SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/28/2015 10:52 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Author of
Letter
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
2:12c
Message of the
verses: “The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this:”
Perhaps a little review is in order here as we look at
who the author is and how He is described.
When people wrote letters during the time this letter was written they
identify themselves first so the reader know firsthand who is writing to them,
and this is probably a better idea than what we do in modern times. We also remember that it is the Lord Jesus
Christ who is now glorified that is the author of all of these letters to these
seven churches, churches that existed during this time period around 96
AD. We also remember that Jesus will
identify Himself using the description of what is seen in the vision of Him
that John saw in the first chapter of Revelation. He identifies Himself in a way that is
helpful to the church that He is writing to.
Remember too that Jesus is the One who walks among the lampstands and
sees everything that is going on in His churches, and knows what they need to
have a better relationship with Him.
Remember that the seven stars mentioned in chapter one are the
messengers who will take these letters to their churches. It is not known who these messengers, but
they probably were the leaders of their churches and in reading John
MacArthur’s commentary he believes that all of them set off to make the journey
to their churches and when they got to Ephesus, the first church mentioned then
the one who had letter would stay on at Ephesus while the six others would
continue moving on to the next church where the messenger for the church at
Smyrna would start there with his letter and five would go on and so on until
all the letters were delivered.
In the partial verse that we have for today’s SD we see
the glorified Christ described as having the “sharp two-edged sword” and this
comes from chapter one and verse 16 “In His right hand He held seven stars, and
out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun
shining in its strength.” The question
is what is this sharp two-edged sword?
Let us look at Hebrews 4:12 “For
the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and
piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow,
and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The Word of God is the sharp two-edged sword
as seen in this verse. Now in my study
of the book of Ezekiel I am looking at this time in chapter 21 and in that
chapter the word “sword” is used 19 times and the sword that is being used
there is God using the swords of the Babylonians to destroy the city of
Jerusalem and the temple along with many of the Jews who were living
there. Why was God wheeling His Sword
there? Because they had disobeyed Him
breaking His covenant He made with them.
Now we see in our verse from Hebrews that the Word of God is a sword and
it is used in the case of the church at Pergamum to show them that they are not
following the things that they should have been following, they were living in
sin. Let us look at what James has to
say about the Word of God and how he describes it “19 This you know, my beloved
brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
20 for the anger of man does not achieve
the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all
that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is
able to save your souls. 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not
merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word
and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24
for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten
what kind of person he was (James 1:19-24).” James is saying to his readers that the Word
of God is likened to a mirror and when a person reads the Word of God it will
show him the imperfections that he has, but the key is to remember what is says
and not do as these people in Pergamum were doing and that is forgetting what
it says and go on living like they were before they read the Word of God.
In Ephesians 6:17 we read about the sword of the Spirit
which is the Word of God, and although the sword described there is a small
knife like sword and the one that is described here is a large sword I still
believe that they both speak of the Word of God. When we look at the attribute of God being
all powerful we can believe what He says from His mouth is all powerful and
these words in Revelation are coming from the mouth of the glorified Lord Jesus
Christ.
Jesus Christ is
described this way in this church because, as mentioned in our last SD, this
church was a compromising church, a worldly church and this is what is needed
from Christ to cause them to not being worldly or compromising.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It is wonderful
living in our great country, but one of the problems living in our society is
that there are many things that lure you away from following the Lord and
becoming worldly.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind, and strength. To recognize how
much I am loved by the Lord.
Memory verses for the
week: 2Peter 1:5-9.
5 Now for this very
reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and
in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6
and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control,
perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness,
and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and
are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind
or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Darkness” (Exodus 7:12).
Today’s Bible
question: “In the Christian Armor, what
is the breastplate?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/28/2015 11:30 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment