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

Jesus Gives His Command to Thyatira (Rev. 2:24-25)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/6/2015 8:36 AM

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  Jesus Gives His Command to Thyatira

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference:  Revelation 2:24-25

            Message of the verses:  “24  ’But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them-I place no other burden on you. 25 ’Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.”

            In our last SD we saw what the Glorified Christ who knows all things and sees all things said He would do to those who were following the sins of Jezebel that they would be judged for their sin, but now we see the Lord addressing those who have not followed this false teaching and He gives comfort to them.  John MacArthur points out a passage in the book of Malachi in which God also gave comfort to those he was ministering to.  Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament and he ministers to those who had returned from the captivity in Babylon.  He writes “16 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. 17 “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."”

            Next we see that Christ defines the believers as those “who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them.”  Those who were following Jezebel believed that they could plunge into the deep things of Satan, things like false theology, impurity, licentious, and then come and worship the Lord as if nothing was wrong with that.  This was similar to the Jews during the last days of their kingdom as described in the OT prophets of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  The Jews had idols that they worshiped on the “high places” and then they would come down to the temple and worship the Lord as if nothing was wrong with that.  As I studied the attributes of God one of them is that God is a Jealous God, and I have mentioned that the kind of Jealousy that God has is not selfish like the kind we humans have.  God deserves to receive all worship and when that does not happen those who are worshiping false gods, it is sin for God will not share His glory with anyone, which is what those in this church were doing, they were sharing God’s glory with the deep things of Satan and it is no wonder that Jesus Christ comes down on them for that.  This kind of thing reminds me of what Paul wrote to the Romans in a number of chapters you will find Paul asking a rhetorical question and then give the answer in the strongest not found in the Greek language.  You can look at the third chapter of Romans for examples of this.  Here are two examples of what I am talking about:  “Ro 6:15  What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!  Ro 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET."”

            Christ tells those who have not followed those deeper things of Satan, following the practice of Jezebel, that He will place no other burden on them.  He also tells them to hold fast to what you have until I come.  John MacArthur writes “The use of the strong word krateo (hold fast) indicates that it would not be easy.  The coming of Christ as it related to the Thyatira church was His coming to them in judgment.  But in a wider sense, all believers are to ‘cling to what is good’ (Rom. 1:29) until Christ’s return.”

            We have one shorter lesson from this church of Thyatira and then we will have completed the first two chapters of the book of Revelation.  Chapter three has three more churches to look at and two of these last three churches sink down deeper into sin and doing wrong and one is one of the best churches we will study. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When I put on the spiritual armor each morning I read a number of times from the 6^th chapter of Ephesians “Stand Firm,” and this is what the Lord is saying to those believers in the church at Thyatira and this is what I want to do too.  I am not saying that I do not want to grow more in the Lord, but I am saying that I do not want to go backwards, I want to hold on to what I have.

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

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:9-10.

9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.  10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about your calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.

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

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘let her gleam even among the sheaves, and reproach her not’?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/6/2015 9:14 AM

The Concern Jesus has for Thyatira (Rev. 2:20-23)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/5/2015 11:42 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  The Concern Jesus has for Thyatira

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 2:20-23

            Message of the verses:  “20  ’But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 ’I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 22 ’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. 23  ’And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

            I mentioned in the Spiritual Diaries that I am doing on the book of Ezekiel that some of the things that Ezekiel is telling the exiles is very harsh, yet as always true, and it can be compared to these things that Christ is writing to this church.  The difference is that Jesus was speaking to a physical church in the church age where much more information has been given to them through what has happened to Christ on the cross who paid for our sins whereas Ezekiel was writing and speaking to the OT nation of Israel.

            When we look at the problems that Jesus points out in this church we can see that they were not external problems, but they were internal problems.  Smyrna had many external problems that came from the Jews and also from those who worshiped idols who wanted all the people in that city to do the same.  One could say that Smyrna and Thyatira were in some ways opposite in the problems that they faced.  Persecution will cause the church to grow and also get rid of the false believers as they won’t stay around to be persecuted for something that they truly don’t believe in.  However when the church is not being persecuted then this gives a chance for many unbelievers to sneak in and cause much trouble in the church which was what was happening in Thyatira as we will see.   Paul speaks of this when he was addressing the leaders of the Ephesian church in Acts 20:29-30 “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.”

            John MacArthur writes “The penetrating gaze of the Lord of the church had discerned serious error, causing Him to warn ‘I have this against you.’  The use of the singular pronoun points this admonition especially to the leader of the congregation.  The indictment is ‘that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.’  The sin, apparently involving the majority of the Thyatira church’s members, was twofold.  First, they violated the biblical teaching that women are not to be teachers or preachers in the church (1 Tim. 2:12).  That led them to tolerate ‘the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess.’  They compounded their error of permitting her to teach by allowing her to teach error.  As a result, Jesus declares, ‘she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.’”

            Who was Jezebel?  Well we can be pretty sure that this was not the person’s name, but someone who acted like Jezebel.  Jezebel was the infamous wife of King Ahab, and she was Satan’s agent to corrupt God’s people.  If memory serves me correctly she introduced Baal worship in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  I can’t help but write about one of the prophecies that had to do with her punishment that God was going to give her because of what she did and that is that she would be spread out around the land.  She died from a fall from a high building and a little while later they wanted to bury her but the dogs had eaten her and only her skull was left.  I guess it was the dogs who spread her all around the country.

            MacArthur says “Therefore the Lord branded her with the symbolic name Jezebel.  This NT Jezebel did like the OT Jezebel did and that was she succeeded in leading Christ’s bond-servants astray so that they would commit acts of immorality and they also would eat things sacrificed to idols.  Remember when we looked at the letter from the Apostles to the Gentile churches in Acts chapter 15 and they said the following “19 “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood (Acts 15:19-20.”  This church must not have gotten that letter or if they did they forgot about what it said.

            MacArthur writes “The Bible teaches that true Christians can fall into sexual immorality (cf. 1 Cor. 6:15-20) and idolatry (cf. 1 Cor. 10:21).  But to lead others Christians into false doctrine or immoral living is a very serious sin, one meriting the most severe punishment.  In Matthew 18:6-10, Jesus graphically described the serious consequences for those who lead other believers into sin:  ‘6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! 8  "If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. 9 “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. 10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.’

“The ‘little ones who believe’ in Christ are not physical children, but spiritual children—believers.  It is so serious to lead another believer into sin that the Lord said death by drowning was a better option.  The imagery of maiming oneself is language depicting the need for drastic action in dealing with sin.”

            There is one more Scripture I want to add to this that has something to do with what we are talking about and that comes from Romans 1:32 “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

            Our gracious Lord gave them time to repent, but they did not do so and because they did not do so He said that He would “throw her on a bed of sickness.”  MacArthur writes “The words of sickness are not part of the original Greek text, but were supplied as a conjecture by the translators.  In light of the finality of Jezebel’s refusal to repent, it is more likely that the bed refers to death and hell—the ultimate resting place for those who refuse to repent.”  Now not only for her but for those who commit adultery with her for divine punishment will go to them too and Jesus says that they will go into “great tribulation.”  MacArthur does not believe that this is the eschatological tribulation period which will later be described in chapters 4-19, but distress or trouble.  He goes on to write “Since these were the sinning Christians who had believed her lies, the Lord does not threaten to send them to hell as He did the false prophetess.  He promises to bring them severe chastening—possibly even physical death unless they repent of her deeds.”

            Jesus then mentions a third group who will face divine judgment and these are those described with these words “I will kill her children with pestilence.”  These were not her physical children, but spiritual children.  This church was around forty years old and we see the second generation believers here and severe punishment could come on them if they did not repent and turn from their ways.  Death could come to them like it die with Ananias and Sapphira seen in Acts chapter five. 

            This may be hard to understand but it is true that Christ twill receive glory for judging Jezebel and those who followed her.  When He does judge them then all the churches would know that He is the One who searches the minds and the hearts.  It is only God can do this and so this is just another of the many, many statements that confirms the deity of Jesus Christ. 

            MacArthur writes “It is not known how many in that congregation responded to Christ’s warning, but, tragically, the Thyatira church as a whole apparently did not heed it.  History records that it fell prey to the Montanist heresy) a movement led by a false prophet who claimed continuing revelation from God apart from Scripture) and went out of existence by the end of the second century.”

            Lastly we see these words of comfort from our Lord “I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”  Each person would be judged by their own deeds and not on the church as a whole group, and this is something important to know. 

            I have written on what my feelings about works and the Christians in earlier SD’s and the truth is that no one is saved by doing good works, but good works demonstrate the fact that one is truly saved.  I also believe that Ephesians 2:10 shows that God has given us works to do even before the world began and we must be open to the Holy Spirit for Him to show us what these works are and then have Him lead us in doing these works to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

            Again remember what Peter said “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Learning more about how my Lord watches over His church has given me greater incentive in wanting to follow the leading of the Spirit to do the works that He has planned for me to do. 

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.  To be a comfort to my friend whose wife is now in heaven.

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 2:8-10.

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

Answer to yesterday’ Bible question:  “Righteousness” (Romans 4:9).

Today’s Bible question:  “In Hebrews 2:16, Christ took on himself the seed of what man?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/5/2015 1:29 PM

The Church, City & Commendation (Rev. 2:18a-19)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/4/2015 5:04 PM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  The Church, City & Commendation

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 2:18a-19

            Message of the verses:  “The Church in Thyatira” (Rev. 2:18a).

            I believe that we have looked at Acts 19:10 when we dealt with both Smyrna and Pergamum, in that neither of these churches were seen earlier in the New Testament.  It is believed that when Paul spent much time in Ephesus that there were daughter churches that sprang up from the church in Ephesus and this likely was the case with Thyatira.  “This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:10).”  Now other than the three times Thyatira is mentioned in the book of Revelation there is only one other time that Thyatira is mentioned in the entire NT:  “Ac 16:14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”  Paul was in Philippi, when Lydia came to know the Lord as seen in Acts 16:14.  It is possible that Lydia had something to do with the beginnings of this church but we don’t know for sure.

            The City (Revelation 2:18b):  “Thyatira.”

            Pergamum was the city that was the furthest North of the seven cities and then you go east and then southeast you get to Thyatira which was around 40 miles away. 

            The early history, before the Roman Empire saw the city of Thyatira being taken over many different times because of the location that it was in as the area was rather flat and not on top of a hill like Pergamum was, in fact early on there was an outpost there to stop invaders from getting to Pergamum, but because of its location it did little good.

            When Rome took over Thyatira came benefited by the Roman peace and began to grow.  As far as religions in Thyatira there was not many ‘gods’ they worshiped other than Apollo, the sun god and we mentioned this in our first SD on Thyatira.  Thyatira was famous for its guilds, which are like our labor unions and there were many in this city.  Thyatira was famous for wool and dyed goods, especially purple goods which were dyed from the purple extracted from the madder root.  One of the many guilds was the one that had to do with the garments, and these guilds each had their gods that they worshiped and in order to be a member of these guilds one had to worship their certain god, which of course that Christians could not do.  John MacArthur writes “To hold a job or run a business, it was necessary to be a member of a guild.  Each guild had its patron deity, in whose honor feasts were held—complete with meat sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality.  Christians faced the dilemma of attending those feast or possibly losing their livelihood.  How some in the Thyatira church were handling the situation caused the Lord Jesus Christ great concern.”

            The Commendation (Revelation 2:19):  “’I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.”

            As in the churches of Ephesus and Pergamum our Lord gave commendation to those in this church.  He told them that He had not forgotten their righteous deeds and He would divide them into four categories.  On the note about their good deeds and the Lord not forgetting them let us look at Hebrews 6:10 “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.”

            First we see that the believers in Thyatira were showing love for God and for one another.  We see from this that Thyatira was strong where Ephesus was weak, and this is the first of the seven churches to be commended for its love.

            Second Christ commends them for their faith and MacArthur writes “pistis (‘faith’) is better translated ‘fidelity,’ or faithfulness.’  The true Christians in Thyatira were dependable, reliable, and consistent (cf. v. 25).  Faith and love are frequently linked in the New Testament.”

            My memory verses have been from 2 Peter 1:5-10 and verses five through seven give a progression of qualities that believers are to follow:  “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.”  We can see from this progression that out of faith and love grows service and perseverance.  MacArthur writes “Those who love will express that love through meeting the needs of others.  Those who are faithful will steadfastly preserver in faith.”

            We see in this verse that they are growing in their walk with the Lord as their loving service continued to grow stronger.  “They were growing in grace, maturing in their Christian lives, and advancing the cause of Christ (cf. 2 Peter 1:8).  For that behavior they were to be commended.”  (John MacArthur.)

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I mentioned in one of the first SD’s of this New Year that our “Seniors” Pastor challenged us at the end of last year with a number of choices to do better in 2015, and the one that I am focusing on is loving the Lord in a more biblical way, which is what I can see that these believers were doing.

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 verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:8-10.

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.  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:  “To keep the people from going to Jerusalem to worship” (1 Kings 12:26-28).

Today’ Bible question:  “For what was faith reckoned unto Abraham?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/4/2015 6:05 PM

Jesus The Author of this Letter (Rev. 2:18c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/3/2015 2:23 PM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  Jesus is the Author of this letter.

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 2:18c

            Message of the verse:  “The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this (Rev. 2:18c).”

            I mentioned in our last SD on Revelation that the title “Son of God” is only used in this verse in the entire book of Revelation.  Now I am studying the book of Ezekiel also and the phrase “Son of man” is used many, many times in that book, and Jesus referred to Himself many times many times in the Gospels as the “Son of Man.”  My point is that we now see Jesus Christ as the glorified Son of God in the pages of the book of Revelation a state that He was not in when He was on earth. 

            “Son of God” does emphasize the deity of Jesus Christ, something that many people have a very hard time believing, but nonetheless it is made clear in the pages of Scripture that He is indeed God along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Now don’t asked me to explain this for no one can truly explain the trinity but the truth of its existence is made clear in the Word of God.  John says the following in John 5:18 “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”  Jesus told Philip in John 14:9 “Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ’Show us the Father’?” 

            John MacArthur writes “The title Son of Man views Christ in His ability to sympathize with the needs, trials, and temptations of His Church.  In this passage, however, Jesus is identified as “Son of God, the emphasis is not on His humility, but on His deity, because His approach to the church at Thyatira is not as sympathetic High Priest, but as divine judge.  Not comfort, but judgment is in store for the church at Thyatira when Christ’s divine power moves against this adulterous assembly.”

When we look at Jesus as divine judge we see Him as having eyes like a flame of fire, and feet like burnished bronze.  Now we have already discussed this when we looked at the first chapter of Revelation, when John saw the vision of the Glorified Christ and then fell as a dead man after seeing Him, so in that vision we see Jesus in the ways that He will deal with the church, and this is the same way that He deals with it now and will until the last person in the church age comes to know Him as Savior and Lord and then He will come and claim His bride and take us to heaven. 

Jesus sees all things is the meaning of His eyes like a flame of fire, and this is also seen in the 19^th chapter of Revelation when He returns to earth at the end of the tribulation period to end the battle of Armageddon.  MacArthur writes “The description of His feet as being like burnished bronze is reminiscent of Revelation 19:15, where it says of Christ that ‘He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.’  That Christ’s feet glowed brilliantly like burnished bronze depicts His purity and holiness as He tramples out impurity.”

Perhaps when reading their letter from the risen Glorified Christ the people of Thyatira were in shock, and hopefully many of them repented.  Peter writes the following in 1 Peter 4:17 “It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to keep a short list with the Lord so that I will not have to come under the things that are described in this letter to the church at Thyatira.

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

Memory verses for the week:  2 Peter 1:5-10.

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.  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:  “Matthew.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Why did Jeroboam make calves of gold?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/3/2015 3:19 PM