"On the Throne" (Rev. 4:2b-3a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/4/2015 2:52 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  On the Throne

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  Revelation 4:2b-3a

            Message of the verses:  “and One sitting on the throne.  And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance;”

            Now as we look at this verse we can get a picture of the One who is ruling this universe, it is not run by chance or run randomly, but by God, and this verse sees Him sitting on the throne.

            Let us take a look at a couple of verses from the book of Hebrews, Heb. 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” and now Heb. 10:12 “but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,” and lastly Heb. 12:2 “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.”  As we look at these verses and compare them with our verses in Revelation there is a difference in what Christ is doing, and that difference is that He is not resting, but sitting in a posture to begin to judge, for the judgment of sin was taken care of on the cross, but now the judgment that will soon take place on the earth is being readied. 

            John does not mention who the One sitting on the throne was, but when we look at Isaiah’s vision in Isaiah 6:1 we will see who this is:  “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.”  Let us also look at what is a relatively unknown prophet has to say in 1 Kings 22:19 “Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand on His left.”  Let us also look at Daniel 7:9-10 “"I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire.”  This also reminds me of the first three chapters of Ezekiel, but we will only look at Ezekiel 1:26-28 “26 Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. 27 Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. 28 As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.”  These visions that were seen by these prophets brought fear into the hearts of some of them, like Isaiah, Daniel, and also Ezekiel, and when John saw the risen glorified Christ in chapter one he too fell down as a dead man, unlike those who claim to have gone to heaven and seen God in our day and age.

            John MacArthur describes what John saw when he wrote “like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance.”  “That description is reminiscent of the flashing light, blazing fire, and vivid colors in Ezekiel’s vision.  Revelation 21:11 describes jasper as ‘crystal-clear’; therefore, it is best to identify this stone as a diamond.  All the shining, flashing facets of the glory of God are compared to a diamond, brilliantly refracting all the colors of the spectrum.  A sardius, from which the city of Sardis got its name, is a fiery, bloodred ruby. It too expresses the shining beauty of God’s glory, and may also symbolize God’s blazing wrath, about to be poured out on the sinful, rebellious world (chapters 6-19).”

            The high priest wore a breastplate which had on it twelve stones which representing the different tribes of Israel.  On that breastplate the first stone which represented Reuben was a sardius, and the last stone was jasper which represented Benjamin the last son.  It may be possible that since these stones represent God’s covenant relationship with Israel.  The judgment that was about to come upon the earth will not negate the covenant that God has with Israel.  We know that because in the 7^th chapter of Revelation we will see 144,000 Jewish evangelists going out into the world to tell the world that salvation comes through what Christ did on the cross and in the tenth chapter we also see the two Jewish witnesses.  Paul writes in Romans 11:26 that “all Israel will be saved,” and this will happen in the tribulation period. 

            MacArthur finishes by writing “John’s vision of God’s throne is not one of peace and comfort.  Its flashing, glorious, splendorous magnificent reveals the terrors of God’s judgment.  Truly, ‘Our God is a consuming fire’ (Heb. 12:29; Deut 4:24).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In my prayers that I pray every day I think about the fear of the Lord and then try and realize how I am to fear the Lord.  Seeing this description of the Lord and the others and knowing the reaction that these different prophets had I truly can fear the Lord.

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

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

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Joseph say was the meaning of the kings dream?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/4/2015 3:28 PM       

 

"The Throne" (Rev. 4"2a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/3/2015 9:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  The Throne

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 4:2a

            Message of the verse:  “Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven.”

            In our first SD on Revelation chapter four we mentioned the outline that we are going to follow as we go through this chapter and all of the elements of this outline had to do with the throne, and today we will look at the throne that John saw when he was in the Spirit and in his vision was taken to heaven where he would see things that he records in this last book of the Bible.  Remember the meanings of the word Revelation, unveiling, “1) laying bear, making naked 2) a disclosure of truth, instruction 2a) concerning things before unknown 2b) used of events by which things or states or persons hitherto withdrawn from view are made visible to all 3) manifestation, appearance.”  The Greek word is “apokalupsis,” for our English word Revelation.”

            We also mentioned in our last SD that chapter four and five show us what true worship really is as we see it happening in heaven from the vision that John gives to us.

            As in chapter one we saw that John was in the Spirit, meaning that the Holy Spirit had control of him, which is something that the OT prophets would experience when they received visions from the Lord.  We have seen this happen in the book of Ezekiel which we are also studying.  The first thing he sees in this vision is a throne which is standing in heaven.  This brought amazement to John and that truly is understandable as I am sure all the things he saw in his visions brought amazement to him.  John MacArthur writes on this throne John saw “This was not a piece of furniture, but a symbol of God’s sovereign rule and authority (cf. Pss. 11:4; 103:19; Isa 66:1) located in the temple in heaven (cf. 7:15; 11:19; 14:15; 15:6-8; 16:17).  According to Revelation 21:22 the heavenly temple is not an actual building:  ‘the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb’ are the temple.  The use of the term temple symbolizes God’s presence.  The throne was said to be standing because God’s sovereign rule is fixed, permanent, and unshakable.  A vision of God immovable throne reveals He is in a permanent, unchanging, and complete control of the universe.”  As we think about this in relations to what John would see in his remaining visions this had to have brought comfort to him, and as we look around the world and see things that can cause us to at times fear, we too can be comforted by this truth that God is on the throne and is in complete control of His world.

Let me take the time to look at the verses that MacArthur references in the above quote.  We will begin with Psalm 11:4 “The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.”  Psalm 103:19 “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.”  Isaiah 66:1 “Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?”  Next we will look at the verses he mentions from the book of Revelation beginning with 7:15 “"For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.”  11:19 “And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”  14:15 “And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe."”  15:6-8 “6  and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”  16:17 “Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done."”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at these verses showing that God is in His temple on His throne which shows that He is in complete control of all that goes on in this world, but also all that is going on in my life I can take time to praise His Holy Name.

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:  “Mary” (Acts 12:12).

Today’s Bible question “What city was the capital of Judah, the southern Kingdom?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/3/2015 10:29 AM

" Introduction to Rev. Four" (Rev. 4:1-3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/2/2015 4:30 PM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Introduction to Rev. Four

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 4:1-3

            Message of the verses:  The first thing that I want to do is to quote a portion from my earlier SD dated 04/09/05.  “Most people that have studied this wonderful book have come to the conclusion that Revelations 1:19 is the outline for this book and it divides the book up into three parts:  “Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.”  Chapter 4 and verse one seems to be the dividing point for the last part of the outline and it has been subjected that chapter 6 and verse one could also fit into this division, yet it seems to fit into 4:1 better for in this portion of this book it is possible that the rapture is being described in this first verse and thus the things “which will take place after this” seem to begin.  The Church, which is what was being written about in chapters two, and three is not mentioned again, and it could be that the reason that it is not mentioned again is that the “Church Age” is over at this point of the book, for “she” is now in heaven, and the description that is given in chapters four and five tell us what the church will be doing after it has been taken to heaven at the event most scholars call the “rapture.”  Rapture is not found in the Scriptures, yet the idea of it is there.  Rapture is a Latin word that means to “snatch away.”  To snatch away is a good description of what this event does, and this verse in Revelations four also describes this event.  The verse starts out by saying “after these things,” which goes along really well with the “outline verse” in Revelations 1:19.

            “Revelations chapters four and five give a wonderful description of what real worship is all about, and this real worship is going on all of the time in heaven, even at this time.”

            Now there are some who think that John going through an open door into heaven is a picture of the Rapture of the Church as seen in my Spiritual Diary of ten years ago, however after listening to John MacArthur’s sermon on this section he seems to think that this is not a picture of the Rapture, but just John receiving another vision from the Lord.  I am not going to argue one way or the other, but one thing is certain as stated in the quote the church is not mentioned in the book of Revelation again and so I conclude that beginning with chapter four we find the church in heaven.  I do like the quote from above that chapters four and five are a picture of true worship.

            If one looks at a concordance for the word “throne” in chapter four they will find it eleven times, and if one looks for the word “throne” in the entire book of revelation they will find it thirty-five times, so needless to say this word is important in the book of Revelation.  In fact in John MacArthur’s commentary on Revelation he actually breaks up his outline by using the word throne and because we are following his outline we will do the same thing.  He writes at the end of his introductory commentary the following:  “The central theme of John’s vision is the throne of God, mentioned eleven times in this chapter.  All the features of the chapter can be outlined based on how they relate to that throne of divine glory.  After describing the throne, John tells us who is on the throne, what is going on around the throne, what comes from the throne, what stands before the throne, who is in the center and around the throne, and what is directed toward the throne.”  You see here his outline from this quote.

            We see in this chapter John’s vision of heaven, as to whether or not He was actually in heaven is not certain, but we remember Isaiah’s vision of heaven in chapters 5-6 of his book, and Ezekiel saw things that were from heaven in the first three chapters of his book.  Of course Paul tells of his journey to heaven in 2 Corinthians, and we can be assured that Paul was actually in heaven.  Now as for others, who have recently reported that they were in heaven for a while and then came back, well all I can say is that I doubt that it happened and leave it at that.  When Paul was in heaven he could not talk about it, but John, as we will see gives a pretty detailed account of what he saw.  What we see in chapters four and five are John second vision, his second revelation as the first one was in chapter one.

            We first see the words “after these things” MacArthur writes this “relates to John’s personal chronology.  It notes that his second vision followed immediately after John’s vision of the risen, glorified Christ (1:9-20) and the letters to the seven churches (2:1-3:22).  The phrase “after these things is used throughout Revelation to mark the beginning of a new vision (cf. 7:9; 15:5; 18:1; 19:1).”  This is seen in Revelation 1:19, which gives us the outline of the book of Revelation.  Now in 4:1 we are looking at this second occurrence of “after these things,” and this is the chronology of the Lord, as its use marks an important transition in the book of Revelation which goes from the end of the church age to the beginning of the third great division of the book which is described in 1:19 as “the things which will take place and this goes all the way from chapter four to the end of the book, chapter 22.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This is exciting to me as from almost the first day after I became a believer I was taught about the Rapture of the church, the end of the church age, and I have looked forward to it since that time.

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 and live in that love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Babylon” (Revelation 18:2).

Today’s Bible question:  “What was the name of John Mark’s mother?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/2/2015 5:08 PM

 

 

"Christ’s Counsel to the Laodiceans" (Rev. 3:21-22)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/1/2015 8:46 PM

My Worship Time                                                       Focus:  Christ’s Counsel to the Laodiceans

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:21-22

            Message of the verses:  “21 ’He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’"”

            What a wonderful promise that Christ gives to this church, a church that as far as we can determine has no believers in it.  The promise is to “he who overcomes,” and the word “overcome” has been in each of the letters, speaking of being a true believer in Jesus Christ, so Christ is offering salvation to these unbelievers, something they truly need as do all unsaved people need.  He also offers to them to grant to sit down with Him on His throne, as He “also overcame and sat down with the Father on His throne.”  MacArthur writes “To enjoy fellowship with Christ in the kingdom and throughout eternity is sufficient blessing beyond all comprehension.  But Christ offers more, promising to set believers on the throne He shares with the Father (cf. Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:29-30).  That symbolizes the truth that we will reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10; 20:6; cf. 1 Cor. 6:3).”

            The following is a list of the many promises made to those who are called overcomers in the book of Revelation:  1 The privilege of eating from the tree of life (2:7), the crown of life (2:10), protection from the second death (2:11), the hidden manna (2:17), a white stone with a new name written on it (2:17), authority to rule the nations (2:26-27), the morning star (2:28), white garments, symbolizing purity and holiness (3:5), the honor of having Christ confess their names before God the Father and the holy angels in heaven (3:5), to be made a pillar in God’s temple (3:12), and to have written on them the name of God, of the new Jerusalem, and of Christ (3:12).

            In each of the letters we have seen this phrase:  “22 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’"”   It is our job as true believers to tell those in the apostate church to come to the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation.

            With this SD we have finished looking at the first three chapters of the book of Revelation and are moving on to the things that shall take place from Rev. 1:19, which gives the outline for this book.  Chapters four and five will get us ready to look at what will happen in chapters 6-19 which will be the end of the tribulation period, and then we will look at the millennial Kingdom where Christ will reign from Jerusalem for those 1000 years and then we will look at the un-creating of planet earth and the New Jerusalem where all those who have overcome will live and serve the Lord for eternity.  I have learned many new things in this study of Revelation 1-3, and pray that the Lord will open my eyes to see new things as we continue to look at the rest of the book.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I wish to be open to share the gospel with those who are in apostate churches, praying that the Lord will bring them onto my path.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Adam” (Genesis 3:10).

Today’s Bible question:  “In Revelation what city is said to have fallen?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/1/2015 9:11 PM

"Christ’s Commands for Laodicea" (Rev. 3:18-20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/28/2015 7:17 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  Christ’s Commands for Laodicea

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:18-20

            Message of the verses:  “18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 ’Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ’Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

            As we have looked at this church over the last few days we have seen that there were no believers in it, and so Christ could have destroyed this church, but that was not what He desired to do at this time so He gives them a threefold appeal which are played on the three features that the city of Laodicea was most noted for, and most proud of, and that was its wealth, its wool industry, and its eye salve.

            He speaks of buying gold refined by fire from Him, and this in no way is speaking of buying one’s salvation.  “5 You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved? 6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away (Isa. 64:5-6).”   Now we will look at Isaiah 55:1 “"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.”  Isaiah writes that you can buy without even having any money to buy with, and this speaks of the free gift of salvation.  So what are they going to offer in exchange for the righteousness of Christ?  They must offer themselves, their wretched and lost condition in exchange for the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  This does not seem like a fair exchange, and that would be true, however that is the gift of God because of His great love, mercy, and grace.  So we see when Christ tells them to buy gold that has been refined by fire He is offering them the free gift of Salvation, but they must turn from their sins, repent and accept that free gift from Him.  They said they were rich, but Christ tells them that they were poor.

            Next we see that Christ advises them to buy white garments in order to clothe themselves so that their nakedness would be covered.  They were famous for black wool, but Christ wants them to have white garments which represent the righteousness of the saints.  Now when I say saints I am speaking of all of those who are born-again believers in Jesus Christ, and all will one day be clothed in white garments showing that they are righteous before the Lord.

            Next He offered them eye salve in order to anoint their eyes so that they could see.  They prided themselves on their false righteousness, one like the Pharisees boasted about, that is their good works, but they were blind and could not see that they could not work their way to heaven, but must rely on the finished work of Christ on the cross.

            John MacArthur writes “Some argue that the language of Christ’s direct appeal to the Laodiceans in verse 19 “those whom I love, I reprove and discipline,” indicates that they were believers.  Verse 18 and 20, however, seem better suited to indicate that they were unregenerate, desperately in need of the gold of true spiritual riches, the garments of true righteousness, and the eye salve that brings true spiritual understanding (v. 18).

            “Christ has a unique and special love for His elect, Yet, such passages as Mark 10:21 and John 3:16 reveal that He also loves the unredeemed.  Because the Laodiceans outwardly identified with Christ’s church and His kingdom, they were in the sphere of His concern.  To reprove means to expose and convict.  It is a general term for Christ’s dealings with sinners (cf. John 3:18-20; 16:8; 1 Cor. 14:24; Titus 1:9; Jude 15).  Discipline refers to punishment (cf. Luke 23:16, 22) and is used of God’s convicting of unbelievers (2 Tim. 2:25).  Thus, the terminology of verse 19 does not demand that Christ be referring to believers.  The Lord compassionately, tenderly called those in this unregenerate church to come to saving faith, lest He convict and judge them (cf. Ezek. 18:30-32; 33:11).”

            And now a word on true repentance from C. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve the wrath and punishment of God, that you are hell-bound.  It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you, that you long to get rid of it, and that you turn your back on it in every shape and form.  You renounce the world whatever the cost, the world in its mind and outlook as well as its practice, and you deny yourself, and take up the cross and go after Christ.”  Christ gave a message to this lost church in the same way He does to all unbelievers, and that is their need to repent of their sins and turn to Him for salvation:  “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life’ (Acts 11:18).”

            If you have been a believer for some time you probably have heard that verse 20 is speaking to those who are unbelievers and since we have said that this church was full of unbelievers we can say that Christ is offering salvation to those inside this church.  I have seen pictures of Christ standing at the door knocking and what is unique is that there is no door handle on His side of the door, meaning that the person on the other side of the door is the only one who can open it to receive the salvation He is offering.  So we see Christ offering a personal invitation for salvation to this unbelieving Church the same way He offers salvation to all unbelievers.  The question is will you let Him in?

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at what has been written about repentance I know that as a believer when I sin I am to confess my sin to the Lord and then repent and turn from it. 

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, and then live in His love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “To put in on a candlestick” (Matthew 5:15).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid’?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/28/2015 8:11 AM

"Christ’s Concern for Laodicea" (Revelation 3:15-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/27/2015 1:43 PM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  Christ’s Concern for Laodicea

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 3:15-17

            Message of the verses:  “15 ’I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ’So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 ’Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,” 

            At this point in the other letters Christ would say something good about the church but there is nothing good to say about this church so He goes into the concerns that He has for them.  Now even though Christ did not chose to use His description from the vision in chapter one we know that Christ is the all seeing, all knowing God who rules over the churches and so the first thing that He says to them is that He knows their deeds.  Christ is speaking of their works that are done after a person is saved by grace through faith, and those works or fruits or deeds give evidence that that person is truly saved.  You are not saved by works, but as I said saved by grace through faith as Ephesians 2:8-9 tell us, but verse 10 speaks of the works that God planned for us to do before the world was made.  Many people get the wrong idea when the read James, thinking that James is teaching that a person is saved by their works, but that is not what he is saying at all, he is simply saying that if you are saved you will be doing works for the Lord, and as Christ looked through His all seeing, all knowing eyes He saw no works that this church was doing, and that means that there were no believers in this church. 

            Next He rebukes them for being lukewarm, and it would have better for them if they were either hot or cold, now hot means that they were on fire for the Lord, which would be best and cold would mean that they knew nothing about the Lord and it would be easier to have those saved than the lukewarm people in this church.  We wrote earlier about the lukewarm water that the people in this city had to drink and that lukewarm water had many impurities in it, so much so that one can look at pictures of the rocks that the water was flowing through and see that it was mostly clogged up with impurities.  Their church was full of impurities, impurities like so many churches are today, like not believing that Christ is God, and that is the first thing one has to believe about Him.  The water in the other two cities in this valley had hot springs or cold water that came from the mountain and this represented what we hear Christ say about what this church would have been better of being.  This is a lukewarm apostate church who though they needed nothing, thought they were rich, and yet were poor. 

            Christ tells them in essence that they made Him sick and so He would vomit them out of His mouth.  Let us look at what Christ will tell a church or people like this when He judges them:  “22  "Many will say to Me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ’I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS’ (Matt. 7:22-23).” 

Now I have been writing in earlier SD’s how my study of Ezekiel makes me think of things that I am studying in Revelation.  We know that the Jews were chosen by God to do many things for Him, and were given many blessings too, and yet they turned their backs on God and as we have seen in Ezekiel God’s wrath was upon them as He took them out of their land.  As we look at the New Testament we see that Christ came to die upon a cross for the sins of those would accept Him as Lord and Savior, and we also know that at least in this time period there are many Bibles to read telling about this, and yet people are in churches today that the Bible has no effect on how they live their lives for they do not believe what it says about salvation.  Just as Israel turned their backs on God so many people in apostate churches today do the same thing and God will judge them for this.  John MacArthur quotes a man named R. W. Scott who writes “Perhaps none of the seven letters is more appropriate to the twentieth-century church than this.  It describes vividly the respectable, sentimental, nominal, skin-deep religiosity which is so widespread among us today.  Our Christianity is flabby and anemic.  We appear to have taken a lukewarm bath of religion.” 

As mentioned these people thought they were rich when indeed they were poor, blind, and also naked.  They were being self deceived in what they were being taught.  I have to say that too many people today put God in a box, they make up their own God and live like their God wants them to live and this gets them in a world of trouble as the God they made up to satisfy themselves has little truth in it when compared to the God of the Bible.  Satan was doing a good job in making these people spiritually blind and he continues to do this in churches just like this one today in the 21^st century.

Spiritual meaning for my life today: I must make sure that the things that I believe about God are true and come from the Word of God so that I do not begin to sink to where these people had sunk.

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 and to live in that love.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Because he was very rich” (Luke 18:22-23).

Today’s Bible question:  “What did Jesus advise if one lights a candle?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/27/2015 2:25 PM    

Laodicea, The Church and the City (Rev. 3:14a, 14:c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/26/2015 9:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  Laodicea, The Church and the City

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 3:14a, 14c

            Message of the verse:  “The church in Laodicea”

            We look at this portion of every church that we have been studying and have found out that there is no clear evidence as to how any of the churches were started with the exception of Ephesus, and because of Acts 19:10 we believe that all of the churches began as daughter churches from the Ephesian church.  “This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”  John MacArthur does add the following possibility:  “Since Paul’s coworker Epaphras founded the church in nearby Colossae (Col. 4:17), he may well have founded the Laodicean church as well.”

            The City of Laodicea (Rev. 3:14b “Laodicea.”  There is a lot to say about this city and similar to other letters when Christ speaks to them He uses familiar things of their cities to bring about spiritual truths.  We will learn more about this when we look at what Christ has to say to this church in His condemnation to the church.

            Laodicea was one of three close cities that were in close proximity of each other, Colossae and Hierapolis were all in the Lycus valley which was about 100 miles east of the city of Ephesus, and Laodicea being the southeastern most of all of the seven churches.  Laodicea was geographically nearly impregnable, and that surely was a good thing during that time period.  However one of the problems that Laodicea had was water, for in the dry season they would run out of water and so they took it upon themselves to build a very long pipe line out of rock to get water to their city.  The problem with this was twofold, first the water was horable tasting and it was always lukewarm, and second an enemy could stop the flow of water to the city and just wait for them to run out of water.

               The following quotes are from Bibleplaces.com:  “The city is located in the Lycus River Valley together with Hierapolis and Colossae.  This valley is a natural route of travel from east to west.

“The city was founded by the Seleucid king Antiochus II and named for his wife Laodice about 260 BC. 

            Aqueduct

The water that was piped to Laodicea was rich with calcium which over time would cause the pipes to clog.  The engineers designed the aqueduct with vents covered with stones that could be removed periodically for cleaning.

Jesus' condemnation of the city's church for lukewarmness rebukes not their lack of fervor but their lack of effectiveness.”

            In his commentary John MacArthur tells through his research how it is known that there were many Jews living in this city.  He writes:  “A local governor once forbade the Jews from sending the temple tax to Jerusalem.  When they attempted to do so in spite of the prohibition, he confiscated the gold they intended for that tax.  From the amount of the seized shipment, it has been calculated that 7,500 Jewish men lived in Laodicea; there would have been several thousand more women and children.  Even the Talmud spoke scornfully of the life of ease and laxity lived by the Laodicean Jews.”

            With the coming of the Pas Romana, which was peace under Roman rule, the city prospered because of the roads that went through it and also because of the things that they made, and were actually famous for.  However in 60 AD a great earthquake destroyed the city and after that the Romans wanted to fund the rebuilding of the city, however the proud Laodicean people told Rome they needed no help and built the city with their own funds.  I have to say that because I am a retire from Ford Motor Company that when the other two major auto companies needed money to survive Ford told our government they were just fine.  Sorry about that but it kind of similar.

            The city was famous for bad water, beautiful black, soft wool used for making women’s clothes and fine carpet.  They also had a medical school there and were also famous for eye save that brought relief to the eyes.  They were also big in the industry of finances.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I read through this list of things that Laodicea were famous in and of themselves are no problem.  However when you look at their overall spirituality we will find out that there is something very wrong with that.  Perhaps they were more involved with their business than the business of the Lord, and this can easily happen in our world today, something I must not do.  I have a friend who mentored me right after I became a believer in Jesus Christ and he told me a saying that I have never forgot, but may be hard for me to write it out.  He said to me that you must keep your enfasses on the right syliable in other words you must keep your emphases on the right syllable, or one my say that you need to watch your priorities and keep them inline.

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

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Six years” (2 Kings 11:1-2).

Today’s Bible question:  “Why was the ruler sorrowful when Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/26/2015 10:47 AM