Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”
What does loving the Lord mean? One could argue, from an hebraic perspective, that the love of the Lord (or the fear of God) is loving his commandment. Here, in greek, love is ἀγαπῶσιν.
Def: to love, to feel and exhibit esteem and goodwill to a person, to prize and delight in a thing.
SYN.: φιλέω. From its supposed etymology (Thayer, LS; but v. also Boisacq) ἀ. is commonly understood properly to denote love based on esteem (diligo), as distinct from that expressed by φιλέω (amo), spontaneous natural affection, emotional and unreasoning. If this distinction holds, ἀ. is fitly used in NT of Christian love to God and man, the spiritual affection which follows the direction of the will, and which, therefore, unlike that feeling which is instinctive and unreasoned, can be commanded as a duty. (Cf. ἀγάπη, and v. Tr., Syn. §xii; Cremer, 9, 592; and esp. MM, VGT, s.v.)
In other words, love is an action of following the will of God. One could make the case of willfully and happily following the laws of God, in a certain sense. It is opposed to a more military and rigid view, such as the one of the Old Testament. Where religious asks you to follow rules and laws without a spiritual affection and delight, Jesus came and simply asked to follow him, in a loving way.
The test imposed on us right now is the bowing down to the New World Order and embracing the precursor of the Mark of the Beast. Without your QR code, one cannot buy or sell or work, in a not-too-distant future. Just look at Austria. It’s coming February 2022. Whether you are pro-vaccine or anti-this-vaccine, the reality of it is that we are getting coerced into a Hunger Game style world, where we are all track, and competing for very limited resources.
The word Trial in the verse is πειρασμός in greek. In the Dodson Dictionary, it means trial, probation, testing, being tried, (b) temptation, (c) calamity, affliction.
Blessed is the one who perseveres through the calamity, temptation, testing, affliction, for having stood the test, the person will receive the crown of life (στέφανον τῆς ζωῆς) that the Lord has promised him.
Stay sane.
JP