"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

           

           

The Church and City of Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7a,b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/18/2015 10:35 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  The Church and City of Philadelphia 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:7a, b

            Message of the verses:  “"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this.”

            There are things that are common in these seven churches and the fact is that it is not known as to how or when these churches were started in six of the cities, and the key can be in the one that we know how it was started and that is the church at Ephesus.  We have mentioned Acts 19:10 in reference to how it is believed that six of these seven churches began:  “This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”  From this verse we believe that the ministry in Ephesus spread throughout all of Asia so that the other six churches began there.  John MacArthur adds the following information: “A few years after John wrote Revelation, the early church father Ignatius passed through Philadelphia on his way to martyrdom at Rome.  He later wrote the church a letter of encouragement and instruction.  Some Christians from Philadelphia were martyred with Polycarp at Smyrna.  The church lasted for centuries.  The Christians in Philadelphia stood firm even after the region was overrun by the Muslims, finally succumbing in the mid-fourteenth century.”

            Next we look at the city of Philadelphia.  In his commentary on the book of Revelation “There is a New World Coming,” Hal Lindsey writes the following on the city of Philadelphia:  “Philadelphia was about thirty miles southeast of Sardis.  It was destroyed in AD 17 by the same earthquake that toppled Sardis.  Tiberius Caesar, the great builder of cities, reestablished it.

            “Philadelphia was at the center of a great vineyard district and had a thriving business in wine.  Because of this, Bacchus, the god of wine, had many devotees there.  Quite naturally, drunkenness was a chronic social problem in the district.

            “The very large Jewish population in Philadelphia was apparently responsible for some of the persecution of Christians.  The Jews were no stranger to persecution; Roman laws were hard on them as well as on the Christians.”

            John MacArthur writes how the city was first founded sometime after 189 BC.  The city was started “either by King Eumenes of Pergamum or his brother, Attalus II, who succeeded him as king.  In either case, the city derived its name from Attalus II’s nickname Philadelphus (‘brother lover’), which his loyalty to his brother Eumenes had earned him.”

            The city was set on an eight hundred high hill which meant it was good for defensive purposes and it also had major roads running through it which was good for trade. 

            We mentioned the earthquake that happened in 17 AD as this part of what is now modern day Turkey has hand many earthquakes which gave it the rich volcanic soil so they could grow their vineyards.  John MacArthur quotes a man named Sir William Ramsay who writes about the nerve-wracking experiences which left some psychological scars on the inhabitants of Philadelphia because of the frequent earthquakes:  “Many of the inhabitants remained outside the city living in huts and booths over the vale, and those who were foolhardy enough (as the sober-minded thought) to remain in the city, practiced various devices to support and strengthen the walls and houses against the recurring shocks.  The memory of this disaster lived long…people lived amid ever threatening danger, in dread always of a new disaster; and the  habit of going out to the open country had probably not disappeared when the Seven Letters were written.”   

            Perhaps the people on our west coast can understand what these people went through.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This morning I have been thinking about my family and how God brought my wife and I together and a short time later we both came to know the Lord which turned our lives around 180.  I was thinking about the miracle of my son who had to have a few different surgeries when he was young.  At six months he had his first heart surgery and then another before he was one on his ear, next came the open heart surgery at age 18 months, one of the longest days of my life.  God brought us through this and he is now married and has three children of his own.  I was also thinking of my daughter and her husband who now have four children, the first one adopted from overseas and how they cried many tears to plead with God to give them children and He surely answered their prayers.  When I look back at our life, and the life of my family I can see how the Lord has had His hands on it from the start and for this I praise the Lord.  Looking back on these seven cities we can also see the hand of God on them.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to better understand the love He has for me of which I have written of above.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ruth, Ezra, Nehemiah, Song of Solomon, and Lamentations.”

Today’s Bible question:  “By what miracle did the children of Israel enter into the Promised Land?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/18/2015 11:16 AM

The Correspondent (Jesus Christ) (Revelation 3:7c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/17/2015 8:00 AM

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  The Correspondent (Jesus Christ)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:7c

            Message of the verse:  “He who is holy, who is true, who has the key to David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:”

            As we have looked at the first five letters that are found in the book of Revelation we have followed a pattern as to how we go through them in order to better understand what is written.  In each of the letters we have known that the human author is John, but John is only the one who is writing down what the glorified Lord Jesus Christ is telling him to write, and in each of the previous letters the description of Jesus Christ was given from the vision that John saw in the first chapter of Revelation, but not the case here, as the description of our Lord does not come from that first chapter.  We will look at this description in our SD today and I think that all of us will be blessed by it.  John MacArthur states that this description of Jesus Christ has distinctly Old Testament features.

            The first part of this description tells us of the holiness of our Lord.  I realize that there are some people who do not realize that Jesus Christ is the second person of the godhead, but He is and the trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit goes all the way back to the book of Genesis where we learn of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all involved in the creation of the earth and all of the stars and of course the things that are on the earth including the plants, animals, and human beings.  We read in Ge 1:26 “Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."”  We see that the trinity is seen in this verse.  Now as we go back to Revelation we see that our Lord is described as being holy and only God possesses absolute holiness and this is seen repeatedly in the pages of the Old Testament, in fact “the Holy One” is a messianic title of our Lord.  First we will look at a short list of OT Scriptures that speak of God’s holiness:  “2 Kings 19:22; Job 6:10; Pss. 71:22; 78:41; Isa. 43:15; 54:5; Hab. 3:3).”  (List acquired from MacArthur’s Commentary on Rev.)  As we go back to a favorite part of the OT, Isaiah chapter six and verse three we read “And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."”   Now let us compare this with Revelation 4:8 “The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!" (NKJV).”  What does it mean to say that God is holy?  “God is utterly separate from sin; therefore His character is absolutely unblemished and flawless.”

            Now we will look at some verses that speak of the Messiah as being the “Holy One.”  The first one is given by a demon in Mark 1:24:  “saying, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are-the Holy One of God!"”  The demons knew who Jesus was, but unfortunately many people did not then and still do not know who He is.  The angel, while announcing His birth says “The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).”  Peter affirms this as seen in John 6:69 “"We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God."”  Peter will later on rebuke the unbelieving Jew who crucified our Lord by saying in Acts 3:14 “"But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,” and that murderer was Barabbas. 

            Now we will look at the next section of Rev. 3:7c, “He who is true.”  MacArthur writes “Alethinos (true) denotes that which is genuine, authentic, and real.  In the midst of the falsehood, perversion, and error that fills the world, the Lord Jesus Christ is the truth (John 14:6).”  When Jesus Christ came before Pilate He told him the following “John 18:37  Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."” “John 18:38  Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, "I find no guilt in Him.”  Here we see that Jesus tells Pilate that Jesus came to testify of the truth and then Pilate asked “what is truth,” but did not stick around to have Jesus tell him the answer.”  Also interestingly we see that Jesus says “ Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."”  My question to those who read this is have you heard the truth so you can understand who Jesus really is?  You will not hear an audible voice, but your heart will be opened by the Holy Spirit to understand what the truth is and how you can obtain that Truth, the Lord Jesus Christ.

            Next we see our Lord described as the One “who has the key of David.”  When we look at Revelation 5:5 “and one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals,"” and also Revelation 22:16 “"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star,"” we can see that David symbolizes the messianic office.   Now what does a “key” represent in the Scriptures?  It represents authority; whoever holds a key has control “(cf. 1:18; 9:1; 20:1; Matt. 16:19).”  MacArthur writes “The term ‘the key of David’ also appears in Isaiah 22:22, where it refers to Eliakim, the steward or prime minister to Israel’s king.  Because of his office, he controlled access to the monarch.  As the holder of the key of David, Jesus alone has the sovereign authority to determine who enters His messianic kingdom (cf. John 10:7, 9; 14:6; Acts 4:12).  Revelation 1:18 reveals that Jesus has the keys to death and hell; here He is depicted as having the keys to salvation and blessing.”.        

            Lastly we look at “He who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens.”  This speaks of our Lord’s attribute of being omnipotent, all powerful, as MacArthur writes “what He does cannot be overturned by someone more powerful.”  Because there is no one more powerful than Jesus, no one is able to undo anything He does.  If anyone was more powerful than Him, He would not be God.  Now, of course all the Persons of the godhead possess this attribute.  MacArthur writes “No one can shut the doors to the kingdom or to blessing if He holds them open, and no one can force them open if He holds them shut.  In light of the promise in verse 8, Christ could also be referring to opening and shutting doors for service.  In either case, the emphasis is on His sovereign control over His church.

            “That Jesus Christ, the holy, true, sovereign, omnipotent Lord of the church, found nothing to condemn in the Philadelphia church must have been a joyous encouragement to them.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  That last statement is a very important statement to understand, and one that I truly would like to have said about me whenever the Lord comes for His church, or takes me to be with Him.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To better understand and 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:  “Rachel” (Genesis 29:18).

Today’s Bible question:  “What OT books are not referred to in the NT.”

Answer in our next SD.

2/17/2015 9:01 AM