Revelation 2:10 Revelation 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer Those sufferings were part of this churches tribulation, which Christ foreknew, and he testified in this verse. First, the kind of their sufferings, to wit, imprisonment. Secondly, the time thereof ten days. Thirdly, the end why God permitted them to suffer, to try them. Fourthly, the instruments of their sufferings, "the devil," the adversary, etc. Fifthly, their duty to be "faithful unto Death:" And sixthly, their reward, to wit, "a crown of life." Suffer thou must, if thou be a true visible church of God. \ If thou be a faithful minister of Christ. \ If thou be a sanctified believer, who lives godly, \ fear thou should not, \ nor be terrified by the adversaries. \ Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, etc. The “ devil” by a metonymy of the efficient cause, is here put for his instruments, who were provided and instigated by him to persecute and imprison some of the ministers and members of this church. diabolov, signifies an adversary, whose enmity is here noted with an idou, behold, that is, consider and know, who will prove your adversary, and will act the devil’ s design against you, which was the them Roman, pagan emperors, and other grand persecutors, metaphorically called the red dragon, the serpent, called also the devil and his angels. \ That ye may be tried, etc. that your faith may be tried, \ and your patience, \ and all other graces, \ which was commended by the apostle in the primitive suffers. \ The saints may expect fiery trials, \ which they ought not to thing strange, but to rejoice in. \ "And ye shall have tribulation ten days." Times of persecution are times of "tribulation," so it was with the apostles and saints. \ We are troubled on every side, etc. "Ten days, " that is, a certain time put mystically for the ten bloody persecutions under the heathen emperors, as Dioclesian, or for some other times of persecution, which are here numbered by Christ; so that the times of the saint’ s churches, and ministers sufferings are in the hand of the Lord, \ not in the adversaries power. The time when the churches, ministers, or saints shall suffer persecution and imprisonment, or any other kind of “ tribulation” is appointed of God, and ordered and measured out by our Lord Jesus Christ. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. The faithfulness of the church ministers, and saints of Christ consists, first, in a bold confession of the faith of Christ, when they are thereunto called. \ Secondly, in enduring sufferings for Christ’ s sake, not loving their lives unto death. Thirdly, \ in not accepting deliverance upon any sinful terms. \ “ The Crown of life” which Christ promiseth is an eternal weight of glory. \ “ For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory: While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, are eternal.”