The Command Christ Gives to Sardis (Rev. 3:2a, 3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/14/2015 10:03 AM

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  The Command Christ Gives to Sardis

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:2a, 3

            Message of the verses:  “’Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die… ’So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”

            Now we have already mentioned that in many of these churches that Christ writes to have many unbelievers in them which we know was not good then and is not good today, or for that matter not good during any part of the church age, but we see that in this section that Christ is addressing this command to the faithful remnant or to those who were truly believers in this church.  He was not talking to those who were dead for there was no reason to do that.  We will not look at the five steps that are seen in this section that if followed the church would live on.

            The first words He gives to them are “wake up,” and there must have been a good reason for Christ to tell these believers to wake up.  MacArthur writes “The believing remnant needed to look at what was happening in their church, evaluate the situation, get involved in changing things, confront sin and error, and make a difference.” 

            The next thing Christ tells them to do is to “strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die.”  In writing of this word “things” MacArthur says “Things is a neuter noun in the Greek and does not refer to people, but to spiritual realities.  Christ exhorted the true Christians at Sardis to fan into flame the dying embers of the remaining spiritual graces in the church.”  This reminds me of something that Paul wrote to Timothy “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands (2 Timothy 1:6).”  In this verse Paul is telling Timothy a very similar thing that Christ is telling the believers at Sardis, to get the fire going again is seen in both verses, to remember when the fire was hot for the Lord and fan the flames in order to get it going again. 

            We continue with this theme of remembering in the third point Christ makes to these believers as he tells them “remember what” they had “received and heard.”  We humans can forget things, even things that are very important, very easily, and all it takes if for us to stop a good habit like reading and studying the Word of God for a day and then it will happen for two and three and finally we will be out of that habit all together.  The solution is to remember how good it was when we were in that good habit of studying the Word of God and to pray and to be ready to tell others of the hope that lies within us.  Why do we do these things?  We do them first of all because we love the Lord, the Lord who came down from heaven to be born as a baby in a cave where lambs were born, lambs that were used in a sacrifice on the day of Passover.  In a dirty cave was the Son of God born because He loved us that much.  He loved us that much by becoming our Passover Lamb and dying on the cross at the exact time that the Passover lambs were slain, but our Passover Lamb had just taken our punishment in His own body on the cross so that we can receive His righteousness and be accepted by God to live with Him forever.  We as believers need to remember these truths in order to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.   As we have looked these churches so far we saw in the first church, Ephesus that the only thing Christ condemned them for was leaving their first love, and when that happened we see these other condemnations that flow from forgetting their first love and it is a downward spiral until we get to the church of Laodicea where Christ is actually on the outside knocking on the door to get into the church.  Yes there are two churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia that were given no condemnations and those are the ones we are to be like, but with the others it kept getting worse.  We are to remember for we are a forgetful people.

            The forth point ties in with this third point, and that is to keep the things that were found in the Scriptures, things that I spoke about in our last point.

            Finally we get to the last point and Christ tells them to repent.  MacArthur writes “With remorse and sorrow, the believers at Sardis were to confess and turn away from their sins.  These five stops, if diligently practiced, would bring about revival.”

            The consequences if revival did not come are seen in the last part of verse three:  “Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”

            Just for the record what I have written about the birth of Christ, as far as where He was born is something I have learned from my studies and also from a historical novel that I read many years ago.  They all make perfect sense to me, that is having our Passover Lamb born in the cave where the Passover lambs were born during that time in Bethlehem. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We have an enemy who would like nothing better than to trip us up in our studying of the Word of God.  He is crafty and if had the chance would destroy all believers in an instant, but thankfully God is in control, but we, as believers need our Spiritual armor on so we can stand.  I have made a commitment to learn more about loving my Lord better this year so I do not fall into the downhill slide that I am learning about in these churches.  I desire to not only love the Lord in a more biblical way, but to better understand how much He loves me so that I can live a life that is more pleasing to me.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Nicodemus” (John 3:4).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Fear not: for, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people?’”

Answer in our next SD.

2/14/2015 10:50 AM    

The Commendation of Sardis (Rev. 3:4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/13/2015 8:59 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  The Commendation of Sardis

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:4

            Message of the verse:  “4 ’But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”

            I kind of got ahead of myself mentioning in our last SD that there was no commendation for this church, but as we look at verse four we can see that there is indeed a short commendation for this church which we will talk about in this SD.

            First thing I want to do is to quote a paragraph from my first go around in the book of Revelation dated March 13, 2005:  “The Bible teaches that once a person is saved he is always saved, yet even a saved person can do things that are sinful and at times will be disciplined for such behavior.  The Bible speaks of people who are believers who will receive a white garment, but there will be a smell of smoke in it because they did not live a life that was at all pleasing to the Lord.  A believer who practices holiness in his walk with the Lord will receive a white garment that will not smell of smoke, for he will be worthy as this verse speaks of.”  The section that I was writing about as far as the robes that smell of smoke is found in the book of 1 Corinthians “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Cor. 3:15).”  I find it difficult as I study these churches, which I realize that there were these seven churches in John’s day that Christ sent these letters to, I find it difficult to distinguish between what is a real church in our day and what is not a real church in our day.  For instance we have cults who state that they are a church and what I find difficult is were these letters for them or not.  My best guess is that they are not.

            We have stated, which came from the text that this was a dead church and yet there were a few believers scattered about in this church and for those we see this verse written for them.  When I was listening to John MacArthur’s sermon on this section he stated that he gets many letters from people who are in dead churches today, so that means that there are many dead churches in our world today.  In the case of the church at Sardis there were not enough true believers to change the fact that Christ calls this a dead church.  True to the Lord He had not forgotten those who were true believers in this church for they were faithful to Him.  Another thing that has crossed my mind and that is times were different in those days in that this was probably the only church in Sardis so these true believers had little choice in going there, unlike believers today who can leave a dead church and attend one that is following the Lord.  Let us look at some verses to show that Christ does not forget His own.  “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.  "They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him’ (Mal. 3:16-17).”  “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints (Heb. 6:10).”

            Now we will look at Romans 11:1-5 “1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE." 4 But what is the divine response to him? "I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL." 5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.”  John MacArthur writes the following about these verses:  “That God preserves His faithful remnant is a frequent theme of Scripture,” this is seen in these verses.

            We see that the description of those who were believers in this church was “who have not soiled their garments.”  John MacArthur writes “Soiled is from moluno, which means ‘to stain,’ ‘ to defile,’ ‘to smear,’ or ‘to pollute.’  It was a word that would have been familiar to readers in Sardis because of the city’s wool dyeing industry.  ‘Garments’ symbolize character in Scripture (e. g., Isa. 64:6; Jude 23).  The faithful remnant could come into God’s presence because they had not defiled or polluted themselves, but manifested their godly character.”

            We next see the reward that Christ will give those faithful to Him and that is that they would walk in white with the Lord for they are worthy.   This is a symbol of purity as we see in different places from Scripture, but I want to speak of one here:  “Mt 17:2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.”  This came from the section where Jesus goes up to the Mt. of Transfiguration shortly before His would be crucified.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can see in this section a real personal application that Christ has for His own, every last one of His own.  In the 17^th chapter of John, the chapter that contains the “High Priestly Prayer,” we see that God had given the eleven disciples to Him in order that they might tell others of Him, and then He goes on to mention those who His disciples would bring to Him through their preaching and they would all be His.  This is still going on and Christ knows all of us who have come to trust Him as Savior and Lord and this makes it very personal to me.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To better 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:  “An orator, or a lawyer” (Acts 24:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who could not understand how a man could be born again when he was old?”   

Answer in our next SD.

2/13/2015 9:57 AM

The Concern for the church at Sardis (Rev. 3:1d-2b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/12/2015 9:53 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  The Concern for the church at Sardis

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:1d-2b

            Message of the verses:  “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead…For I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.” 

            Now the way that Christ wrote this letter was different than the others for usually He gave the commendation before He gave the concern, but not the case in this letter.  Remember the way that John MacArthur began his introductory comments on this church which we quoted on our first SD for this church, that even when a star dies it takes many years for those of us on earth not to see that it is dead.  Many people must have thought that this church was alive and well when in fact Christ tells them that they are dead.  I would suppose that the people in this church did not know that they were dead, but they were.  MacArthur writes “Like so many churches today it was defiled by the world, characterized by inward decay, and populated by unredeemed people playing church.” 

            What is it that causes spiritual death in a church or for that matter in the people who are the church?  Let us look at a few verses that will explain this:  Ephesians 2:1 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.”  Paul, here is telling those believers what they were before they came to know Christ as their Lord and Savior, and that is that they were spiritually dead in their trespasses and their sins, so it is sin that causes a person to be dead.  Now I can take that a step further and that is that all people who are born on this earth are born spiritually dead, they are born with a sin-nature.  The story goes that I heard to help us understand this better, that a funeral director friend of mine was asked one day by our pastor what would happen if he asked one of his dead clients what kind of tie he would like to wear.  Of course he would get no answer because he was dead, at least his body was dead and he was not there to answer that question.  Where he was depended on whether or not he had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as His Savior and Lord.  Point being that we are all born spiritually dead because we are all related to Adam who sinned with his eyes wide open while in the garden, not because of Eve who sinned because she was tempted.  Now let us look at a couple more verses to show that being spiritual dead is a product of sin.  “But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:60).”  Here Jesus was speaking of the spiritually dead.  “for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate (Luke 15:24).”  This is from the parable of the Prodigal son. “’But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found’"” (Luke 15:32 another verse from the Prodigal son parable.)  “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions (Col. 2:13).”  “But she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead even while she lives (1 Tim. 5:6).”  “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death (1 John 3:14).”  I suppose that we could compare this church and others like it to a museum where there are many stuffed animals in a setting that looks like they are alive, but in fact they are just stuffed.

            Some of the ways that we can spot a dead church is when a church rests on what has happened in the past and is doing nothing in the present to tell others about Christ.  They are more concerned with liturgical forms than spiritual reality, or when the church focuses on social ills rather than changing people’s hearts with the gospel of Jesus Christ which is the only way thing that can change a person’s heart, for in order to change a person’s heart they have to be born from above with the power of the Holy Spirit giving them a call that they cannot say no to a call that will change their life forever.  More evidence is that church is more concerned with material than spiritual things or when it is concerned with what men think about what they are doing as opposed to what Christ is about what they are doing.  When it cares more about traditions instead of what the Bible has to say, similar to the Pharisees when our Lord was on earth.  MacArthur concludes with writing “Now matter what its attendance, no matter how impressive its buildings, no matter what its status in the community, such a church, having denied the only source of spiritual life, is dead.”

            The deeds that this church was doing, as Christ stated were not “completed in the sight of God,” however they had a good reputation in the city they were in as perhaps the Pharisees did in their day had. 

            John MacArthur compares this church with the life of the Old Testament hero Samson whose story is told in Judges, and I will not take the time to explain why Samson is a good comparison to this church but take the time to read about his life in Judges 13-16.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are a couple of things that I am doing that have something to do with this section of Revelation.  First of all I desire to live for Christ every day, and I desire to have a clear conscience so that I can do this, but sometimes my conscience is not clear and I have to determine if it is Satan who is accusing me or if it is the Holy Spirit who is prompting me to confess a sin in my life.  Early this morning when I could not fall back asleep I was reading a book by Warren Wiersbe that is about the activities of Satan and he covered this subject and I now better understand it.   Now what this has to do with this section is that I do not want to be like those in Sardis for I desire to serve the Lord, yet sometime things seem to get in my way from doing it, like being accused by Satan and believing it is from the Holy Spirit.  The book Wiersbe writes is entitled “The Strategy of Satan,” and in the fourth chapter, which is entitled “The Accuser,” he has a sub-title entitled “Satan’s purpose To Bring an Indictment by God’s Will.”  He begins with these words “Satan wants you to feel guilty.  He wants you to experience regret and remorse, but not repentance.”  Another thing that goes along with this subject is from a prayer list that I have and use for our pastors two days a week, and part of it came from my study in First and Second Thessalonians where I learned how better to pray for our Pastors.  The last point in an outline that came from John MacArthur’s commentary comes from a quote in the book of Hebrews “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things (Heb. 13:18).”  The writer of Hebrews is saying that we deserve you prayers because we have a clear conscience, meaning “What does having a clear conscience mean?  There’s nothing accusing us is how MacArthur answers this question.”  I would suppose that many of the people in the church at Sardis did have a clear conscience because they were still dead in their trespasses and sin, not knowing Christ as Savior and Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  My desire is 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:  “He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Exodus 2:24).

Today’s Bible question:  “What was Tertullus’s occupation?”  (This is a tough question see Acts 24:1).

Answer in our next SD.

2/12/2015 11:07 AM

Sardis the City (Rev. 3:1b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/11/2015 3:40 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus:  Sardis the City

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:1b

            Message of the verses:  “"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ’I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”

            I must say that this is one of my favorite parts of this study that is look into the ancient cities that these seven churches came from.  I have always been a fan of history and I suppose that is why I like this part of our study.

             Sardis was an important ancient city and capital of the kingdom of Lydia, located in western Anatolia, present-day Sartmustafa, Manisa province in western Turkey. Its strategic location made it a central point connecting the interior of Anatolia to the Aegean coast. During its history, control of Sardis changed many times, but it always kept a high status among cities.

        The Origin of Sardis

Around 612 BCE, the greatest city in the world at that time, Nineveh, was besieged and sacked by an allied army of Persians, Medes, rebelling Chaldeans, and Babylonians, putting an end to the Assyrian Empire. This event shaped a new political map: Babylon became the imperial centre of Mesopotamia and the kingdom of Lydia became the dominant power in western Anatolia with Sardis as its capital.

The life of Sardis began as a hilltop citadel where the king of Lydia lived. The city developed into a two part town: the lower town, located along the banks of the Pactolus river, where the ordinary citizens lived, and the upper town for the wealthy citizens, royal members, and the palace. Herodotus wrote that the lower town was a modest place with many of its houses made of reeds from the river and with no surrounding wall.

        Sardis Today

Since 1958 CE, the universities of Harvard and Cornell have been performing annual excavations at Sardis. As part of these works, Sardis’ gymnasium has been restored and the synagogue was discovered in 1962 CE, a building measuring over 91.4 meters (300 feet) in length. Some of the important finds from the archaeological site of Sardis are kept in the Archaeological Museum of Manisa in Turkey, including many Roman mosaics and sculptures and pottery from different periods in the history of the city.  I got this info from a website called “Ancient History.”

            John MacArthur writes “God and silver coins were apparently first minted at Sardis.  The city also benefited from its location at the western end of the royal road that led east to the Persian capital city of Susa, and from its proximity to other important trade routes.  It was also a center for wool production and the garment industry; in fact, Sardis claimed to have discovered how to dye wool.”

            The location of the city was on a very high hill overlooking the Hermus River and because of this site many believed that the city was impregnable, but not so.  Because of this site the people became over confident and careless.  And because of this the city was conquered. John MacArthur quotes Dr. Robert L. Thomas as he relates to the account of Sardis’s fall:  “Despite an alleged warning against self-satisfaction by the Greek god whom he consulted, Croesus the king of Lydia initiated an attack against Cyrus king of Persia, but was soundly defeated. Returning to Sardis to recoup and rebuild his army for another attack, he was perused quickly by Cyrus who laid siege against Sardis.  Croesus felt utterly secure in his impregnable situation atop the acropolis and foresaw an easy victory over the Persians who were cornered among the perpendicular rocks in the lower city, and easy prey for the assembling Lydian army to crush.  After  retiring on evening while the drama was unfolding, he awakened to discover that the Persians had gained control of the acropolis by scaling one-by-one the steep walls (549 BC).  So secure did the Sardians feel that they left this means of access completely unguarded, permitting the climbers to ascend unobserved.  It is said that even a child could have defended the city from this kind of attack, but not so much as one observer had been appointed to watch the side that was believed to be inaccessible.  History repeated itself more than three and a half centuries later when Atiochus the Great conquered Sardis by utilizing the services of a sure-footed mountain climber from Crete (195 BC).  His army entered the city by another route while the defenders in careless confidence were content to guard the one known approach, the isthmus of land connected to Mount Tmolus on the south.”

            Eventually the Romans conquered them in 133 BC as they never again regained their independence.  In 17 AD there was a catastrophic earthquake which destroyed the city.  MacArthur writes “but it was rebuilt with the generous financial id of Emperor Tiberius.  In gratitude, the inhabitants of Sardis built a temple in his honor.”

            Message of the verses:   One of the reasons that I like looking at the history of the cities of where the churches were is because it seems to me that the Lord blesses a country where the churches are strong and when they get weak then the Lord will withhold His blessings on that nation.  Just look around today and you may see this in action. 

            When the Soviet Nation was about to break up I heard a sermon from the then president of the Moody Bible Institute, Joe Stowell speaking about how the government of the Soviet Union was changing their minds about those who were believers.  In the message Stowell was saying that the government leaders were saying that the believers were the best citizens in the country.  I suppose that this is, as it should be, the way it is in all countries, but as we go through these seven churches one may not believe that this would be the case, and that is a sad situation.

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

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

Today’s Bible question:  “When the children of Israel cried out to their God, what did He do?”

Answer in our next SD.

 

 

The Correspondent, the church (Rev. 3:1c, 1a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/10/2015 11:19 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  The Correspondent, the church

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 3:1c, 1a

            Message of the verses:  As we work our way through the seven churches that are found in the 2^nd and 3^rd chapters of Revelation remember that they were real churches that Christ was writing to and there are churches like them throughout the entire church history, including in today’s world.  I mentioned when we were studying the first church that there are some who believe that the churches in Revelation were put into order due to prophecy, that is that there were certain times when each church had a dominant time period in the world.  I also mentioned that I have not truly made up my mind about this, but one thing I do know and that is that there are these types of churches throughout the entire church history.  Perhaps when we study the church of Laodicea we may be convinced that that is the dominant church type in the world today.  Anyhow the dead church of Sardis time period according to what I found in Hal Lindsey’s “There’s A New World Coming” is from 1517-1750.

            We realize that the glorified Jesus Christ is the writer to all of these churches as He dictates each letter to John who would then give it to the leader of each church in order for that leader to read that letter to the church he represents.  Remember that Christ is the One who holds those leaders of those churches in His hand which are identified as the seven stars that are in His right hand.  We also need to be reminded that the way that John saw the glorified Christ in his vision are used to identify Him as He begins each letter.  In today’s study Jesus Christ is identified as “He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.”  Remember that the person who wrote a letter during those times identified himself at the beginning of the letter which is what Christ does in each letter.

            We seem to be a lot of reviewing in this SD, but that is ok because remembering what we have studied is important to reinforce it as we move along in our study of this wonderful and last book of the Bible.  Besides that one of the best ways to study the book of Revelation is by the use of a concordance for much of what we study is found in other parts of the book as is the case today when we look back to chapter one in order to see the verses that identify the glorified Jesus Christ in John’s vision.  “John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, (Rev. 1:4).” In this verse we see about the seven Spirits of God and we did go over that when we looked at this before but will briefly look at this again.  What we see here is that the seven Spirits of God are the completeness of the Holy Spirit as seven is the number of completeness.  Two passages in the OT speak of this and John MacArthur writes “The phrase may refer to Isaiah 11:2, where the Holy Spirit is described as ‘the Spirit of the Lord…,the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.’  It may also refer to the symbolic depiction of the Holy Spirit as a lampstand with seven lamps (a menorah), presented in Zechariah 4:1-10.  In either case, the reference is to the Spirit’s fullness.  Jesus Christ is represented in His church through the Holy Spirit.”

            Now we will briefly look again at the “seven stars.”  We have already mentioned that these represent the seven messengers or leaders of the seven churches as seen in Rev. 1:20.  MacArthur writes “The imagery shows Jesus Christ, the sovereign Lord of the church, mediating His rule through such godly leaders and pastors.”

            It is a bit of a mystery as to why Christ identifies Himself this way to a church that is said to be dead.  In Rev. 2:18, to the church at Thyatira He does identify Himself in a way that shows judgment, but not here.  MacArthur writes “He depicted Himself as the One who sovereignly works in His church through the Holy Spirit and godly leaders.  This introduction served as a reminder to the Sardis church of what they lacked.  Devoid of the Spirit, the church at Sardis was dead, populated by the unredeemed.”

            “The church in Sardis (Rev. 3:1a).”  We again have to look at Acts 19:10 to get the best idea as to how this church began.  Paul spent three years in Ephesus and the effect that He had on that church cause them to spread the Word of God throughout all of Asia:  “This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”  Even though this state’s two years Paul was in Ephesus for three years.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at this section that speaks about the seven stars and how the Lord uses the Pastors of churches to bring about what it is He wants accomplished I am thankful that this is done this way.  Since the last apostle died and actually even before John’s death this is the pattern that Christ has used to speak what He wants said to His churches and this is also done through the completed Word of God and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  God will give a call to those He wants to be His pastors and then work through them to accomplish His will in each local church.

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

Memory verse for the week:  2 Peter 1:10.

10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “John the Baptist” (Luke 3:2).”

Today’s Bible question:  “What Old Testament prophet was put in the lions’ den?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/10/2015 12:28 PM   

Introduction to Sardis (Rev. 3:1-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/9/2015 1:59 PM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Introduction to Sardis

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 3:1-6

            Message of the verses:  “1 "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ’I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 ’Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. 3 ’So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. 4 ’But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 ’He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

            Jesus calls this church “The dead church,” and if that is what He calls it we have to believe that was what it was when He sent this letter to them.  I wonder what they thought about this letter when they got it or do I need to wonder what they thought about, for the church disappeared along with the city so they could not have listened to what the Lord said in this letter He wrote to them.

            John MacArthur gives a very interesting analogy about this church in his introductory comments on the chapter he writes about this church and I would like to share it with you.  “The vast distances of interstellar space are unimaginably immense.  The nearest stars to us are trillions of miles away.  Those large distances have forced astronomers to come up with an appropriate measurement unit, the light-year.  One light-year equals the distance that light, traveling at more than 186,000 miles per second, travels in on year—more than 6 trillion miles. 

            “The enormous distance to even the nearest stars presents an interesting possibility.  If a star thirty light-years away from the earth exploded and died five years ago, we would not be able to tell by looking at it for another twenty-five years.  Though no longer in existence, the light from that star would go on shining as if nothings had changed.

            “Such a church was the church at Sardis.  It was reputed to be alive, but the Lord Jesus Christ pronounced it to be dead.  The downward spiral depicted by these churches, beginning with the Ephesian church’s loss of its first love for Jesus Christ and continuing with Pergamum’s worldliness and Thyatira’s toleration of sin, reached a new low at Sardis.  The church at Sardis could well be nicknamed ‘The First Church of the Tares.’  It was a church dominated by sin, unbelief, and false doctrine.  Like the fig tree in Jesus’ parable, it bore leaves, but no fruit (Matt. 21:19).”

            We know from our study so far in Revelation that this church was an existing church when John penned this letter, but it also represents many churches in our day as well as throughout history there were many churches like this one. 

            I will now quote from a paragraph that I wrote in my first study of Revelation and this one is dated 03/07/2005:  “This church had the reputation of being alive, yet in fact Christ reports that it is dead, as seen in this verse (verse one).  The church was living on its past reputation, and that is not good at all, for if you stop growing as a church then you go backwards, and then you can give opportunity for the enemy to come and slow the work completely.  It is uncertain if there were many true believers here who were doing carnal works, or works in the flesh, or if there were actually many unbelievers attending this church, however the fact remains that the churches reputation was life, when in fact it was dead.”  With that last statement we could say that this church was the opposite of the church as Smyrna:  “’I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), (Rev. 2:9a).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at the decline of the churches in these two chapters of Revelation I do not want to make the first step by not loving the Lord as I should love Him, for as I go through the study of these churches I understand that by losing your love for Jesus Christ you can end up like the church at Laodicea and have Christ on the outside wanting to come in.

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

Memory verse for the week:  2 Peter 1:10.

10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain of your calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ethiopia” (Acts 7:27).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/9/2015 2:34 PM

Christ’s Counsel to Thyatira (Rev. 2:26-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/8/2015 8:48 PM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  Christ’s Counsel to Thyatira

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 2:26-29

            Message of the verses:  “26 ’He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; 27 AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

            John again mentions the word that describes a believer and that is the one who overcomes and we have looked at this in an earlier SD and quoted 1 John 5:5 “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”  Next we see that John tells his readers that the church must remember to keep the deeds of the Lord.  Verse 22 states “’Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.”  Jesus wants them to follow His deeds in contrast to the ones who were keeping the deeds of Jezebel.  Now if they do this Christ will first of all give them the authority over the nations which they will rule them with a rod of iron, similar of the vessels that the potter breaks into pieces.  Let us look at Psalm 2:7-9, a Psalm we have looked at in earlier SD’s as we studied Revelation.  “7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ’You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9  ’You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’"  This will happen during the millennial kingdom, which will be a part of the job for those in the resurrected church.  Let us look at two more passages from Revelation 12:5  and also 19:15 “And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.”  “From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.” 

            Second Christ also promised to give them the “morning star.”  John MacArthur writes “Some connect the morning star with such passages as Daniel 12:3 and Matthew 13:43.  The promise would be that believers will reflect Christ’s glory.  While Christians will reflect Christ’s glory, it is better to see the ‘morning star’ as Christ Himself—a title He assumes in Revelation 22:16 (Cf. 2 Peter 1:19).  Christ promised believers Himself in all His fullness; the One whom we ‘now…know in part [we will] then …know fully just as [we] also have been fully known’ (1 Cor. 13:12).”

            We have been over the familiar words “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Jesus Christ is saying to each of the churches that He is writing to that they had better listen to what He is saying to them, and to obey what it is that He is telling them to do.  The problem is that many of the churches did not listen to His Words.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The Words that Jesus is saying to all of these churches He is saying to me and to every born-again believer who has ever lived, and so it would be the best thing for me to follow and to listen to what He is saying.

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

Memory verse for the week:  2 Peter 1:10.

10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.

Answer to our last Bible question:  “Boaz” (Ruth 2:15).

Today’s Bible question:  “Candace was the queen of what country?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/8/2015 9:16 PM