. Revelation 1:9: Tribulation is a kind of fellowship that Brethren in Light have a privilege to share in.
  4. Romans5:3:TribulationisatoolFORTHEWORKING/FORMINGOFCHRIST’SNATUREinoursoul.

CONCLUSION

It’s good to quickly add that, it is not every trouble/tribulation around a Christian/Brethren that is of God (allowed of God), some are as a result of our disobedience (Romans 2:9; Revelation 2:22)! This we hope to look at more in our next lesson.

TO BE CONTIUNED…