Jesus Gives His Command to Thyatira (Rev. 2:24-25)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/6/2015 8:36 AM

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  Jesus Gives His Command to Thyatira

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 2:24-25

            Message of the verses:  “24  ’But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them-I place no other burden on you. 25 ’Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.”

            In our last SD we saw what the Glorified Christ who knows all things and sees all things said He would do to those who were following the sins of Jezebel that they would be judged for their sin, but now we see the Lord addressing those who have not followed this false teaching and He gives comfort to them.  John MacArthur points out a passage in the book of Malachi in which God also gave comfort to those he was ministering to.  Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament and he ministers to those who had returned from the captivity in Babylon.  He writes “16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. 17 “They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him."”

            Next we see that Christ defines the believers as those “who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them.”  Those who were following Jezebel believed that they could plunge into the deep things of Satan, things like false theology, impurity, licentious, and then come and worship the Lord as if nothing was wrong with that.  This was similar to the Jews during the last days of their kingdom as described in the OT prophets of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  The Jews had idols that they worshiped on the “high places” and then they would come down to the temple and worship the Lord as if nothing was wrong with that.  As I studied the attributes of God one of them is that God is a Jealous God, and I have mentioned that the kind of Jealousy that God has is not selfish like the kind we humans have.  God deserves to receive all worship and when that does not happen those who are worshiping false gods, it is sin for God will not share His glory with anyone, which is what those in this church were doing, they were sharing God’s glory with the deep things of Satan and it is no wonder that Jesus Christ comes down on them for that.  This kind of thing reminds me of what Paul wrote to the Romans in a number of chapters you will find Paul asking a rhetorical question and then give the answer in the strongest not found in the Greek language.  You can look at the third chapter of Romans for examples of this.  Here are two examples of what I am talking about:  “Ro 6:15  What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!  Ro 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET."”

            Christ tells those who have not followed those deeper things of Satan, following the practice of Jezebel, that He will place no other burden on them.  He also tells them to hold fast to what you have until I come.  John MacArthur writes “The use of the strong word krateo (hold fast) indicates that it would not be easy.  The coming of Christ as it related to the Thyatira church was His coming to them in judgment.  But in a wider sense, all believers are to ‘cling to what is good’ (Rom. 1:29) until Christ’s return.”

            We have one shorter lesson from this church of Thyatira and then we will have completed the first two chapters of the book of Revelation.  Chapter three has three more churches to look at and two of these last three churches sink down deeper into sin and doing wrong and one is one of the best churches we will study. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When I put on the spiritual armor each morning I read a number of times from the 6^th chapter of Ephesians “Stand Firm,” and this is what the Lord is saying to those believers in the church at Thyatira and this is what I want to do too.  I am not saying that I do not want to grow more in the Lord, but I am saying that I do not want to go backwards, I want to hold on to what I have.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to better understand and apply the love that the Lord has for me in my everyday life.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:9-10.

9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.  10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about your calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Abraham.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘let her gleam even among the sheaves, and reproach her not’?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/6/2015 9:14 AM

The Concern Jesus has for Thyatira (Rev. 2:20-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/5/2015 11:42 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  The Concern Jesus has for Thyatira

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 2:20-23

            Message of the verses:  “20  ’But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 ’I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 22 ’Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 23  ’And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

            I mentioned in the Spiritual Diaries that I am doing on the book of Ezekiel that some of the things that Ezekiel is telling the exiles is very harsh, yet as always true, and it can be compared to these things that Christ is writing to this church.  The difference is that Jesus was speaking to a physical church in the church age where much more information has been given to them through what has happened to Christ on the cross who paid for our sins whereas Ezekiel was writing and speaking to the OT nation of Israel.

            When we look at the problems that Jesus points out in this church we can see that they were not external problems, but they were internal problems.  Smyrna had many external problems that came from the Jews and also from those who worshiped idols who wanted all the people in that city to do the same.  One could say that Smyrna and Thyatira were in some ways opposite in the problems that they faced.  Persecution will cause the church to grow and also get rid of the false believers as they won’t stay around to be persecuted for something that they truly don’t believe in.  However when the church is not being persecuted then this gives a chance for many unbelievers to sneak in and cause much trouble in the church which was what was happening in Thyatira as we will see.   Paul speaks of this when he was addressing the leaders of the Ephesian church in Acts 20:29-30 “29  "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30  and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

            John MacArthur writes “The penetrating gaze of the Lord of the church had discerned serious error, causing Him to warn ‘I have this against you.’  The use of the singular pronoun points this admonition especially to the leader of the congregation.  The indictment is ‘that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.’  The sin, apparently involving the majority of the Thyatira church’s members, was twofold.  First, they violated the biblical teaching that women are not to be teachers or preachers in the church (1 Tim. 2:12).  That led them to tolerate ‘the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess.’  They compounded their error of permitting her to teach by allowing her to teach error.  As a result, Jesus declares, ‘she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.’”

            Who was Jezebel?  Well we can be pretty sure that this was not the person’s name, but someone who acted like Jezebel.  Jezebel was the infamous wife of King Ahab, and she was Satan’s agent to corrupt God’s people.  If memory serves me correctly she introduced Baal worship in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  I can’t help but write about one of the prophecies that had to do with her punishment that God was going to give her because of what she did and that is that she would be spread out around the land.  She died from a fall from a high building and a little while later they wanted to bury her but the dogs had eaten her and only her skull was left.  I guess it was the dogs who spread her all around the country.

            MacArthur says “Therefore the Lord branded her with the symbolic name Jezebel.  This NT Jezebel did like the OT Jezebel did and that was she succeeded in leading Christ’s bond-servants astray so that they would commit acts of immorality and they also would eat things sacrificed to idols.  Remember when we looked at the letter from the Apostles to the Gentile churches in Acts chapter 15 and they said the following “19 “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood (Acts 15:19-20.”  This church must not have gotten that letter or if they did they forgot about what it said.

            MacArthur writes “The Bible teaches that true Christians can fall into sexual immorality (cf. 1 Cor. 6:15-20) and idolatry (cf. 1 Cor. 10:21).  But to lead others Christians into false doctrine or immoral living is a very serious sin, one meriting the most severe punishment.  In Matthew 18:6-10, Jesus graphically described the serious consequences for those who lead other believers into sin:  ‘6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! 8  "If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. 9 “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. 10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.’

“The ‘little ones who believe’ in Christ are not physical children, but spiritual children—believers.  It is so serious to lead another believer into sin that the Lord said death by drowning was a better option.  The imagery of maiming oneself is language depicting the need for drastic action in dealing with sin.”

            There is one more Scripture I want to add to this that has something to do with what we are talking about and that comes from Romans 1:32 “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

            Our gracious Lord gave them time to repent, but they did not do so and because they did not do so He said that He would “throw her on a bed of sickness.”  MacArthur writes “The words of sickness are not part of the original Greek text, but were supplied as a conjecture by the translators.  In light of the finality of Jezebel’s refusal to repent, it is more likely that the bed refers to death and hell—the ultimate resting place for those who refuse to repent.”  Now not only for her but for those who commit adultery with her for divine punishment will go to them too and Jesus says that they will go into “great tribulation.”  MacArthur does not believe that this is the eschatological tribulation period which will later be described in chapters 4-19, but distress or trouble.  He goes on to write “Since these were the sinning Christians who had believed her lies, the Lord does not threaten to send them to hell as He did the false prophetess.  He promises to bring them severe chastening—possibly even physical death unless they repent of her deeds.”

            Jesus then mentions a third group who will face divine judgment and these are those described with these words “I will kill her children with pestilence.”  These were not her physical children, but spiritual children.  This church was around forty years old and we see the second generation believers here and severe punishment could come on them if they did not repent and turn from their ways.  Death could come to them like it die with Ananias and Sapphira seen in Acts chapter five. 

            This may be hard to understand but it is true that Christ twill receive glory for judging Jezebel and those who followed her.  When He does judge them then all the churches would know that He is the One who searches the minds and the hearts.  It is only God can do this and so this is just another of the many, many statements that confirms the deity of Jesus Christ. 

            MacArthur writes “It is not known how many in that congregation responded to Christ’s warning, but, tragically, the Thyatira church as a whole apparently did not heed it.  History records that it fell prey to the Montanist heresy) a movement led by a false prophet who claimed continuing revelation from God apart from Scripture) and went out of existence by the end of the second century.”

            Lastly we see these words of comfort from our Lord “I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”  Each person would be judged by their own deeds and not on the church as a whole group, and this is something important to know. 

            I have written on what my feelings about works and the Christians in earlier SD’s and the truth is that no one is saved by doing good works, but good works demonstrate the fact that one is truly saved.  I also believe that Ephesians 2:10 shows that God has given us works to do even before the world began and we must be open to the Holy Spirit for Him to show us what these works are and then have Him lead us in doing these works to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

            Again remember what Peter said “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Learning more about how my Lord watches over His church has given me greater incentive in wanting to follow the leading of the Spirit to do the works that He has planned for me to do. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to better understand the love He has for me.  To be a comfort to my friend whose wife is now in heaven.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 2:8-10.

8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.  10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as your practice these things, you will never stumble.

Answer to yesterday’ Bible question:  “Righteousness” (Romans 4:9).

Today’s Bible question:  “In Hebrews 2:16, Christ took on himself the seed of what man?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/5/2015 1:29 PM

The Church, City & Commendation (Rev. 2:18a-19)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/4/2015 5:04 PM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  The Church, City & Commendation

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 2:18a-19

            Message of the verses:  “The Church in Thyatira” (Rev. 2:18a).

            I believe that we have looked at Acts 19:10 when we dealt with both Smyrna and Pergamum, in that neither of these churches were seen earlier in the New Testament.  It is believed that when Paul spent much time in Ephesus that there were daughter churches that sprang up from the church in Ephesus and this likely was the case with Thyatira.  “This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:10).”  Now other than the three times Thyatira is mentioned in the book of Revelation there is only one other time that Thyatira is mentioned in the entire NT:  “Ac 16:14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”  Paul was in Philippi, when Lydia came to know the Lord as seen in Acts 16:14.  It is possible that Lydia had something to do with the beginnings of this church but we don’t know for sure.

            The City (Revelation 2:18b):  “Thyatira.”

            Pergamum was the city that was the furthest North of the seven cities and then you go east and then southeast you get to Thyatira which was around 40 miles away. 

            The early history, before the Roman Empire saw the city of Thyatira being taken over many different times because of the location that it was in as the area was rather flat and not on top of a hill like Pergamum was, in fact early on there was an outpost there to stop invaders from getting to Pergamum, but because of its location it did little good.

            When Rome took over Thyatira came benefited by the Roman peace and began to grow.  As far as religions in Thyatira there was not many ‘gods’ they worshiped other than Apollo, the sun god and we mentioned this in our first SD on Thyatira.  Thyatira was famous for its guilds, which are like our labor unions and there were many in this city.  Thyatira was famous for wool and dyed goods, especially purple goods which were dyed from the purple extracted from the madder root.  One of the many guilds was the one that had to do with the garments, and these guilds each had their gods that they worshiped and in order to be a member of these guilds one had to worship their certain god, which of course that Christians could not do.  John MacArthur writes “To hold a job or run a business, it was necessary to be a member of a guild.  Each guild had its patron deity, in whose honor feasts were held—complete with meat sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality.  Christians faced the dilemma of attending those feast or possibly losing their livelihood.  How some in the Thyatira church were handling the situation caused the Lord Jesus Christ great concern.”

            The Commendation (Revelation 2:19):  “’I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.”

            As in the churches of Ephesus and Pergamum our Lord gave commendation to those in this church.  He told them that He had not forgotten their righteous deeds and He would divide them into four categories.  On the note about their good deeds and the Lord not forgetting them let us look at Hebrews 6:10 “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.”

            First we see that the believers in Thyatira were showing love for God and for one another.  We see from this that Thyatira was strong where Ephesus was weak, and this is the first of the seven churches to be commended for its love.

            Second Christ commends them for their faith and MacArthur writes “pistis (‘faith’) is better translated ‘fidelity,’ or faithfulness.’  The true Christians in Thyatira were dependable, reliable, and consistent (cf. v. 25).  Faith and love are frequently linked in the New Testament.”

            My memory verses have been from 2 Peter 1:5-10 and verses five through seven give a progression of qualities that believers are to follow:  “5 ¶  Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6  and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7  and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.”  We can see from this progression that out of faith and love grows service and perseverance.  MacArthur writes “Those who love will express that love through meeting the needs of others.  Those who are faithful will steadfastly preserver in faith.”

            We see in this verse that they are growing in their walk with the Lord as their loving service continued to grow stronger.  “They were growing in grace, maturing in their Christian lives, and advancing the cause of Christ (cf. 2 Peter 1:8).  For that behavior they were to be commended.”  (John MacArthur.)

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I mentioned in one of the first SD’s of this New Year that our “Seniors” Pastor challenged us at the end of last year with a number of choices to do better in 2015, and the one that I am focusing on is loving the Lord in a more biblical way, which is what I can see that these believers were doing.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to better understand the love He has for me.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:8-10.

8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.  10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “To keep the people from going to Jerusalem to worship” (1 Kings 12:26-28).

Today’ Bible question:  “For what was faith reckoned unto Abraham?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/4/2015 6:05 PM

Jesus The Author of this Letter (Rev. 2:18c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/3/2015 2:23 PM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  Jesus is the Author of this letter.

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 2:18c

            Message of the verse:  “The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this (Rev. 2:18c).”

            I mentioned in our last SD on Revelation that the title “Son of God” is only used in this verse in the entire book of Revelation.  Now I am studying the book of Ezekiel also and the phrase “Son of man” is used many, many times in that book, and Jesus referred to Himself many times many times in the Gospels as the “Son of Man.”  My point is that we now see Jesus Christ as the glorified Son of God in the pages of the book of Revelation a state that He was not in when He was on earth. 

            “Son of God” does emphasize the deity of Jesus Christ, something that many people have a very hard time believing, but nonetheless it is made clear in the pages of Scripture that He is indeed God along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Now don’t asked me to explain this for no one can truly explain the trinity but the truth of its existence is made clear in the Word of God.  John says the following in John 5:18 “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”  Jesus told Philip in John 14:9 “Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ’Show us the Father’?” 

            John MacArthur writes “The title Son of Man views Christ in His ability to sympathize with the needs, trials, and temptations of His Church.  In this passage, however, Jesus is identified as “Son of God, the emphasis is not on His humility, but on His deity, because His approach to the church at Thyatira is not as sympathetic High Priest, but as divine judge.  Not comfort, but judgment is in store for the church at Thyatira when Christ’s divine power moves against this adulterous assembly.”

When we look at Jesus as divine judge we see Him as having eyes like a flame of fire, and feet like burnished bronze.  Now we have already discussed this when we looked at the first chapter of Revelation, when John saw the vision of the Glorified Christ and then fell as a dead man after seeing Him, so in that vision we see Jesus in the ways that He will deal with the church, and this is the same way that He deals with it now and will until the last person in the church age comes to know Him as Savior and Lord and then He will come and claim His bride and take us to heaven. 

Jesus sees all things is the meaning of His eyes like a flame of fire, and this is also seen in the 19^th chapter of Revelation when He returns to earth at the end of the tribulation period to end the battle of Armageddon.  MacArthur writes “The description of His feet as being like burnished bronze is reminiscent of Revelation 19:15, where it says of Christ that ‘He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.’  That Christ’s feet glowed brilliantly like burnished bronze depicts His purity and holiness as He tramples out impurity.”

Perhaps when reading their letter from the risen Glorified Christ the people of Thyatira were in shock, and hopefully many of them repented.  Peter writes the following in 1 Peter 4:17 “It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to keep a short list with the Lord so that I will not have to come under the things that are described in this letter to the church at Thyatira.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to better understand and appreciate the love that Christ has for me.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-10.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.  8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.  10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Matthew.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Why did Jeroboam make calves of gold?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/3/2015 3:19 PM

 

"Introduction to the church at Thyatira" (Rev. 2:18-20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/2/2015 3:41 PM

My Worship Time                                                  Focus:  Introduction to the church at Thyatira

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 2:18-29

            Message of the verses: “18 "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: 19 ’I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. 20  ’But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 ’I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 22 ’Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 23  ’And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. 24  ’But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them-I place no other burden on you. 25 ’Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. 26 ’He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; 27 AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

            Let me make one point that came from my previous study on the book of Revelation and that comes from verse 18 where we see these words “The Son of God,” and this is the only time we see them in the entire book of Revelation.  Perhaps it is because in the city of Thyatira they worshiped the “sun god,” and Christ wanted to make sure that they knew He is the Son of God and not the sun god.

            We have talked about Church discipline in our past SD’s but it is a very important subject to talk about for we find these words in Matthew 18:15-18, words that Jesus spoke, and the first time we see the word “church” in the New Testament:  “15 ¶ “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16  "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18  "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

            Now in the 5^th chapter of Acts we also see that when a lie was told Peter accused Ananias, and his wife Sapphira of lying to the Holy Spirit and they both died on the spot.

            Next let us look at 1 Cor. 5:1-5 for another cause of church discipline.  “1 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. 2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. 3 For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”  Just a side note some believe that Paul speaks of this incident in his second letter and if he did then the man repented of his sin.

            We can give two reasons for church discipline; church discipline is done to make sure that the church remains holy.  It will call sinning believers back to living a righteous live, and if they refuse to do that then when they are thrown out of the church it will purge the church of their sinful influence. 

            John MacArthur writes “Despite the clear biblical teaching to the contrary, churches throughout history have tolerated sin, following a pattern like the Thyatiran congregation, whose members were engaging in both spiritual and physical adultery.  Through the insidious efforts of a false teacher, those sins had become pervasive in the church at Thyatira.  The letter Christ addressed to its members was a sobering one, and marks a new phase in the letters to the seven churches.  Commentator Charles Erdman offers this perspective on the place of this letter among the seven:

            “The letter to the church in Thyatira begins the second group of messages to the churches of Asia.  In the first group, the church of Ephesus was characterized by loyalty to Christ which was lacking in love.  In the church of Smyrna loyalty was tested by fire.  In the church of Pergamum the loyalty was lacking in moral passion.  Yet all three churches were true to the faith, and had not yielded to the assaults of evil.

            “In the case of the church at Thyatira, as of the churches in Sardis and Laodicea, the situation was far more serious, Here not merely a mall minority was indifferent, but large numbers had actually yielded to the demoralizing influences of false teaching.”  (The Revelation of John [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966], 56).”

            On other note worth writing and that is that this was the smallest city of the seven, yet it received the longest letter from our Lord.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Remembering the holiness of the church is very important and something that should be remembered by me each day as I live my life in a way that will please the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to benefit from the love that Christ has for me.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-10.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.  8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.  10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Aquila and Priscilla” (Acts 18:1-3).

Today’s Bible question:  “What is the first book in the New Testament?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/2/2015 4:31 PM

Christ Command to Pergamum (Rev. 2:16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/1/2015 10:18 PM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  Christ Command to Pergamum

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 2:16

            Message of the verse:  “16 ’Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.”

             When a believer sins he is sinning against the Lord and there is only one thing to do and that is to sallow your pride and repent.  Believers must remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is all knowing and sees everything that is going on in His church.  John MacArthur writes “Repent is from metanoeo, a word used in Scripture to describe a change of mind that results in a change of behavior.  While tolerance is lauded in our modern culture, tolerating heretical teaching or sinful behavior in the church is not a virtue but a sin.  So serious a matter is it that, should they fail to repent of failure to discipline, Christ warns them “I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth (cf. Num. 22:23.”  “23 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field; but Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the way.”  The donkey that Balaam was riding has something in it that I want in me and that is total obedience to the Lord.  God was the One who caused the donkey to speak to Balaam, and she was the one who saw the Angel of the Lord with the sword and so she did what any good donkey would have done and that was stop.  Animals and other things like seas have no problem obeying the Lord, but people do.  Jesus spoke to the sea and it stopped the storm on it right away, no questions asked, but we as humans have a great deal of trouble in obeying the Lord.

            MacArthur goes on with this important fact:  “The entire church faced the battle sword of Christ’s judgment, the heretics for practicing their heresy and iniquity, and the rest of the church for tolerating it.  The change in pronouns from “you” to “them” reflects and underlying Hebrew idiom commonly found in the Septuagint; both pronouns refer to the entire church.”

            In the early stages of the church we see that in the fifth chapter of the book of Acts that there was immediate judgment on a married couple named Ananias and Sapphira who made up a story together about saying that after selling a piece of property that they would hold some of the money back and tell the apostles that they gave them the entire amount.  Peter confronted them and they would not repent and so they died for lying and not realizing that they were actually lying and tempting the Holy Spirit.  A little later on in church history we read in 1 Cor. 11 that people were dying because they were not celebrating the Lord’s Supper properly, as they were actually getting drunk.  One of the purposes of the Lord’s Table is to search your heart to see if there is any sin in it and if there is to care for it before you partake of the bread and juice.  Of course we are to also remember what the Lord Jesus did for us on the cross also.

            We see that one of the problems in the Pergamum church was they were tolerating the sins of Balaam and also the sins of the Nicolaitans and we discussed what these were already.  It was wrong for the church to tolerate people doing this and it was a problem for the rest of the church not to have them disciplined and eventually taken out of the church and turned over to Satan as Paul speaks of in his first letter to the Corinthians.

            Christ’s Counsel to the Pergamum Church (Revelation 2:17):  “17 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’”

            Christ advice to this church is the same as to the other churches and that is to listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say to the churches.  This truly was a bigger problem in some of the churches like Ephesus who did not listen to the commands that Christ gave to them and now there is no church there or any town there.

            Let’s talk about the hidden manna first and then about the white stone.  The Hebrew word for manna may seem a bit strange as it means “what is it.”  Manna was given to the children of Israel when they were wondering around in the desert for forty years.  I suppose that when the children of Israel first saw it that asked what is it and that may be how it got its name.  When the Ark of the Covenant was made some manna in a jar was put into it.  Jesus was asked about God giving manna to the children of Israel after he had feed the five thousand as the Pharisees told Him that Moses gave them bread from heaven to which Jesus told them “I am the bread that comes from heaven.  Whatever was in the manna must have been very good for the children of Israel to eat as they lived on it while wondering in the wilderness and the only other thing that we see them eat were some quails, but that is another story.

            Next we look at the white stone and there are different opinions about what the Lord is talking about.  I am going to go with the one that makes the most sense to me and that is that during these days when this was written there were many Olympic type games going on and in some of them the winner of the games would receive a white stone and on this stone was their name and the purpose of this stone was to get them into the celebration dinner after the games were over.  I believe that Jesus is telling this church that if they will obey His commands that they too will receive a white stone that only God knows the name on it and then they will be able to go into heaven and participate in the supper of the Lamb which is spoken about in a later chapter in Revelation. 

            John MacArthur finishes his commentary on this church with these words:  “The Pergamum church faced the same choice that every similar church faces.  It could repent and receive all the blessedness of eternal life in the glory of heaven.  Or it could refuse to repent an face the terrible reality of having the Lord Jesus Christ declare war on it.  Maintaining the path of compromise ultimately leads to judgment.”

            We look next at Thyatira:  The church that tolerated sin as things grow worse as we continue looking at these seven churches.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We live in a compromising age and many churches also compromise, but I do not want to compromise what I know to be true and will need the help of the Lord to live an uncompromising life and be true to the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to better understand the love that the Lord has for me.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:-10.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Sodom” (Genesis 13:12).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who were the tentmakers who assisted Paul at Corinth?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/1/2015 11:10 PM

           

The Concern for Pergamum (Rev. 2:14-15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/31/2015 10:18 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  The Concern for Pergamum

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 2:14-15

            Message of the verses:  “14 ’But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. 15 ’So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”

            What we see in these verses shows us that there were some in this church who held to error, and this reminds me of something that is going on in many of our churches in, not only the United States, but around the world and that is the teaching of evolution.  I have written about this in earlier SD’s, and have expressed my hatred for this “religion,” yes that is what evolution is a religion.  We have many who like to take out what the Bible has to say about creation and that is that in six literal 24 hour days God created the heavens and the earth and all that is on the earth.  There is no room for any “gap” theory in the book of Genesis, which is saying that there were millions of years between the days of creation.  God could have created the heavens and the earth in six seconds if He wanted to, but He had reasons to create it in six days.  People who hold to this view, and there are many believers who do, it is just as sinful as those in the church in Pergamum who held to the teaching of the Nicolaitans and those who held to the teaching of Balaam, they are all three wrong and Christ comes down hard against those who held to those teachings in this letter.  The Bible is true and we need to take it seriously and not try and pick and chose what we believe.  Now I am going to, at this time quote again from my first study on the book of Revelation dated 02/22/2005 and then will give some additional comments on this portion of Scripture.

            “In his book “Be Victorious” Dr. Warren Wiersbe points out some interesting meanings to some names and this helps to explain what this verse is saying.  He writes that the people who have infiltrated the church at Pergamos were called “Nicolaitans,” and this name means, “to rule the people,” which is what they were trying to do in this church.  The Hebrew meaning for “Balaam” means “lord of the people,” and these are similar meanings to these two names.  The story of Balaam is in Numbers 22-25 and it is a sad story indeed, for Balaam was a true prophet of the Lord, but he fell in love with money and thus compromised his beliefs because of that.  Balak hires Balaam to curse Israel, because he was frightened of them, but God would not allow Balaam to curse the Israelites so he figured another way to get at Israel.  What he did was to get the people of Israel to become friends with Moab, and they began to eat foods that were sacrificed to idols, and to also cause the men of Israel to play the harlot with the women of Moab.  James writes about something similar, “Jas 4:4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can’t be a friend of God.”  The sin that Israel committed was the same sin that the church Pergamos committed, and that was separation from the Lord, and compromising their beliefs.  Scofield has this to say about this verse, “The doctrine of Balaam (CF) See Scofield "2Pe 2:15" See Scofield "Jude 1:11" was his teaching Balak to corrupt the people who could not be cursed. #Nu 31:15,16 22:5 23:8 by tempting them to marry women of Moab, defile their separation, and abandon their pilgrim character.  It is that union with the world and the church which is spiritual unchastity. #Jas 4:4. Pergamos had lost the pilgrim character and was "dwelling" #Re 2:13 "where Satan’s throne is," in the world. #Joh 12:31 14:30 16:11.”

            “It is interesting to see that it probably did not take a lot of people to get this church to fall into this sin, yet the problem was that they compromised and did not stand up and get rid of these people who were causing this trouble like they should of.”

            This last paragraph tells the story of how so many churches fall into worldliness and are eventually not worth much in the eyes of the Lord.  Now I read a story or heard it, not sure which about a small man who was a boxer.  He was in the navy and weighed about 105 pounds and he was looking for a sparring partner so he could hone his skills.  He found a much larger man who said that he would be willing to spare with him, and this larger man did not think that it would bother him at all.  He was wrong for as the skilled smaller fighter continued to fight with him he began hurt him even though he was so big and strong, but not as skillful as the real fighter.  This is what happens when the church does not do its job in making sure only believers are members in their church, and when they do not take the time to discipline members who are living in unrepeated error like what happened in Pergamum.   We saw that the Ephesian church left their first love and I believe that this is the first part of a downfall, that is not corrected that it will end up in more serious situations, like what we read about in this church, and as we will see the downfall will continue in the rest of the churches with the exception of Philadelphia. 

            At this time I want to quote some verses from the 15^th chapter of the book of Acts.  This chapter is a critical chapter in the history of the church.  The apostle Paul was being used of the Lord to start churches primarily with Gentiles even though he would first go to the Jews first.  There arose a problem with the Jewish believers in that they wanted the Gentile believers to follow the Jewish laws including circumcision.  What we see in the 15^th chapter of Acts settles this issue and at the end of the chapter we read what the Gentiles were to follow and this has to do with what the church in Pergamum was not following.  The following is the letter that was sent to the Gentile churches:  “"The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings. 24 “Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls, 25 it seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28  "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29  that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell."

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are times when I have a problem with realizing that things are right in the site of God, as sometimes things seem right, but when I begin to study more thoroughly I find they are not what the Lord wants.  I believe that by studying the attributes of God that I have a better idea of who God is and thus have a better idea of what I am to believe.  I try and filter things through who God is, and the church at Pergamum was not doing this and it cost them dearly.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength, and to better understand the love that He has for me.

Memory verse for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-9.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.  8 For if these qualities are yours, and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Peter” (Matthew 26:72).

Today’s Bible question:  “Lot pitched his tent toward what city?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/31/2015 11:21 AM