More on Smyrna (Rev. 2:8a-8b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/23/2015 10:42 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  More on Smyrna

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  Revelation 2:8a-8b

            Message of the verse:  Before we begin to look at the church in Smyrna I want to say that I missed a point from our last SD on Smyrna that want to bring up now.  When we looked at the description of the glorified Christ as it was described in verse 2:8c I neglected to bring up that the description was a part of the vision of the glorified Christ that was seen in chapter one and verses 17-18.  We will see the description of Christ repeated in other churches as well and I hope that I will not forget to bring that out as we go along.

            The Church (Revelation 2:8a)”  “The church in Smyrna.” 

            This church is nowhere mentioned in the NT other than here, but we can look at a verse in Acts that gives us an idea as the time period in which it began:  “Acts 19:10 ‘This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”  This verse speaks of Paul’s ministry in Asia so we can believe that Paul’s teaching to the Ephesians had spread throughout Asia so this church would have been about forty years old when they received this letter that would include all of Revelation’s.

            I want to look at what the name Smyrna means, as it has a lot to do with what was going on there as far as the great persecution that they were going through.  The word Smyrna means or is translated in the Septuagint from the Hebrew as the word myrrh.  Now we see that word in different places in the New Testament.  “Mt 2:11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Mark 15:23 They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.  John 19:39 Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight.” 

            Wikipedia has this to say about myrrh:  “Myrrh /ˈmɜr/ from the Arabic  (mur), is the aromatic resin of a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora,^[1] which is an essential oil termed an oleoresin. Myrrh resin is a natural gum. It has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense and medicine. It can also be ingested by mixing it with wine.”

            This word started out in the NT as meaning perfume and it ended up meaning death.  Now first of all the myrrh must be removed from these small thorny trees and then it has to be crushed in order to extract what is needed to be used.  As we look at the church of Smyrna from this view point we learn that it was Satan who was being allowed by God to crush this church with persecution, and what came out was the sweet smell of them being obedient and also loving Christ in a way that probably cannot be duplicated without going through the persecution that they were going through.  The gloried Christ who see all things as He walks among His churches smelled a sweet aroma from this suffering church. 

            All of God’s Words that are found in His Word mean something and one of the reasons I like listening and reading John MacArthur’s books and his messages is that he breaks down the Word of God one book, one chapter, one verse, and one word at a time, and this brings new meaning to the study of God’s Word.  With this said I am reminded of my study of the Psalms a couple of years ago when there was another word that, although it does not mean exactly what the word Smyrna means it is does have some similarities.  The word is “worm” and it is found in the 22^nd Psalm, a Psalm that speaks of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  The following is an excerpt from my study of this Psalm and the word worm. 

            Henry Morris Writes this about the “Scarlet Worm:” Bible & Science tape series
Henry Morris

Look at the 22nd Psalm. This is the great Psalm of the crucifixion of Christ written 1,000 years before it was fulfilled. It describes in great detail the sufferings of Christ on the cross. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" he cries out. Then down in verse 6...he says "But I am a worm (08438), and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." What did he mean by saying "I am a worm"?...This particular worm is different from other kinds of worms. There are different kinds of worms, different varieties, but this is a particular worm. It means more than just he is not a man. Isaiah 52 says, "his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." He was literally made corruption personified; he didn't even look like a man there on the cross*; it is talking about more than that here. He says "I am a worm and no man." This is a scarlet worm and the reason it was called that was because it had the ability to secrete a scarlet fluid which was used in making the scarlet dye that they used in ancient days. As a matter of fact, when you find the word "scarlet" in the bible, it's the same word. "Though your sins be as scarlet," it's the same word exactly. The worm was identified with the crimson color. The life cycle of that worm is something like this: when the mother worm was ready to give birth to the baby worms, she would find the trunk of a tree, a post or a stick somewhere and then she would plant her body in that wood and she would implant her body so firmly in it that she could never leave it again. And then the young would be brought forth and the mother's body would provide protection for the babies as long as they needed before they could get out and take care of themselves. Then the mother would die, and in the process, the scarlet fluid would stain her body and the body of the young and the tree and so on. The Lord Jesus said "I am like that scarlet worm." He's making peace through the blood of his cross; he's bringing many sons into glory through the suffering. And this is a graphic testimony of the fact that eternal life comes out of the suffering and death of the Son of God.”

            I hope that this gives us another example of how words from the Word of God can bring out more meaning as we study His Word. 

 

            The City (Revelation 2:8b): “The city.”

            As I listened to John MacArthur’s sermon on Smyrna he noted that he could not determine when this city began as the area was prone to earthquakes and also fires so the city was built on top of the remains it seems many times.  The city was very prosperous and it actually still exists today as a city in Turkey.  There was a deep harbor near the city and mountains on which it was built.  However it seems that the city’s architect missed putting in the drains and at times there would be a not so good smell in the city due to this.  Smyrna was deeply committed to the worship of the Roman emperors and they were one of the first to build a temple to these leaders and made everyone who lived in the city worship him at least once a year, something that did not sit well with true believers.  There were also other temples to false gods in this city, and I am sure that this too brought problems for believers.

 

            John MacArthur concludes his commentary on this city by writing “Smyrna was a noted center of science and medicine.  Like Ephesus, it was granted the privilege of being self-governing.  It was also one of several cities that claimed the birthplace of the poet Homer.  As noted in the previous chapter, Ephesus’s harbor eventually silted up and the city went out of existence.  Smyrna, however survived numerous earthquakes and fires and exists today as the Turkish city of Izmir.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that there are times in my life when the Lord has had to crush me as the myrrh is crushed in order to get the pleasant aroma from me.  None of these times are fun, yet I suppose necessary to bring me closer to my Lord who was crushed for me and who became a scarlet worm for me also

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Not to lose my first love, but to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the appreciation of His love for me.

 

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

 

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

 

Answer to our last Bible question:  “The healing of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda.”  

 

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

1/23/2015 11:52 AM  

Continued study of Smyrna (Rev. 2:8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/22/2015 10:28 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Continued study of Smyrna

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 2:8

            Message of the verse:  “The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: (Rev.2:8c).”

            First I want all of us try to imagine a little bit about what has happened since the Lord Jesus Christ has gone back to heaven as seen in the first chapter of Acts.  The church began on the day of Pentecost as seen in the 2^nd chapter of Acts and it was made up only of Jews at first.  Then we come to the 10^th chapter of Acts when Peter gives the gospel to the Gentiles after seeing a vision.  Now keep in mind that this was something very hard for them to do because of how the Jews felt about Gentiles for there was great hatred between Jews and Gentiles at that time and I guess we can say that not much has changed along these lines.  The apostle Paul came to know the Lord in Acts chapter nine and then in Acts chapter 13 we see the beginning of Paul’s ministry as he goes on his first missionary journey, taking the gospel to first of all Jews, and then after they refused he would go to the Gentiles.  We believe that Paul was killed for the cause of Christ under Nero around 65 AD in Rome.  Peter was also killed around this time and so fairly soon after this all of the apostles had been killed for the cause of Christ with the exception of John.  Think about what the church was going through as many though by this time that the Lord would have returned to take all the believers to heaven in the Rapture.  People were being killed for their faith as the persecution under Domitian was mainly the cause of all the killings, and so I am sure that they were wondering what was going on.  John is on the island of Patmos probably breaking up rocks as a prisoner of Rome, and we wonder what his thoughts were about what was going on in his world.  Revelation one tells us that he was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day, he was worshiping the Lord when all of a sudden he is involved in the most remarkable vision known to man and is given a job to write down what he saw, what he was seeing and what he will see as the Lord takes him on a journey to the end of the world.  I am sure that he had mixed feelings about what He saw, but perhaps joy would characterize his overall feeling, for John knew that first of all Christ was in control of His church, and churches, and also Christ was in control of the future even after He would “un-create” this old world as Peter wrote about in the third chapter of his second letter.  When I was a small boy our family was taught by my mother that at the end of the world it would be burned up, and although this frightened me at that time it was what the Lord would use to bring me to Himself as He saved me 41 years ago on the 26^th of this month.  Now as we again begin to look at the people of Smyrna who were being killed for their faith in Christ they read a letter that comes from their Lord as identifies Himself as “the first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life.”  This, I am sure would bring much comfort to their hearts.

            This identification of the writer was at the beginning of the letter which was what people did at that time; it does make more sense to do it that way, so much for progress.  The author of this letter is the glorified Christ as seen by how He identifies Himself.  First and Last is seen in the Old Testament:  “"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ’I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me (Isa. 44:6).”  “"Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last (Isa. 48:12).”  "Who has performed and accomplished it, Calling forth the generations from the beginning? ’I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am He’ Isa. 41:4).” 

            The totally amazing thing about this statement is that Jesus Christ, the Second person of the godhead became a man, yet totally remained God, so that He could come to earth and die for the sins of all who would accept His free gift as being their Savior and Lord.  He died on the cross for our sins, and yet three days later He arose from the dead and will never die again.  John MacArthur writes:  “He is a profound mystery:  How can the ever-living One who transcends time, space, and history die?  Peter reveals the answer in 1 Peter 3:18:  Christ was ‘put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.’  He died in His incarnate humanness as the perfect sacrifice for sin, but now has come to life (by His resurrection) and lives forever ‘according to the power of an indestructible life’ (Heb. 7:16; cf. Rom 6:9)” As we said the believers in Smyrna would receive comfort in knowing this truth as so many others have received comfort from reading these words through the church age.  The people of Smyrna were being tortured and killed for the cause of Christ, but when Christ died He received the most unjust and severe persecution anyone ever suffered.  “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. 12:3-4).”  Because of this our Lord can be a compassionate and understanding source of power to those suffering for the cause of Christ:  “17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18  For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted (Heb. 2:17-18).”  “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15).”  Now for a moment let us think about two things, first of all it was impossible for Christ to sin, and yet we read that He was tempted in all things, similar to what we as believers are tempted.  Now some may say “well it was impossible for Him to sin” and this is true, but think about how many times you have been tempted, and how difficult it is to be tempted, and then think about having this going on in your life and never fall to the temptation.  Temptation is not a sin, but temptation is a difficult thing to go through.  Christ was tempted to the point where He sweat blood, and yet did not sin, that is something we will never do for we would give into the temptation before that happened, but Christ did not. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Temptation is something that I never want to give into, but I, like all believers, have three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and there are time when I give into temptation even though I try to learn how not to do that from books I read and from the reading of Scripture.  The psalmist wrote “Thy Word I have written in my heart so that I might not sin against You.”  He is saying that the Word of God is powerful, so powerful that the writer to the Hebrews writes “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12).”   John writes what will happen when we do sin “1John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”   Warren Wiersbe quotes an old Scottish preacher who said “The successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”  This is something like John wrote.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Learn to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength, and then realize better that Jesus loves me, and by doing this I will have a better way of saying no to temptation.

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

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Sin” (Romans 3:9).

Today’s Bible question:  “What miracle did Jesus do during Passover week at Jerusalem?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/22/2015 11:35 AM

Introduction to the church of Smyrna (Rev. 2:8-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/21/2015 4:17 PM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  Introduction to the church of Smyrna

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 2:8-11

            Message of the verses:  “8  "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: 9  ’I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 ’Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’”

            Let us begin by talking about the words “paradoxical truth” to help us better understand what this church was going through.  The paradoxical truth when it comes to churches is that the more it suffers the more closely to Christ it will be.  We only have to look at churches in countries where it is not legal to practice their faith in Christ to see that they are the strongest churches that they grow in their walk with the Lord.  Russia is a good example of this when they were the head of the Soviet Union they had a strong and growing faith in the Lord.  Same with China, and there are probably other countries today where this continues to be true.  I can tell you one reason for this and that is if you were going to risk your life for the cause of Christ you will not find any people in your church who are “false believers” for a false believer will not give you their life for something that they are not committed to.  Jesus tells this church that they are rich, when looking at them from the world’s view they were dirt poor. 

            I had a dear friend who is now with the Lord who was a photographer and had been on every continent in the world and when he went to the Soviet Union he would take them Bibles in so that they could have Bibles to read.  He would meet with believers while there and this was at a risk to himself and also to those who he was meeting with.  People there were starving for the Word of God, but their faith was very strong.  My friend is now in the presence of the Lord and will one day receive his crowns for doing the things he did while in the body. 

            John MacArthur writes “Scripture links persecution and spiritual strength, ‘Consider is all joy, my brethren, ‘wrote James, ‘when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of you faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing’ (James 1:2-4).  Peter encouraged suffering Christians with the truth that ‘after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you’ (1 Peter 5:10).  The purest Christian graces are those forged in the furnace of adversity.”

            This is a short letter to a church that was under tremendous persecution, and yet there is not one word of condemnation give to it by our Lord Jesus Christ.  We will begin to look further into this wonderful church in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful to the Lord that so far in my walk with Him that I have not come under the kind of persecution that these saints in Smyrna went through, but that does not mean that it will not happen in our country as we look at the freedoms we are losing at this point in our history. My prayer is that I will receive grace from the Lord to get me through any persecution that I may have to go through.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to love the Lord in a better way than I have been, and to live in the love He has for me.

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

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Fourth” (1 Kings 6:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Under what are both Jews and Gentiles alike?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/21/2015 4:49 PM

 

The Concern (Rev. 2:4-7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/20/2015 9:35 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  The Concern

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 2:4-7

            Message of the verses:  But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

            I think that one of the benefits of studying the book of Revelation along with also studying the book of Ezekiel is that there are times when there are parallels between the two books.  Ezekiel was living with the exiles in the land of Babylon trying to make them understand the consequences of why they were there and not back in the land of Israel, a land that God had given to them as a promise to the patriarch Abraham, as seen in the fifteenth chapter of Genesis.  We can look at some of the different prophets along with Ezekiel to see what was the real problem that God’s wrath came upon His children, the children of Israel, as we could say with truthfulness that they broke the covenant that God had given to them.  We could also say, and it would be true that they had continually disobeyed the Lord since they entered the land by worshiping idols, and this would be true, in fact after God graciously brought them back to their land the problem with idol worship ended.  Now the kind of idol worship that ended was they did not bow down to “gods” made of wood, stone of metals any more.  But as we look more deeply into the real problem as to why the Lord’s wrath came upon them it was a heart issue, as they stopped their love for the Lord.  If they would have truly loved the Lord with all of their heart, soul, and strength they would have not bowed down to any idols or done the other awful things that they did.  Let us now look at some verses in the book of Jeremiah to show that Israel’s love for the Lord continued to wane.

            “2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ’Thus says the LORD, "I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, The love of your betrothals, Your following after Me in the wilderness, Through a land not sown. 3 “Israel was holy to the LORD, The first of His harvest. All who ate of it became guilty; Evil came upon them," declares the LORD.’" 4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the LORD, "What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me And walked after emptiness and became empty? 6  "They did not say, ’Where is the LORD Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and of pits, Through a land of drought and of deep darkness, Through a land that no one crossed And where no man dwelt?’ 7 “I brought you into the fruitful land To eat its fruit and its good things. But you came and defiled My land, And My inheritance you made an abomination. 8 “The priests did not say, ’Where is the LORD?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me, And the prophets prophesied by Baal And walked after things that did not profit.

    “9 "Therefore I will yet contend with you," declares the LORD, "And with your sons’ sons I will contend. 10 “For cross to the coastlands of Kittim and see, And send to Kedar and observe closely And see if there has been such a thing as this! 11 “Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory For that which does not profit. 12 “Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD. 13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water Jeremiah 2:2-13).”

            Now from a passage in the book of Ezekiel that not too long ago we looked at in our study of Ezekiel.  From Ezekiel 16:8-15 we read:  “8 “Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine," declares the Lord GOD. 9 “Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. 10 “I also clothed you with embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 “I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 12 “I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 “Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 “Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you," declares the Lord GOD. 15 "But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing.”

            When John wrote the letters to the seven churches it was some forty years after the time when these churches began.  Remember that it was the Ephesian church that was the “mother” church that began the other churches.  We are now in the second generation of these churches, and the problem with the Ephesian church was that they were doing things by mechanical orthodoxy.  Perhaps we could say that it was similar, but not exactly life the orthodoxy that the Pharisees did.  Now not exactly but similar for it is doubtful that many of the Pharisees had any love for the Lord at all, but the still did things in a mechanical way.

            This love that they had lost could include things like love for God and Christ, love for each other and also having a love for the lost, wanting to see them come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. 

            Now we know that the all seeing, all knowing glorified Lord Jesus Christ will tell them what they need to do in order to overcome what He had spotted wrong with them.

            The Command (Revelation 2:5):  “5 ’Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place-unless you repent.”

            This is a very serious statement or perhaps a very serious command that the glorified Lord is telling them to do.  They are to remember, repent, and do what they use to do when they first became believers.  When we look at the word remember it means to continue to remember, keep on remembering from where they had fallen.  Think about how good it was when they first became a believer and their love for the Lord was fresh as they joyfully were doing things for the Lord because they loved Him.  Now one of the things that I enjoy about listening to the sermons of John MacArthur is that he always reviews what he is teaching so that if perhaps you forgot something he will remind you again and again.  I know that this irritates some, but to remember is a good thing, and reinforcing points from MacArthur’s sermons is also a good thing that he does. 

            John MacArthur writes this concerning the word “repent.”  Second, they need to repent in a deliberate rejection of their sins, because to fail to love God will all of one’s heart, soul, mind and strength is sin (Mark 12:30).”  Repent means to “1) to change one’s mind, i.e. to repent  2) to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins (Greek/English Dictionary).”  MacArthur writes that “they needed to recapture the richness of Bible Study, devotion to prayer, and passion for worship that had once characterized them.” 

            As stated earlier this was a very serious issue they were facing and John MacArthur concludes this section by writing the following:  “Underscoring the seriousness of the situation, Christ warns the Ephesians to take the necessary steps to recover their first love for Him.  He demanded that they change or be chastened:  ‘I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.  The coming to which Christ refers is not His second coming, but His coming to them in local judgment on that church.  Failure to heed the warning would cause Him to remove the lampstand (symbolic of the church; Rev. 1:20) out of its place.  Tragically, Christ threatened divine judgment that would bring an end to the Ephesian church. “ 

The Counsel (Revelation 2:7):   “’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’”

            1/20/2015 10:38 AM   1/20/2015 1:00 PM

            I want to say something here about this first part of verse seven “’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  We see this phrase at the end of each letter to the churches and we will go over as to what this means and then we will understand it.  I want to make one more point before we go on to look at what this means and it comes from “Re 13:9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.”  What we see here is that this verse is not saying “what the Spirit says to the churches.”   When we look at chapter four we see a picture of John going to heaven in the Rapture so by the time we get to chapter thirteen the church is in heaven and that is why the verse in not completed like when Christ is speaking to the churches.

            This verse, according to John MacArthur means “It emphasizes the sober responsibility beliers have to heed God’s voice in Scripture.  The use of the plural noun “churches” signifies the universal nature of this invitation each time that it appears.  This call cannot be limited just to a group of overcomes in a single church; it must apply to all churches.  Every church needs to hear every message.”

            Now let’s talk about the word “overcomers” I realize that the verse says “To him who overcomes.”  Who is the one who overcomes?  John, who also wrote the gospel of John along with three letters has this to say about this word:  “1Jo 5:4-5 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith.  5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”  John tells us that all believers are the ones who overcome, so this is not a special class of believers, but simply those who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. 

            Jesus promise those who are in Ephesus who are believers that they will one day eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.  All the way back in Genesis we see in the garden of Eden that there was a tree that if Adam and Eve would have eaten of before they ate of the tree of knowledge that things would have worked out much better for all of us, however they lost the rite to eat of this tree because of sin.  The following is what John writes in the last chapter, chapter 22:2 “in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit”, 14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.”  19 “and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

            John MacArthur finishes his commentary on the church at Ephesus with the following words:  “The example of the Ephesian church warns that doctrinal orthodoxy and outward service cannot make up for a cold heart.  Believers must carefully heed Solomon’s counsel:  ‘Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.’ (Proverbs 4:23).  Those whose love for God has cooled would do well to heed the exhortation Hosea addressed to a backsliding Israel:  ‘1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 2 Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, "Take away all iniquity And receive us graciously, That we may present the fruit of our lips. 3 “Assyria will not save us, We will not ride on horses; Nor will we say again, ’Our god,’ To the work of our hands; For in You the orphan finds mercy’ (Hosea 14:1-3).

            “And to those who return to Him God promises, ‘I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely’ (Hosea 14:4).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have expressed that I feel my need for 2015 that I need to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, however until I found out that this was a sin I did not confess it as such since I did not realize this.  I have since and the letter to this church has helped me to realize that.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to understand how much God loves me.

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

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

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

Today’s Bible question:  “In which year of his reign did Solomon start building the temple?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/20/2015 1:41 PM

 

The Commendation for the church at Ephesus (Rev. 2:2-3, 6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/19/2015 9:15 AM

My Worship Time                                      Focus:  The Commendation for the church at Ephesus

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 2:2-3, 6

            Message of the verses:  “2  ’I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3  and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.  6 ’Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

            The Greek word for “know” is “Oida” however there is another Greek word for know and that word is ginosko.  Oida means complete knowledge, and in this case we can see that Christ has complete knowledge of all of the churches for this word is found in 2:9; 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15).  The other Greek word ginosko means to accumulate knowledge or progressive knowledge.  Jesus Christ is omniscience; He knows everything including what is going on in His church. Christ knows both the good and the bad as we will see as we progress through chapters two and three. 

            Christ is going to tell them the good things that they are doing before he tells them the things that they are not doing right, and in the case of the Ephesian church He does add one more good thing (v. 6) after He tells them what they need to correct (vv. 4-5).  He uses the word “deeds” which is a general term for what He is about to say.  First we see the word “toil.”  Toil “Kopos” denotes labor to the point of sweat and exhaustion.  They were working hard for the cause of Christ as this describes an all out effort on the part of the church including both physical exhaustion and also mental exhaustion.  Next we see the word “perseverance” and this is translated “hupomone, and this speaks of having patience in trying situations and circumstances.  MacArthur writes “In contrast, its synonym makrothumia, generally emphasizes patience with people.”  We see this word, perseverance six times in chapters 2-3 and then once more in chapter fourteen.  Perseverance is seen 21 times in the NASB translation in the entire NT.  MacArthur continues “This commendation indicates that despite their difficult circumstances, the Ephesian believers remained faithful to their Lord.” 

            Another commendation from Christ to them is that they refused to tolerate evil men.  These believers knew the difference between men who wanted to follow the Lord and those who did not as they had the spiritual understanding to spot those who were evil.  Remember that Satan can act as an angel of light, but that still makes him who he is and that is evil and a liar.  Now on the thought that these men were actually believers they would use the proper discipline that is spelled out in Matthew 18:15 and following for these men.

            We mentioned that they had a great deal of spiritual discernment as we see further evidence of it when we see that they “put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and …found them to be false.”  Paul spoke of this to the elders of that church when he was about to leave them as seen in Acts 20:28-31 “28  "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.”  It seems to me that they had followed this admonition that Paul gave them. Now this letter to them by our Lord was sent some forty years after Paul spoke to them in Acts 20 and so Christ is giving them a commendation for following this teaching from Paul.

            False teachers were a problem in the early church and they are still problems in churches today and so we must be like the church in Ephesus and be on guard for them, having great discernment and they to either discipline them or just plain kick them out of the church. 

            Verse six speaks of what Christ called the Nicolaitans, and this term is also used in His letter to the church at Pergamum where we can get some more light on this subject.  There is no dogmatic answer to who these people are however there is speculation that in Acts chapter six we find one of the first deacons was named Nicholas and there is speculation from those in the early church that said he or a follower of him is behind their deeds.  Now the word Nicolaitans comes from two Greek words and the first word is Nike which is familiar in our sporting world today.  The definition is as follows “Nicolaitans  = "destruction of people"”  and my Greek/English dictionary goes on to say the following “a sect mentioned in #Re 2:6,15, who were charged with holding the error of Balaam, casting a stumbling block before the church of God by upholding the liberty of eating things sacrificed to idols as well as committing fornication.”  Now the name Balaam has a similar meaning and we read the following again from my Greek/English dictionary “A native of Pethor a city in Mesopotamia, endued by Jehovah with prophetic power. He was hired by Balak to curse the Israelites; and influenced by the love of reward, he wished to gratify Balak; but he was compelled by Jehovah’s power to bless them. Hence later the Jews saw him as a most abandoned deceiver.”  Balaam could not curse Israel, but he did cause them to commit sexual sins against the Lord, thus we believe that these Nicolaitans were doing the same thing and the believers in Ephesus hated this.

            1/19/2015 10:02 AM  1/19/2015 11:37 AM

            MacArthur concludes this section with the following “Unlike the church at Pergamum, the Ephesian church did not tolerate the Nicolaitans but hated their heretical teachings.  For that they Lord Jesus Christ commended them.  Hatred was an appropriate attitude and exactly the opposite reaction to the tolerance of the Pergamum church toward the Nicolaitans (1:14-15).  The Bible reveals that God hates impurity (Isa. 61:8; Jer. 44:4; Amos 5:21; Zech. 8:17).”  Now this may seem strange to some but look at the following verse in the book of Romans “Ro 9:13 As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’”  “1) to hate, pursue with hatred, detest” and this is the meaning of the word hate from the Greek/English Dictionary. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that most people remember the fact that the Lord tells the Ephesians that they had left their first love as seen in verse four, however this being true of course there are still many things that the Lord commended them for that I can follow, and then I also want to obey the Lord, which means that I love Him.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, mind, and strength, and to act and continue to believe that He loves me.

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

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Lot’s” (Genesis 19:23-26).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which book records Moses’ final talk to the children of Israel?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/19/2015 11:59 AM

More from the church at Ephesus (Rev. 2:1b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/18/2015 8:54 AM

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  More from the church at Ephesus

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 2:1b

            Message of the verse:  “Ephesus.”  Today in this Spiritual Diary we will look at the city of Ephesus during the time when this letter was written as this will help us to better understand the challenges that the church had during this time period.

            Ephesus was not the capital of Asia Minor but it was the most important city in Asia Minor.  Actually Pergamum was the capital of the providence.  John MacArthur states in his commentary on Revelation that the population was between 250,000 and 500,000 people when this letter was written to the church at Ephesus.  There is not a city there today, but ruins of the old city can be found.  Turkey is the name of the country that all of the churches and cities are found today.  Even though Ephesus was a part of the Roman world at that time it was a self governing city as there were no Roman troops stationed there.

            During the time when this letter was written to them the city did have a harbor which was good for trade as the boats could get to it up the Cayster River some three miles.  However even during John’s day the river was beginning to have a large amount of silt in it which would eventually prevent boats from coming up the river, thus hindering the trade there.  Today the remains of Ephesus are now six miles from the harbor.  Not only was Ephesus able to have sea travel, but four of the major Roman roads went through there too, which was also good for the trade and business of the city. 

            MacArthur writes “But Ephesus was most famous as the center of the worship of the goddess Artemis (Diana)—a point of great civic pride (Acts 19:27, 35).  The temple of Artemis was Ephesus’s most prominent landmark.  Because its inner shrine was supposedly inviolable, the temple served as one of the most important banks in the Mediterranean world.  The temple and its environs also provided sanctuary for criminals.  Further, the sale of items used in worship of Artemis provided an important source of income for the city (cf. Acts 19:24).  Every spring a month-long festival was held in honor of the goddess, complete with athletic, dramatic, and musical events.  Paul may have anticipated this annual event as a unique evangelistic opportunity and have been waiting for it when he wrote the Corinthians that he intended to remain in Ephesus (1Cor. 16:8).”

            As we look at this brief description of the ancient city of Ephesus we can be sure that the church was placed in a very difficult place for them to be faithful to the Lord.  As we look at places around the world today we can see that the effects of the communications through modern technology cause many problems with the church.  This modern technology can also benefit the cause of Christ too.  I can’t help but think of when the world only had one language and we can see what happened to it when we read in Genesis about building the tower of Babel.  I have mentioned that this was a tower called a ziggurat used to chart the stars and the beginnings of Astrology.  Our world today is very close if not surpassed what people can do if they speak only one language because of modern technology. God scrambled the languages in order to stop the progress of mankind when the tower of Babel was being built; the question is what will He do to stop the progress of evil in our world today.  Perhaps the prophecies of this book we are studying will begin to come true very soon.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Even though I, like those in the Ephesian church were obeying the Lord in many ways, I can learn from their good ways of serving the Lord and also learn from what they were lacking.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Learning to love the Lord with all of my mind, soul, and strength is my goal this year and I want to do it better.  I also want to live my life with the assurance of knowing that the Lord loves me.

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

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Gennesaret” (Luke 5:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Whose wife turned into a pillar of salt?

Answer in our next SD.

1/18/2015 9:33 AM   

More Introduction and The Correspondent (Rev. 2:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/17/2015 10:22 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  More Introduction and The Correspondent 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                               Reference:  Revelation 2:1

            Message of the verse:  The church of Ephesus as related to the book of Revelation is famous for one verse:  “’But I have this against you, that you have left your first love (Rev. 2:4).”  Now I have mentioned about my spiritual goal for this year is to love the Lord more and more as I believe that my love for the Lord has been waning, thus this section will be a good study for me.

            When we think of the word “Christian” we find out that it is much different than when we first run into that word in Ac 11:26 “and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”   The question what does it mean to be a true Christian?  There are many things written in the Scriptures that speak of what it means to be a Christian, but the main one is what our Lord told a man when he asked Him what was the greatest commandment and His reply was “to love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, and strength.  Now as we look at this commandment and the following one which is “and love your neighbor as yourself,” I see a picture of the cross, loving God is the vertical part, and loving your neighbor is the horizontal part.  But there is more to these two commandments and that is that all of the other commandments flow from these two, including the Ten Commandments, and out of them flow all of the other commandments given in the Law.  Now we are not ready to look in particular at verse four in today’s SD, but I do want to talk about loving the Lord.  As a believer I sometimes think about when Christ first called me in January of 1974, and the difference that that calling made in my life, how fresh my love was for the Lord who had saved me.  I certainly did not know the things then that I know about the Bible, but there was such a refreshing joy in my heart and soul that was never present there before He saved me.  That is what it means not to forget your first love.

            John MacArthur writes in his introductory portion of his commentary on the church at Ephesus the following:  “While love of the Lord Jesus Christ will always be present in true Christians, it can fluctuate in its intensity.  Christians will not always love Jesus Christ with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to fail to do so is sin.  There is no better illustration in Scripture of the seriousness of allowing love for Christ to wane than this letter to the church at Ephesus.

            “The seven churches addressed in chapters 2 and 3 were actual existing churches when John wrote.  But while not precisely duplicated, they also represent the types of churches that are generally present through the entire church age. Five of the seven churches (Smyrna and Philadelphia being the exceptions) were rebuked for tolerating sin in their midst, not an uncommon occurrence in churches since.  The problems in those five churches ranged in severity from waning love at Ephesus to total apostasy at Laodicea.  Further, any church in any age could have a mixture of the sins that plagued these five churches.

            “Though Christ may have addressed the Ephesian church first because it was first on the postal route, it was also the most prominent church of the seven.  It was the mother church out of whose ministry the other six were founded (cf. Acts 19:10) and gave its name to the inspired letter of Ephesians penned four decades earlier by the apostle Paul.  The contents of this first letter form the pattern for the other six.  It contains seven features:  the correspondent, the church, the city, the commendation, the concern, the command, and the counsel.”  These following seven features are what we will be looking at as we study these seven churches over the next days and we will begin with the correspondent in today’s SD.

The Correspondent (Revelation 2:1c):  “The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands.”

            It is quite obvious that the author of this is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, and as I mentioned in earlier SD’s He often uses images from the vision in chapter one to describe Himself, images that are exactly needed for those in that particular church.  Now we mentioned when we studied the vision of the glorified Christ that the seven stars were the messengers of the seven churches, mentioning that these were probably not angels, but Pastors or Elders.  The seven golden lampstands were actually the seven churches bringing light to a dark world.  MacArthur writes “In fact, Christ indentifies Himself to each of the first five churches by using phrases from that vision (cf. 2:8 with 1:18; 2:12 with 1:16; 2:18 with 1:14-15; 3:1 with 1:18).  That reinforces the truth that He is the author of the letters; they are His direct word, through the apostle John, to those local congregations and to churches like them in years beyond.”  As we look again for a moment at “the seven stars” that Christ holds in His right hand we can see from this statement that Christ is in complete control of the churches.

The Church (Revelation 2:1a): “the church in Ephesus.” 

            Now there is much that is written in the NT about this church.  There were many “famous” people who lead this church including Paul, Priscilla, Aquila, Apollos, Timothy, and even John.  The story begins in the 18^th chapter of Acts verses 18-19 and then continues in verses 24-26, however the apostle Paul’s main visit to them is seen in the 19^th and 20^th chapter of the book of Acts   Let us look at Acts 19:1-7 “1 It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. 2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said to him, "No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." 3 And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" And they said, "Into John’s baptism." 4 Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. 7 There were in all about twelve men.”  Paul spent three years with the people teaching them and then when he was on his way to Jerusalem where he would be put into prison he stopped and spoke to the people there and the emotions of that visit were very high, as there was much weeping when he told them that he would not see them again.  He also warned them about what would eventually happen to this church.  This happened about forty years before this letter we are studying would come to them, so we can be assured that this church for lengthy time had a wonderful ministry. 

            Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians to them, and this letter was actually a circuit letter that was suppose to go to the them and also to the surrounding churches around them, a letter in which we find much about how a true Bible believing church is to operate.

            In a quote written earlier in this SD John MacArthur stated that Ephesus was the mother church of all the seven churches that are found in Revelation 2-3. 

            There is a very interesting story in the book of Acts about what happened in Ephesus as the believers began to grow.  The believers decided to get rid of all of their idols and their other things that had to do with the false “religion” and so they burned them in a fire and it is said that their worth was fifty thousand pieces of silver, worth 50,000 days of work.  A wonderful story of how the Word of God affected them.  However because of these types of things the people who made idols were upset because their business was not doing well because of these Christians.  You can read about this in Acts 19:23-41.

            Spiritual meaning form my life today:  I think that it is wonderful how the Lord used our Pastor to talk about loving the Lord, and then He continues to bring this to my attention in the verses that I am studying in this wonderful book of Revelation.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all my mind, soul, and strength, to remember my first love, and to also remember the great love Christ has for me.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-8.

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6  and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7  and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” Matthew 27:46.

Today’s Bible question: “What is another name for the Sea of Galilee?

Answer in our next SD.

1/17/2015 12:01 PM