The tragedy of Laodicea was that it was convinced of its own wealth and blind to its own poverty. Let them abide in the place of patience, even though there be tribulation, as there must be if they are content to endure for Christ's sake now. We have now come to the sixth letter, sent to one of the Asian churches, where observe. (iii) Hard as it may sound, the meaning of this terrible threat of the Risen Christ is that it is better not even to start on the Christian way than to start and then to drift into a conventional and meaningless Christianity. But of this I would say but a few words, considering the late hour. (a) He must have seen with his own eyes that of which he tells. In A.D. 61 it was devastated by an earthquake; but so rich and independent were its citizens that they refused any help from the Roman government and out of their own resources rebuilt their city. It was with him that Sardis reached its zenith and it was with him that it plunged to disaster. The common text which gives rise to the current versions spoils the sense completely. Every band of believers has some strength: weak as we are in ourselves, the very fact of our possessing faith proves that we have a portion of strength. (3.) Primarily, the meaning is the great persecution that was upon the point of breaking out against the church. What they did was this they kept the word of God: "Thou hast kept my word, and thou hast not denied my name." The Christians were dazzled by the world's power and glory, which was put forth doubtless in protecting, not themselves only, but the public faith of Christendom in that day. The fire must be kept burning. Here observe it is not now a trial by false apostles. But those who loved the Lord showed their love then not so much by intelligence in His ways, as by unsparing and habitual self-denial. And I am persuaded there is no place which is more likely to generate neutrality than a sound and true position, if there be not self-judgment maintained and godly sincerity. (ii) It is used as a comfort to the oppressed. Just open the door and He will come in and become one with you. Is this wise? You have a little strength.We are not very strong. In the sentence, "You have kept my word, and have not denied my name," both the verbs are in the aorist tense, which describes one definite act in past time; and the implication is that there had been some time of trial out of which the Philadelphian Church had emerged triumphantly true. "But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam." The road from Ephesus to the east and to Syria was the most important in Asia. And the apostle Paul showed that it was really to annul Christ to fall from grace if the law, introduced either for justification or for a rule of life, were imposed on the Christian. It would be the falsest possible deduction to suppose that Daniel and his three companions, possibly others also, were not personally as pleasant to the Lord as David was. "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.". To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of [my] God." They have now a compact character, and can be spoken of as a synagogue. If there is a secret entrance to heaven he prefers it; he means to go round about and climb over the wall somewhere, or sneak in at the back gate. Teach us thy Word that we might in its precepts and live in its light. This promise recurs again and again in Isaiah. In this life even the best of us is sometimes bad. Each of the triumphant believers will be like a pillar in Gods temple, secure in his presence for ever. If one identifies the Jerusalem of Isaiah with the New Jerusalem of the Revelation, or the Babylon of Jeremiah to explain the Apocalyptic Babylon, it is clear that one simply loses all the special instruction that God has given us. God never abandons his search for the faithful few and they are never lost to his sight in the mass of the wicked. But the drift is plain enough where the conscience is not blunted. It is blessedly true that even out of failure a man can redeem himself--but only if he casts himself upon the grace of Jesus Christ. The Risen Christ speaks of "the shame of the nakedness of Laodicea.". The first epistle, the message to the angel of the church in Ephesus, looks at the state of the Christian testimony on the earth in its most comprehensive form, and, as I suppose, from the days of the apostle John himself. Would God not keep them from the hour of testing? Even then Satan was not idle in forming his synagogue "of those that said they were Jews, and are not." One cannot make good sense out of Revelation 3:10 otherwise. True grace, though weak, has the divine approbation; but, though Christ accepts a little strength, yet believers should not rest satisfied in a little, but should strive to grow in grace, to be strong in faith, giving glory to God. We long to know Your truth. People may not be true to their principles, and often are not. . We need not make a choice between these various meanings; we may well believe that they are all included in the greatness of the promise. It is not to make known what was in Christ before all worlds, but to disclose the great facts in which God was about to maintain the glory of the First-begotten, when He introduced Him into the world. what said those who preferred "great tribulation," rather than commit adultery with her? Under John's leadership, Grace Community Church's two morning worship services fill the 3,500-seat auditorium to capacity. St. Bernard away back in the twelfth century used often to say to his monks that, "However early they might wake and rise for prayer in their chapel on a cold mid-winter morning or even in the dead of night, they would always find God awake before them, waiting for them--nay, it was he who had awakened them to seek his face.". Balderdash. We will get the picture right if we remember that the eastern throne was more like a couch than a single seat. To get rid of him, Christian said to Hopeful, "Now we will talk a little about experimental godliness and when they began to speak about what they had tasted and handled of divine truth, Mr. Chatterbox dropped behind. Who then can escape? In A.D. 17 it was destroyed by an earthquake which devasted the area. "Because this period of tribulation will immediately precede the coming of the Lord to earth in power and great glory (cf. One knows how readily the heart can thus escape from what is really the blessedness of the witness which the Lord has placed in our hands. "Let us keep awake and be sober" ( 1 Thessalonians 5:6). It became a Roman assize town. As it is said here, "Because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess." Has it no price in His eyes? Christ calls the church to that duty which he before promised he would enable her to do, and that is, to persevere, to hold fast that which she had. [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, pp. Life in Christ, where there is spiritual intelligence, takes one out of the vanities of the world in principle. The more you stand in the forefront of the battle, with the responsible testimony of God, the more you have the grace and truth of God brought out before and by you, if the heart and conscience be not governed and animated by the power of the Spirit of God, through that truth and grace that is in Christ, sooner or later, there will be, beyond a question, a lapse back into a position of neutrality, if not of active enmity. the state of those that bore His own name was such that He was obliged to deal thus sternly with them. There is a general theory abroad that it is quite right and proper to point out to a brother all his imperfections, for it will be a salutary medicine to him, and prevent his being too happy in this vale of tears. He who was emphatically the apostle of the uncircumcision was the appointed witness of Christ to those who had been Jews. We cannot see the big bells, but it is ours to pull the ropes that are near our hand, and do what God bids us to do, and music will come of it somewhere. '"[47] This view of the passage harmonizes with the great high-priestly prayer of Jesus who did not pray that the Father would take his disciples "out of the world" (John 17:15), but that they would be faithful in the world. All intimates that they are in great, and no doubt just, dread of Him as a judge. Satan's synagogue. If so, they will receive a reward for it, according to the grace of God. In entering Gods kingdom, Jews must follow the way of these Gentiles, not Gentiles follow the way of the Jews (8-9).When God judges the ungodly, Christ will protect those who have remained loyal to him. He ordered them to teach their sons lyre-playing, the song and the dance, and retail trading. As God bears testimony in his word to his own dear Son, believe that testimony; accept the Saviour whom he has given, and find immediate salvation: find it to-night. Revelation 10 Commentary Interval before the seventh trumpet (10:1-11) During the lengthy interval before the blowing of the final trumpet, John has several other visions. Ever and again the Christian must stand before the Cross and remember again what God has done for him. I do not of course affirm this; but naturally as the apostles were departing to be with the Lord, Satan would endeavour to furnish instruments nothing loth to claim succession. "Within this sacred volume lies The mystery of mysteries; Happiest they of human race To whom our God hath given grace To read, to mark, to think, to pray, To know the right, to learn the way; But better they had ne'er been born Who read to doubt, or read to scorn.". So much, then, with regard to this word of praise. Moses is willing to be wiped out of the book which God has written, if by his sacrifice he can save his people from the consequence of their sin ( Exodus 32:32-33). They might be hurt by the first, they would not be by that which follows and is final. towards rebuilding and Sardis recovered itself by the easy way. This seems to be one reason why it pleased God to give the visions of this book on the Lord's day. It was not yet a question of coming out from the public body. This has ever been the chief snare, as it is now. We speak then of what Christ has put us in, not about nature and its wishes and feelings. They set up to be more righteous and holy than the rest, whom they denounced as Antinomian because they stood in the true grace of God. And Jesus is always wanting to eat supper with people. In our heart of hearts we believe that the stern words cannot possibly be meant for us and that the promises are too good to be true for us. All eye-salves in the ancient world caused the eyes to smart at their first application, and Laodicea had no wish to see itself as it was. The ancient ecclesiastical or catholic phase of the church terminates with Thyatira: nevertheless Thyatira in this has the peculiar trait that it is the close of the public state of the church, and the beginning of those conditions which go on till the Lord's coming. He that receives it shall live, but without it there is no spiritual life. Accordingly the division of the next chapter (Revelation 3:1-22) seems to be happy at this point. Where was the endurance of hope? I will be glad to share with you and become one with you just open the door.". The promise of Jesus is to keep the Church from this horrible trial that is still coming in the future. Never but here occurs an address to a certain number of assemblies, particularly one so definite and significant symbolically as seven. (b) Some scholars think that what is here promised is fixity of moral character. (b) The things a man must do lie to his hand. Yet Christ says that because some of His people have been keeping His command to persevere, He will keep them from the worst of it. In it there is no redeeming feature. John sees the Son of man with the qualities of the Ancient of days. This church is commended: Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name,Revelation 3:8; Revelation 3:8. II. Behold, I will give you those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who call themselves Jews and who are not, but who lie. May every church of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether it have little strength or much, be concerned to be steadfast in the faith loyal to King Jesus firm in the truths which Christ has taught us by the Holy Ghost. Revelation 1 Commentary Summary: Read Revelation 1 KJV along with a helpful commentary. It is a recommencement, and so far is analogous with that to Ephesus: still, the manner in which the Lord is presented is quite new. Do not throw away the best for the sake of getting something that may be newer, but that must be far inferior. To try them That is, such persecutions will be the means of trying and proving those who profess Christianity, and showing who were sound and thorough Christians and who were not. We are not now speaking of anything conventional. The name Sardis (Sardeis, G4454, in Greek) is really a plural noun, for there were two towns, one on the plateau and one in the valley beneath. I do not say when, where, or how; but as surely as He lives, will the Lord vindicate the truth He has given, and the testimony He has raised up for His name. The way and manner in which he performs these acts, and that is absolute sovereignty, independent upon the will of men, and irresistible by the power of men: He openeth, and no man shutteth; he shutteth, and no man openeth; he works to will and to do, and, when he works, none can hinder. The problem of modern evangelism is not hostility to Christianity; it would be better if it were so. It has two aspects of meaning. Some think it a great thing to be members of a popular sect, but when the great curtain rolls up, and all things are seen as they are, and not as they seem, do you not think that that church will be most commended which was truest to the teaching of the Holy Spirit in everything? . There is an open door before you which no man can shut. Clarke's Revelation 3:10 Bible Commentary The word of my patience - The doctrine which has exposed you to so much trouble and persecution, and required so much patience and magnanimity to bear up under its attendant trials. Now, dear friend, perhaps hitherto you have been perfectly satisfied with holding the truth with all your might, and being faithful to it in private and in your own daily life. "Behold, I come quickly!" It is quite true that, in the literal sense, Jesus Christ did not come back to those who were so warned and exhorted. (a) It denotes the Holy Spirit with his sevenfold gifts, an idea founded on the description of the Spirit in Isaiah 11:2. Show yourself watchful, and strengthen what remains and what is going to die. The wealth of Sardis was legendary. The promise of the Risen Christ is that the victor will sit with him in his own victorious throne. God could no longer recognise them as His own. It is to that terrible time that John refers. The promise to the overcomers that they would go no more out refers to their fixed position as pillars in the temple; and with the two massive pillars in Solomons temple in view, saying that overcoming Christians will be placed in the position of pillars in the temple is the same as saying that these Christians will occupy sure, secure, firmly established positions of strength and power, positions which will be realized when they rule and reign as co-heirs with Christ in the [millennial] kingdom." (ii) Swete thinks that the white garments stand for the profession a man made at baptism; and that the phrase described the man who had not broken his baptismal vows. Literally, it is the word of my endurance. . No such condition appears afterwards. Peter warns his people that they will give account for their deeds to him who comes to judge the living and the dead ( 1 Peter 4:5). But there is more also. 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