SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/22/2015 10:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Continued
study of Smyrna
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
2:8
Message of the
verse: “The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
(Rev.2:8c).”
First I want all of us try to imagine a little bit about
what has happened since the Lord Jesus Christ has gone back to heaven as seen
in the first chapter of Acts. The church
began on the day of Pentecost as seen in the 2nd chapter of Acts and
it was made up only of Jews at first.
Then we come to the 10th chapter of Acts when Peter gives the
gospel to the Gentiles after seeing a vision.
Now keep in mind that this was something very hard for them to do
because of how the Jews felt about Gentiles for there was great hatred between
Jews and Gentiles at that time and I guess we can say that not much has changed
along these lines. The apostle Paul came
to know the Lord in Acts chapter nine and then in Acts chapter 13 we see the
beginning of Paul’s ministry as he goes on his first missionary journey, taking
the gospel to first of all Jews, and then after they refused he would go to the
Gentiles. We believe that Paul was
killed for the cause of Christ under Nero around 65 AD in Rome. Peter was also killed around this time and so
fairly soon after this all of the apostles had been killed for the cause of
Christ with the exception of John. Think
about what the church was going through as many though by this time that the
Lord would have returned to take all the believers to heaven in the
Rapture. People were being killed for
their faith as the persecution under Domitian was mainly the cause of all the
killings, and so I am sure that they were wondering what was going on. John is on the island of Patmos probably
breaking up rocks as a prisoner of Rome, and we wonder what his thoughts were
about what was going on in his world.
Revelation one tells us that he was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day, he
was worshiping the Lord when all of a sudden he is involved in the most
remarkable vision known to man and is given a job to write down what he saw,
what he was seeing and what he will see as the Lord takes him on a journey to
the end of the world. I am sure that he
had mixed feelings about what He saw, but perhaps joy would characterize his
overall feeling, for John knew that first of all Christ was in control of His
church, and churches, and also Christ was in control of the future even after
He would “un-create” this old world as Peter wrote about in the third chapter
of his second letter. When I was a small
boy our family was taught by my mother that at the end of the world it would be
burned up, and although this frightened me at that time it was what the Lord
would use to bring me to Himself as He saved me 41 years ago on the 26th
of this month. Now as we again begin to
look at the people of Smyrna who were being killed for their faith in Christ
they read a letter that comes from their Lord as identifies Himself as “the first and the last, who was dead, and
has come to life.” This, I am
sure would bring much comfort to their hearts.
This identification of the writer was at the beginning of
the letter which was what people did at that time; it does make more sense to
do it that way, so much for progress.
The author of this letter is the glorified Christ as seen by how He
identifies Himself. First and Last is
seen in the Old Testament: “"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ’I am the first and I am the last, And
there is no God besides Me (Isa. 44:6).”
“"Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am
the first, I am also the last (Isa. 48:12).”
"Who has performed and accomplished it, Calling forth the
generations from the beginning? ’I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last.
I am He’ Isa. 41:4).”
The totally amazing thing about this statement is that
Jesus Christ, the Second person of the godhead became a man, yet totally
remained God, so that He could come to earth and die for the sins of all who
would accept His free gift as being their Savior and Lord. He died on the cross for our sins, and yet
three days later He arose from the dead and will never die again. John MacArthur writes: “He is a profound mystery: How can the ever-living One who transcends time,
space, and history die? Peter reveals
the answer in 1 Peter 3:18: Christ was ‘put to death in the flesh, but
made alive in the spirit.’ He died in
His incarnate humanness as the perfect sacrifice for sin, but now has come to
life (by His resurrection) and lives forever ‘according to the power of an
indestructible life’ (Heb. 7:16; cf. Rom 6:9)” As we said the believers
in Smyrna would receive comfort in knowing this truth as so many others have
received comfort from reading these words through the church age. The people of Smyrna were being tortured and
killed for the cause of Christ, but when Christ died He received the most
unjust and severe persecution anyone ever suffered. “3
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so
that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your
striving against sin; (Heb. 12:3-4).”
Because of this our Lord can be a compassionate and understanding source
of power to those suffering for the cause of Christ: “17
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might
become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make
propitiation for the sins of the people. 18
For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is
able to come to the aid of those who are tempted (Heb. 2:17-18).” “For
we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One
who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15).” Now for a moment let us think about two
things, first of all it was impossible for Christ to sin, and yet we read that
He was tempted in all things, similar to what we as believers are tempted. Now some may say “well it was impossible for
Him to sin” and this is true, but think about how many times you have been
tempted, and how difficult it is to be tempted, and then think about having
this going on in your life and never fall to the temptation. Temptation is not a sin, but temptation is a
difficult thing to go through. Christ
was tempted to the point where He sweat blood, and yet did not sin, that is
something we will never do for we would give into the temptation before that
happened, but Christ did not.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Temptation is
something that I never want to give into, but I, like all believers, have three
enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and there are time when I give
into temptation even though I try to learn how not to do that from books I read
and from the reading of Scripture. The
psalmist wrote “Thy Word I have written
in my heart so that I might not sin against You.” He is saying that the Word of God is powerful,
so powerful that the writer to the Hebrews writes “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged
sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints
and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb.
4:12).” John writes what will
happen when we do sin “1John 2:1 My
little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And
if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous.” Warren Wiersbe
quotes an old Scottish preacher who said “The successful Christian life is a series of new
beginnings.” This is something
like John wrote.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Learn to love the Lord with all of my heart,
soul, mind and strength, and then realize better that Jesus loves me, and by
doing this I will have a better way of saying no to temptation.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 1:5-9.
5 Now for this very
reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and
in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and
in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and
in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness,
love. 8 For if these qualities are yours
and are increasing, they render you neither useless, nor unfruitful in the true
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9
For he who lacks the qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his
purification form his former sins.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Sin” (Romans 3:9).
Today’s Bible
question: “What miracle did Jesus do
during Passover week at Jerusalem?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/22/2015 11:35 AM
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