"Introduction to Laodicea" (Rev. 3:14-22)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/24/2015 11:29 AM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  Introduction to Laodicea

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 3:14-22

            Message of the verses:  “14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 ’I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ’So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 ’Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 ’Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ’Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 ’He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’"

            Well we have finally made it to the beginning of the last church that the glorified Christ sends a letter to, and this church spiritually is at the bottom.  Laodicea is the last stop on the mail route that included everyone of the other church we studied thus far.  I just wonder what the messenger or Pastor who first read this letter thought.  If one goes by the prophetic view of the order of churches that we spoke about in previous SD’s then this would be the dominant church in the world before our Lord returns in the rapture to take us to be with Him.  Hal Lindsey states in his commentary that this church became dominant beginning in 1900.  This church could be called the lukewarm church.

            I do not find it a coincident that I have been studying the major prophets for the last few years and am now at this present time am studying the books of Revelation and also Ezekiel, for there are parallels between what happened to Israel and what is happening to the churches in the world today.  If you go back all the way to when God created the heavens and the earth and then created man on the sixth day only to have man sin and bring sin upon the earth to which its effects are still seen today, you find that God was providing a way for man to come back into fellowship with Him through the promised seed of the woman found in Genesis 3:15.  We then see that God had to judge the earth and all who live on it with a flood that covered the entire world and killed all life that needed air to breathe with the exception of those who were on the ark that Noah built.  Mankind has come from those eight people who were on that ark.  Later God had to scramble the languages because of the sinfulness of man and finally God called a man named Abram to begin a people that we know today as the Jewish people.  Some four hundred years after Abraham his descendants were found in Egypt right where God told him they would be.  God was forming a nation in order to have a people who would write down His Law and who would also be the people that Messiah, the Seed of the woman would come from.  God would use Moses to bring His people out of Egypt by doing ten great miracles that would bring Egypt to its knees in defeat.  After leaving Egypt the people of Israel sinned against the Lord and wondered around the wilderness for forty years before coming into the Promised Land led by Joshua.  Their history was up and down spiritually, but mostly the line would go down and finally God would judge them.  The writer of 2 Kings writes the following in 2 Kings 17:7-23 “7 Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced. 9 The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the LORD their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the LORD had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the LORD. 12 They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing." 13 Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets." 14 However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 15 They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them. 16 They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17 Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him. 18 So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah. 19 Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. 20 The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight. 21 When He had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin. 22  The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them 23  until the LORD removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day.”

            Now as we read of the demise of Israel we also have been looking at what Judah did seen through the eyes of Ezekiel, and in the end they sinned greater than Israel and God took them into captivity in Babylon.  One may wonder why I would bother to write this very brief history of Israel and Judah.  Well as we get to the church of Laodicea we find a church that is in a similar situation and we will also see what the Lord has to say to this lukewarm church.  One point to be made here and that is that God still has plans for Israel as seen through the prophets in the OT and also in the writings of the NT, especially Romans 9-11 where Paul writes about Israel and their future, but none the less the sinfulness of the nation of Israel surely found itself into the lives of the people of the New Testament Church. 

              John MacArthur writes “Tragically, the sorrowful unbelief of Israel finds a parallel in the church.  There are many people in churches, even entire congregations, who are lost.  They may be sincere, zealous, and outwardly religious, but they reject the gospel truth.  They have all the rich New Covenant teachings about Christ’s life, death, and resurrection contained in Bibles they neither believe nor obey.  As a result, they are doomed, just as unbelieving Israel was.  Paul described them as those ‘holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power,’ and then wisely consoled believers to ‘avoid such men as these’ (2Tim. 3:5).”

            As we look at the church at Laodicea we will find out that this church represents apostate churches that are found and have been found in the world since the church age began.  We mentioned that there was a downward spiral that began in Ephesus with those believers leaving their first love and now it ends with the apostate church of Laodicea where we find Christ at the door trying to get in as seen in Rev. 3:10.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Paul wrote that as believers we are to learn from the sinfulness of those believers found in the Old Testament.  I can also learn that the key to avoiding this slide is to continue to love the Lord, remembering those first days when I became a believer and the richness that Christ brought into my life. 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Abraham” (Genesis 18:23-32).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who authored the book, the Song of Solomon?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/24/2015 12:14 PM

           

             

"Christ’s Counsel for Philadelphia" (Revelation 3:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/23/2015 2:39 PM

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  Christ’s Counsel for Philadelphia

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 3:12-13

            Message of the verses:  “12 ’He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. 13 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” 

            Now we have talked about those who overcome in every letter that we have looked at so far, I will repeat it for this church also “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:5).” 

            First promise that Christ gives is that those who are believers, He “will make them a pillar in the temple of God, and he will not go out from it anymore.”  When one looks at a pillar they think of stability, something that is permanent and immovable.  Just yesterday our Pastor gave a report of his mission’s trip to Europe and we saw pictures of many pillars in the city of Rome, pillars that have been there for over 2000 years.  Now in pagan temples you would often see pictures carved on them to honor a particular deity.  Those who John wrote this letter to would understand this better than we do.  MacArthur writes “The marvelous promise Christ makes to believers is that they will have an eternal place of honor in the temple of God (heaven).  To people used fleeing their city because of earthquakes and enemies, the promise that they will not go out from heaven was understood as security in eternal glory.”

            Next promise is that Christ will write on them the name of God and this speaks of ownership.   Perhaps when your children were small and you took them to their Sunday School class you would put their name on them and this meant that these children belonged to you.

            The next promise speaks of something that is mentioned for the first time in the book of Revelation and that is the New Jerusalem and Christ promises to believers that they will have a home in this city that is described in Revelation chapter 21.  This is the city that is a fifteen hundred mile cube with streets of gold so pure that they are transparent.

            Finally we see that Christ promises believers His new name.  MacArthur writes “Christ’s name represents the fullness of His person.  In heaven, believers will ‘see Him just as He is’ (1 John 3:2), and whatever we may have known of Him will pale in the reality in which we will then see Him.  The new name by which we will be privileged to call Him will reflect that glorious revelation of His person.”

            Christ ends the letter with the same words He has ended all of them “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Let us look at this verse in several different versions of the Bible. "Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches." (Message)  “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. (NLT)  Let the listener hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. (Philips)  Christ is telling those who read this to listen and beware what has been told to this church listen and take it in. In the Greek the words “let him hear” are one word and here are some of the meaning of this word:  “2b) to attend to, consider what is or has been said; to give ear to a teaching or a teacher; to comprehend, to understand.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am a person who is often times in a hurry and don’t take time to listen as well as I should, so this message given for the sixth time brings conviction to my heart.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Israel” (2 Kings 15:27).
Today’s Bible question:  “Who pleaded with God not to destroy Sodom?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/23/2015 3:12 PM

"The Command" (Rev. 3:11b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/22/2015 8:58 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  The Command

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 3:11b

            Message of the verses:  “hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”

            I may have mentioned that the word “persevere” or “perseverance” has come up in a lot of different Biblical or spiritual things that I have been reading, watching, or listening to and one of the things that Christ was pleased with in this church was their perseverance, and also their faithfulness, so He tells them to hold onto it.  We also mentioned that the Lord’s return is imminent, which is a good thing, so because of this we need to always be ready for His return.  Jesus gave a parable about this subject while on earth in the book of Matthew, He actually gave more than one, but we will look at the one from the book of Matthew today.  “1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 “Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 3 “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. 5 “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. 6 “But at midnight there was a shout, ’Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 “Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 “The foolish said to the prudent, ’Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 “But the prudent answered, ’No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10  "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. 11 “Later the other virgins also came, saying, ’Lord, lord, open up for us.’ 12 “But he answered, ’Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” 

            John MacArthur writes “The members of the Philadelphia church had been faithful and loyal to Christ; He commanded them to remain so.  Those who persevere to the end thereby prove the genuineness of their salvation (Matt. 10:22; 24:13).”

            Believers are eternally secure and not by their own power, but by the power of God.  There may come a time when we see people walk away from the faith, and I have seen this in my life, in fact the person who led me to the Lord later told a friend of mine that he was not into that anymore.  My answer to that is that he was never saved in the first palace.  John writes “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us (1 John 2:19).” 

            What Christ promises to those who persevere is that “no one will take your crown.”  James 1:12 says “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”  This crown is explained by MacArthur “The crown, or reward, for those who faithfully endure to the end is eternal life with all its attendant rewards (2 John 8).  Second Timothy 4:8 describes it as a crown of righteousness, and 1 Peter 5:4 as one of glory.  In our glorified state, we will be perfectly righteous, and thus perfectly able to reflect God’ glory.  Those whose faithful perseverance marks them as true children of God need never fear losing their salvation.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Perseverance to me is to continue to live my life in the will of the Lord no matter what circumstances I find myself in.  I also have to remember what the old Scottish preacher said “The successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”

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.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Solomon” (2 Chronicles 1:10).

Today’s Bible question:  “Of what country was Pekah King?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/22/2015 9:59 PM

Commendation PT-3 (Rev. 3:8-11a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/21/2015 11:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Commendation PT-3

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 3:8-11a

            Message of the verses:  “8 ’I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 ’Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie-I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. 10 ’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 ’I am coming quickly;”

            In today’s SD we will be looking at verse ten and hopefully verse 11a as we continue to look at the commendation that Christ gives to the faithful church.  I suppose since my very early reading and studying of the book of Revelation that had a good idea that Revelation 3:10 had to do with the Rapture of the Church, but now I have some more info on this that supports what I knew before and that info comes from the following words in verse eleven:  “who dwell on the earth.”  I have mentioned that in earlier SD’s on the book of Revelation that a good way to study it is to have a concordance and this will prove useful today as we look at different words that go along with what I have quoted above. 

            The following is a list of verses that come from the book of Revelation that talk about the phrase “who dwell on the earth.”

Re 3:10  ’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

Re 6:10  and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

Re 8:13  Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"

Re 11:10  And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

Re 13:8  All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

Rev. 13:12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

Re 13:14  And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

Rev. 14:6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;

Re 17:2  with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality."

Re 17:8  "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.

Now in his commentary and on his sermon on this subject John MacArthur says that the believers in Philadelphia were going to miss the Tribulation period because they had passed all of the tests and did not need to take the final examine.  Now let me explain something here and that is I realize that none of the believers in that church are alive today but this verse has to do with all believers, all those who are as John has been putting it are “overcomers.”  There is so much evidence in the Word of God that shows us that the church will not go through the Tribulation Period that I do not have the time to go over it, but will recommend a book entitled “The Rapture Question” written by John F. Walvood, and he even has updated it.  The Tribulation Period is the 70^th week found in Daniel chapter nine and that week of years (seven years) has to do with the nation of Israel and also with the wrath of God that comes upon the whole earth.  Look at this verse “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished (Rev. 15:1).”  Notice that God’s wrath will be done once the last bowel judgment has come upon the earth indicating that the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation Period are a time when God will judge those who are unbelievers who dwell on the earth. 

            Let me quote what John MacArthur has to say about the words “keep from.”  “There has been much debate over the meaning of the phrase tereo ek (keep from).  Those who argue that the church will go through the Tribulation hold that this phrase means preservation in the midst of them, so that the church will thus emerge successfully at the end from the hour of testing.  That view is unlikely, however, both on linguistic and biblical grounds.  The basic meaning of the of the preposition ek is ‘from,’ ‘out from,’ or ‘away from.’  Had the Lord intended to convey that the church would be preserved in the midst of the Tribulation, the prepositions en (‘In’) or dia (through) would have been more appropriate.  En is used three times with the verb tereo in the New Testament (Acts 12:5; 1 Pet. 1:4; Jude 21) and esi once (Acts 25:4), always implying previous existence within with a view to continuing in.  Tereo with ek implies just the opposite:  continuous existence outside.

            “The only other time the phrase tereo ek appears in Scripture is in John 17:15.  In His High-Priestly prayer, Jesus prayed, ‘I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.’  He certainly did not pray that believers be preserved within Satan’s power, for believers have been ‘rescued…from the domain of darkness’ and’ transferred…to the kingdom of His beloved Son’ (Col. 1:13).  Christians are those who have turned ‘from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God’ (Acts 26:18).  First John 5:19 says that it is the unregenerate world that lies in Satan’s power, not believers.

2/21/2015 12:42 PM    2/21/2015 6:09 PM

            “The meaning of tereo ek in John 17:15, to be kept completely out of, argues strongly for a similar meaning in Revelation 3:10.  The apostle John wrote both passages, and both are direct quotes of the Lord Jesus Christ.  To interpret tereo ek as a promise of preservation in the midst of the Tribulation poses another difficulty:  the Philadelphia church was never in the Tribulation, which is still in the future. 

“Another obvious objection to interpreting tereo ek as a promise of preservation in the midst of the Tribulation is that believers in that terrible time will not be preserved.  In fact, many will be martyred (6:9-11; 7:9-14), leading to the conclusion that promising preservation is meaningless if the believers face the same fate as sinners during the Tribulation.

            “Some hold that the promise of deliverance is only from God’s wrath during the Tribulation. But a promise that God will not kill believers but will allow Satan and Antichrist to do so would provide small comfort to the suffering church at Philadelphia.”

            Now to seal this deal we have to look at the first part of verse eleven “’I am coming quickly.”  This is different than what Christ says to the other churches for those churches had condemnation given to them by the Lord.  Because of that the judgment given to them was for their time period because of their sinfulness, but not so with the church at Philadelphia, there is no sin to judge in their church.  Now by saying this we are not saying that they are sinless, but Christ is the One who was judging them and He makes no reference to their sin.  MacArthur writes “The coming spoken of here, however, is to bring the hour of testing that culminates our Lord’s second coming.  It is Christ’s coming to deliver the church (cf. 2 Thess. 2:1), not to bring judgment to it.  Quickly depicts the imminency of Christ’s coming for His church; it could happen at any time.  Every believer’s response should be, ‘Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (22:20).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am happy that as a believer in Jesus Christ that I don’t know the day or the hour of His coming.  One may wonder why I would say that.  I am human and if I knew the time of His coming for the church I would not have so great a desire to follow the Lord and tell others about the salvation He provides for them.  Paul had a great deal of problem with the Thessalonians who decided not to work because they though the Lord was coming very soon.  This is the kind of problem I am speaking of.

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 on a daily basis.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The thief on the cross” (Luke 23:43).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/21/2015 6:30 PM

Commendation PT-2 (Revelation 3:8-11b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/20/2015 12:21 PM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Commendation PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:8-11a

            Message of the verses:  8 ’I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 ’Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie-I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. 10 ’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 ’I am coming quickly.”

            Since there is no condemnation for this church we see that the Lord had many good things to say about it and we will proceed with looking at these commendations He had for this wonderful little church in Philadelphia.  We will begin to look at the promises that He gives to this church in today’s SD.

            ”I have put before you an open door which no one can shut,” is the first promise that Christ gives to this church.  John MacArthur believes that first of all this is speaking of their salvation, something I have never heard said about this verse, but something that I cannot argue with either, for their salvation was secure and Christ was giving them an open door to enter into heaven along with to enter into the kingdom age which we will get to later in the study of Revelation.  Next we see from this section that Christ is giving them an open door to tell others about Jesus Christ.  I believe that Christ gives this open door to them because of their faithfulness.  This reminds me of a section from the book of Acts where Paul has a similar thing that happens to him.  “7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized. 9  And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; 10  for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city." 11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them (Acts 18:7-11).”  This is the second time that this happened to Paul as seen in the book of Acts and it shows that he too had an open door to present the gospel and that God would honor it by saving many people.  Paul also writes the following in 1 Cor. 16:8-9 “8 But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; 9 for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

            The next blessing Christ gives to them is found in verse nine “9 ’Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie-I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.”  We have seen in our study of the church at Smyrna that the Jews had been hostile to the cause of Christ and so we see it here.  Now if a synagogue is teaching things that do not go along with the teachings of Christ then it can be said that it is a synagogue of Satan as seen in this verse.  The people who went there were physical Jews, but not spiritual Jews.  In Romans 2:28-29 we see Paul’s description of a true Jew “28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

            As we continue to look at this verse we see that Christ promises this church that one day the Jews would bow down before them at their feet, and know that God had loved them.  MacArthur writes “Bowing at someone’s feet depicts abject, total defeat and submission.  The Philadelphia church’s enemies would be utterly vanquished, humbled, and defeated.  The imagery derives from the Old Testament, which describes the yet future day when unbelieving Gentiles will bow down to the believing remnant of Israel (cf. Isa. 45:14; 49:23; 60:14).  The Philadelphia church’s faithfulness would be rewarded by the salvation of some of the very Jews who were persecuting it.”  It is very difficult to witness to a Jewish person, and takes a lot of time and energy, but God always has a remnant of true Jews in the world and as Paul writes there is coming a day when all Israel will be saved.

            I believe that I will wait until tomorrow, God willing, to write about the third promise, for it will take some time to talk about this last great promise that Christ gives to the church at Philadelphia, and it also has to do with us today.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I like to read about promises that Christ has given to the churches as we are now looking at.  There is no real future without Christ and there are promises in His Word that tell how a person can come to the understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Just as a person is born into this world they need to be born-again as Jesus said in John chapter three.  How does this happen?  First of all by admitting that you are a sinner, then that you recognize that you need a Savior to care for the sin problem that you were born with and still have.  Next recognize that Christ died in your place on the cross to pay for your sins and receive His free gift of salvation. 

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 Christ has for me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Because he had gone in and eaten with Gentiles” (Acts 11:1-3).

Today’s Bible question:  “To whom did Jesus say ‘Today thou shalt be with me in paradise’?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/20/2015 1:02 PM  

           

Commendation PT-2 (Rev. 3:8-11a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/20/2015 12:21 PM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Commendation PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:8-11a

            Message of the verses:  8 ’I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 ’Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie-I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. 10 ’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 ’I am coming quickly.”

            Since there is no condemnation for this church we see that the Lord had many good things to say about it and we will proceed with looking at these commendations He had for this wonderful little church in Philadelphia.  We will begin to look at the promises that He gives to this church in today’s SD.

            ”I have put before you an open door which no one can shut,” is the first promise that Christ gives to this church.  John MacArthur believes that first of all this is speaking of their salvation, something I have never heard said about this verse, but something that I cannot argue with either, for their salvation was secure and Christ was giving them an open door to enter into heaven along with to enter into the kingdom age which we will get to later in the study of Revelation.  Next we see from this section that Christ is giving them an open door to tell other about Jesus Christ.  I believe that Christ gives this open door to them because of their faithfulness.  This reminds me of a section from the book of Acts where Paul has a similar thing that happens to him.  7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized. 9  And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; 10  for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city." 11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them (Acts 18:7-11).”  This is the second time that this happened to Paul as seen in the book of Acts and it shows that he too had an open door to present the gospel and that God would honor it by saving many people.  Paul also writes the following in 1 Cor. 16:8-9 “8 But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; 9 for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

            The next blessing Christ gives to them is found in verse nine “9 ’Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie-I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.”  We have seen in our study of the church at Smyrna that the Jews had been hostile to the cause of Christ and so we see it here.  Now if a synagogue is teaching things that do not go along with the teachings of Christ then it can be said that it is a synagogue of Satan as seen in this verse.  The people who went there were physical Jews, but not spiritual Jews.  In Romans 2:28-29 we see Paul’s description of a true Jew “28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

            As we continue to look at this verse we see that Christ promises this church that one day the Jews would bow down before them at their feet, and know that God had loved them.  MacArthur writes “Bowing at someone’s feet depicts abject, total defeat and submission.  The Philadelphia church’s enemies would be utterly vanquished, humbled, and defeated.  The imagery derives from the Old Testament, which describes the yet future day when unbelieving Gentiles will bow down to the believing remnant of Israel (cf. Isa. 45:14; 49:23; 60:14).  The Philadelphia church’s faithfulness would be rewarded by the salvation of some of the very Jews who were persecuting it.”  It is very difficult to witness to a Jewish person, and takes a lot of time and energy, but God always has a remnant of true Jews in the world and as Paul writes there is coming a day when all Israel will be saved.

            I believe that I will wait until tomorrow, God willing, to write about the third promise, for it will take some time to talk about this last great promise that Christ gives to the church at Philadelphia, and it also has to do with us today.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I like to read about promises that Christ has given to the churches as we are now looking at.  There is no real future without Christ and there are promises in His Word that tell how a person can come to the understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Just as a person is born into this world they need to be born-again as Jesus said in John chapter three.  How does this happen?  First of all by admitting that you are a sinner, then that you recognize that you need a Savior to care for the sin problem that you were born with and still have.  Next recognize that Christ died in your place on the cross to pay for your sins and receive His free gift of salvation. 

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 Christ has for me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Because he had gone in and eaten with Gentiles” (Acts 11:1-3).

Today’s Bible question:  “To whom did Jesus say ‘Today thou shalt be with me in paradise’?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/20/2015 1:02 PM  

           

Philadelphia’s Commendation PT-1 (Rev. 3:8-11a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/19/2015 10:21 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  Philadelphia’s Commendation PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:8-11a

            Message of the verses:  “8 ’I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9  ’Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie-I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. 10 ’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 ’I am coming quickly;”

            We have already mentioned that the Lord found nothing in their deeds that would cause Him any concern, so He goes right into the commendation for this church.  Notice the first words of verse eight “I know your deeds,” and think about this for a minute.  Jesus Christ the all knowing, all seeing God of the church knows our deeds.  Now that can a great deal of discomfort to you or it can cause a great deal of comfort to you, but which every way the fact remains that Jesus Christ knows our deeds.  I have mentioned many times in my Spiritual Diaries that Ephesians 2:10 is a verse that causes me to better understand the God that I serve and I draw strength from it.  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  We see here that we were created for doing good works, and we also see that God in eternity past prepared works that we will do for Him.  I believe that the words or as we see in Rev. 3:8, the deeds that Christ knows we are doing are done in the power of the Holy Spirit as we yield to Him so that God will receive the glory for the works (deeds) that He has planned for us to do.  If you look at a hose that would be us and the water that flows through us (the hose) is the Holy Spirit using us to do good works.  Now remember these works are done after our salvation which is seen in verses 8-9 of Ephesians 2.  We can’t work for our salvation, but we work after our salvation.  As we look at the phrase “little power” we can see that this is all we need to accomplish the works that Christ has for us to do, for Christ through the Holy Spirit gives us the power that we have to do these deeds.  One may think that this is a negative comment, but no it is a positive comment for what they had they were using for the cause of Christ.  This church was a very small one, but they had an impact on the city that they lived in.  Remember what Paul said in 2 Cor. 12:10 “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 

            Next we want to look at their obedience as we read you “have kept My word.”  Think about when you were little or perhaps when you had children and you gave them something to do and they did what you wanted them to do, and this brought joy to your heart because they kept your word and obeyed you.  Christ feels the same way as we can see in this verse.  Job writes “"I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food (Job. 23:12).”  We saw in Ephesus that those there had lost their first love, but we see here that this church loved the Lord and that is why they were keeping His Word.

            Next we see that they did not deny His name, and this was done in times of persecution that was surrounding them.  Paul said the same thing to the church at Thessalonica, a letter we studied last year.  Paul was concerned that because of the persecution that was going on there and the fact that he only spend a short time with them that they may have fallen to the temptations of Satan, but they did not and this church in Philadelphia did not either.

            John MacArthur writes “Finally, Christ commended the Philadelphia church because its members had kept the word of His perseverance.  The NIV translation clarifies Christ’s meaning:  ‘You have kept my command to endure patiently.’  The Christians at Philadelphia persevered faithfully through all of their trials and difficulties.”

            We see an example of this in the life of Christ as seen by the writer to the Hebrews “1  Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin (Heb. 12:1-4).”  Paul writes about the perseverance of the Thessalonians in 2 Thess. 3:5 “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.”  We will pick up on this subject in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The word “perseverance” has kind of popped up in my life a lot lately.  It seems to me that it is a first cousin of “patience” and both qualities are hard to accomplish, but I must remember that nothing is impossible with God.  “’Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You (Jer. 32:17).”  Sounds like a good verse for a song.

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 Christ has for me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “God stopped the flow of the Jordan while it was flooded” (Joshua 3:14-17).

Today’s Bible question:  “Why did the Jewish council in Jerusalem contend with Peter?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/19/2015 10:57 AM